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Darth Tigris on 28 January 2011
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heruamon said:
Darth Tigris said:
heruamon said:

Well...I look at this amazing device, NGP, and the closest thing I can see to compare it to are Smart Phones.  Now, MOST unlocked Smartphones go for around $599-$699, so I’m not sure how much cheaper Sony can get than that, and have a sound strategy to breakeven in a reasonable amount of time.  Maybe $499, but any lower than that, and SCE will be DEEP in the red again, which will put them a precarious situation, since M$ and Nintendo are going to be launching new console in the near future (regardless of what they say.)  Have 2 platforms slamming you into the red is probably going to make Sony shareholders scream for austerity quickly!


Really good points!  Competing with the 3DS and expected consumer pricing for handheld gaming is only part of the puzzle.  The other part is surviving as a division.  That's the part that most gamers ignore, unfortunately.

 

I will say this though...if Sony can launch this thing, and TIE it to monthly fees, they would probably be able to deliver it at a much cheaper cost.  The problem is what services model are you looking at 3G is okay, but probably not the best for online gaming, and I'm not sure if this device will even be 4G capable.  At $299, I'd get this over the 3DS in a heartbeat...at $399...not likely.  Here's the other thing about it...software development cost for it are probably  going to be much higher than that of the 3DS, so that means games will be costlier and take longer.  I’m sure Sony is wary of what happened with the PS3’s launch and dearth of solid titles are a while, but unless Sony is going to fray the cost, developers will rave about how great the device is, but their bean counters will say, HELL NO to large scale development of titles.  A lot of developers are just now finally placing 360/PS3 development on wash/rinse/repeat, and the thought of developing for a whole new platform is probably a cautious decision to make.

 


Another good point.  By the end of the year, HSPA-plus  and LTE will be all the rage and 3G will start to sound like last gen phone tech.  Considering the amount of data speed needed to play PS3 level games, will 3G even be enough to do slightly less than PS3 level games justice?