pointless thread

Personally i don't think it is Sony's fault this has happened. I think Sony has aproached this gen as they did last gen. Assuming everyone would buy it simply because it is a PlayStation and that must mean its great on principle!
However what they didn't plan on is Nintendo and Microsoft being competative. And to me that is what happened. The PS3 got squashed by the Wii. The Wii is this gens PS1&2. They stole Sony's crown as the innovitive creators to the average joe on the street.

But the reason Sony are in trouble is down simply to games. There are some good games for the PS3 with Drakes Fortune and MGS4 being amongst my all time favs. But for every one game Microsoft seems to bung out 2. The games that used to drive console sales for PS1&2 have all now gone multi-platform. Metal gear 4 pretty much marks the last game of the PlayStation era to stay exclusive. But i think they will have no option but to now make that multi. And that is what happened. The great games we all grew up with playing on Playstation have now gone to other consoles. The PS3 has yet to find it's own identity in the world. Microsoft and Nintendo brought there A game to this gen and worked very hard on it and thats paid off for them. Sony just dont have the power they once had. To get that back they need new games and a game library that is better then its competators. Its software sales are pretty dismal right now so that would suggest that it needs to improve its games image. The PS3 is like the Dreamcast/GameCube of this gen. If anyone can come back next gen and re-take the crown it is Sony. And personally i think they will. This gen is lost.

All i can say is..
"The playstation 3 will retail for... 599 USD!! (Eachoes 599USD!!! 599USD!!!)"
The day many people said FUCK THIS!!

Leo,


It's alright kiddo. Companies don't stay number # 1 forever. Yes, Sony made a lot of mistakes, MS made less and frankly are better and more prepared to compete.

We cant make take this personally, its life. I saw my favorite Bank go down ( wamu), I've seen Apple rise from the pit of Hell to big the big times.
Sony's lost this Gen because they were arrogant and took the ps2 success for granted. This good, this will help them focus more on the customers instead of their own greed.

As for MS, they know how to compete, they have done this before, trust me. But Sony has the brand name and there's still plenty chances.

WRONG,PS2 didnt start out at 500$

I have to go with darth on this, Sony has already seen it's worst days, I was actually prepared for last months NPD #'s. I think you are overreacting a bit, sure the PS3 isn't doing as good as the PS2, but come one, you can't compare the circumstances, both generations are unique. Sleep it through an you will realize Sony made it's mistakes and there are better days ahead.

I agree with some points, however Sony is in trouble because of this:

1. Launched at $599 against competitors who offered systems from $250 (Wii) to $299 &$399 (360 core and premium) (The latter being an alternative HD console).

2. Launched at a loss

3. Didn't have good launch titles.

4. Couldn't drop price at the right time because of the value of materials.

5. Focused more on Blu Ray initially than games.

6. Lost 3rd party support by not monitarily holding onto them and expecting them to stay loyal.

7. Sold out their true fanbase to try and win over the American fanbase.

8. Made PSN free while expecting losses before launch. (But of course they couldn't make people pay for online at such a high price)

Added

Sony probably has better days ahead, yes, but denying that these are grim times for the company, isn't being realistic. The 360 is getting rather good news everyday on these forums, and I can't think of anything particularly good for Sony that's happened since the LBP review scores.

Trust me, I keep track of these things. Sony fans on message boards have less and less ammo than they use to, when combating the trolls.

Sony was in a much better position before E3. After the Megaton, Microsoft initiated its plan, and Sony just didn't do anything. They must've known a time like this would come. They just plan on pulling out of it next year. The Sony forum goer has hits like these to deal with:

1. Before E3, everybody assumed Sony would take 2nd place this gen, now it's questionable.

2. Resistance 2, Sony's biggest holiday game, received relatively middling reviews compared to Microsoft's big holiday game, and generally poor sales.

3. LBP, Sony's best holiday game, didn't sell nearly as well as expected.

4. Sony has been being beaten in console sales for a while, worldwide.

5. Nintendo dominates everything.

6. Microsoft has been selling quite well, even in Japan.

7. Microsoft's software has sold amazingly, this holiday season, and their hardware is also doing well. Everyone expected the 360 to sell less this holiday, and for Sony to gain most of its ground during this time, but after the price cut, who knows.

8. Sony drops support of 3rd parties to concentrate on 1st party games.

9. Sony refuses to cut the price of its very expensive console.

10. Final Fantasy XIII, Tekken, and most other exclusive 3rd party games are going, or will be going multiplat, from Sony's own mouth.

Not to mention the vast moneyhatting for DLC and special treatment, the multiplat differences either being slighly in favor of the PS3, or vastly in favor of the 360, and the utter lack of any big or good news, at all, for a long time.

Dark times, but they will get better, I'm sure. I wouldn't say that if I didn't believe it.

