Wired: Gloom and Doom for Sony

[Rolf N]

Crayon - I would submit to you that all the services you are excited about... already exist on the MS platform (what OS are you using to access this board? )

They don't on Microsoft's console.

and can be integrated just as or more easily than the Sony platform and can follow you... from your 360 to your phone, PDA, desktop and laptop.. thats is WAY more reach than the PS3-PSP combo...

How is it an advantage that Microsoft's console can hardly do anything without a PC somewhere to back it up, even requiring a specific OS be installed on the PC? It isn't. It's a workaround for overly restricted functionality (caused by haxx0r paranoia, politics etc).

The PS3 will have Linux (=> Samba) and a network interface out of the box. If you want to share a centralized media file library across several devices in the house, that's a pretty good base. Samba can even serve files to XPMCE clients, you know
It can also access standard USB mass storage.
Strictly speaking of media playback and related functionality, Sony would have to fuck up their Linux distribution real hard to even have the slightest chance of producing something worse than the 360.

 

[blakjedi]

They don't on Microsoft's console.How is it an advantage that Microsoft's console can hardly do anything without a PC somewhere to back it up, even requiring a specific OS be installed on the PC? It isn't. It's a workaround for overly restricted functionality (caused by haxx0r paranoia, politics etc).

The PS3 will have Linux (=> Samba) and a network interface out of the box. If you want to share a centralized media file library across several devices in the house, that's a pretty good base. Samba can even serve files to XPMCE clients, you know
It can also access standard USB mass storage.
Strictly speaking of media playback and related functionality, Sony would have to fuck up their Linux distribution real hard to even have the slightest chance of producing something worse than the 360.

All you are really saying is that MS has chosen to limit functionality to this point... which is different from saying that they could not leverage that functionality at will (which they can) or could not bring more networking capability to bear across more platforms in more instances at will than Sony (which they can.) Linux is an OS without a father so to speak... and doesn't translate as well across normal devices like Windows family does... I dont need XBMC to listen to music on my x360 from anyone of my networked home machines and they all see and recognize the 360. My Linksys router does also... SMB is simply a non-proprietary file sharing protocol... its not a real glue ... TCP/IP is the real glue...

Oh and patsu remember photographer services are different from music downloading/playing. The audience for musicians and artists is PERFECT for myspace... everyone in music is going that way... the next few months should be revelatory...

 

[TheChefO]

As for Blu-ray player, yes all plans boil down to execution. As long as PS3 is a robust, hi-quality player and priced similarly to a standalone HD player, then it should perform well regardless of whether your friends laugh at you or not.

You're missing my point there - if you have an hd set and you're looking for a hd movie format and head to the store you're more likely to buy a hd-dvd player as the cost is lower, the quality is visibly superior to bluray and they have more titles from what I've seen. If you're Joe HD consumer at this point you're not interested in bluray regardless of ps3 cost because hd-dvd is offering a superior product. Joe HD might say "well I heard they're fixing the bluray image quality issue soon" I think he might actually wait to see it with his own two eyes before dropping $500-1000 on a BR player over a hddvd player that is showing a full library of titles that do not have these issues to worry about.

If BR is going to make an impact on expanding the market it won't be until sometime next year when this issue is fixed. Then they have the problem of selling BR over hddvd as I suspect they'll look pretty much the same but hd-dvd players will cost less and I suspect the hddvd library will continue to hold an advantage over BR into next year.

A bit off tangent but this optical format war will also play a role in Sony's future.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Shifty - you're blowing my posts way out of proportion. I never said Sony has not innovated and offered anything to the industry nor did I say that this portion of loyal Sony gamers who only bought a handful of games would crash the industry if they couldn't buy a ps3. I merely stated that losing them (however many they are) is not a good thing for the industry.

