The PS1 wasn't necessaraly competing with anyother viable competitors when it launched though, just the Sega Saturn which was $100 more expensive and the Atari Jaguar which was a joke of a competitor, 3D gaming at that time was considered far more lucrative than the proven mainstays of 2D gaming still on the market at that time. By the time the N64 launched two years later, the PS1 had already established a fairly comprable following and a year later in 1997, had cemented itself as the industry leader.

Remember, when the PS1 launched, the 3D gaming market was a place of uncertainty and was a market that had seen more industry new commers (Bandai, Fujutsu, Apple, 3DO and the return of Atari, Casio, Panasonic) than any generation since the early second generation. The PS1 was not only more affordable than the disc format competition, but the one console that was cheaper than it (N64) featured dated and expensive cartridges. The ridiculously cheap game disc format combined with brand new industry changing game titles was everything a fledgling console needed to get a foothold in the market.

However, the PS3 is not a fledgling console, its the successor to the most successful home console of all video game history, its slow start is not due to a lacking benefit of the doubt but rather one of the sharpest falls from grace of any console dynasty to date. It's the most expensive console on the market. Rather than featuring playability of pre-existing popular and utilitarian formats such as CD and DVD as its predicessors did, the PS3 tried to feature a new and unproven propriotary luxury format, Blu-Ray, which attributed to its expense at launch. And al the exclusives the PS3 is trying to rely on are either timid first party games or sequels to aging franchises long since past their prime. The PS1 built a dynasty with games like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy (as a mass appeal franchise) and Metal Gear Solid... The PS3 now is simply trying to subside on the sequels of these franchises that have become familar and predictable, no more industry suprises, no more game genre innovation, no more fresh faces.

Thanks for responding to my post. I thougt being a new user my words had fallen upon deaf ears

2. Part of the reason i may not remember as much bitching about the 360 BC is the fact that i have only been going to this site for the pretty recently so i may have missed over it entirely.  I still think that since there are still a few MGS bundles being offered that any person that who cares has had two years to pony up.  Compared to none.  I can't wait for sony to in 2 to 3 years start offering ps2 games for download because once i replace my HDD with a larger one it will be nice to not have to worry about discs period. I imagine they will be 15 tops with a lowering of the prices of thier ps1 games or 20 which is about what you find most good ps2 used titles for today.


3. I do see the dead rising ones but thats the only one i've seen.  Once again probably because i'm new here.  Sorry for my ignorance being claimed as law.  Although i don't know why anyone is surprised. Thats what most new systems  get from a lot of companies.  Capcom and many others use collections and ports to fund the creation of new ip and blockbuster titles as well as to familiarize themselves with the architecture and features of the new machine.


4. Maybe i'm thinking about cross game messaging.  You are right sony will always be playing catch up and that Live is more feature rich.  However that comes with a pricetag.  The only game it makes sense in my opinion to have to pay to play are mmorpgs.  Making it nice and easy to connect with your friends and play fun games is something that i see as should have been there  perfectly from the beginning on both consoles.  I can't believe Microsoft just has the gall to charge for it.


6. It does take away from the plug and play nature of previous game machines but Microsoft and Sony both advertise there systems as game systems that are media hubs much like the pc.  Not to mention that in game tech i do believe we are getting to the point where HDD streaming will be more and more necessary and efficient than just putting in disks.  There are even some 360 games that would have benefitted from it(Mass Effect being the primary offender) already.  And the space taken up should be looked at as an investment in getting the most pleasurable user experience, much like it is on the pc.  I would also argue that since a user has the ability to cheaply upgrade thier HDD on the ps3 it should be a non-issue.  No body complains about purchasing a pc and saying why is this game going on my HDD, but they purchase a computer entertainment system and do so.

No Coke, just Pepsi ... and Cheeburger, cheeburger, cheeburger.

Yes, the PS3 is surging, but can forget about dethroning the Wii ever. Casual gamers and nongamers are making the Wii King. PS3 can forget it royally.

1.The ps3 haters will always bash it for something even when it's not justified.

2. The fact that so many people here with obvious bias against the ps3 are making such an effort to discredit the OP and the ps3 indicates to me that they are pissed off that the ps3 is improving which is a plus.

3. The OP was obviously talking about how the ps3 has improved and nowhere did he mention that the ps3 was going to dominate or win the generation.

4. I completely agree with KZ2 and think its a great time to be a ps3 fan. I don't suffer from the complex a lot of people here have. The market is expanding and all consoles should do well in the end whatever they end up selling.

Thank you KZ2 for an interesting post. You made it interesting and touched on the positives and negatives of the ps3 while talking about trends. Keep up the good work and ignore the haters :)

The Playstation's sales were greater than the PS3's sales in Japan ( http://vgchartz.com/hwlaunch.php?cons1=PS&reg1=Japan&cons2=PS3&reg2=Japan&cons3=PS&reg3=All&weeks=104 ) and it sold faster than any console had before in the PAL regions, and you're calling that 'Poor Sales'? Even in North America, after 18 months on the market it sold 4 Million units which is only 400,000 behind the PS3 and the market (on the whole) was dramatically smaller then ... On top of that their entry into the market happened along side the two major players in the industry 'Melting Down' so I think your PS1 comparison fails on many accounts

@HappySqurriel

By December 2012, what does your "guesstimation" say about the 3 systems' worldwide install bases, Happy?

I'm expecting the XBox 360 to be in the 45 Million Range, the PS3 to be in the 60 to 70 Million range, and the Wii to have sold around 145 Million.

 1. Then get the $400 one

2. If you do get the $500 one, then this isn't a problem

3. Suck it up, they're like $20. how poor are you?

4. FPS and Driving games are way better than RPG.

@HappySqurriel

Hmmm...so you see the PS3 outselling the 360 by 15 to 20 million....I wonder...it's only winning by about 20/30K every week....granted things aren't stationary and they change, but how did you come to that conclusion?

Every gen so far at one point the third console saw its sales deep very seriously.

I'm guessing that is what he is expecting.

Typically 3-4 years into the gen the loosing consoles start seeing very poor sales.

Now we can't be certain the past will repeat itself and maybe this gen all 3 consoles will keep selling 10 millions+ consoles for several years but that looks doubtfull...

Although if it ever gets bellow 200$ I could see the loosing console still moving hardware as 200$ really isn't that much these days......