Letters to the Editor
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Still waiting for some games
Sony can drop the price of the PS3 to $100 if they want. I don't think it's going to get them back into the race until they have some solid exclusives that show off what the console can do.
I work in the videogame industry, so I needed to buy a PS3 for work purposes, but I held off as long as I could. Finally, once the 60 GB model was discounted and discontinued, I broke down and bought one for the hardware backward compatibility. That was more than two months ago, and I still don't have a single game for it. If a game comes out for the PS3 and X360, I go with the X360 version, because I like the controller and the online service much better.
I did buy one Blu-Ray movie, to test the quality on my fancy-pants new HDTV, but even on my brand-new 42" plasma with its HDMI inputs, there wasn't a huge enough difference in quality to justify paying $10-15 more per movie by buying the Blu-Ray version instead of the DVD.
Maybe in a year or two, when Sony's finally lined up some killer console exclusives on par with Halo 3, and their online service is competitive with Microsoft's, and they put the freakin' rumble feature back in the controllers, this will be a console worth buying. But even though this holiday season should be better for them than last one (and really, could it have been much worse?), I don't think this is Sony's year. I predict a third-place finish behind Wii and X360, respectively.
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"It's the Games, Stupid!"
I agree with the first post.
360 has won the liminal class of gaming, the evangelist hardcore, through superior games. Particularly strong in FPS (BioShock, Gears of War, Halo 3), the 360 has already successfully courted serious gamers and converted casual gamers through the Xbox Live community.
Elsewhere, Wii is suffering from a dearth of good games. Many systems are collecting dust once WiiSports lost its novelty. Not to say its a bad system though. It's a wonderful, revolutionary control scheme, but it's sitting on clearly deprecated technology. It's hard to attract developers to a system that lacks the muscle we festishize now. The library is weak.
PS3 is in the same boat, pretty much. Exclusive developers have defected to Xbox 360. Developers who try to launch on both platforms are seeing their deadlines come and go.
I know I'm coming off as a zealous 360er. Here's some truth:
I've had three consecutive 360 consoles experience general hardware failure in the last 6 months. I'm sterling proof of how shoddy 360 consoles are. But I'm still gonna come back. It's the games.
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Blu Ray is irrelevent
I also agree with the first two posters. Blu Ray may be a better bargain if the buyer of a PS3 happened to be a gamer AND a home theater fanatic, but those two sets don't intersect as much as you'd think. With standalone Hi Def disc players getting cheaper, thats where most home theater afficianados are going.
PS3's online service is free, that is true, but it isn't as robust as microsofts. Their Home environment is an attempt to up the ante on the online front with a second life type world, but I am dubious as to whether this will make PSN 'better' than xbox Live. The functionality of Live, and the success of achievements, make that a difficult competitor.
The bottom line, as previous posters have noted, is the games. It's a games machine first and foremost, it needs good games. Heavenly Sword and Lair aren't gonna get it done against Super Mario Galaxy and Halo 3.
Next year, with Metal Gear Solid 4, and Final Fantasy 13, bode much better for the PS3. But by that time I fear their market share will have taken quite a beating.
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Value
I think hitting that $400 price point will spur up more sales for the PS3, but I don't think that alone will bring the PS3 back into the race. As has been said, it all comes down to the games. Unfortunately for Sony, it looks like this isn't going to happen until well into 2008.
Many consumers probably don't look too closely at the tech specs, and Sony probably won't put a big yellow sticker advertising "now with exciting reduced functionality!" on the outside of the box. They'll just see the $400 tag on something that started out at $600 and think they're getting a deal.
On the other hand, at $400, it is now cheaper than several standalone Blu-ray players out there, so it could be an appealing alternative for people wanting HD playback. As long as they don't mind using the game controller instead of a more traditional remote (or if they're willing to buy the PS3 Blu-ray remote separately), it could be a good fit there.
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I Like the PS3
I'm not a big gaming enthusiast; however, I bought one of the discounted, 60GB PS3s to play Blu-ray movies, and I find myself playing games more than I expected. The operating system and user interface are well suited to gaming and multimedia. It's a classy piece of hardware and works well with my home wireless network and my HDTV. I think the bluetooth-compatible controllers are nice, and the six-axis control feature has great potential.
I briefly owned a first-generation XBox and a Game Cube, but most of the games I tried made me car sick, including Halo. This doesn't seem to be as much of a problem with the high def games on the PS3. I've downloaded and played a bunch of relatively simple, inexpensive games from the Playstation Store. I like the fact that these are stored on the hard drive and are immediately available without inserting a disc.
I suspect that the games people want will eventually arrive. Even without a really compelling game, I'm satisfied with my purchase.