I understand your points, but I don't understand your argument and how you come to those points. I don't see any reason to think fans of exclusives are enough to make a dent in the industry if they refuse to switch consoles, nor do I see reason to think that gamers of PS2 exclusives cannot be won over to alternative platforms if the PS3 is out of their price range.

A key point you need to explain is why gamers won't switch console. Why won't fans of GOW on PS2 buy a cheap Wii or XB360 to play other games in the same vein and keep contributing the same amount of money to the industry? And also, how is the industry harmed if they don't? By 'harmed' I take it you mean more than a few million lost dollars. Harmed has more serious connotations than 'slightly injured' or 'a little bump on the knee' which it seems to me is what this excluded market would amount to, seeing as these exclusives only buyers spend so little.

 

[patsu]

You're missing my point there - if you have an hd set and you're looking for a hd movie format and head to the store you're more likely to buy a hd-dvd player as the cost is lower, the quality is visibly superior to bluray and they have more titles from what I've seen. If you're Joe HD consumer at this point you're not interested in bluray regardless of ps3 cost because hd-dvd is offering a superior product. Joe HD might say "well I heard they're fixing the bluray image quality issue soon" I think he might actually wait to see it with his own two eyes before dropping $500-1000 on a BR player over a hddvd player that is showing a full library of titles that do not have these issues to worry about.

Yes but you're talking about now ? PS3 is not released yet. We are talking about after PS3 is released together with more Blu-ray titles and the dual layer stuff. Most people consider November the relaunch of Blu-ray. Again, this is assuming Sony executes well.

No doubt some will go for other players, but you can't deny the fact that some will go for PS3 because of the perceived good value.

If BR is going to make an impact on expanding the market it won't be until sometime next year when this issue is fixed. Then they have the problem of selling BR over hddvd as I suspect they'll look pretty much the same but hd-dvd players will cost less and I suspect the hddvd library will continue to hold an advantage over BR into next year.

A bit off tangent but this optical format war will also play a role in Sony's future.

It can start this November, by making gaming relevant (perhaps again) to people who just watch HD movies.

 

[TheChefO]

I understand your points, but I don't understand your argument and how you come to those points. I don't see any reason to think fans of exclusives are enough to make a dent in the industry if they refuse to switch consoles, nor do I see reason to think that gamers of PS2 exclusives cannot be won over to alternative platforms if the PS3 is out of their price range.

A key point you need to explain is why gamers won't switch console. Why won't fans of GOW on PS2 buy a cheap Wii or XB360 to play other games in the same vein and keep contributing the same amount of money to the industry? And also, how is the industry harmed if they don't? By 'harmed' I take it you mean more than a few million lost dollars. Harmed has more serious connotations than 'slightly injured' or 'a little bump on the knee' which it seems to me is what this excluded market would amount to, seeing as these exclusives only buyers spend so little.

Agreed perhaps harmed is a poor choice. But I have no idea how many of these consumers are out there so I have no idea how big an impact they will make. The point of my argument is losing these gamers will have a negative affect on the industry. So in response to the original poster inquiring whether Sony was "harming" the industry, my response was basicly yes.

WRT why these casual gamers would not stray from Sony: Comfort. A big reason why I think Sony grew their userbase last gen was taking their ps1 users and giving them a platform to grow with. They brought many of the same franchises, backwards compatibility, controllers, cable connect, , memory cards, and kept the price the same too. Sure they are continuing this trend but they are also breaking a few things as well. Biggest of course being price. I know quite a few people who considered 360 but are hesitent to buy as they can't take their ps2 games to the platform. Sad thing is they also aren't interested enough in gaming to spend $500 on a console. Sure it doesn't represent the market as a whole but I'm sure this sentiment isn't isolated.

People get comfortable with a product/experience and are hesitant to change unless a competing product draws enough interest for them to fork over the cash.

 

[TheChefO]

No doubt some will go for other players, but you can't deny the fact that some will go for PS3 because of the perceived good value.

