not a bad idea at all.

I think it will be a long time before (or if) we see a PS4. I think instead of releasing a PS4 they will just make modifications to the current PS3. Like the PSP with the 2000 and 3000 series. The could slim it down, add BC again, stuff like that.

BTFeather55 said: burnitt5O55 said: PS3 fanboys sure are having a hard time accepting the fact that the PS3 has lost this generation        That is because they haven't lost this gen yet.  And while the Wii faithful only have Wii blah type games to play in 2009 and some rather average survival horror games like Cold Mountain and Fatal Frame 4 (no Fatal Frame game scored above an 8.5 on PS2), to tide them over until the the next Mario and Zelda games come out in 2010, the PS3 will be steadily cutting into the Wii's lead with quality games.  The Wii is going to be lucky to reach 75 million consoles sold by the time it is replaced by the Wii HD while the PS3 will be up to 50 million and going strong.  Also, it will be cheaper and still more technologically advanced than the Wii HD will be when it is released.

Your faith and loyalty are commendable but somewhat poorly grounded in reality. Sony's is severely financially constrained and not really in a position to plan anything much bolder than simple survival. They were not nor soon will be in a position to even do a strategic price cut when one was so obviously needed to prevent the perceptually disasterous loss of mementum which has hurt their image so badly.

It is obvious that they have not developed the customer base they had hoped for and it is rapidly being split up among their competitors. This leaves them in a defensive position between two companies both of which have more resources and cash. Microsoft can now keep them from becoming the official platform of the hardcore and that market is just not large enough to support two hd platforms indefinately.

Nintendo has carved out everything else off for themselves and Sony will not be able to innovate and evolve enough to make major inroads into the casual market either. At one time maybe but this time Nintendo has all the cards. The biggest customer base, the most, probably only, profitable concole and more cash on hand than Sony total capitalization.

Nintendo will be doing R&D on a scale Sony can only dream of. They have proven they know their business well. And as much as I hate to take away the comfort that this seemingly lull in major releases are games waiting to utilize Motion+.

BTFeather55 said: burnitt5O55 said: PS3 fanboys sure are having a hard time accepting the fact that the PS3 has lost this generation         That is because they haven't lost this gen yet.  And while the Wii faithful only have Wii blah type games to play in 2009 and some rather average survival horror games like Cold Mountain and Fatal Frame 4 (no Fatal Frame game scored above an 8.5 on PS2), to tide them over until the the next Mario and Zelda games come out in 2010, the PS3 will be steadily cutting into the Wii's lead with quality games.  The Wii is going to be lucky to reach 75 million consoles sold by the time it is replaced by the Wii HD while the PS3 will be up to 50 million and going strong.  Also, it will be cheaper and still more technologically advanced than the Wii HD will be when it is released.

You do know that Wii is at almost 44 million right now and likely to reach 75 million by the end of 2009 or in early 2010. PS3 is not likely to reach 37.5 million (half of 75 million) by the time Wii reaches 75 million considering it took PS3 more than 2 years (including 3 Christmas) to reach almost 19 million.

I have to agree with Grampy that your faith and loyalty are commendable but somewhat poorly grounded in reality.

I doubt Nintendo knows their business that well.  The gamecube was a piece of crap compared to the rest, and im sure even nintendo is surprised at how well the wii is doing.  I'm continually amazed at the people I hear buy a wii.  Considering the people who I hear buy it, I have to wonder if it's a fad.  The wii seems like the new tickle me elmo.  I'm really interested at seeing the results of the next wave of consoles.  I personally don't think nintendo will do nearly as well (not that they'll do poorly) as they did this generation.  But, maybe i'm completely wrong.  Who knows.

The main reason I wonder if it's a fad, is that a lot of people are really disappointed in the wii.  They pull it out at a party every once in a while, and shortly after they buy it it no longer gets any use.  They think they're going to get a much cooler piece of machinery than they get.  As soon as the initial wow factor wears off they fall back into their normal, nongamer, lifestyle.  It's these kinds of people that caused the wii sales to skyrocket like they did.  Nintendo pulled the nongamer into gaming for a little while.  I just personally don't see them keeping most of these people there.  But, like I said, who knows.  We'll have to wait and see.

