$600: Home PC or PS3?
"I think when you look at what we put into the box -- Cell, Blu-Ray, backwards compatibility, the ability to go online -- I think it's a very compelling package for consumers," said Kaz Hirai, president and chief executive officer of Sony (Research) Computer Entertainment America. "The totality of what we bring to the table makes it a good value for consumers."
$600 is the price of a home entertainment PC in the US, and no-one gives a crap about Blu-Ray. At least, I don't. Do you?
Who wants to pay for backwards compatibility? It should come by default, especially if you're a corporation banking on the loyalty of your installed base who by definition all have PlayStation 2 games on their shelves.
Who wants to pay for going online, if there's no browser in your console? If going online just means playing games online, the home PC will offer far more (in general) than the console. Today's Linux news may mitigate this, so let's hope so..
A Blu-Ray player will reportedly be $1000 (at launch), so getting yours with a PS3 is supposed to be a bargain. If you care two hoots about Blu-Ray, that is, and if you believe the hype. Everything is expensive at launch. Give it a few months, and I'm guessing Blu-Ray will either be cheap as chips, and everywhere - or defunct.
I think Sony's approach is dangerous. They're betting the show on their loyal consumer base, but again, I have one word for loyalty of a consumer base: Walkman. $600 is too much money for many people to cope with. There's a cheaper version at $500, but that comes with no wireless, a smaller hard drive and no hi-def - it's a boat anchor. And it's still five hundred bucks.
Microsoft must be feeling pretty pleased right now, and Nintendo are probably too busy playing Wii Tennis to care.
Don't be mean to PS3 or you'll make me cry *sniff*
The thing that's really making ME mad about this whole PS3 pricing/function/technology fiasco is that my opinion is that i STILL really REALLY want one, even at £400!
...that would make me a... Fanboy! Ergh!
I feel used.
Posted by: Cris | May 16, 2006 at 19:36
I think you're right on the money Alice. I of course also want one, but at that price, and then with a couple of games (each priced pretty high as well) and that's my spending budget for a few months at least. And then of course there's the HD TV and all that stuff.
Sony needs to really thread softly to get this thing in the game (haha).
Posted by: Michael Heilemann | May 16, 2006 at 21:05
I have a different theory about Sony's price for the PS3. They saw the prices for Xbox 360s on eBay after launch. Then they said OK, we can either sell the PS3 for $300, and people will just buy it and resell it on eBay for $600, or we can sell it for $600 in the first place and keep all the money ourselves instead of letting the scalpers have it. Hmm, what to do, what do do? Oh, OK, let's keep the extra money.
Posted by: Tom | May 16, 2006 at 21:22
Excellent point Tom!
Why increase their losses when people were willing to pay this for the first round of 360s?
Perhaps the whole concept of "making a loss" on the hardware is as dumb as people expecting phones for free when in reality they clost a lot to make?
I'd happily pay more for the console to get better priced games.... not that we'll get that with the PS3.
Posted by: Cris | May 16, 2006 at 21:28
I dunno, I just think Sony - who are in a position of privilege and power - are really screwing up here. They really could topple on this one, and I don't know why they'd risk it.
For Blu-Ray, of all things. If it were for a bit of technology that were to really push the gaming envelope, then OK. But Blu-Ray?? It's only sodding DVD storage.
Posted by: Alice | May 16, 2006 at 22:08
Really? You honestly think the PS3 won't be a sucess? I know they're playing a funy angle, but they have an extremely big 100 million PS2 base and once the price drops a little, surely it's the PS and the Wii that will stand the test of time?
Also, top marks for the use of the word "sodding" in a sentance. ^_^
Posted by: Cris | May 16, 2006 at 23:34
I'm not like the other commentors on this post... I'm a casual gamer, and the price tag and Sony's arrogance just puts me off the PS3, altogether. I'd rather hook up that Nintendo Wii!
It's too bad, because I've really enjoyed playing the games available for the original playstation and PS2...
Posted by: Cibbuano | May 16, 2006 at 23:52
Just so you know, it does have a browser.
Also there was talk of the online stuff starting out as free. But thats not the point, we pay for the internet anyway, the thing does have a browser.
Also, the PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube go online w/out a browser, and plenty of people wanted those.
Posted by: The_Predator | May 17, 2006 at 02:27
Um... Does the first person to send in a photo of Wonderland on a PS3 get some kind of special Wonderland Groupie prize?
It will be mine!... oh yes...
Posted by: Cris | May 17, 2006 at 09:15
"There's a cheaper version at $500, but that comes with no wireless, a smaller hard drive and no hi-def (blah, blah)..."
NOT TRUE: both models come with wireless (duh!), bluetooth at that. And both output hi-def (double-duh - it's a blu-ray player ferchrisakes!). The cheaper one with Component HD Video (today's standard), the other, with component as well as HDMI (I repeat, both are HD).
Don't be an unwitting accomplice in BS (generally speaking). And for the record I'm not even a Sony fanboy!
As you were.
Posted by: billy joe | May 17, 2006 at 16:14
It's really weird, there are totally conflicting reports everywhere. The articles I read clearly stated no browser, no HD..
more digging needed. Wish I'd actually been there.
Posted by: Alice | May 18, 2006 at 07:51
You are right, Alice.
There is a reason the $500 version is taking a lot of slack and it's because it has no Wi-Fi, no slots for memory cards, and most criminal of all no HDMI.
Having no HDMI support means that you won't get the HD movies they're intended to be, because the DRM locks out HD content to all those who don't watch through secure HDMI.
You can read more about it under the USE section of the Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Bandwidth_Digital_Content_Protection
For my money, Blu Ray is no where near worth the same as an XBOX 360 & Nintendo Wii. For me a PS3 will be worth considering once it reaches a sub £200 price point and has a library of games divergent enough to separate it from the other two platforms.
Posted by: Tehkan | May 18, 2006 at 10:42