You mean a general purpose-device like a computer?  Well those haven't been doing well at all...

Um, okay. If you can't see the difference between a computer and a specialized consumer electronic device, I'm not even going to argue with you.

It's a four letter word that starts with a "w", ends with a "k", and has an "o" and "r" in the middle.

I rather disagree, Sony has a larger team them most would think as they have their teams from every other division to assist with making things for the PS3. Sony's Music division are the ones making the SingStar Store for the PS3 not Sony's WW game studios.

Also Sony has a ton of games that cant be marketed because they are downloadable. B&M stores would drop Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo in a heart beat if they advertise that after you buy the console you dont have to worry about games because you can download a lot of good games mainly due to B&M stores not being able to sell these games and make money off of them.

I think the PS3 is a push in a different direction then what Nintendo is doing. No matter how you look at it, Sony's plans are as good as Nintendo's. Expand the market to non-gamers and introduce them to gaming, even if it's just through the downloadable games.

Sony really needs to advertise more on folding@home, their network, and the full experience not just games. I think if people actually knew all the things the PS3 could truly do sales would triple because it's worth every dime for every feature it has. The fact you can install linux on it and use it as a full desktop makes it so that instead of a $4k gaming PC you can use the linux OS for your side work and the game os for your gaming, as more and more PC/PS3/360 games allow cross-platform gaming the more consoles will become acceptable as form of gaming for cheap by the PC market.

As for the gaming part, I believe we havent even seen or heard half of what Sony has in production from 1st party and what 3rd parties have in store for exclusives for the PS3. We are only seeing the tip of the iceberg of whats coming within the next few years.

I think it's great to see more non-hardcore stuff for the PS3, I really look forward to Ratchet and Clank Future, Home and Singstar in the months ahead of us. I also love the fact that the PS3 can replace a DVB tuner, VCR, media center, Blu-Ray player, etc.

We all heard about how wonderful the XBox 360 sold last year and how pathetic PS3 sales are, but if you align console launches the PS3 seems to slightly outperform the XBox 360 for the same period of availability and if you look at the PS3 as a PS2 compatible device, the PS2 + PS3 sales rivals and maybe even outperforms Nintendo Wii sales since availability (The PS2 was the undisputable winner last christmas).

Currently we are still at the early stages of this generation, the PS2 has outsold the XBox 360 for every month since release, an early NPD survey for the US held last June shows that the PS2 is being played on well more than XBox, XBox 360 (half of XBox playtime), GameCube, Nintendo Wii and PS3 combined!

Yes, but my point is that the multifunctionality of a computer is what has made it so popular.

(Yawn). Another day, another episode of Sony-bashing. Sony is doing just fine. It really couldn't have gone any better for them, thanks to Nintendo's focus on the blue ocean, and Microsoft's hardware debacle. Here's a bit of the article:

>> Instead, the likes of God of War, WipEout Pulse and Pursuit
>> Force were given short shrift in favour of new "services" for the system
>> - non-games software which Sony hopes will push the console out into
>> new markets.

The GC is a huge consumer convention in the middle of the European Union, one of the biggest game markets in the world, and Europe is all about connectivity. The region has excellent cellphone networks, fast broadband, high density wifi, etc. Totally new kinds of games and media services are going to be created for these networks, so Sony is making sure they're players in the biz.

>> However, the focus in Leipzig zoomed in tightly on this announcement -
>> and, curiously, on social gaming, with strong focus on next-gen iterations
>> of Singstar and Buzz. Both of those are fantastic franchises, but it's
>> not apparent where Sony thinks they're going on the PlayStation 3.

Um, towards a mass market, where else? You start with the expensive niche markets, then grow those into mass markets. Social gaming is a key element of the next-gen systems - one of the reasons the Wii is so successful is because it's so much darn fun in a social setting.

>> actually neglected, those people certainly feel unloved right now, and
>> worse, they feel that they're being asked to pay above the odds
>> for non-gaming functions when they just want a games console.

They can always buy a PS2 and access one of the world's greatest software libraries. The price of a PS3 should come down to 499 EUR later this year, and to 399 EUR by late 2008.

>> gained from the early adopter market in the last couple of generations
>> - indeed, it is actually generating negative word of mouth, which is
>> damaging its prospects immensely.

I see no evidence of this. Sony's brand is immensely powerful in Europe, so is Nintendo's. It's not blind infatuation, it's because they delivered what they promised. Microsoft, by contrast, is viewed with deep skepticism thanks to the Red Rings debacle.

That's just it; most people don't care about that other stuff. Convergence devices only succeed if the consumer doesn't have to pay a huge premium because such a large portion of them don't use a device beyond its primary function.

Case in point: I reluctantly co-purchased a PS3 with a friend for reviewing purposes. Why the hesitation? The price and games. I DO NOT want Blu-ray or HD-DVD. There aren't many movies I want on the formats and there isn't enough of a performance boost over upscaled DVD to make it worth my while. I also don't want Linux; I already own four computers, thankyouverymuch. I don't want to compute on a slow machine using an inferior interface. F@H? Are you joking? Yeah, it's a nice thing to do but I'm not going to tout a $500 machine's ability to help cure diseases as a primary selling feature. The PSN, while showing potential, is still massively inferior to XBL. I hope they shore up this feature but it's definitely not something Sony should be bragging about at this time. And don't even bring up Home... I already tried Second Life on PC and hated it.

To be brief, make it about the games, Sony. Stop dilluting your machine by offering features most people don't give a crap about and reaffirm why they bought the damned machine in the first place, gaming.

True, but computers already carved their niche in the world. The PS3 can never hope to compete with the blank slate that is a computer, no consumer electronic device can.

The PC isn't so much a convergence device so much as it is a general purpose device. There's a huge difference between the two.

"To be brief, make it about the games, Sony. Stop dilluting your machine by offering features most people don't give a crap about and reaffirm why they bought the damned machine in the first place, gaming."

I think that consumers will be caring about the BD capability once BD becomes more popular and the price of BD movies comes down, but we'll have to get cheaper players before that happens...oh just wait till christmas.

By the time people are ready to accept HD-DVD and/or Blu-ray en masse, players will be far less than the cost of a PS3 or 360 with add-on drive. In fact, standalone players are already quite a ways under the price of a 360 or PS3 and that gap is only going to increase with time.

Making my earlier points about convergence devices only more true...