And yes, sony fanboys are having a hard time accepting that they lost this generation.  Go visit blu-ray.com.  It's almost funny how fanatical they are there.

Badassbab said: Can someone give me an example of a 10 year plan that has actually worked? It's not gonna work for a host of reasons. The PS3 is already waaaay behind the Wii and has a lot of catching up to do with the 360. It hasn't proven without a shadow of a doubt that it is the most powerful console. There is ample evidence to support this. Sony could try and play the 10 year game at it's peril but if Microsoft release a new console with download compatibility with older console games like it does now in 3-4 years time, the PS3 will look relatively backwards. The casual market belongs to the Wii this gen. In fact the 360 has a better chance than the PS3 at winning over the casuals with the sort of games it's pushing at the moment. Americans prefer Gears to LBP. The Japanese don't care about the PS3. Europeans are kinda split. Sony doesn't dominate anywhere. They will never catch up with the Wii and if they do catch up with the 360, by then it will be too late. 8 years left boys....

 

      The Japanese care more about the PS3 than they do the 360.  Every week of this holiday season when the PS3 was being outsold by double digits in the Americas and Others (mainly due to a price cut there and not to anything particularly special about the 360) the PS3 was outselling the 360 by 2.5 to 4 times as many units in Japan.  And of course having Final Fantasy XIII exclusive to the PS3 in Japan with another Final Fantasy coming exclusively to the PS3 in that territory is basically the end of the 360 in that territory.

 

     And when Gran Turismo 5 is released in Europe, you will see Sony take back its role as being the preferred console of the two in Others.

You say the PS3 is the most powerful, but third party development is so tightly linked between the PS3 and 360. From a developers point of view they are almost a single combined platform. I expect the 360 to receive all the third party software as long as the PS3 does and vice versa.

@Cidien: Considering Nintendo has been in the business for 35 years, the companys big heads have been in the industry for ages too and it was able to pull out Wii and DS, it looks like Nintendo really knows its business better than anyone.
With GC, Nintendo seemed to play survival to keep itself in the business until for the better times. Basically its problem was that it didn't try to be different from the competition.

Wii software sales indicates that Wii owners in general are happy with their purchase (you can find unhappy customers for any product there is) and it's expected to follow the same pattern with DS (another "fad" that is yet to lose its momentum).
Basically the only thing that could kill the Wii, would be to end game releases for the system. As long as the expanded audience gets games that are made them in mind, as long they keep playing games and as long as "bridge" games, that introduces them to the more traditional type of gaming, the expanded audience keeps playing games and tries games they haven't played before.

Devise01 said: You say the PS3 is the most powerful, but third party development is so tightly linked between the PS3 and 360. From a developers point of view they are almost a single combined platform. I expect the 360 to receive all the third party software as long as the PS3 does and vice versa.

 

      I said in my earlier post that the 360 would be getting the multiconsole type of games.  However, I also said that most likely when most of Microsoft's exclusive dollars are being put into their next console, the PS3 will be getting many of its best exclusives while the 360 at best is getting Viva Pinata 3 or Banjo 2 level exclusives and not the big games like Gears or Fable 3. 

 

