i suppose they have a point, but... i dunno. just reading it makes me think of it as a poor excuse for the massive let-down that the playstation 3 feels like. but then again, it's entirely plausible. seems like the kind of thing sony would do to get a new format thru the door and into homes.
Interesting read, but something I've heard before. I do believe Sony's plan was to usher in the Blu-Ray content and offer a Blu-Ray player that wasn't really really super expensive. While I do realize the PS3 did cost a bundle at launch, if remember correctly it was less than other Blu-Ray only players at the time.
it wasn't very well designed to appeal primarily as a blu ray player if that was sony's intent. the form factor is bizarre, to be frank. it only looks good standing on its side and is impossible to stack, so basically doesn't fit easily into most people's media centers. also: RF remote? that already alienates the majority of people who use all-in-one IR remotes. no display on front? i can let this one slide partially, but still, would be very very handy to have on a disc spinner.
Surely that wasn't a factor to consider when many other players on the market were a few hundred more $$ and it was the relatively low price that spurred sales for those who wanted a Blu-Ray player.
I bought mine mainly as a blu ray player, and ive watched a total of 3 blu ray movies on it now i think, and ive had it a year! tbh my PS3 gets less use than my wii and even that doesnt get a whole lot of use! I dont regret buying it and im sure when i get a bit more spare time it will get alot more use but it would be nice if it didnt look so damn ugly imo, it just looks daft under the TV.
IMO it is a lot less ugly than a bright white wii or xbox sitting on the AV rack (mind you the elite looks nice, but doesn't sound that great) I guess I just don't understand all of the anti-PS3 (anti-Sony for that matter) sentiment hanging around these days
The other plus, is that it's an internet-connected Blu-ray player. Any standards updates, as long as they don't require hardware changes, can be pushed over the internet as new firmware, keeping it as an up-to date Blu-ray player, instead of the £99 Bush box, which may fail to play newer movies if new blu-ray features are introduced.
Admittedly I did almost buy one a few weeks back, primarily for the blu ray player. But it went off sale and a samsung BD player went on sale, so that is what's sitting under the tree right now for my dad, and then in a few weeks....me
That was quite an interesting, well written and seemingly unbiased article...and then they had to go and ruin it with the last sentence: But even if what they're saying is true, it doesn't excuse the PS3's short comings. I'm not a sony basher, I had an original playstation and a PS2, and was always a bit of a sony fanboy, but now I own a 360, and for one main reason, price. The PS3 didn't seem to be offering anything that could in my eyes justify the price tag. (added to the fact I HATE that controller) If I had bought a PS3 I think I'd be pretty pissed off right about now.
For me it's the fact they seemed to do all they could to gimp the a console that should have been fantastic. Yes it is good now, but when it was released it was a mess compared to the 360 (even with it's high failure rate), it was good, but it was sloppy and could have been fantastic. They tried to make it a jack of all trades, which isn't what the majority of PS2 owners wanted, and when they complained, they effectively said, "Go **** yourself, if you can't afford a PS3 then you don't deserve one". It's like they had a monkey George Dubya in charge. While I can see that the victory of BR over HD-DVD was one of the main goals of the PS3, I saw that before it was released, one of the many reasons that turned me off Sony as I felt they were exploiting their playstation fans, I don't agree that it's the PS3s only purpose. I can't imagine they'd be willing to go from obliterating the competition in the previous generation then coming dead last in the new one, the PS3 has seriously hurt their console business, and will continue to harm it for a generation or more to come.
I think this article is flawed, it would have been far cheaper for Sony to develop a standalone blu-ray player and price it in competition with HDDVD players than to develop a failure of a console to push an HD optical media format. People that bought them to play blu-ray movies would have been happier buying a standalone player half the price of the Playstation 3.
Well at the time of release you would have been hard pushed to find a BR player that was cheaper than a PS3, and a lot of people did buy the PS3 in the early days as a BR player that has the bonus of being a PS3 too. Then there were the people who bought the PS3 because they wanted the gaming aspect. As a result, there were a lot of people who bought a PS3 who wouldn't have bought a BR player. The format wars did take a massive turn for BR when the PS3 was released, before that, HD-DVD just had the lead. Although it was mainly the exclusivity of the major studios that ended it, the high amount of BR film sales after the PS3 was released would have been a factor in their decision.
Also if the internet speeds increase enough then High Def Movies via Downloads may become pretty popular.
I think the PS3 is a great system but it came out at the wrong time, the price was wrong and the difficult development/pricey Dev kit crippled it's success. I refused to buy an XBOX because I've always been a Playstation fan but I couldn't afford to drop $700 on a console and the lack of solid titles didn't help.
I haven't regretted my PS3 purchase for even a moment. It's an ridiculously useful device for me on a number of levels: A) Gaming platform -- while I don't game too much, it provides me with the right mix of games I do want to play when I'm bored. Not that the Wii or 360 don't do it either, but I can't complain. B) Blu-Ray -- Yeap, I own Blu-Ray movies a reasonable collection and I do own two 1080p HDTV's to take full advantage of the image quality. C) Media Player -- Thanks to software like TVersity, or PlayOn I am able to stream all my video/audio/pictures from my PC's to my PS3 without having to run around the house, look for memory sticks etc. This is by far the most convenient and important aspect for me. D) Build quality -- Face it, it's built like a tank. No RRoD's or flimsy plastic like the Wii. E) Fiber optics audio output -- Important to me when running audio to a 5.1 setup I got my 60GB PS3 back on the very first release day in North America. Paid $900 for the system, including 2 games and an extra controller (this includes taxes). Sure it was a lot, but like I've said -- when I think about how handy its become, it was worth it.
I think it was Microsoft's amazing PR. Let's see. Nearly every arguement save price was effectively overlooked for Microsoft when the PS3 released. I remember gimped versions of EA games being on the Xbox 360 initially. I don't quite remember much on the console that was worthwhile until Oblivion released (when I got my 360). Halo 3 didn't come out until much later, Gears of War was the same year as Oblivion, and when I first saw Perfect Dark that game looked like crap for a "next gen" game at launch. And as you mentioned the failure rate. Of coursthis seemed to reflect heavily on Sony, thanks to their price. Not only did Sony not have many games (who could possibly have as many games as a 1yr old competitor honestly), but the press tried to blow the failure rate of the PS3 way out of proportion. One little youtube video and the 3-beeps became a phenomena early on. Nintendo easily got away with having little to no software to offer either besides Twightlight Princess, their console was only $250. I think Sony was fine, price was the only thing that hurt them, and still does. I also forgot to add that month after month of the PS3 selling more than the Xbox world wide (and heavy reporting when Xbox topped PS3 for a month in Japan) was heavily under reported, one price-cut on the heels of Thanksgiving gives MS a spike and the papers set fire with Anti-Sony doom and gloom. In one year MS has maintained only a 6-7 million lead even with Sony's higher costs. And the Wii continues to outsell even with it's cheaper price tag now.
Found this on Slashdot. Thought I would share it here. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123069467545545011.html It's an interesting article on the processors which run the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Almost makes me feel sorry for Sony. I don't agree with their assessment of the Wii though - in my eyes its just a novelty which allure wares off quickly for a lot of people.
