Wired Magazine writes an indepth article on Sony’s PS3 and its fight against Xbox 360. I guarantee you that folks over at Microsoft are happy that Sony has tripped over their feet a few times. I remember meeting with Xbox folks a few years ago when Xbox 360 was only a dream on their whiteboards and they were expecting Sony to come out at the same time. They were hoping to beat them by only a few days. I don’t think they, in their wildest dreams, thought that they’d have a whole year headstart this time around.
I remember one guy explaining why the console manufacturers needed to have their console in the marketplace for four years before they’d start making profits. Microsoft learned its lesson by getting only three years last time (they came into the market a year after PS2 and always have been behind and lost massive amounts of money).
We still have two more years before we’ll really know if “being first” is the only strategy that matters in the game market. But the Wired article sure doesn’t make Sony look good at this point in time.
James Robertson chimes in too with a “PS3 is too expensive” post. I guess it depends how many people will buy $4,000 TVs over the next year. If you get one of those you’ll probably open a credit account. Then $600 more isn’t really that big a deal since that’ll probably cost you another $20 a month. At least that’s how I bought my Xbox and my HD-DVD. Best Buy gave me $10,000 worth of credit by filling out a simple form. Oh, yeah, sorry to pop everyone’s bubble that I’m one rich dude. It’s the American way: go into debt for your toys.
Scobleizer 
Being first isn’t the issue. PlayStation wasn’t first, but it had some of the best games. PlayStation 2 was first, but the games were pretty lousy. DVD is what put the PlayStation 2 over the top.
Sega has been first MANY times, and they’ve failed just as many. Sometimes, falling outside of that normal videogame cycle can cause you to fail, even with superior technology. The trick is whether or not you can make something compelling enough to convince people that it’s worth shifting that cycle.
Just about anyone will tell you that ultimately, it’s about the games. SuperNES was a flop compared to Genesis, until a couple years passed. Suddenly, Nintendo had all the hit games, and Sega was spinning their wheels. SuperNES ended up on top.
Come out too early, and developers can’t get games ready. Too late, and developers have already bet on another system. Too expensive, and developers will be concerned about your installed base, too cheap, and they’re afraid of being associated with a “toy”. Developers are feature-whores, so sometimes, you have to have a cool feature or two that will win over the creative folks.
http://superrob.blogspot.com/2006/08/why-ps2-succeeded-and-why-ps3-will.html
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Being first isn’t the issue. PlayStation wasn’t first, but it had some of the best games. PlayStation 2 was first, but the games were pretty lousy. DVD is what put the PlayStation 2 over the top.
Sega has been first MANY times, and they’ve failed just as many. Sometimes, falling outside of that normal videogame cycle can cause you to fail, even with superior technology. The trick is whether or not you can make something compelling enough to convince people that it’s worth shifting that cycle.
Just about anyone will tell you that ultimately, it’s about the games. SuperNES was a flop compared to Genesis, until a couple years passed. Suddenly, Nintendo had all the hit games, and Sega was spinning their wheels. SuperNES ended up on top.
Come out too early, and developers can’t get games ready. Too late, and developers have already bet on another system. Too expensive, and developers will be concerned about your installed base, too cheap, and they’re afraid of being associated with a “toy”. Developers are feature-whores, so sometimes, you have to have a cool feature or two that will win over the creative folks.
http://superrob.blogspot.com/2006/08/why-ps2-succeeded-and-why-ps3-will.html
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You know its bad for Sony when the Penny Arcade guys say: “We’ve already talked about it, there’s no chance we’re buying a PS3 at launch. That’s grade-A bullshit.”
I mean, these guys are hardcore nerdcore.
(via joystiq, http://www.joystiq.com/2006/08/26/overheard-at-pax-ps3-price-is-some-grade-a-bullsh-t/ )
-r.
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You know its bad for Sony when the Penny Arcade guys say: “We’ve already talked about it, there’s no chance we’re buying a PS3 at launch. That’s grade-A bullshit.”
I mean, these guys are hardcore nerdcore.
(via joystiq, http://www.joystiq.com/2006/08/26/overheard-at-pax-ps3-price-is-some-grade-a-bullsh-t/ )
-r.
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I have nothing good to say about Sony. Game consoles or consumer electronics; they’ve gone downhill as a company and it shows. I had to rant.
Maybe they can turn it around, but how do you turn around something so big? And can a game console actually be what does the job? I’m wary.
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I have nothing good to say about Sony. Game consoles or consumer electronics; they’ve gone downhill as a company and it shows. I had to rant.
Maybe they can turn it around, but how do you turn around something so big? And can a game console actually be what does the job? I’m wary.
