Sony Shoots Themselves in the Foot

It's not games like Heavenly Sword slipping into the "launch window" instead of the "launch day" category that is concerning -- it's Sony admitting that even if there were no games to purchase, consumers would still be lining up en masse to grab the PS3.

It's been the talk of the town for quite a little while. My friend Preordered a few XBox360's to sell for a profit. It worked wonderfully. He won't touch the PS3 with a 40 foot pole.

Sony must be desperate at this point. 🙄

This is exactly like the quote where they said that price wouldn't be a problem - that people would want the system no matter what they charged for it. They're arrogant, and I think people are starting to decide that the PS3 isn't going to be so great.

This and the fact that Heavenly Sword is not a launch title now are seriously changing my mind about getting one at launch. What is the point of spending $600? Prettier PS2 games? I'm absolutely not worried about supply anymore either, so it's better just to wait until they have the games to back up the system.

I think it will be interesting to see what some game companies who have historically been releasing their big titles on just the Playstation systems (such as Square-Enix), will do if PS3 turns out to be a big flop, which seems very likely.

I am so conviced not to buy a PS3 now. Xbox 360, here I come.

Here's an idea. Let's support them. You heard me. Let's not critisze them for doing shit like this. Let's encourage Sony to do it more. Let's get them to release the console with no controllers. Let's get them to charge you a fortune for the online aspect. Let's get them to have no games for months.

And then we all buy Wiis and laugh as Sony dies a well deserved death.

Glenn the Great wrote:I think it will be interesting to see what some game companies who have historically been releasing their big titles on just the Playstation systems (such as Square-Enix), will do if PS3 turns out to be a big flop, which seems very likely.

They'll develop on 360 for titles needing lots of graphics/cpu power or the Wii for game they want to play different than the traditional game.

They're already developing for Wii, aren't they? Crystal Chronicles? Or is that just for the DS?

I think you're right that FF CC is coming to Wii. But the official main FF line isn't as far as we know. No FFVX or whatever the number is or FFVII remake for the Wii as far as we know.

I also saw an article today of Yahoo Japan polling consumers about the PS3 price and infact the japanese like that price as much as we do. They have similar opinions like they'd get one if the price dropped.

Darth Marsden wrote:They're already developing for Wii, aren't they? Crystal Chronicles? Or is that just for the DS?

And a new Dragon Quest game (it is "Square-Enix" and not just Square now 😊)

Mottzilla wrote:They'll develop on 360 for titles needing lots of graphics/cpu power or the Wii for game they want to play different than the traditional game.

That may seem to be the logical answer at first, but the reason I didn't jump to that is because the XBox 360 might not do well in Japan for similar reasons as the regular XBox. Square-Enix has clearly preferred putting its major games on a Japanese-made console that has good specs, thus why they go with the Playstation. It's hard to imagine Square-Enix putting their games on an American console. It would be very funny to see them do that, and I know they'd rather not.

Wow, that's arrogant.

I bet Sega releases a 256 bit console and blows them all away. 😉

Righty-o. Personally, I think that if Sony really does fall to the wayside with this console, there will be a number of third party releases moving to the Wii instead. especially if it is indeed backwards compatable with the gamecube controller for certain games. However, I'm sure some would go to the X-Box as well... and I kind of suspect we might see more multi-console releases akin the Megaman Anniversary Collection and such. Maybe not... but it certainly doesn't seem out of the question either.

Personally, I wager on a lot of Square-Enix releases to be on the Wii now, Capcom to do an even mix of multi-system and Wii-only, for Konami to go mostly the multi-system route but get finicky and release some games (*coughcoughCastlevaniacough*) exclusively on whichever system is most popular at the time, and for all Sega games to be on Nintendo's consoles. This from someone who doesn't keep up with the pre-console-release news all that closely, of couse, but just my thoughts... *shrugs*

As much as japanese developers may prefer to develop on a japanese system, that just may not be a viable option. The Xbox 360 is far more affordable and available. It also will perform similarly from the most recent estimates. Japanese gamers apparently don't like high prices either. While many people like to stick their heads up Sony's ass, they really fucked up this time. Really high price, pushing high def, hardware isn't final yet. They won't get the fast large install base that developers depend on. This is all great news for the 360, which as a new 360 owner means good news for me.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060522-6885.html

Same basic quote I think but some stuff from Nintendo and stuff in there too. PS3's controller doesn't have rumble though? That's freaking stupid!

Warlock wrote:http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060522-6885.html

Same basic quote I think but some stuff from Nintendo and stuff in there too. PS3's controller doesn't have rumble though? That's freaking stupid!

Not sure if that article covered it, but the reason PS3 won't have rumble is because Sony lost a lawsuit over the Dual Shock technology. Someone else held the patent on it and wouldn't let Sony use it, or something like that. Sony is conveniently making up for that with the motion sensing. I guess that Sony can argue now that it wouldn't be a good idea to have both rumbling and motion sensing, because the rumbling would greatly interfere with the motion sensing.

Sony is banking WAAAY too much on its fanbase. and I'm sure the motion thingy for the PS3 was a last minute additon to try to steal the Wii's popularity.

I heard that the gyroscopes messed up at E3. 😃 serves you right Sony!.

