The PlayStation 3 is the slow seller in the United States but Sony still holds belief in their “10 year plan.” Many of us consider this to be the same style of plan Sony used with the PS2, sell your console through multiple generations and own the market share. The PS2‘s launch was much more graceful when compared to its 7th generation counterpart. Perhaps the PS3 has a different destiny… perhaps they want to remove all other media boxes from your living room.
Imagine a life without a cable box or Tivo and you’re probably envisioning Sony’s road map for a media distribution empire. First, remove Tivo from the situation with a DVR style box using their PlayTV technologies, wired up to the PlayStation 3 using a USB connection. The United States hasn’t seen a launch of PlayTV, more than likely because the PS3 isn’t a huge console here yet and Tivo is partnered with many cable and satellite providers already.
Senior director of the PlayStation Network, Susan Panico said Sony “looks aspirationally at HBO, the way they have Sex and the City and other shows” (gamespot) after admitting Sony wants to replace cable boxes in the home. Tivo has already done a great job removing the need for a cable box, allowing you to rent a “cable card” to insert into a Tivo and gain access to all their content for your DVR needs. DirectTV offers (or has in the past) a Tivo or Tivo-like DVR solution. Cable and DirectTV offer the ability to rent their DVR or offer a solution to purchase your own at a retail outlet What if Sony decides to partner with one or more of these providers to offer an all-in-one solution. PS3 owners wouldn’t have to purchase additional equipment and could be up and running immediately with hard disks big enough to handle HD content.
Sony could offer you a graphically appealing gaming experience, a high definition BluRay solution, media distribution for renting movies, an iTunes style online store for purchasing and playing music all wrapped up in a DVR solution. All this content for a $400 price tag is a value when all the offers are combined into one tiny black box.
Looking at today’s Tivo Series3 HD DVR you’ll notice the ability to play music directly from iTunes, browse and play Youtube shows, watch Disney offerings and even high definition NetFlix playback. The Tivo DVR’s can also talk with other DVR’s in the household making it easy to share TV records across systems. The only thing missing in the Tivo solution is a high definition gaming platform and the BluRay hardware.
We’re all sitting here poking fun at the small PS3 game library and telling people that BluRay is going to lose out to HD downloads yet we may be missing the bigger picture: an all-in-one media empire solution. The PS3 may not carry the largest game library compared to the Xbox 360 or the sales records of the Wii but if Sony finds a way to become a reliable and required media set top box they may realize their true “10 year plan.”
The Japanese government has not allowed PlayStation Network to be activated for Japanese gamers yet due to security concerns, and now an expert is advising Australia to follow suit.
@THQ finally dissolved, assets auctioned off
RIP. I’m curious as to how Metro will do, I saw them as a possible lifeboat for THQ.
Jonah, I think the release date for the games in development will be delayed. Those devs rely on money from the publisher, and even the ones that did get bought, their HR/payment systems will be disrupted.
We have a similar saying, going “Each kick in the arse forces you to take a step forward”.
@League of Legends Team Solo Medbi players receive lifetime bans for anti-Semitism and abuse
Ok, it’s a start. But as I said in a previous discussion, it won’t change that person. Sure, it makes the LoL garden cleaner, but it won’t do much for the real world.
@Sony fined 250K GBP for April 2011 hacker intrusion
Well deserved fine. I’m curious how the appeal will work. I agree with Jonah, the fine is small, but Sony has to appeal, even so that it doesn’t appear to be giving up. ‘Cause if they do, they’ll find themselves drowned in lawsuits.
@QOTW
Anything that can be obtained also by grinding. If it can’t be obtained by grinding then it must be a temporary upgrade, like EA’s Battlefield Heroes renting weapons.
Now I know I keep mentioning World of Tanks, but that visit at my brother’s was quite an eye opener. The microtransactions there revolve around buying ingame credits for fuel, ammo and repair points.
Now, you can also obtain those credits by playing the game. So what my brother does is to use a medium class tank for grinding up credits – it’s cheaper to operate – then fight a few battles using the high end tank. And although this sounds tedious, he enjoys a lot even the matches that he plays with his medium class tank. So, in his case, the experience provided by playing free is very enjoyable.
That flu made Jonah sound his age. How strange.
@THQ no more
A bit sad. They published some good games. A decade of gaming history down to the archives. Hell, we lost a lot of studios since the crisis. Midway. Ensemble. 3D realms. Let’s just hope once the next gen kicks in there won’t be just EA and Valve out there.
@Gears of War 3 microtransactions
Oh I am sorry? Did I spell Dead Space wrong? Silly me. I understand when a free 2 play MMO needs microtransactions. Servers and all that. But Dead Space is a full retail game and you will have to shell out full price for it. Mooching more cash of you once you pay them is just ignite.
@Disney
Don’t care. I want Kingdom Hearts where you can play as Darth Vader and Spider-man.
@Court slightly inconveniencing Sony for gross incompetence
Man that’s bad. I hope that slap on the wrist won’t turn into a bruise. I mean, it’s all the subscribers fault anyway. If they wouldn’t subscribe for PSN there wouldn’t be any account details to steal in the first place.
@QOTW
I prefer cosmetic microtransactions. When you pay for your character to look fancy but not actually be any better than an average player. Microtransactions can ruin competitive games. I have been playing Dust 514 recently. It’s unfair when you get dominated by a kid whose daddy has a fat wallet. In the end, it puts you off playing the game.