candyrocket786

I'm waiting for Devil May Cry 4.

If it turns out to be good, then I may by a PS3.

tbird2340

Here's my take and you can make what you want out of it...

I have been looking for a Wii for two weeks now. Every store I've gone in (10+) has had NUMEROUS PS3's sitting on the shelves (and have been for a while).. The Wii, however, has been OOS in every store.

jeffdsmith

That's a really good way of putting it IMO. Nicely said.

nodeerforamonth

Too early to say.

If I'd have to give an answer, I'd say "no". Because 4 months after its release you could find a PS3! You couldn't say about the 360 and the 360 is going pretty good now.

Ocelot

Give me a break, what kind of statement is that...

Like most said, it's still a bit early for the PS3's game to take off. Personally, i use it to play BR, sd dvd, huge ass library of PS2 games, music etc...

The PS3 will not bust, it's a solid machine and you can do tons of things with it even though there aren't many PS3 games yet. Ever try cool stuffs with the PSP and the PS3?

Groucho

But isn't the fact that there are units on the shelves an indicator of poor sales?

Raul3

Compared to what? Based on what?

Compared to the Wii?
The Wii is selling more consoles. It's hard to find a Wii in a store. PS3s? You can find them everywhere. Now, about the games, I think they are almost at the same level right now. They don't have a stellar game right now. Maybe the PS3 has released more games, but nothing really impressive. But they are coming, for the PS3, and for the Wii? They are coming too but in smaller quantities.

Compared to the 360?
The 360 was selling the same number consoles by this time of the year. Last year you could go to any store and find a 360 with no problem. Of course the 360 has more units sold, but I think the PS3 is almost at the same pace.
Games? The 360 had more good games by this time of the year. I don't see a Gears of Wars kind of game for the PS3 by the end of year.

Josh H

The console a bust? To early to say.

The launch a bust? Most definitely. No one expected to be seeing the system sitting on store shelves by January. I still haven't seen a Wii sitting on a shelf anywhere, but see PS3s every time I go to Target etc.

But they still have the PS name and big time exclusives (though they have lost some) so it is hard to imagine that things won't pick up. The 360 isn't exactly flying off shelves anymore either--though Halo 3 should change that.

At the same time, I think it will take a price drop of at least $200 for it to really start moving.

I wouldn't pay $600 for a console that had the largest and greatest gaming library in history, much less for one that looks to have a pretty lack luster library by years end.

Personally, $300 is the most I could see shelling out for a game console. If they get some great games out, and put out the 20GB system (which I've not seen anywhere--wonder if they are even still making them) for $299 I'd probably pick one up.

emanon

No can do - that's how I bought my DS. Thanks, Sony!

nodeerforamonth

Not if people are buying them. And they are.

Failed launch means far too little supply to match demand.

DarthMarino

Playstation 3 is first and foremost a video game machine. There's only so far "cool stuff" can drive a system. The channels on the Wii are nice but is that really what's driving sales? Same thing applies to Sony's interface. No matter how many bells and whistles they put in it's still an expensive gaming machine that's offering little over the competition (which is Microsoft in this case). Sony loses money on every console. Software is where you make money and the games sales are almost non-existent. I think it will pick up some steam eventually but it will be too little, too late.

Groucho

Just to clarify: you're arguing that the Wii had a failed launch?

DodgingCars

This is exactly where I'm at. And because of that I'd be much more likely to buy a 360 to complement my Wii than a PS3. That may change in a year from now, so we'll have to see. I actually do like the idea that the Xbox sells downloadable movies (even in Hi-def).

I still own a 27" standard def tv, so Blu Ray and HD-DVD and even HD gaming make little difference to me. When I finally upgrade my TV, maybe I'll care more.

DodgingCars

I think you need to take economics again. While ideally, you'd like supply to match demand, having more supply than demand is a bad thing. Having more demand than supply is a much better thing.

Much better to not be able to keep things on the shelf than to have more on the shelf than people want.

Nuff

Well when you realize that Sony created the PS3 as a means of pushing bluray and NOT I repeat NOT as a gaming machine its doing very well.

Look at all the decisions that went into the ps3 and all the negatives. The bluray drive makes it *worse* as a gaming machine (cost, too slow read times for games, etc). The ps3 is a bluray pusher first and oh yeah it plays games too.

When you look at how HDDVD was smashing bluray pre ps3 and now bluray is ahead, I'd say ps3 has exceeded their expectations.

fujishig

What I'd like to know (and maybe this is already in the HD thread) is how Blu-Ray player sales are doing.

musick

if it were a bust as well I would have purchased one by now
I love playing with boobies

starseed1981

While I'll be the first to admit that the PS3 is currently the most expensive paper weight I've ever bought (besides the Blu-Ray capability) it's too early to tell. This fall will be the real indicator.

