Well it was only meant for retailer's eyes, not the consumer, so I wonder that as well. The whole thing is bogus, but twisting the Wii browser (that MAY cost somthing next year) into all online access is definitely a stretch.

The whole thing reeks of a desperate company. So instead of taking on the compitition with the merits of your product you are going to lie to the customer about the other companies options? Sure it is a [low]standard business practice, but definitely low for a company that dominated the previous gen.

sony knows people will pay for a hdmi cable to see will ferrell in 1080p glory

And even fewer would actually need an HDMI cable. Talladega Nights will be the unofficial best selling title in the next generation video format wars when the PS3 launches, even if only 5% of the owners want the movie, they'll have it.

too bad those who really would want that movie for free will end up paying out the rearend for it.

Was the PS1 this messed up? I can't remember if we already talked about this, but you'd think that a company that experienced the PS2 mess and saw what happened to the Xbox would have gotten their shit together for this round.

Especially since we can't actually start "next gen" until they say so, they've really taken a lot of responsibility on with this launch!

I don't think it was quite messed up, but limited quantities.

Makes me laugh everytime I see it. Not to mention we are starting next-gen with composite cables.

Does anyone have a link to where this orignated from? I guess i missed out on the whole "next gen starts when we say so" thing.

I'm pretty sure it happened at Sony's 2005 E3 Press Conference.

http://media.ps3.ign.com/articles/61...91/vids_1.html

I thought Kaz Hirai said it this year.

EDIT: Found it: http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...39408289378637

At the 2:00 mark

I said I was only "pretty sure" I'm rarely right.

Draven already posted about this, but wikipedia confirms that it was from E3 2006:

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kazuo_Hirai

It's also printed in this CNN article: http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/08/tech...cing/index.htm

Weird that he says "We've said on many occasions that..."

Was that really the first time it was said?

No idea. Maybe they said it a lot internally. That was the first time I remembered hearing it in a public setting.

The 360 HD-DVD is required.

Wireless controller is required.

Xbox Live Gold is required.

Sounds like Sony is getting desperate if they are claiming you need to spend $700 to get a "playable" core 360 vs $500 for the core PS3.

I still think this could really come back to bite them in the ass. Joe Sixpack probably doesn't know that you need component for HD. Joe Sixpack will get his PS3, watch the free Talladega Nights BD via the included composite cables, and say that there is no improvement over standard DVD. This could really hurt BD sales when Joe Sixpack is deciding to buy a $15 DVD vs a $25 BD on new release day.

Not only that, but they'll play a PS3 game with those composite cables and wonder why it looks like ass next to their buddy's 360.

That's ok, cause most people will be playing it on 51cm 4:3 tube TV's anyway.

That's true for now at least. Over the next couple years, I think most people will be getting HDTVs as the prices drop and analog cable programs die off completely. There are already a lot of Joe Sixpacks buying HDTVs. Just look at all the people wondering why some movies still have black bars even though the TV is widescreen and their DVD is widescreen. While I was at Circuit City one time, I overheard one person trying to return his HDTV; he thought it was defective because he still got black bars.

These people probably won't bother or have the knowledge to buy the optional component or HDMI cables for their PS3. They will just use the included composite cable. Then they will wonder why their BDs look no better than standard DVDs and why their games look worse than 360 games.

Not to mention the ridiculous idea that someone would buy the core unit and then buy the HDD and wireless controller as separate items instead of just buying the premium package.

OK, let's say Mr. J6P does buy an HDTV after buying a PS3. If they have already had their PS3 hooked to a regular tv, what makes you think they would even unhook those and hook up component cables if they were included with the PS3 in the first place? If they are stupid enough not to know what component cables are for, they wouldn't even bother. They would just unhook the composite cables from the old tv and hook them up to the new tv and not even think about the other cables in the PS3 box.

Trust me, after working in retail in the past, anyone who buys an HDTV is going to be pushed into buying component or HDMI cables for everything they will connect to that tv, unless they buy the tv at Wal-Mart. They'll even be told that, if they already have some cheap bundled cables, "those cables aren't good enough so buy these spiffy Monster Cables over here".

I still think that anyone who even knows what component is and cares already had those cables with their PS2s and will just use those for the PS3. As for HDMI, you can find those pretty cheap nowadays.

http://blog.nonmundane.org/archives/...-get-delisted/

So the "Entitlements" concept is gone now. I was wondering about this as it hasn't been mentioned at all...

Tretton did suggest plans to incorporate a "pan-console" scoring system into first-party titles, but admitted that Sony had not decided on a name for this feature and that developers of first-party launch titles would likely pass on it. While excluded from Sony's aforementioned scoring system, third-party publishers will have the option to include their own achievement-like rewards, "on a game-by-game basis."

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/23/no...ements-on-ps3/

In other words, it will be exactly like it was on the PS2.

Huge mistake. Those competitive achievements and silly gamerscore points are the main reason I've played nearly all the Xbox 360 titles. Otherwise, only a handful of titles would have entered my 360.

That little tidbit makes me wonder how similar Sony thinks their service is to Xbox Live.

Yup. It's going to be a huge advantage to Microsoft in terms of multiplatform games. It's guaranteed exclusive content.