Michael Corvin

That is a solid point that can be easily dismissed since the Wii's library is just as bad yet those are flying off shelves which leads more credence to price being a factor.

Ralph Wiggum

The last sales figures I saw had Europe at ~1.5 million as of last June, which isn't that good. I sincerely doubt that the 360 has sold 4 million more in the interim. But that's not the point I was making: Until proven otherwise, Europe is still Sonyland. The total worldwide sales of the Xbox were about half of the PS2s sold in Europe. Even if we give MS the most generous possible number of 360s sold, it still isn't anywhere near enough to put MS next to Sony in Europe. Not even close.

Josh H

Wii has Zelda with the new controls which was a huge system seller, plus the novelty of the new controller.

Price certainly helps, but I don't think it's much of a factor in Japan where everything is expensive as fuck and they snap up all kinds of expensive tech gadgets.

I'd think Japan is the one region the PS3's price won't kill it as much.

Chris_D

You said it yourself, June. A lot of 360s have been sold since then obviously. And if wii and ds sales are anything to go by, maybe it will be Nintendo land rather than the other 2.

TheMadMonk

I do find it somewhat amusing that last time, the PS2 hype/marketing had a lot to do with the quick demise of the Dreamcast.

Now, the hype behind the PS3 (remember the Sony guy saying "if we price it at $800, it will still be a bargain!") seems to only be hurting Sony so far, with its failure to live up to pretty much everyone's expectations.

tanman

Oddly enough I think it has more of an impact. Remember that last minute price drop? I read somewhere that Sony dropped the price in Japan due to severe consumer complaint there. Why not here I don't know.

I think people are jumping the gun. Sony did make some huge blunders but nothing that would cause them to go the way of Sega (Remember when people talked about Nintendo going the way of Sega?) I still think they are viable but how much market share they get is up to Sony themselves. They NEED to lock in exclusives, they NEED to lower the price and they need to convince people that they can get something that they can't on the Xbox or Nintendo. I personally think they did botch it up. They made a Blu-Ray player with a halfassed gaming machine. The six axis controller is a blatant rip off of Nintendo and the raw horsepower that they have been talking about for the past two years hasn't been demonstrated effectively yet.

Either way it will be VERY interesting to see how this plays out.

Personally I'm glad Nintendo is getting respect and sales.

dsa_shea

Got my PS3 today and I'm happy I did. Figure I would pay it off before the really good titles start piling out during the summer and fall.

argh923

I guess the fact that units are piling up in stores without being purchased doesn't matter.

PerryD

But they are being purchased. Anybody who thinks otherwise is a anti-PS3 zealot.

Tracer Bullet

Of course PS3s are being purchased, but units are still piling up.

SteelgearX

I guess I'm an anti-PS3 zealot for having the absurd notion that the reason there are PS3's sitting at my local stores shelves is because they are not selling well. Silly me.

I know a lot of gamers at work. A lot of my friends and family are gamers. None of them have bought a PS3. $600 is too much for the average person. A year ago most people thought the 360 was way too expensive. The PS3 makes it look like a deal. The only person I know that MIGHT get one, wants it for the blu-ray. Which brings up a question I have. If a lot of PS3's are sold to people that want blu-ray at a "bargain" price, what will happen later on when these people aren't buying games? Seems to me like the PS3's sold as a game console will be artificially inflated.