Obey The D

Shop Employee: Is this some kind of bust?
Lt. Frank Drebin: Well, it's very impressive, yes, but we need to ask you a few questions.

TheMadMonk

I can already do standard dvd on my current systems, play ps2 games (without any backwards compatability issues) on my ps2, and play music on many, many other devices. I'm not going to spend $600 on ps3 to have a blue-ray player, and I don't have a PSP and don't really plan on getting one. Also, "Home" does not interest me at all.

Until they get games out that I want to play on it, the ps3 does not interest me (*I don't have a Wii or 360 yet, either, for mostly the same reasons, so I'm not just unimpressed with Sony)

bee_01

Between the Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3, my Wii gets the least use by far. There hasn't been a reason to power it up since playing Zelda...a ported GC title. The PS3 is used almost exclusively as a Blu-ray player (which it is excellent at). The Xbox 360 has built up a strong library of titles and downloadable content that keeps me coming back for more (hello 4 player TMNT Arcade!). The Wii and PS3 have a lot of catching up to do.

Decker

I think what the folks at Sony failed to do was provide a compelling reason to pick the PS3 over the 360. There was a lot of buzz there initially, but when folks saw that there really weren't any games that were worth getting the system for and that they could play almost the enite library of games on the cheaper, readily-available-for-Christmas 360, the buzz died quickly. When Time pegged it as one of the busts of 2006 (along with the OJ book, ugh) that really helped cement the PS3 as a "failure" in the eyes of the public, fair or not.

The PS2 didn't have a killer launch library either, but it did get GTA 3 before the holiday and it didn't really have much competition from other consoles. This is a very different situation.

Noonan

I feel that if the PS3 and the 360 launched on the same day, the PS3 would have out sold it even with the higher price. Their downfall for the launch was the lack of exclusive titles. It's not that the available games were bad, it's that most of the good ones (okay...all the good ones except Resistance) were available on the 360 which many people already had. That's what kept me from getting on at launch. I have one now and love it even though 95% of its use is Blu-Ray playback and Tekken.

Decker

I think the PS3 is hadicapped, not so much that theprice is too high, but rather in the sense that the price precludes the system from being a family game system and becomes more of a home entertainment system. While that may be well and good for what the PS3 is, it does alienate a large segment of the PS2's audience. The young professional males who enjoy gaming should be pretty well settled with the 360 and it's large library of FPS, sports and racing games. The Wii is the hot family console at the moment. I'm not really sure what the PS3's niche will be.

What were the games that made the PS1 & PS2 so successful? GTA? That's not exclusive anymore. Gran Tourismo? Plenty of immitators now. SOCOM? That style of game has been done to death on the 360 already. Tekken? Fighting games don't sell like they used to.
The success of the brand seems to rest on the Metal Gear and Final Fantasy series, and perhaps God Of War to a lesser extent. Personally I love the Ratchet games more that just about anyone here, but I can't see anyone buying a $600 gaming console to play Ratchet, Jak or Sly no matter how good the individual games are.

I think Sony should just lay their cards on the table and market the PS3 as a wonderful blu-ray player that has great gaming potential instead of the other way around.

Ocelot

*sigh* here goes again...

I don't need a device plays music only, i don't need a player plays dvd only... and i'm sure many people agree with me. I have a 56" DLP, already have Wii connected, a mediocre sound system, DVR, a cheap Apex player... As you can see, there's not much room left! So, having a device able to play game, movies, musics and what not is important. Besides, my dvd player needs to be replaced (old), fat PS2 is dying... If i have to replace the dvd player and the PS2, that's another $200.

Trust me, once you played on the big screen (Wii or PS3), you don't really wanna go back... Even GC's RE4 (when it first came out) looks spookier on the big screen.

Anyhow, i see your point and by now you should see mines... From my experience with the PS3, it's not gonna bust. Again, unlike the N64 analogy, even if the PS3 bust, you can still use it to play PS2 games (the BC issue is really getting on my nerves, give me one freaking title that you're having problem with and i'll tell you right away i don't get a damn about that game) and BR movies (of course, various media...)

The PSP is one of the coolest gadget i got now, i liked it more than the DS (i like my DS lite, it's pretty slick, but the screens are crap comparing to the PSP). While i don't use the PSP for jogging, i pretty much use it for anything else (my instant photo album).