Gizmodo seeks flame: "Why It's Sad Sony Lost the Videogame Hardware Race "

[ZenfoldorVGI]

johnsobas said:

ZenfoldorVGI said:

I just wanted to point out that this portion of the article is dead on, and it sounds like I actually wrote it even:

 

But wait! PlayStation 3 does 3D! The Xbox 360 does it, but Microsoft has kept it basically a secret, and the Wii doesn't have the capability to do "real" 3D at all. But guess what? No one will use 3D—at least not this generation. Sony's 3D advantage is a waste of hype because it necessitates the purchase of a $2000 3D-capable TV and $150 glasses, even though you just dropped a grand or more on an HDTV just a couple of years ago. It'll be a nice bonus for certain games, but nobody will design an experience entirely around 3D to sell, because there's such a small market of potential customers in this generation.

In the Lap

Nintendo's 3DS highlights the miserable position of the PSP and the complete bomb that was the PSP Go. When the PSP was announced in 2004, its hardware power shamed the DS. Last year, instead of a true successor to the PSP, Sony released the PSP Go, a sleeker, completely disc-less iteration of the PSP. Great idea (sort of), botched execution.

Now, Nintendo, the same company whose most cutting edge home console is stuffed with 10-year-old guts, is beating Sony on hardware with the 3DS, which has horsepower comparable to a Wii. And it's 3D!

Viewed in the context of Sony's massive, company-wide push on 3D (an impressively unified effort for Sony), the real swift-kick-to-the-nuts aspect of the 3DS is that it will probably be the first mass 3D piece of consumer electronics. It's cheaper, easier, portable, and you don't need glasses. Sony, the gigantonormous hardware company, just got punked by Nintendo, the short-sighted game company.

indeed, i'm in the boat of the many people who bought a HDTV recently for a lot of money and i have no plan of getting another TV in a very long time.  Just when HDTV becomes mainstream now they're trying to make us all get new TVs, it's not a great enough feature for me to think about it. 

I hear the complaint alot of "don't diss Sony just because you can't afford a 3DTV."

I hate that argument for several reasons, but most importantly, it's because it's invalid.

Most adults could, in theory, afford a 3DTV if one was necessary. However, imho, I don't think they are very necessary, for a number of reasons, and I think the technology is horrible. Even though I CAN afford one, I think that it's a rip off.

1. The technology is already obsolete: NIntendo has proven that glasses aren't necessary for 3D gaming or movies.

2. The technology is evolving: There will probably be 3DTVs that don't require glasses on the market in 2011.

3. The technology is overpriced: Despite having the wear glasses, the poorly reviewed shittiest version of 3DTV from Sony that I've seen is around 2000 dollars.

4. There are better alternatives: The LN52B750 LDC HDTV from Samsung is hovering at a great price, and its PQ far exceeds most 3DTVs on the market.

5. Plasma TVs aren't recommended for gaming: The best 3DTVs are by far and away plasma. I don't recommend Plasma for gaming due to inevitable phosphor trailing, which is caused the the slower aging of green phosphors as opposed to other colors

6. There isn't a lot of content: No gaming company is going to design games around 3D because the market base is too small.

So, what you get is an overpriced, obsolete, non-ideal for gaming, poor PQ and size for the price, expensive glasses requiring status symbol with little or no real content available, godaweful n00b models starting at 2000 dollars.

Wait several years before purchasing one, because the ones you buy this year won't be worth 500 bucks in 3 years when they have them where they don't need glasses. What they are selling now is like betamax, and it will be nostalgic to remember that they existed one day.