Take a look at any video game news site and you will be sure to find a story about how the PS3 is in third place in the Console Wars and how Sony should just give up and go the way of Sega and make games and not consoles. Yeah, cause that worked out so well for Sega. But I digress. The Playstation brand has seen rough days but it would foolish to count Sony out just yet.
Now, I understand that costs are very high to make video games and that making games on the PS3 is very complex and probably more expensive. I also understand that 360 has a higher install base, but I have news for you: it’s not that much higher. The 360 has sold about 30 million worldwide compared to the 22 million sold for the PS3. Consider the fact that the PS3 launched a year later and around the same time as the Wii. Factor in the admittely high cost of the PS3 and an 8 million unit lead is nice, but not nearly as big as everyone makes it out to be. From the way people fanboys talk, you would think the 360 has a 112 million unit lead or something. Oh wait…112 million units is the amount that the PS2 outsold the original Xbox by. But you didn’t hear this kind of doomsday talk for the Xbox then, did you? I know I didn’t. And the PS3 has already sold as many units as the original Xbox, which is not a mark of success by any means, but it sure does make you stop and wonder where all this negativity is coming from.
Let’s face it: the PS3 has had a rough launch. The high price and lack of killer games really hurt for a long time. But that time is over. With LittleBigPlanet, Killzone 2, Infamous and God of War III all out or soon to be out, the future for the PS3 is looking very bright. This article is not meant to prop up the PS3 or bring down the Wii or 360. I am merely trying to point out some facts that seem to fall by the wayside in these debates. Sony is not going anywhere and neither is Microsoft or Nintendo. Sony thumped everyone in the last round of consoles, so losing this one isn’t going to be end of the world for them.
Besides, these consoles are just getting going. Nintendo has jumped out to a seemingly insurmountable lead, but Wii sales have already slowed down and while mining the casual market seems to have done them a great service, the loss of the hardcore market might mean that the Wii’s days of ruling the sales charts are over. The 360 and PS3 will only get stronger, so we have a long way to go before this battle in the Console War is over.
Just relax and enjoy the games and try to let the guys who get paid tons of money worry about the business side of things. You want to support your console? Buy new, not used games. Other than that, it’s out of our hands. Except for the controller, of course. Until the Natal comes out.
Liking back-to-back anti-fanboy articles. It’s true, people really do go nuts about the PS3, but really, it’s not that far behind the 360. Sony had a pretty rough launch, but this next year is going to be the year to own the big black machine. Lots of great titles coming out.
Yeah, its looking good for the PS3 next year. However, I did read an article that Activision may cancel support for Sony. I have no idea about the credibility of it but heres the link.
http://n-europe.com/news.php?nid=13353
I find it a little hard to believe but then again I would have never guessed a system where you waggle around a remote would be dominating. After the last generation of consoles I expected the Playstation 3 to be an unstoppable Juggernaut lol.
[quote comment=”7284″]Yeah, its looking good for the PS3 next year. However, I did read an article that Activision may cancel support for Sony. I have no idea about the credibility of it but heres the link.
http://n-europe.com/news.php?nid=13353
I find it a little hard to believe but then again I would have never guessed a system where you waggle around a remote would be dominating. After the last generation of consoles I expected the Playstation 3 to be an unstoppable Juggernaut lol.[/quote]
That article is what made me write this post. That is a bluff, pure and simple. Just as the PS3 is set to sell more consoles than it has, you cut off support? Don’t believe it for a minute.
Well, one reason for this doomsday talk could be because a lot of it is coming from people who know nothing about the PS3…face it, the PSN doesn’t get nearly as much (negative) media attention as XBL; people just don’t hear about it too often. One thing I would argue, though, is that 8 million out of 30 million is a good 26%, which is quite a lead for the 360. So no, the PS3 is not out, but it is hurting. I do want to see it do better, but what is Sony going to bring in the future that’s so unique? It’s almost like exclusives are the things that drive console sales, which is not a good direction for the industry. Still…I do find myself wishing I had one all too often. Hopefully there are enough people who feel the same way, and have $500 to spend on another console.
Well, exclusives have always been what drives console sales. You want Sonic? Get a Genesis. Want Mario? Get a SNES.
There is also a price drop coming, but we have heard that before. For its price and its year late start, I don’t think the PS3 is doing too shabby.
Psh, PS3 is not going anywhere. At first, yeah the PS3 wasn’t so hot. But now that more awesome games are or will be out, I think that the PS3 is going to rapidly increase its sales.
Oh, and about the Wii, sure it’s nice that they’re being all cute to the casual market, but at the end of the day it’s the hardcore players that are going to give your salary.
I’d rather get a $500 pc upgrade, but if I had to pick a console, I’d stick with my Playstations.
UPDATE:
Ok, this article is exactly what I was talking about. Go read it and then come back here:
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticle/articleid/3277020
Ready? Ok…
First, the Wii is cheapest to develop for not because its not HD, but because its very close to the GameCube, so devs are already familiar with the basic design.
He cites Metacritic showing more games for the 360 than the PS3 and says this is due to the easier hardware. He is half right…that year head start kinda helps too, huh?
He says: “It has proved to be probably the biggest loss maker in the history of video gaming.”
Just pulled that out of his ass. No source for that part, though he does link to the losses Sony has has, but no other numbers to compare it to before making the above statement.
Time to get pissed: if you click that link, it reveals that Microsoft lost $4 billion on the Xbox. But Sony has lost $3 billion…so how can he say this:
“It has proved to be probably the biggest loss maker in the history of video gaming.”
For real????? WTF?????
Ha, you served him Anthony! Great article. Really funny. That’s what I like in these articles: Humour mixed with serious chatz. It makes all articles a joy to read. Keep it up with stuff like this plz!
The only thing that keeps a console from selling well are games and the price, right?
The development of games depends on 2 things- the hardware and the tools (frameworks) to make the games.
Well, since I recently read about the cpu’s in modern consoles, I can say without a doubt that all those devs that are whining about how hard it is to develop games for the ps3 are just having a severe mouth-diarrhea. The difference between the cpus of the 360 and the ps3 is, well, insignificant- the 360 has the same ppc with 2 cores the ps3 has, the only things the ps3 has different is faster memory and additional 8 spe’s, that are really there to make the devs’s lives easier.
The other “big” difference are the graphics- the 360 has a better gpu and it has directX api, which the ps3 lacks. Well, most of the games on the pc are made using directX, because that way you can make games run on every pc that has the direcX libraries. Well, you don’t need that on the ‘box, but it helps when porting the games. On the playstation, there is openGL, which is a bit harder to use than direct3d api is to, but still, the frameworks are there.
The price depends on the quality of the console. And the ps3 is made ten times better than the ‘box. Last time I checked, the fail rate of the ps3 was below 1%.
The box on the other hand has got rrod. The red ring of death usually meant that something had overheated, that something most commonly was the gpu, the only piece of hardware that was better than any other console. Overheating happens due to lack of cooling or because of extreme stress. In both occasions, it is a design failure, they should either underclock the gpu or install greater cooling equipment, so m$ has cut some corners when designing the gamers box.
I can’t understand why there aren’t as much games on the ps3 as there are on the xbox, but I still think that buying a ps3 is wiser because of its estimated 10 year plan, and I hope that the real days of glory are still to come for the ps3.