If Sony made a sub $399 PS3 at launch- would it have outsold the PS2 and force MS out of gaming?

[Dodece]

I am going to say something contentious, and I know what you are thinking. What a shock. I think the console would have actually done much worse. The console would have actually found itself in a worse starting position which if it had been that way might have seen Sony out of the market. Quietly out a back door, because nobody, and I mean nobody would have given a shit that they were gone. We are talking about a worst of both worlds scenario. On one hand the console would have looked like a cheap rip off of a Wii, and on the other hand it would look like a blatant lie to even imply that it had some kind of parity with the 360.

What you would have had was core and hardcore gamers flocking to the 360. The only truly dedicated machine. While the Casual gamers would have still bought into the mystique that was the Wii. Leaving Sony with no market at all to tap into. The machine being described in this thread is one that isn't trying to excel at anything, and that is believe it or not is a huge damned problem. The PS3 we got tried to be over the top hardware. Yeah it had some draw backs, but early adopters at least bought into that vision. With no vision there aren't any sales. There isn't any thing to buy into, or to become passionate about.

At best gamers would feel betrayed by the way Sony seemed to be trying to dial in another victory. At worst the console would have just been outright ignored by the rank and file on both ends. I would like for people in this thread to be just a little bit honest with themselves. Would you have really bought such a console. If motion was your thing you would have bought the Wii with its pedigree of games, and if you were a traditionalists would you have been satisfied with just half the graphical glory of the 360. There wouldn't be a debate today, because there isn't anyone on these forums who would have settled for such a console.