For those of you that have any interest in this kind of thing, Sony Europe boss David Reeves stepped down recently and was succeeded by a fellow called Andrew House.
This year’s E3 was House’s first as president of Sony Europe, so it’s unsurprising that he wasted no time in chiming in with a typically brash Sony-style sound-bite when Edge Online interviewed him at the event.
EDGE: What are the key battlegrounds, as we go through the ten-year cycle, on which Sony will engage Microsoft? Is it encouraging people that have bought Wii into HD gaming?
Andrew House: I think you’re absolutely right. If you look back at previous lifecycles, like PS2 versus N64 [sic], we have lots of data that suggests that lots of people bought into N64 as their entry level gaming device, and were happy to upgrade to a more powerful machine later in the life cycle when the price point was right for them.
I think we’re going to see this later on PS3, and the fact that it’s a Blu-ray player as well and that there’s a [greater] wealth of network based experiences than are perhaps available on the device they already have will add to the proposition. I think that will definitely be a factor in the marketplace.
So there you have it. Better start saving those pennies because according to Sony, you WILL be buying a PS3 soon – even if you don’t know it yet.
I hope he has spare batteries for his crystal ball. It may be a spell before his hope becomes reality.
Its funny seeing people say that bluray is not a vast improvement over DVD. I just guess you guys haven’t actually done a direct comparison between the two on a ‘proper’ TV.
I bought the HD DVD addon for the 360 just to see what the fuss was about, and almost immediately bought a shit ton of movies and a set top HD player coz they just looked so much better than standard DVD (pity Sony spent literally billions of dollars to bribe the movie studios to kill the format).
I’ve only just got a bluray player though, and the movies are so damn expensive compared to HD DVDs that I only have a couple, but they DO look a LOT better than DVD if you use the right equipment.
Having said that, I don’t know of anyone who bought a PS3, but know of at least 20 with 360s and about the same number with Wiis.
Whats funnier still is that I know lots of people who are still buying PS2 consoles. The price is rock bottom and so they really appeal to the casual gamer who doesn’t want to outlay hundreds on a George Foreman Grill, I mean PS3 and over $100 per low-average quality game (here in Oz we get raped with no lubrication over game prices).
True, the PS3 is a good bluray player (if you pay extra to get the remote) and upconverting DVD player, but even with Sony making a substantial loss per console (they’ll make it up on volume I guess) it doesn’t stand a chance when previously sony-only companies are no longer releasing titles exclusive to the PS simply because there is so little penetration they’ll never make their investment back.
I got a PS3 ‘free’ with my Sony TV. I wouldn’t have bought one. I don’t own another console.
That said its a pretty impressive bit of kit and has enough good games to keep me interested. Don’t play it much, though.
The PS3 does run Ubuntu and play Bluray disks. Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction is a game worth getting the PS3 just to play. The PS3 has so much potential to run intensely demanding games that when the games that have been under development for it finally roll out, it will be at the console to get. It’s nice being able to get free downloads of a whole bunch of demo games from the Sony website. The browser that comes on the PS3 is amazingly crappy — why they don’t have a good browser on the thing is an enigma.
It is a funny world – our family had a N64 for many years – we had a wealth of games for the console. A year ago, we upgraded to a WII – Cool games, and we had the ability to re-purchase downloads of our existing games (at a reduced price) so that was ok.
I dont see me re-purchasing the re-purchased games just so I can have a new console in the near (5+ years) future.
Oh – And who cares about Blueray – We are careful to purchase movies that are compatible with our existing player.
I work in the video biz. On a good upconverting SD DVD player with a well authored SD disk, the difference between DVD and Bluray is indeed small, even on a good, large 1080P display. To many people the small perceived difference – if they can see any at all – is not worth the additional cost of the player or the disks…
#25 I find the biggest difference is that with SD you can often see the compression when there are large areas of uniform color. HD does not seem to suffer from the same problem, perhaps due to different or less compression.
That said, it doesn’t make a lot of difference to me, but it is noticeable.
if the ps3clip works as well as the wiiclip. i’ll buy one just to have it on the shelf
Who needs Blu-Ray? I use my Xbox 360 to play games, nothing else. I get all my video from a torrent tracker. It’s stupid to think we need pieces of plastic anymore.
Also, only about 1/3 of 360 gamers actually have an HDTV, so touting HD as the feature of feature isn’t smart at all if you wish to compete with Microsoft.
And no, people who bought the Wii won’t generally go buy the most expensive device on the market.
A Wii, a 360 and a PS2 here. PS3 is to expensive and has nothing that a PS@ have. The Xbox is a machine for folks who want to run around with a gun sight in the middle of their screen while looking at the scrolling video for the right times to push the buttons. The Wii is a fun jump around waving your arms thing with Wii sports, however as a game platform it sucks no end with it’s finger chasing arm waving controller.
This fall the new Wii classic controller is supposed to be released which might make playing a video game on the thing as much fun as the Game Cube was/is. Nintendo has the games people look forward to, Zelda, Mario, etc. But they are screwing up the games for the wand controller fad.
I have a PS3 (for me) and Wii (for me and the kids). I just refuse Xbox on principle. For those Xbox fanboys who would give me crap for that… go scratch.
I’m still not feeling compelled to buy a PS3 despite the magical thinking of certain Sony execs.
I really don’t get the kitchen sink thinking of Sony and Microsoft. Most people don’t care about all the crap they stick in their box, they want a game system, not a multimedia center. That’s why Nintendo can make a profit on every Wii they sell and both Sony and Microsoft lose money every time they sell a unit.
Someone needs to explain basic business sense to these bozos.