I have a really simple question to bring to my fellow gamers: How is it possible for Sony to survive this generation of gaming? First, the insane price tag is pretty much a nail in the coffin as far as most are concerned. However, even with that I would have been temped to buy one. The thing that's holding my hand as of now is the fact that almost every great playstation exclusive game is being ported to other systems. First it was GTA4; GTA3 is the main reason so many people bought a PS2. They've already screwed up by letting the Metal Gear franchise go. Now I hear that Devil May Cry 4 is going to other systems. These are Sony's heavy hitters, and they're losing them. What's the point of buying a system if you can find the games elsewhere? You'll NEVER See something like Zelda or Mario on anything but Nintendo (possibly PC, but that's another story), and I doubt you'll be playing as the Master Chief on a Playstation. My question is simply: has sony shot itself by letting its best games go to other systems, and if so what's the point in supporting them further?

i've been wondering the same thing for awhile.

i haven't been following the VG licensing market as close as i was a few years ago, but to my knowledge, the biggest thing that the PS3 potentially has, is the FF license, as well as potentially (and sadly) a third sequel to God of War. (which, in my opinion, as much as i love both series, i'm not going to shell out THAT much money for a console that's offering me TWO games.)

I have this funny feeling in my gut that Final Fantasy would easily trade up to Microsoft if the money is presented---i can't see them ever teaming up with Nintendo in full ever again (again, also sad, but...it was a bad business deal on Nintendo's part.) and if that happens, the PS3's fate is dead and buried.

There's just no heavy game support. (at least, yet. it took XBox 360 almost a year to get a title to make me actually desire the system, which was Dead Rising. And the Wii has titles...they're just still in production...but they are coming. With Sony, there's this vague promise of "Game" in, what, 2009? Ridiculous.) There's nothing that seems THAT tempting. Top it off with the fact that, in true Sony fashionl, half of the damn consoles work properly, and sony's customer service is, as usual, less than acceptable....

I wish they'd go the way of Sega and sell the SCEA rights to one of the other two.

actually no. the ps3 is doing verry well for itself heres a few little bits and pices from a month or two old game informer.

Game Informer
According to NPD group data, the PS3 sold approximately 902,000 consoles during its first three months in the U.S. the Xbox 360 sold 50,000 fewer consoles during its first three months on the market in the U.S.

"People are being overly critical on how well its's doing mostly because their expectation for what the sales should have ben were to hihg" says Michael Pacher, analyst with wedbush morgan securities.

One of the other problems facing Sony was the overwhelming successof its current heavyweight the PS2. "The fact of the matter is that the PS2 is still entrenched" says Billy Pidgeon, an analyst with IDC. "thats sony's bigest problem for the PS3. what is the incentive to buy a PS3 when you can still get great titals like God of War II for the PS2?"

Despite the public perception of sony's folly, the console is selling well without a true blockbuster tital, and the marquee games will come in time. Pacher sees the console's futer as being bright. "A year from now we'll all be laughing because the PS3 will have a price cut. Blu-ray will be the standard high-definition movie format, and there will be a lot of software for the box"

When forecasting the future of the console both analysts see the ps3 trailing in short term, but breaking even and eventually overcomming the xbox 360 and the Wii.

basicly just give them some time. they say by 2010 or 2011 that the PS3 will over take the other two. personaly for right now i have a ps2 AND an xbox so im happy with what i have untill some REALLY good games start comming out for the new consoles

Don't know about the PS3, but the PSP is finally getting some worthwhile games on it. Sony could definately benefit from that. MGS:PO and Valkyrie Profile have two very good PSP games. Also, the Elder Scrolls and Silent Hill series are coming to the PSP.

Yeah, it looks like the PSP is finally taking off, people are starting to realize that it's a completely different beast than the gameboy/DS. The nintendo handhelds are designed around playing for fifteen minutes while standing in a line or on the bus, but the PSP is designed around the same ideas as a home console where if you're going to play it at all, you'll probably be playing it for like six hours.

They've made it so compatible with the PS3 that if you have one you really wanna have the other.

