PS3 UK price: 425 pounds
Moderator: Thanas
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Admiral Valdemar
- Outside Context Problem
- Posts: 31572
- Joined: 2002-07-04 07:17pm
- Location: UK
A few comments:
1) The Neo-Geo would be about $1,000 today so while I also use the comparison, it's not exactly apples-to-apples.
2) Technology companies continually screw up the concept of convergence. They have forever. Microsoft blew it with the Xbox and they're blowing it again with the 360 (I'll explain that in a moment). TiVo nearly had it and then got lost on the way. Sony losing it is no surprise. It's amazing to me that the phrase Media CENTER can get so lost on these people. Here you have a box that you put in your entertainment center and instead of making it a CENTER, they always make it a center for JUST ONE ITEM. TiVo makes their box a center for TV shows. When they think of music and photos suddenly they think it needs to stream. Xbox makes their box a center for games. Then they think of anything else and they want you to stream.
NO TYPICAL CONSUMER sees their PC as the end-all be-all of media. As I've said many times before, try to explain to the average person that to play a game, they turn on the machine but to play a song you need to understand networking, run a network, install a server applet, keep your PC on 24/7, your TV, your receiver and then after you do all that you can play a song. In what world but the world of technology nuts does that make sense?
3) I find Sony's comments about 5 million customers who will by the box regardless of launch titles being available to be even more concerning than anything else. They have lost contact with their customers to such a degree that, hey, it'll be okay. At worst they'll sell it to 5 million suckers as a start.
4) I'm in the industry and know many game developers from top studios and publishers. They dislike the PS3 quite a bit. They find it extremely annoying to code for. This too is a major issue. It means that, for a change, other platforms will be getting titles more quickly and possibly with better fluidity. Many PS3 titles will get the minimum needed to get them functional.
Sony may prove us all wrong but it will be despite their initial efforts, not because of them.
1) The Neo-Geo would be about $1,000 today so while I also use the comparison, it's not exactly apples-to-apples.
2) Technology companies continually screw up the concept of convergence. They have forever. Microsoft blew it with the Xbox and they're blowing it again with the 360 (I'll explain that in a moment). TiVo nearly had it and then got lost on the way. Sony losing it is no surprise. It's amazing to me that the phrase Media CENTER can get so lost on these people. Here you have a box that you put in your entertainment center and instead of making it a CENTER, they always make it a center for JUST ONE ITEM. TiVo makes their box a center for TV shows. When they think of music and photos suddenly they think it needs to stream. Xbox makes their box a center for games. Then they think of anything else and they want you to stream.
NO TYPICAL CONSUMER sees their PC as the end-all be-all of media. As I've said many times before, try to explain to the average person that to play a game, they turn on the machine but to play a song you need to understand networking, run a network, install a server applet, keep your PC on 24/7, your TV, your receiver and then after you do all that you can play a song. In what world but the world of technology nuts does that make sense?
3) I find Sony's comments about 5 million customers who will by the box regardless of launch titles being available to be even more concerning than anything else. They have lost contact with their customers to such a degree that, hey, it'll be okay. At worst they'll sell it to 5 million suckers as a start.
4) I'm in the industry and know many game developers from top studios and publishers. They dislike the PS3 quite a bit. They find it extremely annoying to code for. This too is a major issue. It means that, for a change, other platforms will be getting titles more quickly and possibly with better fluidity. Many PS3 titles will get the minimum needed to get them functional.
Sony may prove us all wrong but it will be despite their initial efforts, not because of them.