By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Sony Discussion - Article: "The problem with Sony".....what do you make of it?

shams on 23 July 2008

The key issue Sony have had with the PS3 (IMO) is this:

 - they have FAILED to show that the console is "significantly" more powerful than the 360 as promised.

As a result, the head start that the 360 has had results in better quality software (more time for developers to learn the architecture), and also boosts its install base.

...

The final result, is that the 360 & PS3 are competing for exactly the same consumers - and will end up splitting the (HD) market down the middle.

Sony need to show that the extra time developing the console (CELL & BluRay) results in *significantly* better software - stuff that is literally impossible to do on the 360. Until they do this, they cannot "win". (Why buy something "more expensive" when it does effectively the same thing as the "less expensive" solution?)

In the meantime, MS need to fix their flaky hardware.

In my eyes, its a race at the moment: can MS fix their flaky hardware before Sony can release/demonstrate games on the PS3 that are "impossible" on the 360.



Gesta Non Verba

Nocturnal is helping companies get cheaper game ratings in Australia:

Game Assessment website

Wii code: 2263 4706 2910 1099

Around the Network
ssj12 on 23 July 2008
kowenicki said:
ssj12 said:
kowenicki said:
DMeisterJ said:
lolz.

We've been having lots of "X console is doing horribly" posts and threads lately.

I just like how it says Sony is gonna stay in third place, and they don't see how PS3 made up 2.1 million units of ground on the 360 in seven months...

weird.

It has made up 2.1 million this year, thats true.... and yet the ps3 is no nearer the 360 than it was the day it launched 20 months ago.  Thats right... the PS3 has not pulled closer to the 360 after nearly 2 years.

Maybe the consoles are at different times in their life cycles..?  maybe the 360 will pull away again..? maybe not? maybe the trend will continue and the PS3 will pass the 360 late 2009..? maybe not...?

 

goto chartz then hardware from launch then eat some crow.

 

is what i have said incorrect?  nope.

 

 

yes it is, Sony is definitely pulling itself closer to the 360 every week.



PC gaming is better than console gaming. Always.     We are Anonymous, We are Legion    Kick-ass interview   Great Flash Series Here    Anime Ratings     Make and Play Please
Amazing discussion about being wrong
Official VGChartz Folding@Home Team #109453
 
Shadowblind on 23 July 2008

The only reason I started to dislike Sony was because they put out such an effort against DAX and the entire homebrew scene. Piracy or not, they threatened them pretty severely.



GOTY Contestants this year: Dead Space 2, Dark Souls, Tales of Graces f. Everything else can suck it.

SuperBabyMethod on 23 July 2008

considering most games ive seen on ps3 look better than there 360 counterparts...i think this is biased bs



azrm2k on 23 July 2008
ssj12 said:

yes it is, Sony is definitely pulling itself closer to the 360 every week.

 

It's a simple misunderstanding ssj.  He's saying the PS3 has not made any ground on the lead the 360 had before the PS3 launch.  Technically he's correct.

The week before the PS3 launch the 360 had sold 5.2 million WW.  The current gap between the 360 and the PS3 is 5.4 million.  So technically since the PS3 launch the 360 has outsold the PS3 by 200,000 units.  Now this obviously doesn't take into consideration the fact that the 360 increased its lead during the PS3's first year or the fact that the PS3 has been consistently outselling the 360 WW for months now.

Yes, the PS3 is pulling itself closer to the 360 every week but so far it hasn't cut into MS' one year lead, just the lead they built up since the PS3 launch.



Around the Network
cwbys21 on 24 July 2008
Arkk said:
colonelstubbs said:

How stupid is it to suggest that putting an advanced chip in the PS3 was a 'bad' thing? What were Sony going to do, put a shitty chip in and keep the system behind its competitors? The Cell puts the PS3 ahead of its competitors, and the system has still sold even with its high price. This guy is a fucking eejit

I haven't seen anything that the cell has done so far that can not be done on the 360. Down the road perhaps we will see something amazing, but as it stands, it was a very expensive "advanced" chip to put into the system. In the long run, it may be a great idea to insert the cell into the device, but by that time they alienated some of the core consumer that they had in the first place by wringing out a ridiculous price tag when they released the system.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate on any level. I have all three systems. I just find people on these forums to be so ignorant to what the actual issues were and are.

 

 

consider this hear say since I don't own a 360, but general conceses is that the ps3 has been able to get more enemies on screen at once since day 1 than the 360 has.  The 360 will be getting a lot of enemies on screen in gears 2, but that is several years now into the 360s life.  that has been the advantage the cell has provided so far.

btw, for the "the cell is hard to program for" arguments, heaven forbid you have to learn new things.  the developers keep pushing the hardware and wanting more power and then Sony gives them something that they think will give them tonnes of power and they complaign.