People are making the mistake of comparing the PS3 game library to the Xbox game library and using it as a reason that the PS3 is going to fail, but really, you gotta remember that the PS3 is only six months old. How many good exclusive games were out during the first six months of the PS1 or PS2? Like, what, two or three?

It's amazing to me how people can see multiple system launches over the course of a couple decades and not remember anythign about them. Especially when it comes to game libraries. From a financial perspective it just doesn't make sense for alot of third party developers to make exclusive titles for ANY system that's as young as the PS3, so for a year or so most of the exclusive PS3 titles we'll see will be designed or commissioned by SCEA. Then once the PS3 user base is large enough that Rockstar is sure they'll still be able to sell 7 million copies of GTA5, they'll release exclusive games again. The new FF isn't going to be released for another year, which is probably why Square/Enix isn't looking to launch it on other systems as well, by that time PS3 will be in alot more households. Home, Warhawk, and LittleBigPlanet are coming out in the fall, by Christmas the PS3 will be hot and avalible without having to wait in lines.

Plus they're rumoring a price drop around then, from what I hear it's only gonna be like 50 bucks, but for alot of people that'll be enough. People have ALWAYS thought systems were too expensive, but in reality if you want a gaming system enough to shell out $300 for it, you're probably going to be willing to shell out $600 for it too. It's already a large enough chunk of money that you have to budget for it, you just have to budget a little bit longer.

I'm not saying it's impossible that the PS3 will fail, I'm just saying that it's unlikely. It's launch is behaving pretty much like earlier system launches, in fact it's more sucessful than alot of them. It's just to early in the system's lifespan to predict where it's going. I mean the PS2 is 7+ years old and going strong. Lets see where Sony is 2+ years into the PS3 lifespan, then we'll have a better idea whether it's going to fail.

If they get some game support and come to a reasonable price (as it eventually will), i'll eventually get one. IF.

I own a PS2, and other than the excessive hardware problems i've had with it, i'm a fan of the system. In this same case, everyone should remember that the PS2's starting lineup of games (or any 32-bit or next-gen system, rather) was extremely lacking. (what was it, smuggler's Run, and fantavision?... The system eventually got it's Twisted Metal:Blacks, and eventually GTA 3.)

It's just unencouraging that a lot of major developers are jumping ship at this stage instead of working on the next big thing. I wasn't sure if Metal Gear was or was not at this stage still with Sony. In the case that they're not, i think this isn't exactly the death of the system, but it sure is a kneecapping blow. Especially since the Metal Gear franchise is one of the most associated series with the Playstation line.

Sony's major problem right now also is the same problem that Sega (and i'll admit it, nintendo in the early days) had. Feeding too many mouths. If they want the PS3 to exist, they should have stopped game support for the PS2 half a year ago. Don't call it entrenched. Make the decision. As a developer, your products will only benefit and the consumer market will respond. Make people want something new, because it is new and you can tell that the company is trying to solely focus on that. Keep the PS3 and the PSP. Portable, and home console. It's that simple.

As far as overtaking, i sincerely doubt it. The Wii is outselling the system 6 to 1 in Japan, and stateside, the thing is still selling from it's Christmas craze, whereas the PS3 dropped off mid-January. Plus, Nintendo's new management is finally becoming a little more 'liberal' about accepting non-family oriented games, such as Resident Evil, etc. For every one person who i've met who tells me, with drooling zeal in their eyes, that they want a PS3, i see 10 that want a 360, and 20 that want a Wii.

I know that the Wii can't match the specs of the PS3 or the X360. I'm just saying that nintendo has built, survived, and is now thriving in the video game market, and has for the past 24 years. Because they know how to market and catch the attention of families, in the aspect of gameplay and affordability. If you doubt that, look at the gameboy and what it did.

Still, It's too early to tell. My personal opinions sway me in the direction of favoring Nintendo anyway, and for that, i apologize. I do hope that Sony can make something worthwhile out of their system, and know that time will tell. I just think that if they don't do it soon, or do something to put the system within the 300 dollar line--it'll be too late.