The Gamespot refence above was dead on. Here it is for those who were to lazy to click through...

We all know Sony has been taking a lot of bad press from the PS3, but lets take a look back at the year that has lead us to the Nov. 17th release date.

First, we start with Sony itself. Yes, I was going to only make a timeline of the PS3 news, but how can you ignore this arrogance from late 2005?

Nov 10th, 2005 - Sony is caught hiding a rootkit inside music CD's that place a virus on users computer. Sony's Tom Hesse defends the decision by stating that people don't know what it is, so they shouldn't care
January 2007 - Sony, Busted Again!

Now that we know Sony cares about us, lets move on to the PS3...

Feb 27th, 2006 - Sony misses it's Spring launch date
May 5th, 2006 - SCEE CEO David Reeves: "It doesn't really matter what ships at launch." "The first five million are going to buy it, whatever it is, even it didn't have games,"
May 8th, 2006 - Sony holds it's E3 conference announcing the pricing of the PS3 at $600/$500
May 8th, 2006 - New PS3 controller will have six degrees of motion, but no rumble feature. Sony's Phil Harrison states that rumble was last gen and no longer needed.
May 17th, 2006 - Kutaragi: PlayStation 3 is "too cheap"
May 31st, 2006 - Sony's Phil Harrison denies copying the Wiimote and states that the PS3 will replace the PC
Sep 5th, 2006 - Gamers looking to get the best picture out of Sony's premium PlayStation 3 package will need to shell out extra for proper hookups.
Sept 6th, 2006 - PS3 is delayed in Europe until March 2007
Sept 6th, 2006 - PS3 launch shipment is cut from 2 million to 400,000 in the US (100,000 to Japan)
Sept 8th, 2006 - Sony's President admits that the company's hardware is in a current state of decline
Sept 26th, 2006 - PS3 first-party titles announced to be the same price as third party titles, at $59.99
Sept 26th, 2006 - Square Enix will not exclusively support Sony's PS3 as much as they did with the PS2.
Sept 29th, 2006 - Sony's President Ken Kutaragi states that his company does not care about the Xbox 360 and Wii competition.
October 12th, 2006 - Sony Exec calls the 360 and Wii "too expensive"
October 19th, 2006 - The infamous spec sheet comparison and how Sony claims the Xbox 360 requires HD-DVD to play games
October 20th, 2006 - Announced that Sony may have to replace your PS3 controller for you after it no longer holds charge
October 24th, 2006 - Sony sinks Lik-Sang
October 26th, 2006 - Sony's Q2 profits decrease by 94%
October 28th, 2006 - Sony president Ken Kutaragi said he expects the PS3 to be capable of running games at a stunning 120fps
October 30th, 2006 - PS3 will push Sony $1.71 billion into the red
October 31st, 2006 - Japan launch of the PS3 is cut to 80,000 units
Nov 8th, 2006 - Sony ships without update. You must update your PS3 out of the box in order to use PlayStation Network
Nov 9th, 2006 - NBA Live 2007 is cancelled on the PS3
Nov 9th, 2006 - Oblivion is pushed back from launch title to Jan 2007
Nov 10th, 2006 - Sony's Phil Harrison states that he can no longer confirm a March 2007 launch for Europe
Nov 11th, 2006 - PS3 launches in Japan and rewards few
Nov 11th, 2006 - Sony unprepared for Japan launch
Nov 14th, 2006 - Sony will miss 400,000 unit target for the US. Approx 150k to 200k will be shipped for launch
Nov 14th, 2006 - PS3 has backwards compatibility problems
Nov 16th, 2006 - PS3 downscales 720p games instead of upscaling to 1080i 
Nov 16th, 2006 - Sony's Jack Tretton comments on the PS3 BC problems and states that the Wii has 0 backwards compatibility
Nov 20, 2006 - NYT not impressed with PS3
Nov 20, 2006 - Game Devs Prefer 360
Nov 20, 2006 - PS3 annoys Joystiq
Nov 21, 2006 - PS3, PSP Rainbow Six held till '07
Nov 23, 2006 - Saving Sony, one console at a time
Nov 25, 2006 - Sony retracts 1080i fix statement, leaving customers in lurch.
Nov 26, 2006 - More PS3 exclusives head to 360
Nov 26, 2006 - Bloomberg: Sony missed PS3 ship targets
Nov 30, 2006 - Sony shuffles senior execs
Nov 30, 2006 - Analyst: "I cannot imagine a PlayStation 4"
Dec 4, 2006 - Sony Australia: Wii "More Fun" than PS3
Dec 8, 2006 - Court rules for Immersion; Sony to pay up
Dec 11, 2006 - Industry watchers weigh in on "record-low tie ratios" for Wii and PS3 and other results from the month of the new systems' debut.
Dec 13, 2006 - Sony Admits Launching Fake Blog to Promote PSP
Dec 19, 2006 - Time says PS3 was a bust
Dec 20, 2006 - PC World Calls PS3 a top tech mistake of 2006
Dec 20, 2006 - Forced bundles and high retail price put consumers off, claims tracking firm.
Dec 21, 2006 - Virtua Fighter 5 dukes it out on Xbox 360
Dec 21, 2006 - Sony files patent for wiimote style hand-held controler
Dec 27, 2006 - PS3 Greymarket Watch: Scalpers Returning PS3s Back To Stores.
Dec 27, 2006 - Gamers who queued for days to buy Sony's PS3 are frantically trying to trade them for the much cheaper Wii.
Dec 28, 2006 - Sony's PS3: High-Scorer No More
Jan 4, 2007 - Sony spokesman David Karraker: "Everything that we put on store shelves sold out,"
Jan 4, 2007 - SCEA confirmed that there would be no supported force feedback technology with its PlayStation 3
Jan 8, 2007 - PS3 demand slows, stores stocked aplenty
Jan 9, 2007 - Sony Misses Worldwide PS3 Shipment Targets. They shiped a million in the US, but not in Japan.
Jan 10, 2007 - Motorstorm isn't going to be running in 1080p at 60FPS, despite Sony VP of Marketing David Dille saying this week that it would.
Jan 10, 2007 - Senior VP of Marketing Peter Dille: Every Sunday in the paper, there's a new deal with a free controller or a free game or $100 off all discounting the 360. I don't think you take those measures if you're selling as expected. (see Jan 13, 2007 entry)
Jan 11, 2007 - Analyst: Lagging PS3 Sales 'Troubling'
Jan 11, 2007 - ArsTechnica slams "misleading" Sony
Jan 13, 2007 - EB offers a deal, trade in your PS2, cables, a second controller and a memory card, to get $100 off a PS3, in what people assume is an attempt to actually move PS3 units.
Jan 15, 2007 - Analyst: Sony missing sales goals by 25%?
Jan 15, 2007 - Valve Software's chief Gabe Newell says PS3 a "total disaster on so many levels"
Jan 15, 2007 - PS3 sales figures 'not good' - IDC "Sony needs more must-have first-party titles to sell consoles"
Jan 17, 2007 - Sony CEO Howard Stringer: PS3 Only Using 20-25% of its Power
Jan 25, 2007 - Sony Uses PGR3 Screenshot to Promote Gran Turismo HD
Jan 26, 2007 - PS3: Now $50 More Expensive in Canada
Jan 26, 2007 - Epic Games' once-PC-and-PS3-exclusive shooter is now headed to Microsoft's new console with a slightly tweaked title, Unreal Tournament III.
Jan 29, 2007 - Sony Corp. may report third-quarter profit fell 50 percent after its flagship PlayStation 3 lost market share to Nintendo's Wii.
Jan 29, 2007 - Sony calls on Ken to save PS3
Jan 29, 2007 - Tetsuya Nomura, designer of FFXIII, has confirmed that Final Fantasy will not debut on the PS3 until 2008.
Jan 29, 2007 - Nvidia Shares Affected by Weaker Playstation 3 Demand
Jan 30, 2007 - Sony blamed the launching costs of its PlayStation 3 game console for much of the 5 percent drop in group net profit for the last three months of 2006
Jan 31, 2007 - SCEA spokesman David Karraker:"Nintendo's new console doesn't belong in the same category as the PlayStation 3." "Sony was selling out shipments of 100,000 PS3s in the US every week"