 



God hates console fanboys.

Spankey on 24 July 2008
ssj12 said:
kowenicki said:
DMeisterJ said:
lolz.

We've been having lots of "X console is doing horribly" posts and threads lately.

I just like how it says Sony is gonna stay in third place, and they don't see how PS3 made up 2.1 million units of ground on the 360 in seven months...

weird.

It has made up 2.1 million this year, thats true.... and yet the ps3 is no nearer the 360 than it was the day it launched 20 months ago. Thats right... the PS3 has not pulled closer to the 360 after nearly 2 years.

Maybe the consoles are at different times in their life cycles..? maybe the 360 will pull away again..? maybe not? maybe the trend will continue and the PS3 will pass the 360 late 2009..? maybe not...?

 

goto chartz then hardware from launch then eat some crow.

 

 

lol

Also, it can't be forgotten that the PS3 has not only been competing with the 360 since it's lauch.

The 360 had the luxury of being the only "new" console on the market where the PS3 wasn't.

I don't think anyone can deny that the Wii has been the victor so far, and as such must have taken at least a few sales from both the PS3 and 360.

 



Proud Sony Rear Admiral

forevercloud3000 on 24 July 2008
JGarret said:

Do you agree/disagree?

 

http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticle+articleid_2420155&title=The_Prroblem_with.html

 

 

"Because of what I have written on here about Sony I have been accused many times of being a Nintendo or a Microsoft fanboy. Nothing could be further from the truth. I only report what I see. And what I see is a Sony that has lost its way.

The facts are very, very simple. In the Playstation one generation Sony had massive global domination, nobody came anywhere near them. In the Playstation two generation Sony were hugely dominant again. Nintendo and Microsoft were minnows in comparison. Then we come to the Playstation three (PS3) generation and suddenly the wheels fall off. Sony are running third and it very much looks like it is going to stay that way. Analysts and fanboys continually promise or hope that a revival in fortunes is just around the corner, but it never comes. So what went wrong:

Sony is all about keeping their system alive for as long as possible. There whole plan is to safe guard the PS3's future by making the tech inside future proof. Instead of going the 360 , Wii route which will render their system obsolete in a few years
Debatable. Ive heard many of these arguments yet nothing ever sticks right. All I know is that most game developers agree is that the PS3 is superior in most fields. Even those companies that make 360 exclusives admit that. I dont know what all those numbers really mean but Ill take their word on it.
  • BluRay. The Playstation 3 was used as a Trojan horse to get this technology standard accepted by the world. And at this it has succeeded. But at a terrible cost. It forced the price of the PS3 up sufficiently to stifle consumer demand whilst forcing Sony to absorb massive losses. It is strange that Sony nearly bet the company on this at a time when physical delivery of content is in steep decline. A phyrric victory indeed. If this were not enough, difficulties in putting BluRay into production contributed to the delays in getting PS3 to market.
PS1 ushered in CDs as a standard videogame format, something never done before on the lvl sony accomplished. PS2 braught in dvd. DVD was in its begining stages just as blu ray is now. it was not yet deemed the nxt successor but i like to think it was sony's decision to go with the format that swayed a few heads to go that way.  blu ray is no different. some studies even depict blu ray at being adopted at a much faster pace, seeing as sales have gone up 300% since last yr.

