PlayStation 3

[Downhome 0]

I don't think a 360 price drop will have any affect on the Wii at all. The only way that could happen is if we start seeing Wii systems just not selling.

[Craig Th 0]

I could see the Wii breaking PS2's record in a few years.

[World's Worst Man 0]

You can't sell software without selling the hardware. If they stay at $600 into 2008, they'll be dead last by a wide margin and their "reign" as the dominant console will be over.

 

That's funny, considering the PS3 is actually ahead of the 360's pace at this point. Even if it wasn't, that prediction is still rather nutty and completely underestimates the power of some of Sony's exclusive titles. There's too much overreaction going on, when not enough time has passed. The system has been out for two months. Go look at the Wii's incredibly shitty list of upcoming releases, almost devoid of quantity AND quality. But the system's been out for two months, so it makes no sense to be getting hysterical about how the Wii has no 3rd party support and is doomed to failure. The same applies to the PS3, not only because of how much time has passed, but also due to the aforementioned fact that it's curretly ahead of the 360's pace, and the 360 certainly turned out alright.

[Craig Th 0]

Is it really? Can I see some numbers/link?

[World's Worst Man 0]

http://www.vgcharts.org/usaconscomps.php?n...=PS3&type=2

http://www.vgcharts.org/usaconscomps.php?n...=PS3&type=0

 

The 360 sold more in the 1st month, probably due to the utter lack of PS3s available, but month 2 belongs to the PS3, more than enough to make up the difference from month 1.

[Anya 0]

I can't wait to see the numbers for this month and the next. It's more exciting then any game coming out!

[AndrewTS 0]

I don't think a 360 price drop will have any affect on the Wii at all. The only way that could happen is if we start seeing Wii systems just not selling.

 

Same here.

 

If 360 would have a price cut as drastic as...say $50, look at it then.

 

The Core pack would be priced the same as the Wii, but you still have to buy a memory card for it to save games, plus the Core doesn't come with a game at all.

 

Nintendo already has an easy strategy for price-cutting the Wii when they're ready: remove Wii Sports, sell the system for $200, and budget-release Wii Sports separately for anyone who still wants to buy it. That's exactly what they did in Japan for the Wii launch (save for budget-pricing Wii Sports, that is).

 

Other than economies of scale, Sony doesn't really have any way to minimize the losses they're taking per console, making a price cut unfeasible.

[Jer 0]

Economics of scale should result in a big reduction of cost to Sony, though, especially since so much of the cost is coming from BluRay. If it's anything like it was with DVD players, the cost of BluRay technology should drop pretty dramatically in the next couple years, which should bring down the cost to produce PS3s. I don't the situation is as bleak as most people seem to; I wouldn't be surprised if Sony gave us at least a little price cut in 2007 toward the end of the year.

 

Mole, there is no way the Wii is going to get even close to the PS2's numbers. The PS2 had about 60% of the American market last generation, there's no indication that any of the new systems are going to be anywhere near that dominant.

 

That vgcharts.org site is awesome. Accurate hardware and software numbers through time, all in one place. That's so nice, that stuff was so hard to get before.

[AndrewTS 0]

Economics of scale should result in a big reduction of cost to Sony, though, especially since so much of the cost is coming from BluRay. If it's anything like it was with DVD players, the cost of BluRay technology should drop pretty dramatically in the next couple years, which should bring down the cost to produce PS3s. I don't the situation is as bleak as most people seem to; I wouldn't be surprised if Sony gave us at least a little price cut in 2007 toward the end of the year.

 

Mole, there is no way the Wii is going to get even close to the PS2's numbers. The PS2 had about 60% of the American market last generation, there's no indication that any of the new systems are going to be anywhere near that dominant.

 

Economies of scale does depend on people buying the stuff that's out there, though. There are the hardcore videophiles purchasing the next gen formats...but their future doesn't seem as certain as DVD's was. PS3 may be a "cheap Blu-Ray player," but when PS2 was a "cheap DVD player" it cost a lot less.

