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.
😛 You can do a flashback for AvP2, it was launched in late 2001.
@Blizzard brags Diablo III will have difficulties that are harder-than-hard:
Hey, as long as the difficulty can be selected, sure, go apeshit.
I used to play games on the highest difficulty, because I liked the challenge, so I can understand people wanting more difficult games.
I will repeat myself: as long as the user can select it, it’s fine.
@Sony passed on Demon’s Souls because it was “crap“:
😀 Erm, I see a pattern here in decision making … Cure: change the decision maker.
@Sony credit rating downgraded:
Congrats to the podcast crew for the selection of news items. It is a true lecture on the principle of cause and effect.
Granted, turning down a game is only one cause that triggered the effect of Sony’s credit rating downgrade.
@Tim Schafer raises $1.6M (and counting) to develop an adventure game:
I think this is also due to the name (thanks for confirming that later in the show).
@Epic’s Sweeney: Lifelike graphics will come in our lifetime
Moore’s law might change. Ok, you can estimate how many penta flops are required in order to generate visuals. These estimates are ok and valid (the human eye won’t change in time, at least not in the next 1000 years).
But to assume that the rate of growth in computers will not change, well, as you already realized, that’s an ASSUMPTION.
If I were Tim I would limit the range (in time) for my predictions.
Regarding the 6 people on the show, well, taking turns/directing the podcast is … meh. I’ll take surprises and improvisation any time.
@QOTW:
Erm … Scrooge McDuck? 🙂
Ok, not quite a prince or hero, but I liked the cartoon. The NES games only made it even more charming.
I think the fact that he was quite determined (in the cartoon at least) in finding what was at the root of the episode’s mystery that made him my favorite.
@Blizzard brags Diablo III will have difficulties that are harder-than-hard: To me, they can make as many ultra-hard difficulties as they want, as long as they make a normal difficulty.
@Tim Schafer raises $1.6M (and counting) to develop an adventure game: This may be good news for Tim Schafer, but it’s not good news for any of the other developers. Like so many other sites highlighted, this only happened because Schafer is well-known and almost universally loved as the underdog of the industry.
@Epic’s Sweeney: Lifelike graphics will come in our lifetime: I’m not much of a graphic whore, but better graphics definitely make me appreciate the game more and maybe even enjoy it more.
@QOTW: I don’t care much for Pixie Dust, but I would guess Paul’s to be Peter Pan?
@sony credit rating downgraded
I don’t really know if sony gets most of its sales from gaming but they sure are failing when it comes to gaming this year
@ lifelike graphics will come in our lifetime
Well I’m mostly appreciating the graphics we have today and besides lifelike graphics is equal to more expensive hardware ,…. At least that’s what I think
@qotw
I would say peter pan coz he’s like immortal and he never grows up and he treats everything childsplay and he could fly whenever he wants to. Maybe I could play pixie hollow and get addicted I dunno but I could use the prize If I ever get addicted or I could just use cheat engine.. 🙂