The battle ahead for Sony PS3
p2pnet.net News:- According to Sony, November 17 is the date the world will finally see how gaming will be transformed by PlayStation 3 with a “supercomputer” 40 times more powerful than the PlayStation 2, and which’ll remain state of the art for the next decade.
And, “That’s a good thing,” observes The San Francisco Chronicle, because the battle ahead for Sony is shaping up as more challenging than ever and, even more than in the past, it has, “a tremendous amount riding on its gaming platform because it will be closely linked to its other endeavors in consumer electronics and entertainment content.”
And the latter two elemenents of course include the ongoing ‘flaming batteries’ and dangerous-spyware-secretly-stashed-in-music-CDs sagas.
Meanwhile, “None of this has been helped in the slightest by the arrogance of public statements from the father of PlayStation, Ken Kutaragi, or the head of SCEA, Kaz Hirai – who have turned into a double act whose pronouncements almost seem deliberately calculated to turn consumers against Sony and its products,” observes GamesIndustry.biz, although, “in recent weeks, the tide has been turning for Sony, albeit slowly” and, “The promise of PS3 is finally being delivered upon, at least to some extent, and it’s natural that criticism will die down and the focus will shift from hardware to software as the launch draws near.”
But that’s not to say Sony is home and free yet, says the story, pointing out, “the company is still entirely capable of dropping the ball in very dramatic ways”.
Like what? Like, “This week, some of our deepest fears about Sony’s online service were confirmed when Insomniac’s Ted Price revealed in an interview that one of the biggest launch titles for the console, Resistance: Fall of Man, is set to use its own buddy list, clan registry, in-game messaging and chat services, and so on.”
The game, “sounds like it has a very extensive and comprehensive range of online gaming options, and it runs on Sony’s international network of servers to guarantee a high standard of network performance for online play,” says GamesIndustry.biz.
But, “the central buddy list doesn’t integrate into the game,” the story continues. You’ll need to add all your friends again to play against them in Resistance and, “The ball, in other words, has not so much been dropped; it has been hurled at the ground with alarming force”.
The story says at launch, PS3 will be crippled online by, “an admittedly promising service in the operating system which is not utilised by key, big-name online titles such as Resistance,” resulting in an “absolutely huge” teething problem.
Sony will have to work hard to win back the confidence of gamers, “who had been drawn in by the promise of single sign-in online gaming on the platform,” states GamesIndustry.biz, adding:
“It may be forgiveable in launch titles – but if the second wave of PS3 games doesn’t cement the vision of a unified online gaming service, the price Sony has to pay for this oversight may be one that’s difficult for the company to stomach.”
The 20-gig version is priced at $500, and the 60-gigf model with built-in Wi-Fi is $600. Against that, Microsoft’s Xbox sells for $300 while a 20-gig Xbox is priced at $400, and, “the Nintendo Wii will be priced at about $250,” says The San Francisco Chronicle, adding:
“Analyst P.J. McNealy of American Technology Research said Sony will face increasing pressure from Microsoft in the United States and Nintendo in Japan and Europe. He said it’s unlikely the PS3 will top 100 million units like its predecessors. Still, it’s too early to underestimate Sony, he said.
“And, At the end of the day, Sony is still the largest brand on the planet in consumer electronics,” said McNealy. “Everyone won’t jump off bandwagon overnight.”
Also See:
The San Francisco Chronicle – Video games reach next level, November 6, 2006
GamesIndustry.biz – Dividing Armies, November 3, 2006
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