|
|
PS3 trials and tribulations
Author: Ryan GarsidePublished: 6th November 2006
The Playstation 3 release has been plagued with problems. Will that negative press result in a positive launch?
"November 17 is just one day on the very, very long road that is the platform life cycle. We think in increments of ten years, not 24 hours. Look back at what the 500,000 PS2s we sold on launch day was to the 41 million we’ve sold since then. Six years later, it’s not a big thing.
"What people can’t deal with is bad information. When we communicate that number [of units] we’ll deliver against it. We’re going to try to accommodate as many people as possible. We’re going to avoid creating false expectations. Retailers will know their quantities well in advance of opening their doors. They’ll say, ‘this is the quantity we have to work with, we’re going to distribute numbers, if you’ve got one of those numbers, you’re good to go. If you didn’t, I’m sorry, we’ll do the best we can to have subsequent supply.
"So you don’t have somebody who waits hours upon hours only to find out that they aren’t getting one.”
It's interesting to see Sony talk about this issue. One area rarely mentioned in the media is the story of those unfortunate souls who queue up for many hours, just to find out that the console has been sold out. It remains to be seen whether Sony will actually live up to this - I, for one, foresee lots of scenes of people queuing and will be very surprised if I don't see at least one child crying at his/her lack of PS3 come launch.
“The first question out of a retailer’s mouth is ‘when are you going to have more?’ We will provide subsequent information that says, ‘here’s when the next shipment is coming and here’s what you can expect.’ So they can give consumers accurate information.
"We’ve got very solid numbers on parts. It’s a matter of assembling those in time and getting them on a plane. I am very, very confident of the so-called launch window and getting the units out there, but I’m a firm believer in, until you do something, it’s just talk.”
My question is, if you're so confident then why not give us definite answers? It's kind of politician-like in the dodging of date-setting. We want to know when we'll be able to get our hands on a PS3, not reassurances that things are going well. The controversial Blu-Ray was up for discussion next:
“I’m like everybody else. I’m saying ‘come on! Just build ‘em, man! What’s so complicated?’ But think about what that blue laser diode has to do. It has to read audio CDs, standard DVDs, Blu-ray DVDs, PlayStation 1 games, PlayStation 2 games, and PlayStation 3 games. Six completely different formats that have nothing to do with each other and you’re going to have one device that’s going to read all those.
"That’s a tremendous concept. But when you turn to the engineers and say ‘go build that for me,’ they ask ‘are you crazy?’ But they’ve managed to pull it off. We’ve got the blue laser diode’s yield now. Okay, it’s not necessarily where we’d like to be but it will get exponentially healthier as we go forward. The production capacity on November 6, is better than the production capacity on November 1 which was better than October 26. It gets better every day and as we get closer the numbers get bigger and better. It’s just a matter of physically getting them here.”
Well, that sounds positive and he makes a good point that these drives are far more complex than the standard Blu-ray drives. It will be interesting to see if these more complicated Blu-ray components suffer from any problems. Consoles have been plagued in the past with faulty and dodgy components and my money would be on the Blu-ray drive to head up any faulty list.
“Bad news sells. All the success that we’ve had is not a sexy story, but any missteps that we’ve had is a story. Sony has gone from number four to number one in high definition television sets this year but people don’t want to write about that. They want to write about a battery recall. Sony is number one at the [cinema] box office, but people just want to write about the costs of the PlayStation 3 production delay.
"PlayStation 2 is outselling Xbox 360 for the year; we’re out-selling Xbox 360 month after month. The same machine that beat the Xbox in 2001 is beating the Xbox 360 in 2006. That’s amazing and that’s big news, but you don’t read a lot about that. I’ve been with this company twelve years and I don’t think it’s ever been better positioned.”
Interesting point of view, but look at it from the other angle - Playstation 2 costs almost a third of what the 360 costs, so the bigger issue is which console made more money last year. On top of that, the PS2 has a huge back catalogue when compared with the 360 and so the real interesting battle will be which console sells more once the PS3 is released.
There's certainly a lot to talk about here so I won't waffle on any more. Jump in the forums and let the console war rage onwards.
