EGM says 2008 is the year of the PS3 - do you agree?

"Doug Jacobs" <djacobs.TakeThisOut@shell.rawbw.com> wrote in message
news:13r1btfqe70v70b@corp.supernews.com...
> In the latest EGM, ther's a large article about why the PS3 is going to do
> well this year. They also included an interview with some Sony
> executives.
<snip>
> As for EGM's report, I'm a bit confused why Blu-Ray is considered a reason
> why the PS3 will rock in 2008. Until HD-DVD is dead, buried, and only a
> memory at the local Big Lots stores, many people are just going to hang
> back and wait. Even if HD-DVD were to die entirely tomorrow, and people
> start buying the PS3 to watch movies on it, explain how this is going to
> help Sony's video game division?

While the final nail isnt in the coffin just yet.. i think we all know that
it's coming, and very quickly.

And while people may not be jumping off bridges at a chance to buy a PS3
just yet, they'll soon see that it's the best blu-ray player out there.. and
if you're going to buy a blu-ray player why not get the best one, that
actually does more than just play movies.

I had a discussion with two guys in my group at work and they've both
expressed interest in buying a PS3 very soon solely for the blu-ray movie
abilities. In addition to a third guy who i used to play SOCOM 3 with just
about ever Sunday and Wednesday, who is now left behind... since most people
are playing COD4.. and he said "man, i need to upgrade". So i think most
people that want one, are coming around. And i dont think it's going to take
another year for HD-DVD to go away. The more announcements that come out
about companies dropping support the more companies that will follow suit.
Warner was first... Netflix.. who's next? I saw a headline that Bestbuy was
moving the HD-DVD players to the back row... (i didnt click it)... so i
say it's coming and coming soon. The writing is on the wall, and anyone
holding back now is only hoping that Sony will budge on the price, or
release the next iteration of the console (Rumored to be 120GB??)
 >> Stay informed about: EGM says 2008 is the year of the PS3 - do you agree? 

"Doug Jacobs" <djacobs DeleteThis @shell.rawbw.com> wrote in message
news:13r1btfqe70v70b@corp.supernews.com...
> In the latest EGM, ther's a large article about why the PS3 is going to do
> well this year. They also included an interview with some Sony
> executives.

Without question
 >> Stay informed about: EGM says 2008 is the year of the PS3 - do you agree? 

Ross Ridge <rridge RemoveThis @caffeine.csclub.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
> I think software-wise the PlayStation 3 will do better than last year
> and the XBox 360 will do worse. I doubt the PS3 will actually do better
> than the XBox 360 this year, though. At least not in the North American
> market.

I certainly hope the PS3 does better - it certainly can't do any worse
than last year (knocks on wood)

> >EGM also brings up the topic of backwards compatibility, which Sony
> >rambles on about how "they were the only ones to get it right", stating
> >that Microsoft and Nintendo just dumped their old hardware and told
> >developers to move forward with them.

> In the case of Microsoft that's exactly what they did. While both Sony
> and Nintendo are still selling new PlayStation 2s and GameCubes, the
> XBox has been discontinued for over a year now. Developers are still
> releasing new PS2 games, they aren't releasing new XBox games.

I certainly remember how fast Microsoft dropped the Xbox. It wasn't even
in production when the 360 launched. The same could be said for the
Gamecube. Once the Wii came out, there weren't anymore Gamecube releases
(even the Xbox had a few stragglers during 2006).

> >Even if HD-DVD were to die entirely tomorrow, and people
> >start buying the PS3 to watch movies on it, explain how this is going to
> >help Sony's video game division?

> Few people will buy the PS3 solely as a Blu-Ray player. If Blu-Ray
> appears to be the decisive victor then the fact that the P33 supports the
> format will make it more attractive to gamers when compared to the 360.

From posts I've been reading from the Blu-Ray fans, the PS3 is still
regarded as one of the better players on the market. The fact that it was
also the cheapest doesn't hurt either.

> >My understanding was that we'd see the game hit Japan around April of
> >this year, but that localization would take about a year to complete.

> All they've said is that it wouldn't be released in their current fiscal
> year, which ends March 2008. If it were released in April 2008, which
> seems unlikely at this point, then a November 2008 North American release
> date would be relealistic, as the localization of Final Fantasy XII took
> as similar amount of time.

Either way, the PS3 NEEDS RPGs. Badly. It's practically embareassing to
see the 360 taking the lead here with its slender library all because the
PS3 is off to a slow start. The PS2 is still the best platform for J-RPGs
even as the PS3 heads into its 2nd or 3rd year (depending on how you
count). Even the PS1 had a couple of RPGs by this time in its life, even
though most of them got ratings like "not a great game, but should keep
fans busy until FF7 comes out..."

