Who said anything about Sony leaving the console business? That’s crazy talk and I’m surprised you even brought it up.
As for losing multiplatform publishers, Valve is just the most recent and high profile example. The Orange Box was actually not published by Valve, but by EA, who demanded a PS3 version. Valve said no and an EA internal team did it. Valve is self publishing Left 4 Dead and thus get to dictate which platforms it will appear on.
As for other publishers, I have started to see some of them pull away from PS3 development. EA brought Command & Conquer 3 (and it’s expansion) and Red Alert 3 only to the Xbox 360. Tales of Vesperia is Xbox 360 exclusive right now because the PS3 development environment wasn’t finalized when development started. Sierra only published FEAR Files expansion on the Xbox 360. Children’s titles like Avatar and SpongeBob SquarePants only appear on the Xbox 360 and Wii. Beautiful Katamari, which was originally announced for the PS3 and Xbox 360, only came out on the Xbox 360.
I’ve got all 3 systems and though I like the PS3 hardware the best the 360 is the one I buy all of my games on, mainly due to the online play and more reliable graphics. LBP was supposed to be huge but I haven’t even considered buying it, though I may now that you mentioned it.
I don’t think Sony can recover from this with the PS3. I also don’t think it’s a given that we will ever see a true PS4. Sony drained a huge amount of money developing the PS3 and they aren’t getting it back so I don’t know how they would be able to develop a PS4 at this point. If we see one it will probably be a modified PS3 or something.
It is a shame that Sony did this to themselves. People were talking years before it launched that the cost was far too high and that is ultimately what doomed them. They should have put out a barebones PS3 first, and then released suped up versions with huges hard drives and blu-ray players. Then they would have had the install base to keep the games division in the black while they propped up blu-ray.
All they had to do was release a PS2 with moderate performance enhancements and they would have dominated again. Why they went this route is beyond me and I’m sure many folks have lost their jobs to this fiasco.
Whoa - relax. I brought up the almost-so-close-to-zero-that-it-might-as-well-be-zero chance that Sony would exit the business in response to the “bitchslap” verb in your title. In the business world, companies who get slapped like a bitch don’t hang around.
I wouldn’t call Valve “high profile” - up until L4D, they have one franchise. That franchise has been released on all console platforms throughout history. Red Alert 3 is still (likely) coming to the PS3. Beautiful Katamari didn’t make it to the Wii (the console leader) either, but both platforms will see a title in the franchise. I know nothing of Tales of Vesperia, as I don’t follow Japanese RPGs.
There is still a lot of life in this generation. The PS3 will be bringing up the rear, but I don’t see it as being a total failure - not as bleak as you seem to be making it out to be. But I am probably a different level of consumer than the mass market.
I’m very relaxed, I was just taken aback by the very left field suggestion that anybody thought there might not be a PS4.
I’d say Valve is pretty high profile. Obviously more in the PC world than the console world, but they are a major player. As for Red Alert 3, I know EA says it’s still in development for the PS3, but I have a feeling it will be quietly cancelled after Christmas. And you’re right, Beautiful Katamari didn’t come to the Wii, but it was never announced for the Wii, but it was announced for the PS3 and then cancelled.
I profess I do not know, so someone please explain it to me - what makes Xbox Live so superior to the PS3 online capabilities? Granted, I do not play online that much, but the times that I have it hasn’t been a difficult experience. I’ve found open servers, or had private games with “friends” - all seamless, and free to boot. What does the extra $50/year get me?
It gets you a system that is seamlessly integrated with the entire Xbox 360 console. Messages are accessible (and writeable) at any time. Cross game invites are possible across any game. And XBL uses a universal friends list that does require you to recreate it for every game.
Also, a nice perk, XBox Live is accessable from at least one of my PC games, Fallout 3. So far all it does for me is give me achievements when I finish quests though, since I don’t have anyone I message on XBL.
I have never *owned * any of the game consoles, y’all, but recently bought a 1080 Sharp HD TV and would now like to add one.
I *was * thinking of the PS 3, but the price tag is scaring me off as well.
Gamestop has re-furbished PS2’s for a lot less, but before I plunk down any money, I’d like to ask a very basic question:
Y’all know I’m pretty much hooked on WoW. Are the games on PS2 comparable to those played online (without multi-players, of course), and what games comparable to WoW would you recommend I buy?
We are a family who currently has no video game systems at all. The kids are 8 and 10 years old. I have been totally confused about which system to buy. My first thought was the Wii, but they are hard to get and it seems that you need to purchase a lot of extra stuff like special controllers, etc. for many of the games. I do think the Wii would be a good choice for the whole family. However, I am not into getting up at 4:00 AM and standing in line, hoping to be one of the lucky 15 people able to snag a Wii.
I looked at the PS3, but there doesn’t seem to be a large number of available games, and most games are not up the 8-year-old’s alley.
I haven’t researched the XBOX 360 much, but I am aware of the RRoD issue, and it bugs me that there are three different consoles - Arcade, Elite, etc. I’ll have to look to see what the game choices are.
The PS2 is cheap, readily available, has tons of games of all sorts that both kids would like. I know it will be out of production soon, but if we got a bunch of games now and bought used ones after, I think that would keep us amused for a long time. I would buy a used game, but not a used game system - I want some sort of warranty. The PS2 seems like the most bang for our buck at the stage we’re at.
Sony is not about to exit the game console business, even if they never get out of the #3 spot with the PS3. Don’t lose sight of the fact that neither Sony nor Microsoft are primarily game companies. Neither company is going to be seriously jeopardized by their current market performances.
At the top corporate levels, both companies see the game consoles as complimentary to further reaching strategies. Sony’s 2008 sales will come in at around $90 billion, and while they don’t separate out the PS3 business, it’s not likely to be more than a few of percent of that. Remember too that most analysts believe that Sony is already in the black with the unit cost of the PS3 (which counts for a large part of its high cost).
Microsoft’s most recent quarter was $15 billion, and while they cite strong Xbox 360 sales, you can bet that it’s not more than a few percent, either.
Nintendo, on the other hand, had sales for 2008 of about $1 billion. Their console is far more important to their corporate survival, and so they were less willing to take a risk in the way that both Sony and Microsoft were willing to do. Too, they didn’t have any other agenda to worry about.
Wow arjee, is a Wii still really that hard to get hold off? I know there was a massive short-fall when it came out but i assumed by now you could walk into any store and buy one.
RRoD wasn’t my problem, but the graphics card (I guess) on my more than one year old box. I called Microsoft, got to talk to a young pro from my own country, who instantly recognized me as a non-moron, and sent UPS for my box instead of tire me down with troubleshooting steps. Ten days later, the UPS delivered my box, with a new cd player too (which I only suspected was faulty, but didn’t mention) and one month gold subscription.
What’s your Gamertag? You can have access to the Dope’s list of friends. arjee, really, if you’re looking for some kind of warranty, you’d ironically have to go with the Xbox, right?