Related
Comments (31)- Site Links:
- About
- Email Editor
- Newsletter
- Privacy
- RSS
- Score Guide
- Our Other Websites:
- Auto Express
- Channel Pro
- Computer Buyer
- Computer Shopper
- Den of Geek
All content © bit-tech.net 2000-2010
© Copyright Dennis Publishing Limited licensed by Felden
still the ps2 id wager, its got to have made its money back now. thats why they can churn them out and sell them cheap.
and the ps3 WILL sell more units than the 360 over tis life, the xbox 360 has an almost 10 million unit lead but thats going to be dwarved by how many ps3's are sold in just japan over a couple of years.
ask someone to name a console, it will be a playstation, you just cant get away from the fact sony is a gret force in console gaming, they ahve had a lot of trouble with the ps3, i for one dont believe its as good as teh hype, no where near in fact and the launch line up is piss poor. but thats not going to stop people buying one jsut to say they have a ps3, even if all they play on it is 2 year old games like fnr3 and oblivion
Rubbish. They read 6 formats? well no 3 actually really since ps1 disks are CD standard and PS2 are DVD, and all standard Bluray drives are backwards compatible so they read DVDs and CDs too. More Sony spin - aww look at us we have such a hard job. Be nice to us we didn't mean to screw it all up.
Not swallowing that unlike Mr Garside.
Too early to say if the PS3 will defeat the 360 really, but if its really as hard to program for as I've seen made out (while the 360 is heralded as one of the easiest yet) then I wouldn't be at all surprised if the 360 won just on having a much bigger/better library of games.
To actually suggest that what they have told us to date is 'definate' and 'honest' is just the biggest load of ****!
I hope when the PS2 outsells the PS3 for the next two years they hold the same point of view.
keep in mind still, that PS3 is still backed completely by the entire ps2 and ps1 libraries, not certain games that they decide to support. When it comes to a quite a few parents I met working retail, they rather have the ps2 over the xbox because they can play all of the ps1 games they invested in, and I think you'll find it'll play out the same for the ps3.
Oh noes, it died the day I purchased next gen.
It's OLD now, I cant even bring myself to USE it.
I have to agree, this is yet another insulting PR statement from Sony and Darkedge was entirely right about the 3 formats. It has NOTHING to do with the diodes and everything to do with the firmware the PS3 has to read DVD/CD/Blu Ray data and recognise what disk is inserted. A £20 DVD drive does 2/3rds of what a blu ray drive does at 1/30th of the cost.
And this BS about "we will tell them when their next shipment is arriving.. etc" isnt that what you'd expect a company to do?? Im not denying they've put a load of effort into the coding and development of the PS3 but the Xbox 360 HDDVD drive alone has 4.7 million lines of code added to the firmware of the 360 to make it compatible, so MS can do it without the willy pulling hoo har too.
seconded.
And I thought that the production problems were with the diode that produces the laser beam, not the underlying controls to read the discs - so the whole thing of "it has to read x different formats" is just more PR crap.
I know. What the heck is about people only write about the bad things
They admit ps3 has bad things and why wouldn't people do it. We are paying 600$ freaking bucks for it..
Wasn't something simmilar done with the first generation of DVD/CD-RW combo drives?
And if it is so difficult; how is it that Pioneer are already selling an, all be it crushingly expensive, "everything but *-RAM" drive?
Methinks Sony doth protest too much!
Agreed, such a stupid argument. The only console that will have backwards compatibility really going for it is the Wii. If you don't own your NES, SNES, or n64 console, or something happened to it, you can buy & download the games you want to play again. Genius on Nintendo's part because of their vast history.
The only Xbox game I really play on my 360 is Halo 2. The game needs to have a good replay value in order to work on a next-gen console.
dude I still play nethack over telnet..
you seem pretty spoilt to me, if you can't use something just because something new's come out...
It's because firstly they went down the angle of: "You will be honoured to buy this and will work harder for it", whereas now they are playing the angle of: "It's soooo hard for us ittle wittle people! We are working our socks off and that's why it's so expensive and there's only a few of them to go around *small tear runs down PR mans cheek*"
Spaced: It was sarcasm, dude. It was comments that I was imagining being made on behalf of those people who are in favour of backwards compatability. Like these people don't already own the old consoles, and if they don't I'd hazard a guess to argue that they probably only want to play next gen anyway. Even IF they did want to play previous gen the likelyhood of the games they want to play will be popular ones (ala 360 versus PS3s backward compatability). So it doesn't matter if it plays "My little pony" released in 2002 because the likely hood of someone wanting it is as good as non-existent.
It's amazing that the people that complain about backwards compatability are already the likely targets to OWN the consoles they want backwards comptability for.
