Money-grubbing retards or Marketing geniuses

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Matt-U-_You_Rat_You

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Sony:

Money-grubbing retards or Marketing geniuses

So with the launch of the Playstation 3 (PS3) growing closer, rumors, speculations, accusations, and contemplations are running ramped. The initial price announcement of the PS3 was quite the shocker to the world. With most people feeling that $399.99 for an xbox was steep, the hefty $499.99 and $599.99 price tags almost gave gamers everywhere a simultaneous heart attack. Instant backlash ensued, claiming that it was overpriced. Honestly though, 600 bones for a console is almost ridiculous, so what are you getting for your 60000 pennies.
Lets take a quick overview.

The PS3, on paper, is the most powerful console on the market, no dout about that. Now at first no one will noticed the difference between a 360 game and a PS3 game, but over time (1-2 years) the games will start to utilize the systems full potential, Same concept with the PS2 and Xbox 1. When the xbox first shipped, the games looked no better then the PS2 games, but towards the end of its short life the xbox's games started to show a little more "crispness" then its counter part, the ps2. This only really matters for the hardcore graphics junkies because, the untrained eye still cannot make the difference between a PS2 game and a last gen xbox game, but the difference is still there.

The PS3 supports blu-ray (Sony's high definition disc format) out of the box on both models. Where as the 360 requires you to buy a $200 add on for Microsoft's challenging format HD-DVD. So buy a Premium 360 and a HD-DVD drive and you could have bought the high-end $600 PS3, which also has wireless controllers, HDMI and a high def disc support, for the same price. So now the $599.99 PS3 doesn't look so overpriced, but I'm sure some of you are saying "but I don't care about high def movies I care about games." Well this affects your games too, read on and ill explain this more in a minute.

So what is that extra $100 for then on the $600 unit, verses the $500 one? How bout a 60 gig hard drive, which is 40 more then the 360? Out of the box WiFi support? Which is a $100 add on for the xbox. And HD support, which the xbox has. So hold on a second… if I want a comparable 360 to the $600 PS3 I would need a premium 360 $400, a HD-DVD drive $200, a WiFi adapter $100, which would run me $700 and I'm still 40 gigs short on my hard drive… hmmm … strange … "but wait there's more" I believe is how the line goes.

The $600 PS3 has Music, Movie and Picture play back support, which the 360 does but limited. The PS3 has a web browser for your TV, which the 360 does not. The PS3 can stream any data saved on the hard drive to a PSP from any WiFi hot spot in the world. Which means if your PS3 in San Francisco has some south park episodes uploaded on its hard drive and your on vacation in New York, you can go to the local star bucks, access your PS3 that's across the country and watch that episode. Which the 360 cannot do.

I also failed to mention that the HD-DVD drive is only for movies, where as, the Blu-ray discs are available to the game developers to use as they see fit. So if you want to make an xbox game, the most space (realistically) you can use would be 8gigs (which is still a lot to last gen standards) where as, a dual layer blu ray disc can hold up to 50gigs. Imagine the crazy things game designers could do with that much space, at this point in time it almost seems like too much space. But you'll be surprised in a year or two when a developer starts to use a blu ray disc for a game that demands more then 8 gigs?

So in conclusion, an equally equipped 360 would run you $100 more then the high end PS3 and it still doesn't do half the stuff the PS3 does? But, I didn't write this to convince you to buy a PS3. I could care less… I'm not even convinced if I am going to buy any of the systems. I'm really not impressed with the games out at the moment enough to drop that kind of coin on any of the big 3. Although something that I do find interesting is, the way that Sony has such a huge shortage of something that they know will sell millions of even at a $1000 price tag. Its almost like there's something fishy going on here?

Think about this, Sony releases 400,000 units in the US on November 17, which is clearly not enough, BUT the media will go nuts over this. The news will be reporting people camping out over night even after the launch, people may get into fist fights at stores, ebay auctions will go through the roof, the internet will be crawling with stories of PS3'mainia. All the while Sony sits back and watches the world advertise their product for them free of charge. It gets to the point where, people are doing so much just to get one that you ask yourself, if people are doing "that" just for a videogame system, then I might want to check this thing out.

The demand will be crazy and then Sony unloads there lot of the 2 million they promised and they sell liked they are gold plated vials of the fountain of youth. From a consumers standpoint this is ridiculous and frustrating, you just want your "stupid ps3" so you can just play your games. It makes you mad and you tell your self that you wont buy one because of it. But once they are readily available on the shelves you will rethink that, because it's just human nature, you cant help it.