Speaking of which, I really must get the PS2 reconnected so I can get back
to finishing my backlog of games there.

--
It's not broken. It's...advanced.
 >> Stay informed about: EGM says 2008 is the year of the PS3 - do you agree? 

Brenden D. Chase <brenden.chaseREMOVETHIS.RemoveThis@gmail.com> wrote:
> > As for EGM's report, I'm a bit confused why Blu-Ray is considered a reason
> > why the PS3 will rock in 2008. Until HD-DVD is dead, buried, and only a
> > memory at the local Big Lots stores, many people are just going to hang
> > back and wait. Even if HD-DVD were to die entirely tomorrow, and people
> > start buying the PS3 to watch movies on it, explain how this is going to
> > help Sony's video game division?

> While the final nail isnt in the coffin just yet.. i think we all know that
> it's coming, and very quickly.

Oh, I'm not denying that. Netflix's announcement is just one more step
towards the inevitable.

However, I don't quite see how making the PS3 the most popular blu-ray
player on the market is going to help the PS3 as a video game machine.

If anything, it would seem to me that folks would go with a 360 or Wii for
games, and a PS3 for movies. Sure, this is great news for the parts of
Sony that deal with movies and blu-ray. But game publishers aren't going
to be thrilled releasing a game for a platform people would rather watch
Ratatouille on, than play games.

> I had a discussion with two guys in my group at work and they've both
> expressed interest in buying a PS3 very soon solely for the blu-ray movie
> abilities. In addition to a third guy who i used to play SOCOM 3 with just
> about ever Sunday and Wednesday, who is now left behind... since most people
> are playing COD4.. and he said "man, i need to upgrade". So i think most
> people that want one, are coming around. And i dont think it's going to take
> another year for HD-DVD to go away. The more announcements that come out
> about companies dropping support the more companies that will follow suit.
> Warner was first... Netflix.. who's next? I saw a headline that Bestbuy was
> moving the HD-DVD players to the back row... (i didnt click it)... so i
> say it's coming and coming soon. The writing is on the wall, and anyone
> holding back now is only hoping that Sony will budge on the price, or
> release the next iteration of the console (Rumored to be 120GB??)

I think it's pretty much established that we're going to see yet another
PS3 model this year, and it'll probably have a 120GB or 160GB hard drive
in it. Consider the rumor from a leaked Best Buy memo about the 80GB PS3
going into oblivion, and the fact that the DualShock 3 PS3 controller is
due out in...April(?) of this year, and it's pretty easy to guess what's
going on. Of course, I don't think we've ever had a situation where a
single console has gone through so many radically different SKUs in such a
short period of time.

The 40GB PS3 will also undoubtedly be dropping in price later this year as
well if for no other reason than to respond to the inevitable price drop
of the 360.

Personally, my guess will be that the 40GB PS3 will remain $400. The
120GB PS3 with the new controller will debut at $500, replacing the 80GB
PS3. I also think the 120GB PS3 will be like the 40GB PS3 in that it
won't be backwards compatible with PS2 games. Later this year, we'll
either see the 40GB PS3 replaced with a new bundle that includes the DS3
controller, or maybe even another "fire sale" style price reduction, where
the 40GB PS3 is dropped off shelves for, say, $300, only to be replaced
with another $400 PS3 bundle.

As for the 360, a $50 price drop across the board would put the Arcade
bundle at the same price as the Wii, while also dropping the Elite even
closer to what the 40GB PS3 currently costs.

--
It's not broken. It's...advanced.
 >> Stay informed about: EGM says 2008 is the year of the PS3 - do you agree? 

"Doug Jacobs" <djacobs DeleteThis @shell.rawbw.com> wrote in message
news:13r1sn4c6pufkfb@corp.supernews.com...
> Brenden D. Chase <brenden.chaseREMOVETHIS DeleteThis @gmail.com> wrote:
>> > As for EGM's report, I'm a bit confused why Blu-Ray is considered a
>> > reason
>> > why the PS3 will rock in 2008. Until HD-DVD is dead, buried, and only
>> > a
>> > memory at the local Big Lots stores, many people are just going to hang
>> > back and wait. Even if HD-DVD were to die entirely tomorrow, and
>> > people
>> > start buying the PS3 to watch movies on it, explain how this is going
>> > to
>> > help Sony's video game division?
>
>> While the final nail isnt in the coffin just yet.. i think we all know
>> that
>> it's coming, and very quickly.
>
> Oh, I'm not denying that. Netflix's announcement is just one more step
> towards the inevitable.
>
> However, I don't quite see how making the PS3 the most popular blu-ray
> player on the market is going to help the PS3 as a video game machine.
>
> If anything, it would seem to me that folks would go with a 360 or Wii for
> games, and a PS3 for movies. Sure, this is great news for the parts of
> Sony that deal with movies and blu-ray. But game publishers aren't going
> to be thrilled releasing a game for a platform people would rather watch
> Ratatouille on, than play games.

