it's going to have to do some major persuading to get the kind of following that PSX did

The PS line has feet. The hype is going to be backed up by games

MikeB said:So at this point unless you're talking to a tech expert it's hard to convince people the PS3 holds so much still untapped potential. For them seeing is believing, Resistance was a good launch title but I expect Motorstorm and the Lair to become even more convincing. Fingers crossed for Killzone!

MikeB said: @ BenKenobi88 it's going to have to do some major persuading to get the kind of following that PSX did @ staticneuron The PS line has feet. The hype is going to be backed up by games One major roadblock right now is that the console is so futureproof that some advantages cannot be experienced by most users with to the audio-visual equipment they currently own. For example due to the extra storage space offered by Blu-Ray discs and HDMI 1.3 (up to 48-bit deep color), you can have high quality Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master 7.1 Audio uncompressed, Resistance already supports great 7.1 Audio, games like Motorstorm and Lair will offer this too, but not many users have a 7.1 Audio setup and most game reviewers don't seem to have them neither. And for instance sharp 1080p output through HDMI for Blu-Ray movies and games, many people don't even own 720p HDTVs yet. The Cell and RSX were designed to work together (bandwidhts of 20GB/s and 15GB/s between them) allowing 128-bit pixel HDR, much more complex graphics and games with more things happening simultaneouly, etc. Yet developers are still using their old engines and multi-platform game designers are still struggling to harvest all if any of this potential. Also the 256 MB 3.2 GHz XDR is a lot faster than a unified memory model, etc, etc. So at this point unless you're talking to a tech expert it's hard to convince people the PS3 holds so much still untapped potential. For them seeing is believing, Resistance was a good launch title but I expect Motorstorm and the Lair to become even more convincing. Fingers crossed for Killzone!

If someone points out just how bad of shape Sony are in, they get called fanboys or whatever, but its the God-honest truth

Erik Aston said: Look, its time for Sony to move. People predicting PS3 to come in 2nd or 3rd aren't just not giving it a fair shake, or "anti-Sony goons." They have to put up sales. They need a major advantage in the amount of software announced, or else they need higher week-to-week or month-to-month sales than the other systems. They had the first, and have been losing it in 2007. In weekly/monthly sales, they are losing to Wii in Japan, and to Wii and 360 in NA. If someone points out just how bad of shape Sony are in, they get called fanboys or whatever, but its the God-honest truth. Having a better launch than 360 is all good and well, but developers look to where the install base is, and who's install base is growing the fastest. Thats 360 and Wii. Consumers look to cost:value relationship based on price. Based on January sales in NA, thats 360 and Wii also. Sure, Sony has games coming up later in 2007 and in 2008. Of course. So do 360 and Wii. That's the one thing every system has: a bunch of upcoming killer apps. Being "good considering the price and lack of games" isn't good enough anymore. They need to be "good compared to Wii and 360." Once they've completed their launch in Europe, there's nothing to look forward to to catch them up half a million or a million units in one shot. They just have less units out there, and no massive advantage in upcoming software. There's nothing magic about Sony that means they'll get support or sales later on anyways. This is not the path PS1 or PS2 took. Its the total opposite. PS1 and PS2 never fought a long drawn-out console battle. They took at early lead, then blew it wide open just as the competition launched, and for the next 4-5 years the only thing they fought was history. Now they've got competitors with price advantages, quickly growing support, bigger install bases, and faster to develop for platforms. It. Ain't. Pretty. It would be biased for anyone to say Sony is doing fine, this is normal for them, or that they should catch up this year if nothing major changes. Being unbiased does not mean purposefully avoiding the facts to make it appear that all three consoles are doing equally well. They aren't.

MikeB said: @ Erik Aston If someone points out just how bad of shape Sony are in, they get called fanboys or whatever, but its the God-honest truth Sony isn't going to move on or give up. If you look at the big picture Sony is overall still running healthy profits despite huge investments in PS3/Cell R&D and losses on PS3 hardware sales. Blu-Ray has already outsold HD DVD releases in North America and Japan, despite HD DVD's headstart and its initial price benefits, the gap is now growing rapidly. An early victory from the Blu-Ray camp is very beneficial for Sony's long term strategy. Also Sony is the leading company with regard to HDTV sales, the PS3 fits perfecty in the strategy of sellng HDTVs.

staticneuron said: Really.... I mean really take a step back. This is a harsh picture you are painting. It is 4 months away from NA and japanese release. There is a GDC coming up soon and the worldwide release hasn't even happened yet. This sense of urgency makes no sense. The calls for how bad the situation "looks" has no real credibility. There are way to many factors involved (including the silence on specs, features and titles) that make the PS3 an unkown factor. I say just by going on the titles announced already that the PS3 will be fine by the time the heavy hitters are released this year. I have no idea what is going to happen after Sony says what they have to say about the PS3.