Was Sony ready?

BlitzKrieg

Now I know some of my threads make me look anti-sony, but I love the PS2, and I get some use out of my PSP (just not what was intended) so please bare with me in this thread and treat it as more of a question then an attack.

I am asking do you feel sony was ready for the next generation?

When the whole buisness of next gen consoles started taking off, my initial response was why?


When I thought about it, I could understand Microsofts and Nintendo's perspective, the Gamecube was sinking in most markets and the Xbox while impressive and with its own loyal following wasnt making the headway Microsoft desired.

So both of those companies setting out to invest in the next generation made sense, even before official announcements or any defining sign of the end of the current generation.

But Sony had an insanely huge success with the PS2, and there was no real need nor desire to move away from this status quo.

So when the rumbling of the next generation started I feel Sony was caught offgaurd not in that they didnt want to move on (they had bought the rights to PS3 and PS4) but because they didnt know where to go.

Following the development of the Ps3 from start to (almost) finish, alot of it feels like scrabbling in the dark, most obvious was the issue with the controller (first the aweful prototype design, and then the return to original and finally the incoporating of the competitor's features.).


The result for me is that the PS3 looks like a reactionary force and that sort of sours the appeal. The unbelievable strength nintendo are running around with at the moment because EVERYTHING is focused on the most simple of aims shows how the inability to come out with a defitinite strategy is the weakness in the run up to the PS3.

If microsoft was not willing or ready to move the x-360 when it did, would we be hearing about the PS3 at the moment? Would anyone care?

I remember Sony originally wishing for the PS2 to be more then a games console and more of a permanent fixture in ones living room. Which it was so close to achieving only to be pushed on by hype and market demands.

Crucifix

It's tough to judge the PS3 before it even comes out, and too be honest even then it'll take it a while to get up to it's speed.
I see where you're coming from. When it became apparant that Microsoft was pushing to get the 360 out ASAP, I thought Sony was going to push back their deadline and work on a console that would be like a whole new generation on top of the 360. But it seems like the didn't pay any attention to what was going on and just kept on doing their own thing.

LookingFor

I'm not sure if I exactly follow what you're saying, but much of PS3 was in the planning and development stages for a very long time. They were targetting 2005 or 2006 for a convergence of two key technologies (Cell and Blu-ray) since probably 2000/2001. Would it surprise you if I told you they were already investing in early development toward PS4?

projectmayhem

i'd echo what LookingFor said, Sony have had this stuff in planning basically as soon as PS2 was out the door, and you can bet they're working on Cell(squared) for PS4...

this is a long-term investment, but with microsoft bailing out the door ASAP with 360, sony has been put in a difficult position, but they can constantly brag about having a back catalogue already, with a userbase pre-installed before the ps3 even arrives.

the difficulty everyone's having is the point of blu-ray right now. personally i think it's justified, but now people questioning it will wonder even more if it's worth the delay until march. i think a blu-ray delay will just force sony into marketing the crap out of it to make damn sure it works.

was sony ready for this gen? yes. but sony never really had to release their machines across all territories at the same time, which microsoft has forced them to do... and they just don't have enough machines to do it. if they followed their rule-of-thumb by releasing in japan, then america, then europe and finally everywhere else, they'd be fine.

CiDeRmAn

But haven't Sony been quite bold in the targeting for their products, from the PS to the PS2 , then PSP and now PS3 they seem to be assuming an increase in sophistication of their audience and what they expect from their consoles in addition to gaming.
Perhaps they have been going further and further out into wishful thinking, imagining a worldwide market for such multimedia machines when no such market yet exists.
I mean the PS2 was supposed to change how we played games with all that emotion engine nonsense and all the hype did was send Segas hardware manufacturing to the wall, which may have been the point.
The PSP was trumpeted as a great multimedia device, providing multiple revenue streams for the company in the form of UMD video sales as well as games, yet how many people bought UMD videos after finding out how to dump their own DVDs onto the mem stick? Who surfs the net with it?
Who uses it for much more than playing games and emus?
Now the PS3 with its hopes and dreams of fulfilling virtually every digital purpose in the living room, and yet all I care about is when will WipeOut appear on it?
A world wide release is a new notion and not one we should take for granted.
But a company trying to foist its digital dreams of the future on the public and making us pay for its unproven and as yet unwanted technologies, technologies that will not contribute to our gaming life at all, thats just too much.

quad_red

is the huge sense of uncertainty.

If Sony had set realistic manufacturing and distribution dates then none of the furore would've happened. But Sony are now coming across ever more desperate , confused and stressed.

Sony's message with the PS2 was - wait. We've got the best tech. We're gonna blow your mind. And everyone waited happily.

Look at Sony ads for stuff like their Bravia TVs - assured, slick tech. The impression of being on top and top of the tech block.

Sony's message with the PS3 is messy and confused. From the floppy controllers plans (instantly pulling the original and presumably heavily designed controller and replacing it with a PS2 controller. Then jamming in some stuff that Nintendo are jamming in), the all over the place price speculation, the confusion over HD capabilities etc. The constantly slipping release dates. Pissed off developers. Total denial.

The simultaneous release of the 360 in Europe (however many units actually were around) gave the European market a boost - a market that's way bigger than the Japanese market and almost as big as the American market in terms of sales of PS2s.

By refusing to acknowlege that the market has evolved and yanking the PS3 back from Europe AFTER assuring us that we'd get it is just mental in terms of PR.

Nintendo have customer feeling nailed - their products are fun and shiney and cheap.

MS have gotten ALOT right with the 360. And for the first time with Live, alot of people have forgotten the toxic 'straightness' of the MS tag and associate the 360 with fun online gaming.

Whereas the PS3, even before its release, has pissed off ALOT of potential consumers.

thebman

The problem with Bluray & Cell is Sony didn't need them.

300 Euro should have been their target price for consumers and just make a powerful console that does what the PS2 does but better. People would have bought it for the faster load times if nothing else.

They just tried to push it too far IMO which is why I'm so unlikely to buy it especially at launch (since I won't be able to find one). We'll see but I don't see the point in getting one over 360 if the graphics are the same. It's lost a good few exclusives and Forza 2 is looking to be a great game and GT was the only reason I played Playstation 2 in the first place.