Is The Playstation 3 a bust?
 

Let me start this by saying i am not a fanboy of any certain company/console. I have owned nintendo,microsoft,and playstation consoles. But it seems to me that with hype the ps3 had, the launch and the few months after the launch have been very underwhelming. I dont know if its because the Xbox 360 came out earlier and stole some thunder, or if the lack of "must have" games currently has hurt. I must say i am very surprised by the success of the Wii. I know the 360 had a similiar type of launch as far as lack of titles, and then caught some steam afterwards. I remember shopping during the holiday season and i would see PS3's almost anywhere, but the Wii was impossible to find. I know its a little early to declare it a "bust", im sure alot of people who own a PS2 now will most likely upgrade to a PS3 eventually, but who knows.

i think the current PS3 library could easily be considered a "bust"

I think it would only be worth buying now if you had a very nice TV, and were looking to watch Blu-Ray movies with it.

They are down, but definitely not out. Home and Little Big Planet have a lot of hype. I don't see the draw of Home, Live seems so much easier and streamlined(aka no intense graphical interface) but I won't discount it.

In my eyes, the Wii and the PS3 are busts right now. Until they get more games, it's not worthwhile.

Out of bust status is Blu-Ray. It finally has decent movies and the quality has matched HD DVD. With PS3s <a href="http://www.sonystyle.com">available for $300-$400</a>, there's finally a cheap BD player.

Right around this time, the 360 had GRAW, Burnout 3, and Oblivion. Neither new system seems to have anything nearly as compelling. Both should hit their stride this fall.

For a gaming machine I'd say yes but, for watching blu-ray movies it's the best deal out there.

Yeah, they're down but not out. I think they overestimated how many people would be willing shell out that kind of lettuce "to enjoy a high dollar steak" (or whatever nonsense metaphor they tried to pull justifying the console's ridiculous price). They need the exclusive software the PS2 was known for to pull them out.. the games on the system now are the same gun and car stuff you can get on the cheaper 360.

PS3 is shaping up to be Sony's N64 -- hubris for overconfidence based on past performance.

They lost a lot of the exclusives that the PS2 had and drove system sales.

I'll wait to see how "Home" works out before I make my judgement. But Groucho's prediction seems very likely.

Where can you find it for $300-$400?

I personally don't see the appeal of Home either atm, it's a nice feature, sure, but I have next to no interest in it. Reminds me of a more realistic Habitat (or WorldsAway), sadly I wore those out long long long ago. I guess a better current comparison would be Second Life.

Little Big World could be interesting, though right now it looks more like a physics sandbox than a game, and that music has got to go.

Get a SonyStyle Credit Card and they give you $100.

I think he's referring to buying it after signing up for the Sony Credit Card which gives you a $100 gift certificate or something to that effect which I do NOT consider a reduction in the console's price.

Isn't that redundant? I mean doesn't hubris mean overconfidence?

Oh and on a side note, I don't think the system is a total bust, though it certainly failed to live up to expectations out of the door. That's pretty much expected these days, though. It must have been nice for Microsoft, though, for all the claims that the Xbox360 was merely Xbox1.5 from Sony fanboys, having the PS3 come out and actually deliver subpar performance must have been gratifying.

I still say it has great potential, it just has a long way to go.

I don't think its a bust. I think its in a similar position as the 360 was last year-not many great games. Ithink we won't be able to call it a bust until after the X-mas season.

If Sony launched with Home and LBP we wouldn't be having these conversations. Are they system sellers? Who knows at this point, but at launch they would definitely have been value added features for that $600, and give you something do do during the gaming drought.

As for Home, won't it be a 'fractured'* environment from the get-go? Not everyone will have it, nor will everyone download it. Sorta like the HDD vs. non HDD functionality of the 360. Also what about microphones/headsets? Not everyone is going to rush out and buy one. Home and a mic just seems like things that should have come pre-installed and included in every system so that every user can take advantage of it.

*lack of a better term

I don't know what the other post was referring to, but for those with Meijer stores around, those seem to be a solid bet for getting one 'cheap' in the near future. About once a month they have a two day coupon good for 20% off any purchase. They also continuously run deals for getting their credit card, ranging from 10% to 20% off your first purchase. So it's possible to get one for 40% off with enough patience, making the price $300 - $360. Last month, I could've gotten one there for 30% off, but just couldn't justify $350 or $420 for the games that are out there right now.

Just want to point out 20% off + 20% off does not equal 40% off. There is about a $25 difference.

I'm not sure why everybody's so excited about Home. Sounds like an MMORPG without the killing to me...and we all know how well The Sims Online did.

I can wait a few months for the rumored blu ray players that will be cheaper than the PS3

As a movie player its sucessful until there are cheaper alternatives. As for games, they have a really pathetic library and where the titles overlap with the 360, I bet people would rather have the 360 version because of the practically nonexistant online PS3 features: Its nothing like the virtual community the 360 has.

If it's anything like Second Life, it will suck! I don't understand why people like Second Life.

As for PS3. I would say they are definately not out. We're only 4 months from launch, they still have time to pick up momentum. Right now they are suffering from bad press, few good exclusives, a future Blu-Ray price drop (I think standalones are supposed to be $300 by December), overprice, etc.

I think all they'd need is a price drop and some good exclusives to pull things around. They could even dominate again, but it would never be like the PS2 -- too many people have jumped ship already. I had a PS1 and PS2, but would only go for the PS3 if it had a major price drop (down to $300).

I don' think the PS3 was a bust at all, and the numbers seem to back that up. What was an obvious bust (and the numbers do back this claim up) is the profiteering people attempted to do with auctioning off systems at launch. And it serves them right. Sony's PS3 seems to be sharing the bad press of the failure of this aftermarket sales market crash.

I saw a guy buying a PS3 at Best Buy yesterday. They're moving units, but they still need that killer app.

I don't see a PS3 price cut coming anytime soon. They're still losing over $200/unit, aren't they? With IBM announcing that they're going 65nm on the chips, it'll likely reduce manufacturing costs, but that'll just mean they lose less per unit, not that the consumers will pay less.

I wonder when console manufacturers are going to start giving away consoles with some other sort of media purchasing (games, online subscription, movies, etc) agreement, like cell phones.

It definitely stumbled out of the gate. I like the hardware though and its a great Blu-ray player so once the games come around they should be fine. They have zero chance of repeating the success of the PS2 though.

It is too early to tell if the PS3 will be a bust, but it certainly will not have the same success that the PS2 had. The PS2 was very popular and sold like hotcakes right from the get-go and did not slow down for a looong time after launch. PS3 sales have already slowed down, and I see two main reasons for that: 1) the price tag is too high and 2) there are no killer exclusives. Once the price drops and/or good exclusives start coming out, PS3s will start selling again. One big problem there is that the majority of the great exclusives (God of War 3, Metal Gear Solid 4, Devil May Cry 4, Final Fantasy 13) are a long ways from release.