Main > Consoles
PS3 pulling a Saturn?
Nannuu:
That's true, the specs of the Saturn were great but it's initial lineup didn't show it (Virtua Fighter vs Battle Arena Toshinden). It took too long for the games to really look great and by then the PS was ahead. I still think it flopped, it may have sold well in Japan but not many in the US ponied up $400 for it. And because it didn't have much marketing due to the early release, many people didn't even realize it existed yet. It seemed like the PS was out before anyone noticed.
Sega needed to take some lessons from Sony for marketing. Sony is the king of that. Fake videos, ultra specs a year before launch, getting the import license for the PS2 as a "supercomputer". Yeah, stuff like that.
ChadTower:
Battle Arena Toshinden came out probably a year later than VF did. That right there accounts for much of the difference. BAT wasn't any better than VF Remix was and Remix was mailed out only a couple of months after the Saturn was released. And Remix was free.
Nannuu:
Hmm, I thought I remember BAT being much better looking. I'm too lazy to pull them out and test. You could be right.
Truecade:
--- Quote from: shmokes on August 29, 2006, 12:36:04 am ---
Sony is going to be fine. People are still clamouring for a PS3. The second preorders are opened up, they will be closed. Take a walk into any game store and ask if there's been much interest in PS3 preorders. Sony will sell every system they can possibly produce between now and march. They're going to be fine. I personally think that they will end up ahead of the 360, but even if MS beats them out in marketshare this time around, they're not going anywhere. The PS3 is going to do just fine.
---smurfing--- fanboys.
--- End quote ---
The fanboys and rich kids will assure that the PS3 will sell out for launch, and this will make it appear that the PS3 will continue Sony's dominance in the console market. I'm sure we'll see the $1000 PS3s on ebay as well.
But the real test of the PS3's success will be when the casual gamers and middle class families want a new video game system in 2007 and beyond. This is when, IMHO, the PS3 will fail. Why?
1. The high price. Even if there are price cuts (which Microsoft will mirror), the PS3 will still be priced abhorrently above the 360 and Wii.
2. HDTV penetration is still at only 10-15% in the US. There is no point in having a Blu-ray drive without a HDTV.
3. There will be no discernable difference between 360 and Ps3 games in terms of graphics. The GPUs are virtually identical in pixel pushing power, and developers will design around 720p for the best portability.
4. Exclusive PS3 games like MGS4 will not be enough to justify spending $200 more on a PS3 than a 360.
5. Sony can't subsidize the PS3 like Microsoft can the 360 will Nintendo will probably break even on the Wii. Sony is poised to loose $200-$300 for each console sold initially, and this will quickly deplete Sonys cash reserves if they can't reduce their component costs.
6. Most gamers just want to play games and could care less about the Cell, Blu-ray, and all of the other proprietary crap. This goes back to point #2.
The list goes on... but I'm tired of the PS3 debate. We'll find out in a year whether the PS3 is Sony's savior or a colossal ---fudgesicle--- up.
:cheers:
And for the record, I'm a PC gamer and don't plan to get any of these consoles.
ChadTower:
It did look a little better, you're right about that. It played like ASS though. VF was a strong player without any slowdown.