I know what you're saying, and i'm sure there's some 360 fanboy that could
easily spout off some attachment rates to further your point. Though i do
feel that PS3 will eventually come into it's own. It's already beginning to
show. EA alone, the current front runner in complaining about PS3
development, has two games that look better and in one case play better on
PS3 (Skate and Burnout). While the differences right now might not be huge
leaps in between, it's obvious they're just beginning to crack the surface
for the console. Add to that the middleware companies, and the few 1st and
2nd party devs that spent the time and money to actually develop new
technologies as they worked on their lastest and greatest... and well... i
can see how some think that 2008 is going to be PS3's year. And it really
all starts with blu-ray, because that's the ticket the PS3 is riding into
livingrooms. I'd like to compare blu-ray to the Wii. There's really nothing
exactly special about the Wii. Yet people keep buying them up. I know 3
people that have them, and they hardly ever play them. It's a party thing.
So as you can imagine there's tons of them out in the world.. people have
these things. They've penetrated lots of homes. The same effect could be
applied to the PS3 with blu-ray. Penetration is key. This is something that
Microsoft aspired to gain. That media hub in the living room. Sony
originally had the idea with the PSX. But as we all know it just didnt pan
out. The technology just wasnt there. Enter the PS3. While it's initial
entry wasnt quite impressive, it's come a long way, and we can now see that
it plays games too. This year will deliver more of that, and with blu-ray
coming out on top, it will only solidify it's place in the living room. Yeah
it was a gamble for Sony and Co. and hind sight is 20/20, but looking at
where blu-ray stands, how can you have any doubts that PS3 is going to have
a great year? And i dont mean just movies... games too. I'm sure we all
know what's in the pipe.


>
>> I had a discussion with two guys in my group at work and they've both
>> expressed interest in buying a PS3 very soon solely for the blu-ray movie
>> abilities. In addition to a third guy who i used to play SOCOM 3 with
>> just
>> about ever Sunday and Wednesday, who is now left behind... since most
>> people
>> are playing COD4.. and he said "man, i need to upgrade". So i think most
>> people that want one, are coming around. And i dont think it's going to
>> take
>> another year for HD-DVD to go away. The more announcements that come out
>> about companies dropping support the more companies that will follow
>> suit.
>> Warner was first... Netflix.. who's next? I saw a headline that Bestbuy
>> was
>> moving the HD-DVD players to the back row... (i didnt click it)... so i
>> say it's coming and coming soon. The writing is on the wall, and anyone
>> holding back now is only hoping that Sony will budge on the price, or
>> release the next iteration of the console (Rumored to be 120GB??)
>
> I think it's pretty much established that we're going to see yet another
> PS3 model this year, and it'll probably have a 120GB or 160GB hard drive
> in it. Consider the rumor from a leaked Best Buy memo about the 80GB PS3
> going into oblivion, and the fact that the DualShock 3 PS3 controller is
> due out in...April(?) of this year, and it's pretty easy to guess what's
> going on. Of course, I don't think we've ever had a situation where a
> single console has gone through so many radically different SKUs in such a
> short period of time.
>
> The 40GB PS3 will also undoubtedly be dropping in price later this year as
> well if for no other reason than to respond to the inevitable price drop
> of the 360.
>
> Personally, my guess will be that the 40GB PS3 will remain $400. The
> 120GB PS3 with the new controller will debut at $500, replacing the 80GB
> PS3. I also think the 120GB PS3 will be like the 40GB PS3 in that it
> won't be backwards compatible with PS2 games. Later this year, we'll
> either see the 40GB PS3 replaced with a new bundle that includes the DS3
> controller, or maybe even another "fire sale" style price reduction, where
> the 40GB PS3 is dropped off shelves for, say, $300, only to be replaced
> with another $400 PS3 bundle.
>
> As for the 360, a $50 price drop across the board would put the Arcade
> bundle at the same price as the Wii, while also dropping the Elite even
> closer to what the 40GB PS3 currently costs.
>
> --
> It's not broken. It's...advanced.
 >> Stay informed about: EGM says 2008 is the year of the PS3 - do you agree?