Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have great visions for their consoles, they all strive to stand out from their competitors. Nintendo’s key initiative is to get non-gamers on board and provide the world with something a little different while Microsoft’s concept is to get a 360 into the hands of all gamers and build a huge community. Sony’s selling point? Graphics.
When it comes to standing out amongst the other consoles, Sony cannot compete with the Wii‘s quirky cuteness and Xbox 360‘s one-year lead on sales, games and overall functionality. They were late to the game because of technological advances in Blu-Ray and overall graphic horsepower. They’re providing a console that will still look “teh awesomes” ten years down the road, similar to the attack plan of the PS2 product which still sells today.
Sony’s Scott Steinberg, Vice President of Product Marketing for SCEA had nothing but great things to say about the console he’s marketing…
“I think that we’re seeing, graphically, PS3 games starting to create some distance and some of the other competitors are going to feel that they’re getting long in the tooth, looking quite dated, because they haven’t created that ten-year vision from a horsepower standpoint” (psu.com)
Really? Does anyone look at the Xbox 360 and say “this thing looks dated.” Each new title release continues to look more advanced and more graphically appealing than the last. Sure, Resistance 2 looked graphically epic, but the title isn’t on the shelves yet. As a matter of fact, very few PS3 titles are on the shelves when it comes to graphically appealing titles everyone wants.
As Nintendo has proven, it’s not always about the advanced graphics but the fun value and access to many titles across many genre’s of gaming. We’re happy about a nice 10-year vision but there is a reason classic games like Pac-Man, Missile Command and Galaga are still talked about and played by gamers: simple and fun.
Microsoft may not have a ten year vision, this is true, but I’d rather have a hot console I can play for the next six years than own a more expensive console with few games until its third year of life. The PlayStation 3 has been beating the Xbox 360 sales in 2008, is this too surprising given the fact that the Xbox 360 was out a year ahead? Sales aren’t always going to be rosy and over the top (unless it’s the Wii).
Rather than concentrate on how many more consoles the PS3 has sold compared to the 360, look at how many Wii consoles have sold to the graphically superior PS3. Perhaps Sony should speak less to the gamers about how awesome their console is and speak more to the developers so we can get titles worth buying for the console. Gamers only win when a console has games for them to play.
@Thief:
If you have Doom 3, and no patience for Thief 4:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-dark-mod
@Steam forums hacked
Me don’t like this. Normally you would not depend on third party software for modules in your core application. You’d want access to the source code, so that in case a vulnerability is found, you can fix it quicker than the third party.
So, assuming Valve has access to the code powering their forums, and yet somebody managed to hack it, it means that their developers need to better cover their security holes.
No puns intended.
@Xbox 360 failure rate down to 10%
Paul, I think those 10% come from any kind of combination of the following factors: old version of the console and placing it on a rug, with no space for ventilation.
I had no piece of equipment burn out. Those ventilation holes (sorry for getting back to holes) are there for a reason. If you thought of something different than ventilation, shame on you :P.
@Sony revamps< PSN sharing policy
I actually like that kind of sharing policy, and reducing it to just two devices is quite ok.
@cease-and-desist order to NeoGAF over Mass Effect 3 spoilers
Oh man … this is still free advertising. And since the game is not yet released, it can be changed so that the story of the game remains new.
@QOTW:
Yes.
You'll say this is absurd, but think of it: a game is not a novel, that once you read it you've extracted all of it.
A game is story and gameplay. Or just gameplay. The ones that are just story usually turn crap.
My 'Yes' answer is also based on a personal experiment: I watched/listened in background "lets plays" for STALKER Call of Prypiat, and I still love (not loved, love!) playing the game.
Now granted, such a big spoiler does have one effect: instead of buying the game full priced, I wait for a nice discount.
Great… First you say I’m 8 and then you say I could be a girl. Thanks a lot. =P
@Xbox 360 failure rate down to 10%: The biggest reason I didn’t buy an Xbox 360 when I was choosing a console was that it had a very large failure rate. I’m glad that it’s finally at a point where most people can enjoy it without it failing in less than a year.
@QOTW: I like to watch trailers and gameplay footage as much as I can until I see about 1 or 2 demos from gaming conventions such as E3, so that I know the game is worth buying. Otherwise, regarding story, I like to know as least as possible because gameplay is most important to me and the story is just what holds it together.
Regarding what you said about going to a library and learning a programming language: I would like to do that after I do my GCSEs which are only in next May and I need to focus on them as much as possible first. Also, I was unfortunate that my year is the last year that my country has Pascal programming in its Computer Studies syllabus instead of Java programming. Even though I excel at Pascal, I think there’s going to be a big leap for me to write in another language.