From a business standpoint this could be a genus-marketing ploy. Supply and demand, step 1. Cut the supply and build up demand, Step 2. ??? Step 3. Unload supply = profit. So either Sony is a bunch of business orientated geniuses or they are just a bunch of money-grubbing retards that don't know how to make deadlines… who knows? It's any ones guess really and only time will tell. And if it is just a marketing ploy, it's a smart move but not an original one because, this isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened nor is it the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, yadyadayadya…

So what was the point of this? No more then to share information, a lot of people are misinformed about the PS3 and I see it all day because I work in electronics retail. I get customers coming in all day saying "oh man $600 for a xbox with a Sony logo? I'm cool... " ... No… your ignorant that's what you are. And it was also to put out my own PS3 speculation of why they would release such a short amount on launch day. Becasue, I'm sure Microsoft did the same thing to boost the hype for the 360 when they had their "last minute shortages" as well. ~

Ryan Waltz*





*i wrote this, casue i was bored...

*edit ... sorry i guess the 360 doesnt even support HDMI, typo
 
so i missed the 0 button once.. .. fixed

*edit* id really like to see someone read this and post a thought out comment, and not just a bunch of spelling and grammar corrections for once... but im sure i wont.. casue this is OT
 
Good article. I haven't followed video games since the PS1 era, so I didn't know most of that stuff.

On a side note, I got out of video games because I was getting annoyed at them. There were too many games that were exactly the same (coughN64SuperMario64enginebeingusedforeverysinglegamecough) when one was enough, and, on a similar note, 3D games really aren't that much fun, and 99% of games out there are 3D games (except for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, which is the best game ever made for any system, ever, AND tops it off by having the best soundtrack ever). So yeah, too much emphasis placed on "look at how kick ass our graphics are" and not enough emphasis placed on fun. There's a reason games like Double Dragon for NES were fun, and why Banjo Kazooie and the 432978 games that are exactly like it, despite having much better graphics, are not as fun.

Whoops, I got on a rant. Good article, again.
 
I read it, and at first, I was like...wtf...this Sony Fanboy is a d-bag, then i kept reading and I can definately see all the points to your article.

I agree though, SOny probably saw how much media attention the 360 got with people camping out and that is free advertising.

The only thing I disagree with you on is the whole thing about the WiFi straight out of the box. Most of the people that I know with 360's, probably 30 or more, don't have the WiFi adapter because it sucks.

Instead we use out laptops and bridge connections for wireless internet, or use a crossover from out PC's.

That is really all I have to say and nice job on the article.
 
wow you wrote that? very professional, could be something that i read in a magazine. great read, and i thought the same thing with pricing points on peripherals for the 360 would be more than a ps3.

and if they were truly geniuses, they would limit what they release, which they are doing to make it crazy at the stores and build a demand. then on december 1st call a worldwide press conference saying that they have uncovered "new" manufacturing practices that has upped production to 2 million. and release them all on the third to stores
 
I care less about the graphics, than the system's other capabilities.

I'll be getting a Nintendo Wii. And eventually I will have a PS3, because I love roleplaying games and it will indeed be more "powerful" than the Nintendo - but my "must have first" system is definitely Nintendo's.

I have no reason, however, to get an XBox 360. Except maybe in 15 years when they're $35 at Gamestop.

As far as your article goes, it is a very valid point. A lot of PS3 mania will be created by the media.
 
Definately some good points, if you care about all the features.
Didn't Sony decide to put HDMI on the cheaper system as well?

Why couldn't sony cut $200 or so off the price and just make a damn gaming system? The PS2, they claimed, was going to have all sorts of features, and either they never came, never lived upto their promise, and they are hardly ever used by people who own the system.

I can see Sony laughing as they think of all the free advertising they get, and all the people spending double their cost on ebay for them (which Sony should just charge instead, they need the money).

Meanwhile Nintendo will be looking at Sony and laughing because while Sony is getting a bunch of advertising for systems they have none of. Nintendo will have just profited off the fact they did keep up with demand, and all the money people would have waisted in over priced markup from ebay sellers, is instead being spent on games and accessories for Wii. In spite of what I just said, I expect many Wii's to end up being over priced on ebay as well.

Or of course people could be buying up more toys for their 360 instead.

I honestly think the PS3 is going to end up a bit like n64/game cube. Unless they finally get the standards properly worked out with HDTV, and can make people really feel spending $30-35 for crap movies is worth the investment. And you can't deny that the movies are crap, look whats out there now, and considering their track record over the past couple of years for movies, things aren't looking good. Do you really want to re-buy your movie collection, again?
 