james2025a

Well i have been supporter of Sony with both the PS1 and PS2. I also owned a Gamecube at one point and liked the system....just the lack ofbacking from game developers was dissappointing. I was never a fan of the X-Box system at all. The design of the console and the controller were horrible. The games were ok (As a PC first person shooter fanatic i was never impressed with Halo), but nothing special and that i could not really get on my PS2 well in advance. Looking at the next gen war for me has been interesting. Microsoft got a product out very early and after recently seeing and playing on one i have been blown away by the steps they have taken to improve their system. From the look of the console, to the design and feel of the controller....they tend to have truly moved towards next gen, and it has given me a desire to buy one of their systems. Nintendo on the other hand has been very level headed and has positioned itself well. Its system is not truly next gen in any departments other than the controller. But by doing so they have made a great business move. Their console is cheap, it appeals to gamers from all ages and disciplines and they have pumped out enough to pretty much keep up with consumer demand. They didn't fair that well when they released the Gamecube, but this time they are doing a lot better. And then we come to Sony. So far they have done nothing to really appeal to the consumer or developer. They have over priced their unit, the game list at launch was nothing great, they didd't produce enough consoles and on top of it all they seem a little bit too overconfident and smug about themselves. Its all given off a bad image if you ask me. With games like Mercenaries 2 and GTA 4 coming out for the X-box 360 i have decided to give it a try instead of waiting to see how the PS3 fairs.

Josh H

I don't think anyone is being that drastic. People are just saying they have little chance of finishing in first place this gen. There will be a PS4 no matter what.

Gallant Pig

Sony's biggest blunder this generation was putting all of their effort into horsepower and less into innovation. The last second "motion controller" is a miserable failure.

BluRay != Innovation.

Wii has changed gaming, and will return to the top this generation. The Cube being the least innovative machine last generation caused them to go back to the drawing board and finally hit a homerun. Shame they couldn't go the final yard and throw in 720p but I'll assume that wasn't possible.

Sony is going to take a bath on the PS3 this generation causing them to rush the PS4 out to market. MS will be ready to counter. And Nintendo will hopefully keep pushing the innovation & fun factor of gaming. I also think Sony will have marginal success in Japan and elsewhere, since HD isn't being pushed as hard in those countries it is here, taking away BluRay's advantage even more.

It's a total disaster compared to the PS2.

PerryD

Are they not selling well, or not selling at all? The people I am responding to are claiming the latter. From what I see myself is that the PS3s are selling pretty briskly. But, I agree that it does look like supply has surpassed demand, I see that since I was able to find a PS3 to purchase recently using iTrackr. I thought I would have to wait until March or April to see the units on the shelves.

And, yes, I totally agree that $599 is a ridiculous price for a gaming system. I only bought into it because I wanted a blu-ray player, I'll be the first to admit it. But, now that I have it, I have to say it's far exceeded my expectations regarding it's quality as both a blu-ray player and as a gaming machine (although I'm still waiting for the games to show up).

kvrdave

That would be the quickest price drop for a console ever, and would be a huge indication of failure and not success.

PerryD

Like the Playstation 1? It dropped 33% ($299 -> $199) after 6 months. The PS3 would have to drop $200 to match that drop.

TheMadMonk

As soon as Killzone 2 comes out and the actual gameplay matches the footage shown at E3 2 years ago, $600 may seem worth it to me.

Josh H

I don't think anyone is truely claiming that, people are just exaggerating as it is shocking that PS3s are already setting on store shelves, while people are still lining up in the cold to buy shipments of Wiis as soon as the store opens.

People expected exactly the opposite to happen.

SteelgearX

The key word there being "to me". For a lot of people $600 is something they can't spend no matter how much it might be "worth" to them. Think back to when you were a child. Ask yourself if your parents would have EVER bought a $600 game machine. Like it or not children are still a huge chunk of the market.

Josh H

Very true. The PS3 could have the 10 greatest games ever created and I wouldn't shell out $600 for it.

It's just too big a hit to my budget for a hobby that doesn't even get the largest chunk of my free time.

Michael Corvin

I'll give you the Duke, but come on, over the S-type? It boggles my mind anyone that chooses the Dual Shock over anything out there. Save for the Dreamcast, it has to be the most awkward(pack-in) controller ever.

Josh H

Agreed 100%. While the original controller was probably even worse than the DC controller, the Type S was fantastic.

Supermallet

The biggest problem with the Xbox controllers were the placement of the white/black buttons, something perfectly remedied with the 360 controller.

Josh H

True, but they were so infrequently used that it rarely was a problem. And when they were used it was usually for something like toggling a map or flash light that didn't need to be done in the heat of the moment.