Counting Rupees: The year of the PS3 (Joystiq)

[R.O.B.]

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

Each week Jeff Engel and Geoff Brooks contribute Counting Rupees, a column on the business behind gaming:

Apparently, 2008 is the year of the PS3. After what most consider a very shaky first year, the media is abuzz with a comeback for the company that was once king of consoles. EGM's March issue proudly proclaims on its cover that it's "The Revenge of the PS3". EDGE's December issue was entitled "The Empire Strikes Back" and even Joystiq's PS3 Fanboy has given us 10 reasons why the PS3 is back in the swing of things. Some analysts have proclaimed that the PS3 will do at least as well as the 360 in 2008, and others have the PS3 edging out the 360 by 2010 or even the Wii by 2011. Clearly, everyone is pointing to 2008 being a turning point of sorts for the Cell-powered beast. But is it actually true?

Let's focus on, at least initially, Sony's battle against the 360. Certainly, the PS3 has a lot of things going for it. Blu-ray has officially won the next-gen DVD war; upcoming games, such as Metal Gear Solid 4, Killzone 2, and LittleBigPlanet show tremendous potential; and it has seemingly found a price point that people are willing to pay (as they did originally for the 360). In the US, at least so far this year, Sony has managed to outsell the 360 according to January and February NPD figures. But will it be enough?

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[Jogurt the Yogurt]

The PS3 will outsell the 360 (not not the Wii) this year.

[Pegasus]

Originally Posted by R.O.B.

...upcoming games, such as <em>Metal Gear Solid 4</em>, <em>Killzone 2</em>, and <em>LittleBigPlanet</em> show tremendous potential;

Only LBP would be remotely interesting to me if I had a PS3. A system-seller it certainly is not. Not to me, anyways.

Frankly, there's no game on PS3 that I can't get for the 360 that peaks my interest. I find the 360 exclusives a bit more appealing than that. Then again, I have no real interest in the likes of Gears of War or Halo either. *shrugs*

[Kenryoku_Maxis]

I'll tell you why the PS3 is picking up steam. Curiosity.

The XBOX did well because it hit a demographic. It catered heavily into a group who wanted M rated games, as well a FPS, Sports titles and online entertainment. When the 360 rolled around, not only did it get a head start and show its fanbase that it was going to give them all that it was before, but it went strong on all its heavy hitters. Even MORE FPS, Tom Clancey, Sports titles up the wazoo, More M rated monsters than you could shake a stick at, XBL sweeping over your LAN line like the Nothing.

...however. Now its been well over 2 years of this. 7 or 8 straight if you count the original XBOX. And well, fans are probably looking at the 360 and going 'oh boy...more of the same coming out month after month'. Yet its at this pivotal year with the PS3 with its head in the noose that its actually trying to come out with some titles that aren't just copying the XBOX line up as well as trying to at least fix its online AND lowering its price all at the same time.

Curiosity twinged a bit.


Halo 3 wasn't all that it was cracked up to be for 360 fans. GTA IV....meh, its still just gonna be the same game just more cussing, rediculous missions you have to do 20-50 times over and over again and better graphics. ANOTHER Unreal Tournament? More Tom Clancey Games? More generic off-brand Racers? EA Sports titles? Arg...

Hmm..I wonder what PS3 has...a few people say.

That's your reason PS3 is selling. A mid-gen boredom with developers just churning out stale carbon copies of the same generic M material on the ol' 360 run and gun box. But developers, at least in America, are still adamant that they won’t turn to the Wii, no matter how hard it smacks around the other two systems.

[hippiecrite]

I'm getting a PS3 in June when the MGS4 bundle hits. That way I get a backwards compatible 80GB unit and one of the few games I'm interested in for the console. Then I'll just wait for Final Fantasy XIII and Home.

[link64]

I think i will get with metal gear solid 4 as well

[nintendoduffin]

Out of the 360 and PS3, the PS3 interests me more but that's probably just because you can put Linux on it. I quite like the idea of using it as a music server.

[Joxe]

Actually I've changed opinion by the PS3, although it had a slow start I think it will come strong at the end. I mean, it's more expensive than the 360, no question about that, but you get a lot mroe for the money including:

Free online play
Free demos (on 360 aswell though)
Free invites to beta tests (my friend has gotten into Warhawk and GT5 by just having a PS3)
"Free" Blu-Ray player, HD-DVD is out of the question so Blu-Ray will certinly be a bonus if you are a movie lover.

It certinly has some advantages, but it also have some drawbacks, like:

Need of a HD-Ready/Full HD TV to take advantage of the graphics (also applies to 360)
Really bad europe support (why Sony?)
No vibration in the controller (going to be released, still another controller to buy)
"Forced" motion sense in the controller, it feels like they've just threw it in because the Wii got so much attention.


Probably more but that's all I can think of. If I got to choose a console today I would probably choose the PS3 out of the potential of the console and because of MGS, Devil May Cry and at least more racing games than Nintendo's endless supply on Karting games. Although GT5 doesn't have the best AI or the best feeling when driving you get a lot for the money.

The PS3 will stand strong in the end of this year, maybe not converting the 360 players but appealing those who haven't bought a current-gen console yet.

[hippiecrite]

^^ The MGS4 bundle comes with a Dual Shock 3 controller, another reason why that bundle is too good to pass up.