Motorstorm, will not sell a $600 system. And a remake of Ninja Gaiden, the current flagship of the system--a game i've ALREADY played once or twice before on the Xbox, while tempting, still isn't getting me to open my wallet.

All I can say is that if they let go of Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts, it's over for me as a Sony supporter.

Vgman
they say by 2010 or 2011 that the PS3 will over take the other two.

The PS2 came out in 2000. So it basically took them 6-7 years to jump to the next platform. By 2010/11 3 or 4 years would have passed. I had a PS2 since '01 and only bought a X-box cause it was refurbished. What i'm saying is that if it takes that long for the PS3 to hit it's stride, many gamers would have already picked their sides, chosen their colors, and dug their heels in with one of the other consoles. Sony needs to move faster if it wants to compete.

I look at all the classic series of games that I love playing on my Playstation, and I thought it looks like I will have to shell out for a PS3 eventually to get these games. Now I hear most of these games are being ported elsewhere, such as the 360. This means that I will be buying them for the 360, since I own one, instead of going out and buying a PS3.

(That is of course, after the price stops screaming at me to fuck off.)

Why anyone would want to own one I will never know, specially since the Playstation has had a habit of releasing some god awful games with the system.

Nobody else does it, do you see Microsoft handing over Halo? That would be the stupidest idea in history. Sony set themselves up to fail when they gave all of those original games to the Xbox.

You shouldn't double-post joerocks1981. Bad joerocks1981, bad!

Well here's my opinion:

Everyone should shut up and just play their games... but seriously here---I was being serious, no but---

Yeah some people think the PS3 is fucked for life but not me! Sure PS3 library is rather weak, but what kingofsnake said, It's only been out for 6 months. And In the last 6 months it has shelled out at least 2 decent games worth playing:

Resistance
Ninja Gaiden (remake, i know)

But are these games worth buying a PS3? Probably not... but if you own a PS3, I see no reason why you shouldn't be satisfied with these choices. And what was the 360 doing for the first 6 months? Waiting for Gears of War...

Now as for the PS3 exclusive titles being ported to the 360... I'm not worried about that. We shouldn't blame Sony, we should blame the developers... they're wasting so much money on the game that there is no way they could manage on 1 system. Which is why I believe in the next 2 years we will see a lot of so called exclusive games being ported from left to right. And you can never trust Capcom. Ain't that right Capcom? Whatever happened to your 4 or 5 exclusives games for the Gamecube? Killer 7, RE:4... and the rest.

Once the 2 years have passed, I'm sure we'll start seeing the exclusives return to their respected systems. But frankly my dear, I don't give a damn... I wouldn't care if God of War went to X-BOX (it won't though). And even if the games are ports, some of the developers still differ when the systems' special features inserted in 'em, such being able to play as the new Goblin only with the Sixaxis controller on the PS3, or the endless Limited Edition box-sets... all of this is meh to me.

And as for Square Enix... I think they'll only make FF games for the PS3 and Wii. Though I don't know since their new game, The Last Remnant is for PS360.

And of course the Wii is outselling everyone else! If you go to a video game store with your parents and tell 'em you want a system and their choices are $250, $300-400, or $600. What will they choose?

I'm sure there's a lot more to talk about but eh.

I wish to stick my penis in ferns brain.

i fixed the double post.

sometimes i just don't know when to shut up. :)

Priceman
What i'm saying is that if it takes that long for the PS3 to hit it's stride, many gamers would have already picked their sides, chosen their colors, and dug their heels in with one of the other consoles. Sony needs to move faster if it wants to compete.

Yes, it's a shame we can no longer reproduce... Children of Men indeed.

fern
Everyone should shut up and just play their games... but seriously here---I was being serious, no but---

well played, fern. :) i tip my stupid red hat to you. seriously. no sarcasm.

I think as long as we're playing video games and not doing anything like, y'know...READING books or stupid shit like that, everybody wins.

--somewhere a librarian is crying.

The Wii IS alot of fun... for like 15 fucking minutes at a time before you get bored of it.

I too am one of the nay sayers who wonder how long it will take before developers and gamers alike just get bored with the wierd arm-wavy controler with two buttons.

