Microsft-Sony presents it's next console, the PlayStation X...if it were only true.

D

dobwal

Legend
http://kotaku.com/5821752/

Pretty interesting article.

Imagine the reality of a Microsoft-Sony as a joint venture for a next gen console or even something bigger, a merger of equals.

I know most don't welcome the prospect of paying for multiplayer on PSLive. But the ideal of KZ, UC, GranTurismo, Halo, Gears, Fable, Infamous, Forza, Resistance and MGS all on the same console with no timed exclusives on third party wares seem pretty enthralling to me.

Sony doing the hardware with MS doing the development tools. Plus while I think MS has a wonderful grasp on functionality when it comes to GUI design. I think Sony has a way better grasp of slick forward looking aesthetics when it comes to design. Live does a lot well but the dashboard is straight out of 1997. And until the 360 S, MS was (and still is for those with older 360s) killing the look of a lot entertainment centers.

I know most of the time mergers of this type turn out nowhere near perfect and in a lot of cases fail miserably. But imagine if MS and Sony could get it right.
 
It's definitely putting the cart ahead of the horse at this point, but it makes a certain kind of business sense. Both companies have entered into standards consortiums with shared royalties for various technologies. It's not that big of a leap for MS and Sony to decide that by working together there could be a single HD console that has outsold the Wii, allowing them to sell their own published games to, and collect Live membership fees from twice as many customers. Their strengths and expertise are complimentary. MS is strong on network gaming, development environments and their brand is doing really well in the US. Sony brings Japan and Europe to the table, a better distribution network and more expertise, experience and production capabilities on the hardware side.
 
We have Mario Vs Sonic, maybe in a gen or two will have MS-Sony-Nintendo Vs Apple-Samsung.
 
Microsoft would never do that partnership unless Sony has totally lost their mind and is going to commit medium term suicide the same way that Nokia did.
 
Well it'd make sense in many ways to consolidate. In the long run it'd probably be cheaper and more profitable for them to split the profits down the middle by some ratio than it would be duplicate their efforts. I can't see Sony as being keen for a repeat of trying to sell vastly more expensive AAA next gen games on a very small user base.
 
Sony is busy with their Vita engines, services and games, the movement may become their stepping stone to grab the iOS and Android crowd. They will test the $40 Vita games against $X Playstation Suite games.

The PS3 franchises can evolve into services. We will likely see more games targeted at the new wave of gamers. IMHO, PS4 should be a detachable console.
 
It would be a shot in the foot for Sony.

With PS3 now selling reasonable well(not as ps2 at same time =~5 years),it would sound like a kind of betrayal of gamers who bought and believed the proposal offered sony compared to the MS, and could abandon it now.

Only MS would profit from this, gaining a partner since before 1994 and has invested in two generations dominating the gaming market, which possesses huge amount of game IPs.

(I personally leave the gaming market, something that never happened since 1977)
 
dobwal said:
Plus while I think MS has a wonderful grasp on functionality when it comes to GUI design.
Click to expand...
Since when? None of their interfaces are particularly good, and the dashboard used to be a lot better before the 3D cruft was added. In fact I usually hit the x guide button just to call up the blades anyhow. Their most elegant looking interface "Metro", which will become a staple of Windows going forward, is modern and clean looking but less usable than iOS at this point. For example, paging through content is way better than a big ass list.

To be honest I think competition in the console space has driven most of the innovation we see today. I can't imagine what it would be like if everyone just settled on Nintendo back in the 80s and 90s. Personally I'd hate to see XBL continue the way it is and competition from PSN is really the only thing that'll pressure MS to drop the useless fee and the shitty attitude towards developers. Seriously, every year at E3 Sony should do a song and dance about how people are still paying for multiplayer on XBL while it's always been free on PSN and just about everywhere else.
 
They are pretty good but we probably need multiple perspectives. Apple and MS seem to be after a closed ecosystem. Google and Sony after more open ones.
 
SedentaryJourney said:
Since when? None of their interfaces are particularly good, and the dashboard used to be a lot better before the 3D cruft was added. In fact I usually hit the x guide button just to call up the blades anyhow. Their most elegant looking interface "Metro", which will become a staple of Windows going forward, is modern and clean looking but less usable than iOS at this point. For example, paging through content is way better than a big ass list.