Agreed some will but some will also avoid ps3 even if the image quality is on par with other players in the same price bracket as "Playstation" is associated with "videogame", "videogame" is associated with "toy". The last thing a videophile want's in their system is a "toy" mixed with their hi-end gear. The high price helps shed this image but the low price compared to the other BR players does not.

 

[patsu]

The last thing a videophile want's in their system is a "toy" mixed with their hi-end gear. The high price helps shed this image but the low price compared to the other BR players does not.

The reason why HD is big these days is because it is no longer just for videophile. I don't think we need to be concered with the "toy" image as long as PS3 can deliver high quality video, and has solid build quality.

 

[Crayon]

TheChefO-
Your resolve to the argument outclassess my own. I'm not on the level here. I don't feel comfortable leaning that hard on assumptions to continue. Anything I have left to say on it is rendered rendundant by Shifty, who seems to be taking the words right out of my mouth. I'll bow out and observe the dabate. Thank you for the responses. =)

Blackjedi-
I'm a bit unclear... the MS platform you are referring too- Do you mean a desktop PC? If so, then I must say taht I don't actually need one, but could use one if only for webmail and browsing around. Forum arguing, etc.
If you meant the 360, then I'd disagree. From what I've seen, the live service is dissapointingly limited. It seems primarily geared towards showering me with advertisements. It's a little clunky and it doesn't yet offer all the fucntionality I expect* out of the PS3. This is frustrating because as you pointed out, the machine could easily be doing all this stuff. Its just... not. Even then it's missing alot of the (superfluos) features like Media card support digital video out Wifi etc. Although I could easily live without that stuff, I see it as value-add.

*Expect!!! Just to be clear if it's not obvious I'm being pretty optimistic about the services I'll be able to use on the PS3. That said, I think my expectations are realistic given what I've seen so far. The 360 already dropped the ball on this stuff. Sony has at least the potential of not dissapointing me.

 

[nelg]

Live in your world..........Burn your balls in ours.

Ouch. More Sony battery recalls.

Consumers are being asked to return 526,000 laptop batteries made by Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). because they could catch fire, the latest in a record-setting recall involving nearly 7 million computers.

 

[ROG27]

Outside of the bitching blogosphere...Sony is not really viewed as a dying company.

If anything, Sony is a shrinking company, which I think will ultimately help it in the long-run. Sony has become unfocused in their approach. If they scaled back to their core product-lines and concentrate more on what consumers want, there will be no problem for them in the long-run IMO.

 

[mckmas8808]

Outside of the bitching blogosphere...Sony is not really viewed as a dying company.
.

Hasn't Sony won the consumer award like 8 years in a row?

People on the blogosphere should be the educated ones, but actually they seem to be the dumber people in the world. Jesus.

 

[one]

Live in your world..........Burn your balls in ours.

Ouch. More Sony battery recalls.

At least it's lucky for Kutaragi who was demoted out of the Sony board before this incident as Stringer and Chubachi take all the blame now. /shrug

 

[swaaye]

3DO. $700 of powerhouse "3D" action. 3DO, however, had no past rep in the market. And almost every game sucked badly. Trip Hawkins was so convinced that his new console would take over so amazingly that 3DO would become a word similar to "Video" (that's why they called it 3DO technology). Yeah, that didn't work out.

I dunno though. I only owned PS1, and only then for GT. I'm much more fascinated by Wii than more Playstation-culture. Don't have a 360 either cuz IMO the games library is rather sad.

 

[Powderkeg]

Agreed some will but some will also avoid ps3 even if the image quality is on par with other players in the same price bracket as "Playstation" is associated with "videogame", "videogame" is associated with "toy". The last thing a videophile want's in their system is a "toy" mixed with their hi-end gear. The high price helps shed this image but the low price compared to the other BR players does not.

But there is a flip side to that.

Mercedes never has and never will be the best selling car brand in the world because of it's price.

The high end market never sells as well as the mainstream.