I bet to doughnuts that in those two sentences Bindi was being sarcastic.
Regarding the article...I agree with most people here. It's simply stupid to blame the blue diodes or whatever. I can't understand SONY's pr department. OK, there are going to be launch shortages (big deal...there are always shortages at launch with consoles). OK, they have got some bad press due several blunders during the last year. OK, flaming SONY is the "in" thing to do in the Internet. Why haven't all this executives got the clue? It would be better to just shut the **** off. Cut the trash talk, talk only about the console and games and just weather the storm until launch day.
By December the PS3 is likely to be selling like hotcakes despite SONY itself. The hardware is nice if expensive, magazines and websites getting one are saying nice things about it, it's beginning to look polished and the games catalogue seems as strong as ever. The new SONY motto should be "let the console speak for itself"...and they should pass an internal memo:"Every executive that opens his mouth, gets fired in the spot".
And put some handcuffs and a gag on Kutargy and hide him in SONY's HQ deepest basement until December'07 at least. It's scary what he can come up in an entire year if the PS3 finally does half-fine at launch.
Backwards compatibility is nice to have...during the launch days, when games catalogue is weak, you get all the PS2 catalogue and news like GoW 2 and FF XII. 1 year from now, you may not play a single PS2 game, but at least, you have the option and you don't need to take the dust off your old PS2 and find some room in your home-theatre are to plug just another thing. As a matter of fact, it's something that I've thought about myself...I have a huge PS2 library...but if I get the X360 as I think I'll do, I can as well sell all of it. I don't see myself making the effort of plugging the PS2 again just for some light retro-gaming (and at home, I could use that storage space for something else than getting loads of dust). But having all that content available by just putting the DVD into the console would be nice to have.
All in all, it was a great decision from Sony's part to make PS3 compatible with PS2 and PSX. How SONY can be flamed for lacking a 10 HDMI cable bundled with the PS3, and MS can get away with lying and under performing about backwards compatibility, is way beyond me.
But the EFFORT of plugging in another console?? It takes all of a minute to plug in the 3 coaxial cables and a power plug. Is backwards compatability the definition of lazyness?? ;):)
But a HDMI cable is NECESSARY for the console and blu ray to work. The Wii doesn't include a component cable and Im supprised noone has made a hoo-har about it because the composite cable will only offer 480i. But then again, it isn't necessary for it because it doesn't do HD, whereas you go buy a PS3 for HD and quality then you get offered a crappy coax?? The sad part is most people will just plug in the coax and still be happy.
This whole thing about MS versus PS3 backward compatability is my whole point: people make a fuss about it before the console is released then noone uses it because they already own the old console, and of those that do use it , it's only the most popular games for a short time after release that are possibly used in the new consoles.
I understand your point, and in fact, I can't disagree. All my consoles since the SEGA Megadrive (Genesis for you yanks) have been backwards compatible...and I've hardly played old games. Still, isn't it much better to just be able to sell your old console? My PS2 will end getting dust and occupying valuable space just in case I want to play some PES5 matches. And plugging it is no big deal, but it's uncomfortable. Why do I need to keep and old console if the new one is powerful enough to play every old game? (Joe User doesn't care about technical details like emulation or hardware incompatibilities...for him new>old so old games should work fine).
Not necessary. Useful yes, and if ICT is activated then it'll be necessary, but nowadays, it isn't (As a matter of fact, you'll see many X360 fans dismissing HDMI as a mere "gimmik"...I for once would love to get an HDMI port on my X360). You need HDMI...get a 10 cable and you are set to go. The PS2 didn't include SCART cables, nor VGA cables and nobody made a big deal out of it. In fact, most consoles don't include all the supported cables (the X360 doesn't include HD Component cables IIRC)...that's hardly a new politics from SONY.
Indeed. But can you imagine the outrage if SONY had announced backwards compatibility, then clarify that it would only work with the 60Gb HDD version, then pointed that not every game would work with it, and then dumping it completely on the hopes that nobody cared? I can read the posts:
"OMG, SONY is teh suck3rs!!! they want my money, blood and soul!!! Sony is doomed I tell you, DOOMED!!!" ;)
My friends and I never sell our old consoles. I still have a NES in the loft and we still batter away at Streets of Rage 2 (can't find 3 for less than £30-50 :() on the Mega Drive. My mate still has a PSX (chipped) for old games and imports.