 

I'd be shocked if Sony cut the PS3's price in late 2007. Considering holiday shopping insanity, and Metal Gear Solid 4, it would be the one easily-forseeable time where the price would be negligible. Of course, if 360 prices change, then I'd say it's much more likely.

 

I expect no *big* PS3 price cuts, though. $20 off each 6-8 months seems more realistic. Sony seems to be underproducing the Core, though, which is too bad because it's in a much better position to compete with the 360.

 

Let's also not forget about HD TVs, which will increase in adoption big time within the next year or so.

[naiwf 0]

You can't sell software without selling the hardware. If they stay at $600 into 2008, they'll be dead last by a wide margin and their "reign" as the dominant console will be over.

 

That's funny, considering the PS3 is actually ahead of the 360's pace at this point. Even if it wasn't, that prediction is still rather nutty and completely underestimates the power of some of Sony's exclusive titles. There's too much overreaction going on, when not enough time has passed. The system has been out for two months. Go look at the Wii's incredibly shitty list of upcoming releases, almost devoid of quantity AND quality. But the system's been out for two months, so it makes no sense to be getting hysterical about how the Wii has no 3rd party support and is doomed to failure. The same applies to the PS3, not only because of how much time has passed, but also due to the aforementioned fact that it's curretly ahead of the 360's pace, and the 360 certainly turned out alright.

 

Aren't a few of Sony's exclusive no longer going to be exclusives? $600 is $600 and most people aren't going to drop upwards of a month's rent on a system just to play a couple of games you can't get elsewhere. The Wii may have a shitty lineup of upcoming releases, but your average Joe Consumer can better swallow a $300 luxury purchase with a limited budget. You can talk about paces all you want but all 3 systems didn't come out at the same time. 360 is a year ahead and a price drop away from being another easily palatable luxury buy. The PS3 by all accounts won't be until 2008 or 9. The idea that HDTV's will be cheaper still doesn't take into account that an HDTV and a PS3 being cheapER doesn't make it cheap enough for most people to purchase one or both.

[World's Worst Man 0]

ou can talk about paces all you want but all 3 systems didn't come out at the same time.

 

Right, the PS3 numbers are even more impressive than the gap between the 360 would suggest, since the PS3 came out with direct competition from the Wii launch, and with the 360 already having a foothold. Certainly doesn't tell the story of a failure. Anything could happen in the next few months, but proclaiming the PS3 to be a failure because a few stores have a bunch of PS3s in-stock seems a bit premature. The January sales numbers will tell the story, good or bad.

[Fökai 0]

I could see the Wii breaking PS2's record in a few years.

 

I hope you're not talking about total sales, because I don't know anyone who is still on their first PS2 (over 100 million units). Maybe if the Wii implemented a bug in the hardware where it self-destructs after two years, but that's about it.

[World's Worst Man 0]

Clearly the PS2 really only sold 50 million, because everyone who bought one had it break on them and had to get a new one. Except me, mine has been good since 2001. So they sold 50 million legit, and 49,999,999 in replacements. The Gamecube sold a legit 12 million in the US, it never broke. Well, except mine, which crapped out after 2 years. So they really only sold 11,999,999 legit. I love online message boards.

[AndrewTS 0]

Have a working PS2? Want a PS3 really badly but find it a bit too pricey?

 

Well...

http://kotaku.com/gaming/ps3/ebgamestop-of...edit-228629.php

 

As for the PS2 breakage goes...I'll say this:

 

Fact: Lots of early PS2s suffered from the infamous "Disc Read Error" problem, prompting a class action lawsuit against Sony which they lost. Sony's since then revised the hardware a couple of times, and when the introduced the Slim they gave it a 1 year warranty.

 

Fact: Some Gamecubes had a similar problem, where the lens would become unfocused and be unable to read games properly. They fixed the problem and I believe made amends for any such defective consoles. Of course, if your console was out of warranty, you could re-calibrate it yourself. I've done it and my GC had no problems since.