I played super paper mario for a couple hours last weekend. I have to say, it's a really really well made game...that seems to be entirely based on frustrating the player.

bekefel
Nobody else does it, do you see Microsoft handing over Halo?

Thats stupid, Halo is MADE by Microsoft; it's not made by konami or rockstar. Like I said, the only exclusives you're going to see on the PS3 for a while are ones made by SCEA. GTA and MGS are made by third party developers Sony has very little to do with what they decide to release it on, it's not their decision.

"Crappy" games are the reason I've always liked Sony, they take the chance to release wierd crappy japanese games like Katamari and Mr. Mosquito and freaking No One Can Stop Mr. Domino. I love those wierd games. Xbox, in my eyes, always relies too heavily on the heavy hitters like Halo

Man I loved No One Can Stop Mr. Domino, I am totally playing that tonight


...I wonder if Sony made the decision to release Manhunt 2 exclusively for the PS3 despite the AO rating if Rockstar would be willing to release GTA4 as a PS only title... I bet they could talk them into it Rockstar has GOT to be anxious to do something with MH2 by now. And that would TOTALLY boost PS3 sales, what with all the hype around MH2 and then scoreing an exclusive GTA too...

Thats what I'd do if I were Sony. Let Rockstar worry about how they're going to get around the vendor's reluctance to sell MH2, just lift the ban from the release.

The way I've noticed Sony shooting itself in the foot is in advertising.

Seriously.

Terminal
The way I've noticed Sony shooting itself in the foot is in advertising.

Seriously.

Now look what you've done!

Kingofsnake is right in that it isn't fair to compare the PS3's library to the Xbox360's, because really it hasn't been out long. Unfortunately "fair" doesn't count a lot in the end, because when a gamer decides to get their system they often think of what they can be playing now, and the Xbox360 just provides more immediate fun.

Now, the prospect of good games to come does count for something, and I know a lot of the more serious gamers are looking at which systems will eventually have their favorite franchises. What actually hurts Sony is that gamers can get their favorite game on a consoles that's $100 cheaper.

The price really is it. It's a domino effect, too. It crippled the PS3's initial install base, which tells developers they can't make much money on the PS3 until later, so they're porting games to Xbox360 for the time being... well, of course, this just helps the 360 and hurts PS3 even more.

So, is Sony screwed? I think it depends on several things. Sony would be screwed if:

- the main Final Fantasy games went multiplatform. Square-Enix themselves say this is unlikely right now.
- Dragon Quest switched systems. Well, it's on the DS now, but I think people are still expecting it to pick back up again on a console. What if that console was the Wii and not the PS3?
- developers hit their stride on the Wii and started releasing those cool games we've been hoping for, and before we lose interest in the system. This can happen.
- the price remains the same. HOWEVER, people are saying that as early as E3, Sony will drop the PS3's price by $100. Is it enough? I'd buy a PS3 after a $200 price drop.
- Microsoft gained a foothold in Japan. Serious Japanese gamers will need a system besides the Wii for their high-end games, and it's going to be the PS3. That is, unless the 360 becomes attractive enough with Japan-friendly games. They're working on this, but I don't see it happening very soon. Certainly not before the PS3 picks up.

End result? I think Sony's not screwed. But I think they're looking at a possible third place position, like the Gamecube was. And the Gamecube still enjoyed a good lifespan.

Terminal
The way I've noticed Sony shooting itself in the foot is in advertising.

Seriously.

Whew, no kidding. It's like one disaster after another. And just as they're recovering from things like the PSP rap, they pull some other awful stunt.

Hawk
Whew, no kidding. It's like one disaster after another. And just as they're recovering from things like the PSP rap, they pull some other awful stunt.

It was like dirt you can eat outside.

hellz yeah.

*groan*

Could the initial sales of PS3 consoles with promising numbers be due to the population of diehard gamers with $600 and the will to plunk it down? Wouldn't such a consumer population give a false hope initially, which eventually fizzles out because they are a minority of console buyers? If the casual gamers don't pick up the slack after the diehards all walk away holding their PS3, Sony will see a sharp drop in sales after 6 months.

fern

Terminal
The way I've noticed Sony shooting itself in the foot is in advertising.