To be honest I think competition in the console space has driven most of the innovation we see today. I can't imagine what it would be like if everyone just settled on Nintendo back in the 80s and 90s. Personally I'd hate to see XBL continue the way it is and competition from PSN is really the only thing that'll pressure MS to drop the useless fee and the shitty attitude towards developers. Seriously, every year at E3 Sony should do a song and dance about how people are still paying for multiplayer on XBL while it's always been free on PSN and just about everywhere else.
Click to expand...

I prefer the new Dashboard, it's clean and less cluttered.

As for XBL vs PSN...we've been over that many times on this board and the concensus is always XBL is better that's why people don't mind paying for it...just ask Shifty Geezer.
 
RudeCurve said:
I prefer the new Dashboard, it's clean and less cluttered.

As for XBL vs PSN...we've been over that many times on this board and the concensus is always XBL is better that's why people don't mind paying for it...just ask Shifty Geezer.
Click to expand...

Isn't the only advantages of XBL better party integration and cross game chat?
 
tuna said:
Isn't the only advantages of XBL better party integration and cross game chat?
Click to expand...

Yes, plus little neat things like getting a notification that someone else is playing the game you just booted and if you want to join his multi-player session, etc. We'll have to wait and see once Vita comes out (or close) whether Sony has learnt their lesson that you need to get the basics right at or near launch, or you'll never catch up.

As for the actual topic, I much prefer the competition between Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft (and PC) over any 'single platform', which I would hate to bits. You need the competition for the market to advance.
 
Arwin said:
You need the competition for the market to advance.
Click to expand...
Technically you don't. There's nothing a company could choose to do in a competitive market that they couldn't choose to do in a monopoly. It's just that the pursuit is always money and not the service/product/experience, and if they can make the same money for less effort, which is enabled with a less competitive market, companies choose to do so. The ideal would be a single platform run by enthusiastic engineers and software developers with a love of gaming wanting to provide the best possible experiences. No more missed exclusives. No more multiplatform development hassles or gimping of titles. The best of all ideas and services instead of having to pick and choose from a subset supported by your platform. This just isn't practical in the real world because people aren't like that. :(
 
If there were a monopoly in the console market advancement would slow down. However it wouldn't stop entirely. The sole manufacturer still needs growth for shareholders so they will routinely need to release new hardware. It would never be sold at a loss howerver. Each new generation would likely have significantly smaller advancement than we see now. Hardware would never be bleeding edge stuff compared to what we'd see on the PC side of things.
 
The PS3 PSN is held back by Sony's aggressiveness. They sent out a survey months ago. Right now we only have a skeletal cloud save and a reasonable PS+ discount program. The apps are still fragmented. The Playstation Rewards social platform got canned.

Heard they sent out another survey yesterday about social gaming integration. Some of the questions involve social network integration, consolidation of PlayMemories, Filmy, etc. It seems that they are still trying to justify and prioritize yet another attempt internally. If Sony can't settle simple requirements and vision quickly, then they should just port Vita's services over. I assume those are validated requirements ?

Google+ seems to be well accepted so far. Most of the press and users like Google Circle. Yet Sony ignored implemented features like Home clubhouses and XMB chatroom. The former is similar in spirit to Google Circles, the latter is like an open, multi-owner, democratic Google Circle, which is extremely useful for heavily connected gamers and communities.

EDIT: They seem to throw a lot more weight, initiative and resources in media services in comparison.

Not sure what they hope to gather from more surveys, they don't have to look far. Just look behind them. The existing XMB and PSN services have some good and unique features. Unfortunately they are only half done.


EDIT 2:
Okay, I did forget that Andrew House is the new head. Old marketing chiefs like Peter Dille are gone now. I guess Mr. House is taking stock of his inventory and arsenal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
  • Locked
Full Q/a With Tommy Tallarico Ps3 And 360
4 5 6
Replies
112
Views
22K
blakjedi
B
A
Are there flaws in Sony's PS3 strategy?
2
Replies
35
Views
9K
Acert93
A
L
Could this anonymous informant be 100% correct? (Revolution)
2
Replies
32
Views
6K
strat_ax
S
Back
Top