 

Fact: Nobody can really give concrete numbers of how many PS2s actually required replacement. I would assume at least 2-3% of the ones out now broke on their own without user error. That still would be 2-3 million, though. Half of them? Hell no. I don't think that at all, and I hate Sony.

 

I've personally gone through 2 PS1s and I'm on my 3rd PS2. A friend of mine has a PS2 Slim that just flat out died 12 days out of warranty. I'm suspicious, sure, but I don't think that indicates a wider problem.

 

I've had quite a few Sony systems go bad, a few Nintendo systems that were easily fixed, a Dreamcast that died, but yet all my other Sega systems kept on truckin'.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

my original PS1 still works with some slowdown on loading times and a little in-game slowdown here and there.

[World's Worst Man 0]

My PS1 from 1997 still works, as does my PS2 from 2001. My NES broke after 4 years. My SNES was done after 5. The aforementioned GameCube lasted 20 months. Of course, it's nothing worth arguing over because the only thing anyone has to go own is their own experience (1 out of millions) or anecdotal evidence (dubious credibility and a still not indicative of the big picture). Shit randomly breaks.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

I will go out on a limb and say with a bit of coercing my original NES would probably still work. My Genesis probably would too. They've just been in storage for a long while.

[Downhome 0]

Yeah, without doing a lot of research you can't go by anything like that. For me personally though I've never known anyone who had a Nintendo system break down, and I've never known anyone who never had a PS2 break down on them. I've known a bunch of people who had the Xbox break down on them, but when I had an Xbox it was never a problem for me. Nintendo systems have never been a problem for me either. The only system I've ever had that broke down was a PS2, and I believe that happened twice.

[Anya 0]

I don't think people understand how dominate PS2 was. Bringing up all the broken consoles doesn't even begin to spin their lead last gen. There was no war, it outsold Xbox and GC combined.

[World's Worst Man 0]

A $600 price tag seems to have made many people forget the last generation of game consoles

[tominator89 0]

I must be one of the only people to have bought a PS2 the first night it was available and still have it working right now.

[Invictus 0]

Seems like Gabe Newell, head of Valve, doesn't like the PS3 so much.

 

"Gameinformer:What about the PS3?

 

Gabe Newell: The PS3 is a total disaster on so many levels, I think It's really clear that Sony lost track of what customers and what developers wanted. I'd say, even at this late date, they should just cancel it and do a "do over". Just say, "This was a horrible disaster and we're sorry and we're going to stop selling this and stop trying to convince people to develop for it". The happy story is the Wii. I'm betting that by Christmas of next year, the Wii has a larger installed base than the 360. Other people think I'm crazy. I really like everthing that Nintendo is doing. "

 

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=138003

 

Supposedly from Game Informer magazine.

[Anya 0]

Yeah, just cancel it. Gabe is retarded....and fat.

[MrRant 0]

Anya. Queen of insults.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I dont know why a $600 PS3 is considered expensive, but you have people spending $1,000+ (Up to $5000!) on gaming PCs.

[World's Worst Man 0]

It's kind of scary to think that Gabe Newell runs a major game studio/publisher.

 

I dont know why a $600 PS3 is considered expensive, but you have people spending $1,000+ (Up to $5000!) on gaming PCs.

 

It's not really expensive, considering how much high-end computer components cost. What bugs me is that Sony could have sold the PS3 for $400 if they'd just gone with a regular DVD-ROM rather than sticking the BD-ROM in there.

[Anya 0]

Anya. Queen of insults.

 

 

That's right! Why bring up thought provoking counter points when you can just point out that he's fat?

[Guest Princess Leena]

I dont know why a $600 PS3 is considered expensive, but you have people spending $1,000+ (Up to $5000!) on gaming PCs.

But how many people are spending that much on their gaming PC's.

[MrRant 0]

A good amount.

 

But, for that $1000, they are also burning DVDs, etc and it's not usually solely a gaming rig.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Exactly. Which is why it's an invalid point.