Learned some new thing, nice write up. However, I am not convinced that Sony is purposely holding back PS3 system to create hype. The same shortage happenned with the PS2 where no one expected people to go crazy for it back then. When the PSP was released recently, people were expecting the same PS2 phenomena and yet, there was plenty to go around.
 
as far as i know HDMI will only be on the 60gig $600, model ..




The differeacne here is that they claimed a bunch of "add ons" like the network adapter, and the HDD.. which took forever to come out. all the features i talked about will be shipped in the box and useable right away.

But i do think that they (sony) should have done a $400 ps3 with just bare bones basicly exactly the same as the premium 360, with no blu ray but make it upgradable to the $600 unit, like the 360. but that would mean more cost for Sony to make all the add ons. so the pricing makes sense and in the words of my buddy they kinda are "craming everything down your throat" and kind of forcing you to by a blu ray player.

Maybe this is sonys marketing stratigey for blu ray, becasue if every PS2 had blu ray then almost every house hold in amercia would have a blu ray player? so if the PS3 sell as well as the PS2, then 90% or more of america will already have a blu ray player, where as microsoft still has to make you either buy a $900 HD-DVD player or a $200 add on to your 360...

hmm interesting ..




no i dont, and i dont really plan on it becasue i dont have a HDTV yet. BUT i do care about giving the game desingers the option to use a 50 gig blu ray disc to make a game. i mean if a game devoloper decides "hey, lets build the biggest map anyone has done in a game" or " lets add a crap load more cars to this game" or (and the most realistic) "hey we made our game and it fits on a DVD but our soundtrack is too big and we dont wanna make it smaller " (becasue auido files take up alot of the disc space), I'd like to see them have the option to do so


im glad you kept reading, im sure i lost alot of people from the first couple paragraphs



ya im sure most people skipped the 360 WiFi adapter, i was just comparing for an equal comparison. people are like "whoa the PS3 is way more expensive then the 360" and thats part of the reason why.. unfortunity sony doesnt give you the option to buy a strip down model but i guess you can look at it this way, if your looking for the "honda with roll up windows" of next gen systems then i guess you want a 360 Core, but if you want a "fully loaded lexus" then you need a 60 gig PS3 .. sure some people dont need power windows, heated seats, and leather but there are some people that want it.. if you dont, then get what you want? if that makes sense...?

also sorry for any grammar or spelling errors, its 4:30 in the morning and i dont really care right now, im about to pass out... as a matter of fact i think i im gonnna go right now........
 
every ps3 has HDMI, i haven't read your post yet but if you havent done some basic research such as knowing the specs of the console i dont know if i want too.

you also cant release a non-blu-ray ps3 because there will be games using it
 
I can understand them using the blu-ray drive, it makes sense to have larger media. Games were already pushing the limits of DVD on ps2, which is why I felt it kind of odd Xbox360 is only dvd. It also would have put more HD-DVD systems in houses, HD-DVD as a movie format doesn't have a chance in hell now.

But if Sony hadn't bothered with a blu-ray dvd player, and just made it capable of reading discs for PS3 games, they perhaps could have cut some costs. They wouldn't have had to develop any interface for the movies and a large amount of the DRM shit they put in wouldn't have been needed. To a certain degree they could have killed off all backwards compatibility so they ONLY needed to support blu-ray discs, atleast in the cheapest system. I bet they could have got the system down to $300 and still made a nice gaming only system for people like myself. If I recall correctly Nintendo is using a DVD drive in the Wii but decided against putting full dvd playback functionality due to added cost, which leads me to believe the same with the Blu-ray and PS3.

What gets me though is, I've heard that arguement before, but then you see what Polyphony Digital is doing with the next GT game, and using up less space than what probably fits on a CD.
For those that don't know, Gran Turismo HD is going to give you the option of buying a disc with 30 cars and 2 tracks, or another one that is nothing more than an interface to buy cars and tracks off of some website.


In his defence, it wasn't exactly the biggest news when they made the change on HDMI. Thats why I wasn't even sure about it.

In his original post he kinda points out why they had to have the blu-ray drive. and 2 tracks, or another one that is nothing more than an interface to buy cars and tracks off of some website.
 
My point with that comment was that if Nintendo can save money by ditching video playback, Sony probably could as well with ALL video playback on PS3 (games don't seem to use their own codecs anyway). If the drive ONLY has to play 1 type of disc it would be cheaper and easier to manufacture than one that needs to read loads of formats.

I think there was even trouble for a while developing the lenses to read old formats on Blu-Ray drives. My memory is fuzzy on that one.
 