And thats only the first 60 days of launch. Removing backwards compatability was a huge mistake as well. Yes it reduced the loss short term, but if they had kept it, people with a large library of PS2 games that were not early adaptors would have a vested interest in the PS3, get the new console and take all of your games from all time with you in the future.

And before it gets stated that people wouldn't play old games once they get a new HD console, think about the success of Nintendo's VC.

Obviously it was done to make breaking even a possibility, but that situation was damned if you do, damned if you don't. It certainly didn't help sales. Regardless, the loss of backwards compatibility marked a paradigm shift in the PlayStation branding. If you buy a PS3, your connection to the previous generation - one that saw Sony reign mightily in the realm of console gaming - is severed. Does the cost of branding outweigh the financial benefit of losing a graphics chip?

Remember Phil Harrison's now famous quote about the importance of B/C as a CORE VALUE for the Sony Brand..

"[The PS3 will have] almost perfect backwards compatibility. There will be some exceptions, but we believe those will be even less than we saw from PSOne to PS2.

"Backwards compatibility, as you know from PlayStation One and PlayStation 2, is a core value of what we believe we should offer. And access to the library of content people have created, bought for themselves, and accumulated over the years is necessary to create a format. PlayStation is a format meaning that it transcends many devices -- PSOne, PS2, and now PS3."