drago on 28 March 2007
To adress Hastings points:
1. Home & Little Big Planet
Nice to have, but will they sell systems?
2. Free Online
Not everyone wants online and those who live for it, are probably willing to pay for it, as of now there is no match for XBox-Live to be seen yet. Plus look at the current PS3 games now - how much of them have online? So yes you have to pay, but you get a lot more value out of it. And of course MS could come down with the price anytime if they should feel that they need that to be competitive, but it will take Sony quite some time to make that happen (if ever).
3. 50 GB games
Complemented by a slow BR-drive, that will sure make for a lot of space wasted on your precious HD, unless you want to go with long loading times or smaller textures/levels/etc. than PS3 is capable of. And finally compression works wonders...
4. Casino Royale
Ok, no comment on this one...
5. HDMI
XBox Elite, anyone?
6. Standard HDD
Meaning they cant get by without one, see 50 GB games above. Furthermore I suppose most who buy an XBox get an HD later anyway, so this point is quite moot.
7. The Wii Fad Will Fade
And the Hardcore Console Fad is fading already. Started by XBox 360 and perfected by the PS3. You wont get mainstream numbers without a mainstream pricepoint. XBox might make it in 1-2 years though, while it might be too late for the PS3.
8. PS3 Has a Major CPU Advantage
For things that can be made run on its architecture, for everything else XBox is probably 3x better, see the reports about the special WU for folding@home. Basically the SPE are as limited as a GPU (graphics card) in respect to programming them to run normal programs.
9. PS2 still outselling 360
And how is that helping PS3? Those buying a PS2 for cheap sure wont buy an PS3 anytime soon.
10. Something For Everyone
Unless those titles go somewhere else, too (XBox port) or just go away exclusively to where most of their audience lies (Wii).
And for those comparing XBox prices including online and HD-DVD to a PS3. It makes a difference if you have to shell out all that money at once or if you can buy it little by little. Like you first buy a console and one or two games. Later you get more controllers and finally you get an online subscription and so on. Important for sales is the price entry point not fictional sums, because chances are, if you already bought a new console, that you will keep it and keep buying things for it.
And finally for those comparing PS3 to Wii: Sorry, but you are competing vs the XBox and that is where you lose, while the Wii is in a different race of his own. Of course if the Wii is getting all the small/middle sized developers because of development costs and potential sales that leaves less for the rest of the pack ...
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