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Sony isn’t the Sony of old, their dual nature in Content and Devices has lead them to forget about blazing the path. Their wariness over MP3, allowed Apple to sneak in. Their scumware is the bane of the recording industry. The ‘can’t play BluRay movies’ PC player is a joke. And it’s this type of floundering, paranoia and misunderstanding of the American market that has caused, and will continue to cause, most of the problems. But even given all the troubles, PS2 even now is still outselling the 360, just based on raw numbers. And PS3 has that much bigger of a worldwide footprint, at any price. And for all the supposed headstart, 360 has but only halved it’s own market, at costs of upwards of $5 billion, and with those numbers, you won’t see profit ever, not in 4 years, not in 8, not ever…
And forget not, the “headstart” was then followed by 6 months of an serious tooth-ache, industry-first supply-chain-management trainwreck, that will be test-case studied in Biz Schools forever. And now once supply fairly righted, low demand, as they say, timing is everything. I mean Microsoft getting a “I Killed Sega” guy to head it all up…
360 is a failure in so many ways, but the cash stockpile of Microsoft, keeps it going, almost just outta ego.
Nintendo will be strong, letting the big guns battle it out, while they pay not attention, and reap the side benefits of good fun games.
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Sony isn’t the Sony of old, their dual nature in Content and Devices has lead them to forget about blazing the path. Their wariness over MP3, allowed Apple to sneak in. Their scumware is the bane of the recording industry. The ‘can’t play BluRay movies’ PC player is a joke. And it’s this type of floundering, paranoia and misunderstanding of the American market that has caused, and will continue to cause, most of the problems. But even given all the troubles, PS2 even now is still outselling the 360, just based on raw numbers. And PS3 has that much bigger of a worldwide footprint, at any price. And for all the supposed headstart, 360 has but only halved it’s own market, at costs of upwards of $5 billion, and with those numbers, you won’t see profit ever, not in 4 years, not in 8, not ever…
And forget not, the “headstart” was then followed by 6 months of an serious tooth-ache, industry-first supply-chain-management trainwreck, that will be test-case studied in Biz Schools forever. And now once supply fairly righted, low demand, as they say, timing is everything. I mean Microsoft getting a “I Killed Sega” guy to head it all up…
360 is a failure in so many ways, but the cash stockpile of Microsoft, keeps it going, almost just outta ego.
Nintendo will be strong, letting the big guns battle it out, while they pay not attention, and reap the side benefits of good fun games.
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“You know its bad for Sony when the Penny Arcade guys say: “We’ve already talked about it, there’s no chance we’re buying a PS3 at launch. That’s grade-A bullshit.”
I mean, these guys are hardcore nerdcore.”
It wasn’t the comment that was the worst part. It was the fact that 1) Sony wasn’t present in any form at the show, and 2) The entire audience absolutely erupted in applause at the comment.
Sony really needs to get some good PR going, because right now, they’re hemmoragging influentials.
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“You know its bad for Sony when the Penny Arcade guys say: “We’ve already talked about it, there’s no chance we’re buying a PS3 at launch. That’s grade-A bullshit.”
I mean, these guys are hardcore nerdcore.”
It wasn’t the comment that was the worst part. It was the fact that 1) Sony wasn’t present in any form at the show, and 2) The entire audience absolutely erupted in applause at the comment.
Sony really needs to get some good PR going, because right now, they’re hemmoragging influentials.
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Christopher: PS2 sales just demonstrate how strong momentum is. We all want to own what our friends own.
If the influentials have moved to something else (I think they have) that’ll pay off in four years with mainstream sales.
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Christopher: PS2 sales just demonstrate how strong momentum is. We all want to own what our friends own.
If the influentials have moved to something else (I think they have) that’ll pay off in four years with mainstream sales.
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Sony is hoping to buck one more time the laws of launching a console:
The laws looks like this:
1.The highest price for the console will be at launch
2. The lowest number of games available for the console will be at launch
3. Those games that are available at launch will be the lowest quality given they are either
a. Ports
b. Developed with beta or worse alpha development kits
– Please note the ‘Halo amendment’
With the PS2, Sony got lucky in the fact their customer base saw the PS2 as a low cost entry level DVD player that also doubled as a Playstation. In fact, Sony had trouble moving PS2 games because of the large number of PS1 title available and the fact the PS2 dev kit sucked so bad that developers spent over 2 years post launch before they really knew how to develop for it.
But at $600, the PS3 is way out of the market in terms of price. Folks who don’t have HDTV (why should I pay extra for limited programming) will be less willing to jump to a new disc format when they can’t tell the difference between it and standard DVD?
Plus there are many of us who can’t secure a $10,000 Best Buy credit card and to just assume anyone can kinda shows just how out of touch you are.