  • The complex architecture of the PS3 makes it very difficult to develop content for. A lot more difficult than for it’s main competitors. This wasn’t helped by Sony releasing development tools that were also greatly weaker than those from its competitors. A double whammy that caused huge problems for games developers worldwide. Many games were delayed because the problems were so great, costing the game developers a fortune and depriving the marketplace of product.
This is a valid point, i agree with u fully. Sony F'ed up there!
  • Sony totally misread the way the market was going. They have clung to their hardcore gamer base and squandered the lead in casual gaming that they had with EyeToy and SingStar. Nintendo have come along with a simpler machine that has massively outsold the Sony PS3 with the simple tactic of providing entertainment that is accessible to a lot more people. With hindsight it looks so obvious, but Sony missed it completely. As a result Nintendo made a fortune and Sony lost a fortune.
I dont think they mis read it ass much as they underestimated it. They planned ahead with the blu ray and cell tech but they underestimated the pace that ppl would be willing to adopt their format and technology. Marketing on Sony's side for the PS3 was ALL WRONG! which left a blind spot for NIN and M$ to swoop in and take the leads.
  • Sony have been stretched for cash. They have made losses. The technology in the PS3 has cost a fortune and they are almost certainly still making a loss on every machine sold. They have been forced to raise new capital and to sell off bits of the company. So they have little room to manoeuvre. They cannot throw money at the PS3 problem. This whilst their two main competitors are rolling in money which they are both using to reinforce their positions.
valid, again.
  • Lack of exclusive content. Both competing machines have a lot more exclusive AAA content. This is a massive USP when the reason for buying these machines is to play content on them. Microsoft have invested heavily into a very impressive catalogue of exclusives and have managed to seduce some former major Sony exclusives into becoming cross platform. This alone has caused an immense shift in competitive advantage.
also fairly valid. The loss of exclusive thing pisses me off...
  • Sony have messed up very badly with online. This is a real killer and comes from them being a hardware company whilst Microsoft is a software company. So Microsoft understood the importance of online and invested massively in Live. And that investment is paying them back enormously. So they continue to invest and Live is becoming one of the biggest phenomenons ever in gaming. Giving customers a massive USP whilst generating a lot of revenue for Microsoft. And it is growing with almost unbelievable impetus, both in content and in users. The Sony competitor, Home, is still not released after multiple delays and is now several years behind. It will be nearly impossible for Sony to pull back such a huge lead.
I agree partially. Live has changed the game around. Yet I think Sony is going the BETTER route in the end. While Live is nice. It is still not worth paying for, when the opponent's online service is FREE. Live has a few quirks that put it over PSN but not enough to warrent  payment. And now that Sony is hard at work on PSN and online interactivity, MS should be scared. Becuz what is going to happen when PS3's online is better and FREE, while 360's is inferior and COSTS?
  • Sony have huge, world class, divisions in many areas. Telephones, Film making, Portable Music (they invented this) and Console Gaming. Yet these divisions appear not to talk to each other. So a potential huge strength has become a weakness. The film division isn’t used to place all their unique IP on the consoles for instance. And outsiders who are less constrained can enter Sony’s markets and win. Hence the iPhone which could and should have been a Sony product yet instead has come from a company, Apple, that just a few years earlier had no stake whatsoever in consumer electronics.
also very valid. I always wondered y these other parts never come to the PS3's rescue

With all that against them it is amazing that Sony have sold as many PS3s as they have. The reason they have done so is because of the impetus of the brand and the loyalty of a large section of their user base. The majority of console users have yet to upgrade to this generation, there is still a huge untapped market of non console households and we have yet to reach the $199 sweet spot when the bulk of sales occur. So there is still hope for Sony, which is what the analysts are grasping for. The problem for Sony now is that the sheer weight of USPs is against them. A gulf that further widened this E3 where Nintendo and Microsoft forged ahead whilst Sony were distinctly lacklustre."

 

I agree with most of it.

for the most part u are right. Sony needs to step their game up. As an employee of Gamestop i feel i have a little insight on how they are doing and how they could do better.

Sony needs too

  • Cut price, average consumer CANNOT buy the system cuz it is too costly. This also tends to stem some bad press from people who try to tear it down as a "overpriced machine".
  • PUT BC BACK! y they took this out alludes me. Backwards Compatibility was one of the main features that make the PS3 so much better than 360 which completely forsaken its younger bro when it arrived on the scene.
  • Better Advertisements. The Ladies and Gentlemen ones were really good. Yet I still see MultiPlat games with commercials that only show 360 tag. Also more special deals when buying a PS3.
  • MAKE SOME KIND OF DEAL TO KEEP EXCLUSIVES! I completely understand y Sony previously never baught into tho whol shell out money for exclusives thing. This invites ALL companies to want to be paid for their "good will". Sony is a big company that makes alot of money, but not nearly enough to pay all the big wig companies for their trust. And sony simply cannot win in a dollar roll cockfight with MS (Seriously). Yet they need to do SOMETHING. Maybe add a little insentive such as FREE DEV KITS, or help with developement. O and one more thing, JUST GO AHEAD AND BUY SQUARE-ENIX so we NEVER have to witness the atrocity that is FFXIII on 360!
  • v

so far PS3 is at a semi good pace. Its better than the 360 was in the same time frame, Its library is going, and its hype is increasing.

 



      

      

      

Greatness Awaits

PSN:Forevercloud (looking for Soul Sacrifice Partners!!!)

ClaudeLv250 on 24 July 2008

I can't believe this thread went on this long without someone realizing and pointing out that the article is written by BRUCE EVERISS.

You know, doucheongames? This automatically voids the article by all means.

Interestingly enough, though, is that it seems he's moved his crosshairs from Nintendo to Sony.



Tag - "No trolling on my watch!"

Imthelegend on 24 July 2008

Is it just ne or is one of the main reasons the PS3 is struggling is because no-one can copy PS3 games. The PS1 and PS2 both were easy to chip and get free games and the PS3 will not allow this. It might be both a good and bad thing for Sony. They may sell more games per console but with less consoles they will not make as much money due to there being alot less consoles and therefore less games sold. I hope this made sense as I just got home from work and am exhausted.