| J_Jay2000 said: Sony made a larger fundamental error here than microsoft due to their vested intrest in their own proprietary format. Wii - percieved value v cost is good. The "new way to play" and "novel idea" that is the Wii increase percieved value. PS3 - Pushes a format that the mass consumer is not ready to adopt. Xbox360 - Cost v Value is fair and reasonable, but reported failure rates tarnish this. DS - Time is the DS's major advantage. Especially in japan. PSP - Suffers in a similar way as does Xbox360 when compared to Wii (DS v PSP). Multifunctionality means all elements suffer in same shape thus reducing perception of value to cost. (yes it does internet, MP3, video, games etc, but a solo MP3 player is much smaller for example. Cramming everything in reduced the "portable" appearance of the device.) |
Some good points, here's my own take:
1. BLuRay is not a proprietary Sony technology. Sony is part of a BluRay consortium which includes Samsung, Denon, Philips, Hitachi and a couple other heavyweights. In terms of price, BluRay and HDDVD are almost the same. Technically, however, BluRay's smaller wavelength means it has much greater long-term storage potential. It's hard to imagine consumers suddenly switching to a smaller storage media.
2. The PS3 is not meant to be a mass consumer item. Sony is still selling millions of PS2s and doesn't want to kill the golden goose. Ergo, they introduced the PS3 for tech-savvy users and early adopters. Sometime next year, though, the price of the PS3 will drop to $299, and then it will become a mass market item.
3. The 360 lacks a built-in next-gen storage device. This is a crucial weakness for a console which is supposed to have a six to ten year life-cycle. I'm not sure what Microsoft was thinking - as a PC company, they should've known that you can never have too much storage.
4. It's hard to compare the DS and PSP - they're very different products, aimed at different audiences. The PSP is designed to be a web-capable multimedia center, while the DS is built around stylus input. Both were designed to maximize different styles of game-play.