Sony is probably making amistake with Blue-Ray, and that is that computers will probably be the preferred system to use them on for data backup. When BR recorders become affordable for PCs everyone will use them to archive 50GBs at a time. With that will come game piracy. Sony will scream foul.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-10-19T091928Z_01_T255805_RTRIDST_0_TECH-SONY-UPDATE-3.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna :


You remember the PSP that could play movies right? It seems that no one wanted to pay $20 for a movie that could be bought for $15 on DVD. WalMart has stopped carrying titles at my local store. Where they shipped them off to is anyone's guess. What do you mean you don't like watching movies on a 4" screen? Just hook up a HDMI or Super-Video cable to the back... Oops.

It would be really stupid for Sony to create an artifical shortage when their profits this year will be the lowest in 5 years and after firing 25,000 employees. Their reputation has been tarnished by the Rootkit and Battery fiascos. They want the money NOW, but the low amount of good Cell processors may hinder their turning a rapid profit. Add in their steep game licensing fees and game distributors may want to programme for the cheaper Wii and XBox360 (remember that it is speculated that the average price for PS3 games will be $60. Game rental companies will probably see a nice profit because of the higher prices.)

Blue Ray is nice but are you going to completely replace your present DVD collection? New movies are coming out, but are you willing to buy them before you get a player? If BR does take off then expect the usual garbage to make it to BR before the good stuff makes it. Look at the present situation with DVDs - many movies haven't come out but the latest flop at the theatres is readily available. What will happen then is that there will be too much product out there, and most of it garbage. This isn't a matter of the "Criterion" class of pressings, folks.

As far as movies go, Sony owns Sony Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Tri-Star Pictures, Sand Dollar Pictures, Mandalay Pictures, MGM, United Artists, Screen Gems, and probably a few others that I don't know about. (I used to work at Sony.) Where are all the great Columbia Pictures movies? Many have come out but there are many that may never see the light of day (You really should see the Columbia Pictures Libray book where all their movies are listed. You'd be amazed at the number of movies they made.) They're probably in the same vaults as many of Ted Terner's movies. We probably all wish that certain favourite movies were released on DVD... Will you see them on Blue Ray instead? Don't hold your breath.

And on an obliquely related tangent: When is Halo3 coming out for the XBox360?

From DailyTech, http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=4634 :


I figure that F.E.A.R. for the PC will be down to $20 by then. Yeah, I've been waiting for it to go down from the WalMart $29.99. There are enough other games that I can play while I wait.
 
I have already said it in another thread.
I think if you have an HDTV the PS3 is a value. DVD's just don't look right on HDTV's. Blu-Ray + game console is definetly something intriguing.

Are you sure about that PSP stream movies from your PS3 thing? I have never heard that before now. That is really intriguing.
My only gripe with that is possible setbacks that DRM could cause to that. I mean, you are saying that I can record say 'Farscape' on my PS3. But will there be DRM that will keep me from streaming it?

You make some excellent points. I am still not sold yet, but I am beginning to understand why someone would buy a PS3 and not be a total fanboy.
I didn't feel that way last week.
 
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/740/740601p6.html



yes, im sure, becasue thats one of the big selling point for me .. i like my electronics to multi-task, and do all kinds of stuff, my cell phone is a camera, camcorder, mp3 player, voice memo recorder, GPS unit and so on.. so the fact that the PS3 does all kindas of cool mulitimedia stuff is apealing, over the "games only" Nintendo and "kinda sotra" xbox.

but im still deciding becasue nintendos controller idea does look cool, i watched a video for Red Steel and i was pretty impressed. as far as the xbox goes other then the muitimedia end of it and controller i dont see a differance between the 360 and PS3.. and i like to mulititask soOoOo ?

its honestly a matter of what do i get first becasue im sure ill get all 3 eventually, just in what order?
 
The 360 is HDMI compatable already? I didnt think it had a cable out for it yet...I could have been using it this whole time.

As for the PS3, I will wait until next year at least A)Price drop (maybe) B)As stated, developers will have learned the system by then and will be, hopefully, starting to utilize its capabilities more C)There aren't any exclusive games coming out soon that make me need to have the PS3. (There aren't any (yet) for the 360 either, I know, but if the PS3 came out first I'd probably be saying the same thing about the 360).
 
I couldn't have put it any better myself (to the thread starter).

The demand on the PS3 is so fucking ridiculous. It'll sell like Ipod with free valium pills. 400,000 at launch, 2 million at the end of the holiday season, by next year, I think Sony might have caught up to the 360 in terms of sales.

How often do you get a console that's a black shiny toaster as well?
 
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