Seriously.

Now look what you've done!

Ahhhahahahahahaaa!

mlai
Could the initial sales of PS3 consoles with promising numbers be due to the population of diehard gamers with $600 and the will to plunk it down? Wouldn't such a consumer population give a false hope initially, which eventually fizzles out because they are a minority of console buyers? If the casual gamers don't pick up the slack after the diehards all walk away holding their PS3, Sony will see a sharp drop in sales after 6 months.

I seriously think the strong initial sales of the PS3 at launch can be attributed in part to eBay opportunists. Friends I know in retail talked about the large amount of unopened returns they got right after the eBay resell price bottomed out.

Of course the rest can certainly be attributed to the hardcore gamers and loyalists. I'm sure there were many people who knew Sony wouldn't let them down and picked the machine up right away.

I don't think Sony's anywhere near being f*cked. I know for a fact that I'm going to buy a console at some point, but I have no idea which one to get quite yet. (I'm not getting the Wii though. I respect nintendo but the controller seems more of a gimmick than anything.) I'll just have to wait a bit before I make my decision.

Heres a thought, stop worrying and just buy the system that has the games you want to play on it. I bought a ps3 cause I wanted "next-gen" games as well as the ability to play all my fav PsOne and PS2 games as well without having to own multiple systems. Then theres the money and time i save on not having to buy batteries for the wireless controllers. Either way it all boils down to what you like and how much money your willing to spend to get it.

I've got a Wii, and I've got a 360. If I had the money, rest assured, I WOULD buy a PS3 as well, because it has at least a few games I want on it. To me, the price is the end-all be-all argument on why I don't have a PS3. I have a standard-definition TV, which means the games can't live up to their fullest potential, and I live on my own, with just enough money to get by at the moment.

With the exception that X-box gives you a choice as to what kind of functionality you want out of your console I find it rather humorous that in order to make an xbox on par with a ps3 you have to spend an extra 200 bux for the Elite system and at least $300 more to upgrade the X-box pro console (unless you prefer a 20 gig to a 120 gig hd and don't want to be able to watch HD movies).

Okay, here's my take on it. Sony is by no means "Screwed", "@#!$ed", "#@$@#ly-@%#%@ by a donkey" or "Dead". The PS3 doesn't have sales yet because...

Americans currently like the XBOX 360.
Japanicans currently like the Wii.

The reason for the 360 is simple, and it's one word (or maybe it counts as 3, I'm not sure) FPS's. Americans love to shoot things in the first person. The 360 is almost completely FPS's and sport/racing games (as far as I can tell anyway, I'm a bit too lazy to actually check) Thus americans buy it for games like Halo, Gears of War (okay, it's technically a 3rd person shooter, but it's close enough) etc.

The Wii is selling well in Japan because A: It doesn't cost much compared to the PS3 and B: Japan hates the 360. How many 360's sold in Japan? 2? I'm pretty sure that those 2 got retured as well. Oh, and C: It has the whole "Whoo!! I can swing my arms around like an idiot!!!" thing going for it. This will, eventually, wear off. It really, really annoyed the crap out of me in the first say... 20 seconds or so?

The Wii is only selling in America because it has said arm-swinging-drunken chimp factor going for it, and it's cheap, not because anyone really likes it too much (most of the people I know are seriously disappointed with the Wii)

Now, I predict that, once the novelty of the Wiimote wears off, Americans are going to want to play Japanese games without looking like idiots (I know I do). Since no one has a 360 in Japan, said Japanese games are going to go to the PS3. Thus, a lot of them will sell. Of course, the Japanese will eventually get bored with the Wii also, and will buy more PS3's (because It's the only other system besides the 360, and Japan hates the 360). As PS3's sell, American developers will make more games exclusive for it, thereby increasing sales further. So.... yeah, Sony's gonna be fine. The self-inflicted bullet hole in it's foot will heal.
(I guess I could add more, but I've been talking long enough)