AaronSOLDIER said: I finally get it now - the 10 year life of the PS3 is an amazing plan and, keep reading after this - could win them this gen and next gen in one! Ok so here is (I think) Sonys plan for the PS3 and that 10 year life: Sony makes the hardware the best out of all next gen consoles (it is the most powerful so dont deny it) and so they are basically ahead of the competition in the hardware department. Ok, so hardware doesn't necessarily mean you're going to win the generation (look at the XBOX, N64 etc.) however, look a little further on in the PS3's life - when MS and Nintendo release their next gen consoles (if they do) - the PS3 may be the weakest in the hardware department, and at that time - will be cheaper also. My estimation - we'll see the next MS console in 2012 at the latest and the PS3 will be roughly $150 - $300 at that time. Now then, when this happens - the PS3 has basically turned into the PS2, only Sony have been more clever about it this time and have taken a gamble - fact is, the PS3 will be the cheapest 8th gen console and will already have a headstart in the generation (think 360 with its 8 million headstart when PS3 and Wii launched, only by 2012 PS3 will be at what - 40 million or so? keep in mind the fact that PS3 will be getting cheaper and the fact that PS3 will have a strong 2009 for exclusives and probably each year afterwards). So when the 8th gen starts - Sony will have a strong start and developers will be far more used to that console than the next console from the competitors. So it will be like 360 this gen, but MORE (like how 360 got a lot of support from Capcom) but imagine if the Wii was in the 360's place - PS3 could possibly the Wii of the 8th gen - getting a load of support from 3rd party companies (of course a lot of it will be shovelware, but it was the same with the PS2). So, really, Sony WILL succeed with very strong sales from this plan however, like I said earlier - this is a huge risk on Sonys part, because it all depends on whether the other two companies decide to release a new console (I think they will, more likely Nintendo) but if they dont this plan could fail, however, it could be a huge success, when the Wii has ended its life and stops selling and PS3 gets go and possibly passes its sales and it could be almost impossible to catch the PS3's sales in the 8th gen, it'll be like trying to take on the PS2 at its 60 million sales. The fact is, if this succeeds, Sony has made an extremely smart move and will possibly get the best of both worlds, or maybe even three: Consumers looking for the most powerful console Consumers looking for a cheap HD format player Consumers not bothered about power, but plenty of games and a cheap system What do you guys think? I think if this is the 10 year plan Sony has made - I love it, whether it works or fails, you've got to respect them for risking it and trying a new tactic.

 I agree with alot of what you have said.  I'm not sure how well the ps3 will sell this year as it really depends on when/whether it gets a price cut but assuming it does get a decent price cut then hopefully it will sell at least 10 million this year. Also, in my opinion the ps3's software lineup was the best in 2008 and I think that trend will continue in 2009. However, great exclusives don't always sell consoles, the price has to be right and I think for many people the ps3 is simply too expensive to justify purchasing. As a result I speculate that there are alot of people who have their eye on purchasing a ps3 and are biding their time until a price drop comes. I just hope that the price cut brings about a significant surge in ps3 sales - how big a boost in sales is anyones guess. But assuming that the ps3 continues to deliever stellar exclusive games in 2010 and beyond combined with furhter price cuts will potentially lead to a very rosy scenario for Sony and the ps3. The way I see it, with mgs4, lbp, valkyria chronicles, resistance 2, motorstorm pacific rift all being released last year, and games like killzone 2, uncharted 2, gran turismo 5 and god of war 3 all potentially being released this year suggests that the ps3 will likely end up housing the most extensive range of AAA exclusives of this generation. Now, add in a cheap price for the console in 2010 or 2011 when the next xbox is released and you conceivably have a machine that could last up and till 2012 and maybe even longer. Whilst I'd still be hesistant to say the ps3 will fufill the 10 year plan that sony had planned for it, it could possibly come close to 8 or so years. I've mentioned price cuts and great exclusives and the release of the next xbox as reasons why the ps3 can potentially come close a 10 year life cycle but I think blu-ray may be another one. Over the next few years people will continue to upgrade to full hd tv's, and the ps3 inbuilt with a blu-ray player, a nice price and an attractive catalogue of games may foster sales well into the product's life.

BTFeather55 said: Devise01 said: You say the PS3 is the most powerful, but third party development is so tightly linked between the PS3 and 360. From a developers point of view they are almost a single combined platform. I expect the 360 to receive all the third party software as long as the PS3 does and vice versa.   I said in my earlier post that the 360 would be getting the multiconsole type of games. However, I also said that most likely when most of Microsoft's exclusive dollars are being put into their next console, the PS3 will be getting many of its best exclusives while the 360 at best is getting Viva Pinata 3 or Banjo 2 level exclusives and not the big games like Gears or Fable 3.

There is no first party system sellers after 5 years on shelves. People who buy game systems towards the end of their life cycle are extremely casual. Price and variety of third party games are the main drivers. Sony can't put enough first party titles on the shelves to make a big enough difference if third party support is equal.