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Sony is hoping to buck one more time the laws of launching a console:
The laws looks like this:
1.The highest price for the console will be at launch
2. The lowest number of games available for the console will be at launch
3. Those games that are available at launch will be the lowest quality given they are either
a. Ports
b. Developed with beta or worse alpha development kits
– Please note the ‘Halo amendment’
With the PS2, Sony got lucky in the fact their customer base saw the PS2 as a low cost entry level DVD player that also doubled as a Playstation. In fact, Sony had trouble moving PS2 games because of the large number of PS1 title available and the fact the PS2 dev kit sucked so bad that developers spent over 2 years post launch before they really knew how to develop for it.
But at $600, the PS3 is way out of the market in terms of price. Folks who don’t have HDTV (why should I pay extra for limited programming) will be less willing to jump to a new disc format when they can’t tell the difference between it and standard DVD?
Plus there are many of us who can’t secure a $10,000 Best Buy credit card and to just assume anyone can kinda shows just how out of touch you are.
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Speaking as a developer….
Sony have lost a bunch of their franchise games, or at least their exclusives.
Games sell consoles. GTA and Pro Evo sold the PS2.
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Speaking as a developer….
Sony have lost a bunch of their franchise games, or at least their exclusives.
Games sell consoles. GTA and Pro Evo sold the PS2.
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What is happening to Sony with the PS3 mirrors what happens with Microsoft with Vista. I, finally, have the Xbox 360. It’s very nice, but it is very hard to learn to use. User interface is still not a strong point for Microsoft…
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What is happening to Sony with the PS3 mirrors what happens with Microsoft with Vista. I, finally, have the Xbox 360. It’s very nice, but it is very hard to learn to use. User interface is still not a strong point for Microsoft…
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I was thinking you was unable to afford XBox and returned it to store ?
http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/2006/04/04/xboxs-still-in-high-demand/
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I was thinking you was unable to afford XBox and returned it to store ?
http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/2006/04/04/xboxs-still-in-high-demand/
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Considering that Xbox360 is just Xbox2, I guess PS3 will be first to market than Xbox3.
I’ll wait for PS3 to release before putting on my thinking cap.
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TAG: I did. But then I got another one.
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TAG: I did. But then I got another one.
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Considering that Xbox360 is just Xbox2, I guess PS3 will be first to market than Xbox3.
I’ll wait for PS3 to release before putting on my thinking cap.
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I don’t care about the version number. The Xbox 360 is the first one to play in HD. That’s all that really matters right now.
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I don’t care about the version number. The Xbox 360 is the first one to play in HD. That’s all that really matters right now.
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Was not that another one a bribe to visit wedding ?
http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/2006/04/09/new-blogs-best-man-and-xbox-360s/
Or you have two XBox’s at home now ?
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Was not that another one a bribe to visit wedding ?
http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/2006/04/09/new-blogs-best-man-and-xbox-360s/
Or you have two XBox’s at home now ?
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Yeah, good point. Chris Pirillo bought it for me as my gift for being his best man. I am buying a second one, though, so my son can have one at his house. Oh, and I spent about $200 in accessories for mine and another $300 in games. So, even a free Xbox isn’t really free.
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Yeah, good point. Chris Pirillo bought it for me as my gift for being his best man. I am buying a second one, though, so my son can have one at his house. Oh, and I spent about $200 in accessories for mine and another $300 in games. So, even a free Xbox isn’t really free.
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“Considering that Xbox360 is just Xbox2, I guess PS3 will be first to market than Xbox3.”
this could be one of the dumbest statements ever posted…..
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“Considering that Xbox360 is just Xbox2, I guess PS3 will be first to market than Xbox3.”
this could be one of the dumbest statements ever posted…..
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Yah. Your telling me Robert. I got mine for free from Moutain Dew and I have spent well over the cost of the actually machine in games and accessories. I can’t blame Microsoft for designing a great console. Down with arrogant Sony.
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Yah. Your telling me Robert. I got mine for free from Moutain Dew and I have spent well over the cost of the actually machine in games and accessories. I can’t blame Microsoft for designing a great console. Down with arrogant Sony.
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Wow, the end of your post hit me hard! “It’s the American way: go into debt for your toys.” Sad that it has become the American way, but it’s not the ONLY way. http://www.concepts4cash.com/debt_elimination.htm explains the basics.
Sorry to hijack…
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Wow, the end of your post hit me hard! “It’s the American way: go into debt for your toys.” Sad that it has become the American way, but it’s not the ONLY way. http://www.concepts4cash.com/debt_elimination.htm explains the basics.