Yes, sure 360 fans are dismissing the HDMI cable as a gimmick, they would, but in the future when they decide to turn on the HDCP thing surely you want a console with it? And plugging your brand new HDTV into a digital connection not only improves quality but you also don't have to go through the selection of output resolution etc that most idiots won't bother with. If it isnt plug in and play they don't care, that's why most people will still use coax on their PS3s: because that's what came in the box.
Admittidly by the time they turn on HDCP, HDMI cables will be ten a penny.
HDMI and Coax is a world standard: Scart is not. And 95% of people with SDTVs use coax.
My bad...here in Spain, SCART has been the standard of all TVs for the last 20 years...and it's called Euroconector, so I assumed it was the standard in most of Europe too :o
Still, I don't think the HDMI cable is such an issue. Perhaps because I'm used to having to get extra cables all the time (I got a PSP and HAD to get the min-USB cable as an extra...and I needed another one for my V3...heck, even the last HP printer I got lacked an USB cable :( )
The 360 does, the 360 Core doesn't. Say what you want about Core versions, but for a HD console to be bundled without any kind of HD output capabilities sounds a bit lame to me. I'd say that an HDMI cable is more of an accessory for the PS3, while a component HD cable is a must for the X360 Core, but YMMV of course.
I wonder how many PS3 users will have used their console for several years still using the composite cable, believing the games and movies they are viewing is in high-definition?
At least include a component cable; I mean if Sony are so sure that 1080p and Blu-Ray is what most PS3 users want, surely they should provide the relevant cables (which in relation to the price of the console is cheap as chips) for them to view it?
The PS3 won't even include component HD cables???
Vow...I had assumed it would...that's why the lack of HDMI didn't look so grevious. If that's the case, ignore everything I've written before :o
That is certainly something to flame them about.
The Japanese PS3's (both skus) will not come with either an HDMI or Component cable, composite only. This has been confirmed by Sony.
Sony have not however released the final retail specifications for the US (and European) PS3, so a component cable may well included but if they do, what was the logic behind the Japan omission? I recall reading a statement from a Sony spokesperson stating that because the av cables from the PS2 can be used with the PS3, most users would use these.
If the above statement was official then yet again it's more arrogance; Sony assuming that everyone already owns a PS2.
Again I'd like to reiterate my point, how many PS3 owners will even realise that what they are viewing over composite is far from the 'full HD' experience that Sony have continuously went on and on about? I know several Xbox 360 owners who until I pointed it out, were using a composite > scart connection into their HDTV believing it was the best image they could get!
this was something i never even thought about, i certainly wont be buying a ps3 for a while but i will probably buy one before a HD:tv, monitor support was a big reason i bought a 360 as its not worth it on a standard defenition tv
The PS3 connections as of now are 2 x HDMI and a multi-av out (the exact same as the PS2).
An HDMI > DVI cable will conform to the copy protection (HDCP, AACS, ICT etc...).
The multi-av out will support composite and component.
Sony have not mentioned VGA at all, so I would assume it will not be supported. And I don't know of an HDMI to VGA cable that exists, and I'm not even sure if technically it would work with the copy protection...
at least it offers the ability to work with a dvi socket, and i could just use the toslink like i do now for sound, being as tv speakers are crap anyway it leads me to believe hdmi is a white elephant, but the film companies love its copy protection abilities so its got to be the new standard anyway.
this is all very hypothetical anyway as ive seen nothing to make me want a ps3 from launch till at least the middle of next year
As of launch day, there are no plans to support VGA for the PS3:
http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2006/11/6/5872
I guess a HDMI/Component to VGA adaptor may work...but I don't know if they exist and how easy to get hold of one is.
On the other hand, most good monitors bought in the last 18 months should have DVI inputs...so you can always get a HDMI to DVI adaptor and plug it to said monitor.
I guess the problem is for those with older monitors, that lack DVI inputs. Is component to vga feasible?
[edit]Never mind...the adapter is not what I thought It was[/edit]
There are two types of "component" what I call "Old Skool" is RGB Each cable has a different colour.
The newer one in YUV, Y is the blacks and whites, and U promotes blue (IIRC) and V demotes blue.
No, people still use backwards compatibility, and the only one with the smart backwards comp is Sony. Support all games, and still allow downloadable games that people might not have gotten a chance to play.
http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2006/11/07/ps3s-cell-three-times-more-powerful-as-the-xbox-360-processor.htm
Read the entire article linked above, disgraceful.