Sorry to hijack…
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Robert mate, I quite liked the person behind the cam in the original c9, you know the guy who tried to find the personalities and their passion behind faceless products… but from your prolific set of recent posts, it seems you have lost track of the human angle: You want to believe and you want us to believe that there are web is stratified into a *homogeneous* bunch of Nietzsche-ian superclass of influentials and the proletariat. Come on, for one thing unless they are so defined, no set of people adhere to *all* of these likes and dislikes you detail every day, and I doubt all these “influentials”** indeed behave exactly in the way you depict in your posts. Besides, have you forgotten what the long tail actually means: that there must be elites (N.B. the plural) spread across orthogonal fields of human interest.
**How can the influentials be influential when day after day you spout posts that show how different their behaviour is from the other 98% of users and the latter overwhelming many don’t show any sharp signs of being influenced? Or has sarcasm caught on the other side of the Atlantic?
Robert, I preferred the time strapped Scoble who was forced to condense his thoughts into an interesting distillate instead of the present strident stream of shallow posts. I’ve already unsubscribed from your rss feed at work. I fear I won’t have enough patience on my home pc either.
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Robert mate, I quite liked the person behind the cam in the original c9, you know the guy who tried to find the personalities and their passion behind faceless products… but from your prolific set of recent posts, it seems you have lost track of the human angle: You want to believe and you want us to believe that there are web is stratified into a *homogeneous* bunch of Nietzsche-ian superclass of influentials and the proletariat. Come on, for one thing unless they are so defined, no set of people adhere to *all* of these likes and dislikes you detail every day, and I doubt all these “influentials”** indeed behave exactly in the way you depict in your posts. Besides, have you forgotten what the long tail actually means: that there must be elites (N.B. the plural) spread across orthogonal fields of human interest.
**How can the influentials be influential when day after day you spout posts that show how different their behaviour is from the other 98% of users and the latter overwhelming many don’t show any sharp signs of being influenced? Or has sarcasm caught on the other side of the Atlantic?
Robert, I preferred the time strapped Scoble who was forced to condense his thoughts into an interesting distillate instead of the present strident stream of shallow posts. I’ve already unsubscribed from your rss feed at work. I fear I won’t have enough patience on my home pc either.
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I’ll stick to my DS thank you.
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I’ll stick to my DS thank you.
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Papillon: anyone who publishes on the Internet is automatically an influential. Why? Cause they tell other people what they think.
>>**How can the influentials be influential when day after day you spout posts that show how different their behaviour is from the other 98% of users and the latter overwhelming many don’t show any sharp signs of being influenced?
In 1977 the influentials were different from 99.99999% of the other users.
In 1984 the influentials were different from 99.99999% of the other users.
In 1994 the influentials were different from 99.999999% of the other users.
Today we take it for granted that many people use a personal computer, that it looks somewhat like the 1984 Macintosh, that it’ll have a Web browser.
In 2014 we’ll look back at RSS the same way. Same with HDTV. Same with Tivo (although it probably won’t be a Tivo, rather some other kind of PVR). Same with Bittorrent. Same with a whole raft of other things that the influentials are doing today that you and I are probably not yet doing. Second Life, for instance.
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Papillon: anyone who publishes on the Internet is automatically an influential. Why? Cause they tell other people what they think.
>>**How can the influentials be influential when day after day you spout posts that show how different their behaviour is from the other 98% of users and the latter overwhelming many don’t show any sharp signs of being influenced?
In 1977 the influentials were different from 99.99999% of the other users.
In 1984 the influentials were different from 99.99999% of the other users.
In 1994 the influentials were different from 99.999999% of the other users.
Today we take it for granted that many people use a personal computer, that it looks somewhat like the 1984 Macintosh, that it’ll have a Web browser.
In 2014 we’ll look back at RSS the same way. Same with HDTV. Same with Tivo (although it probably won’t be a Tivo, rather some other kind of PVR). Same with Bittorrent. Same with a whole raft of other things that the influentials are doing today that you and I are probably not yet doing. Second Life, for instance.
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Second life; With the hype about it I installed it today and had a go. What is this! Your character can fly! Even GTA3 is more realistic then this! This aint a second life, it pretty boring, more than the Real world.
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Second life; With the hype about it I installed it today and had a go. What is this! Your character can fly! Even GTA3 is more realistic then this! This aint a second life, it pretty boring, more than the Real world.
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Hey! I had a video game rental biz several years ago, remember 3do? Well as someone who works hard for ntheir money, Bluray doesn’t compell me to buy the PS3 at launch. What will compel me at 50, to go out and spend my semolians on this puppy would be the games. Plain and simple. And I would have no problem passing this console up for a more adult oriented Nintendo console lineup.
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Hey! I had a video game rental biz several years ago, remember 3do? Well as someone who works hard for ntheir money, Bluray doesn’t compell me to buy the PS3 at launch. What will compel me at 50, to go out and spend my semolians on this puppy would be the games. Plain and simple. And I would have no problem passing this console up for a more adult oriented Nintendo console lineup.
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