Glenn the Great wrote:Not sure if that article covered it, but the reason PS3 won't have rumble is because Sony lost a lawsuit over the Dual Shock technology. Someone else held the patent on it and wouldn't let Sony use it, or something like that. Sony is conveniently making up for that with the motion sensing. I guess that Sony can argue now that it wouldn't be a good idea to have both rumbling and motion sensing, because the rumbling would greatly interfere with the motion sensing.

Yeah, that's exactly what the article says. It's Sony's way of covering their ass. They lost the lawsuit so, "Oh, it's the motion sensor that prevents it".

Actually tho, this got me thinking. Nintendo said there was still a couple details about Wii they havn't announced. Now IGN speculated it might be a microphone in the controller (which is a good guess) but it got me thinking, what if they added rumble? I mean, the one major problem with this style of control is you have no feedback. I mean, you hit a tennis ball for example, and you can't actually *feel* it being hit. Now they sort of fixed this a bit with the built-in speaker (you can hear it being hit on the controller) but what if when you hit the tennis ball, you felt it too? Now that would be awesome. I don't buy Sony's claim. Rumble doesn't have to interfere with normal control, especially when it's PART of control. Other examples - you fire a gun and you feel it recoil.. so what if it moves your controller (and gun) a little, that is realistic! You cast a fishing line and you can feel the fish fighting against you. Any other sports game that involves hitting a ball (i.e. Baseball, dribbling in Basketball, etc). It's a great idea I think.

Nintendo already mentioned that their controller has the rumble feature during their press conference.

Somewhat off topic, but it's another nail in the coffin for Sony if it's true:

[PS3] Sony makes moves to stamp out lucrative second-hand market
Words: Matt Cundy

Wednesday 24 May 2006
High street games shops have been told by Sony that there will be no PS3 pre-owned sections in their stores as it will be illegal for customers to sell any next-gen PlayStation games that they've bought, retail sources have revealed to GamesRadar.

It seems that Sony is planning to adopt a licensing system that will mean gamers won't own the PS3 titles that they've paid money for. Instead, they will only be purchasing the licence to play the game and that the software itself will still be Sony property - meaning that the disc won't be the customer's to sell.

We assume that the thinking behind this move will ultimately be to stop PS3 games being resold several times - which currently snatches potential sales away from Sony - and to counter the impression in consumers' minds that games are only really worth their pre-owned price and are not worth buying new.

When we contacted Sony, it issued us with the following statement: "We have made all of the official announcements at E3 and cannot make any further comments at this time. We will be announcing more news running up to PlayStation 3's launch."

Now, I'm not sure how credible the site is, but for those who are too lazy to read, Sony is basically killing off game rentals and pre-owned selling in order to fatten their wallets. If this is indeed true along with not offering games at launch, I really wonder if Sony has some �ber plan to attract a whole crapload of gamers.

At the rate they're going, they might as well release a console with no controllers like Darth Marsden said since they believe that their fanbase will buy anything they put out (sad thing is, some people will).

Wii and XBox 360 are looking very nice right now.

No, realistically it would move more than alittle Warlock. Esspecially depending on he load fired. 😉 Though from my experience 9mm and .40 don't seem to recoil very bad. Though .50 certainly does.

I think it might be neat but to be honest I don't miss rumble features at all. I "think" the Xbox 360 wireless controller doesn't have it. I can't be sure though because I never notice anymore. Rumble was cool when Nintendo introduced it for N64. Then after that generation, I really didn't care. It's more annoying than cool. They also say now extended play with rumble is bad for your hands. Carpel tunnel or something.

Also I heard about the anti-preowned game thing. What might be next is them saying it means you can't rent the game either! Sony makes Microsoft look good. Well, even better I should say, cause they are doing well enough already. Then you add Sony's blunders to it, and M$ is even better.

The wireless 360 controller does have it... there's a way to turn it on and off, and I've done it inadvertantly many times, but I have no idea how. Which is fine, I could care less whether there's rumble in anything or not.

Everytime i hear something new about the PS3 sucking more ass, i smile a little more. I'm so glad the PS3 is going to crash and burn.

I think i'll stick with what i said a year ago, i'll NEVER buy one.

The 360 wireless controllers have it. When I charge up my plasma pistol in Halo 2 the controller starts shaking quite a bit. I really do like the effect as long as it isn't used too much - some games have parts where I set the controller down because they shake the controller too much.

I remember hearing a few years ago about some Japanese company trying to pass legislation in Japan to prevent the sale of used games. So I wouldn't be surprised if this thing about not reselling PS3 games is true.

you might not be allowed to sell your PS3 games?!? WHAT is Sony smoking? they are gonna alienate a lot of their casual fans with this...

@ Warlock: I really like the ideas you got! recoil on guns, and feeling what you hit...that would really kick ass.

BTW, that quote in your sig. I'm SURE I've seen it somewhere...but I can't remember where. can you please tell me where you got it form?

Businesses won't be able to sell used PS3 games, however individuals they really cannot stop. Though places like ebay may end up being forced to abide however as always some will slip through. Ofcourse right now it seems there aren't any real games in existance for PS3 (well not many) so I guess that's something to worry about if the system doesn't flop hard.

Fuck PS3. I'm already giddy about getting a Wii.

Sony had better hope that thier die-hard fans buy a FUCK-load of thier shit..

Cause, at this rate, they might as well kiss thier future in gaming consoles goodbye..

(They might have to, anyway..)

(And that certainly explains the shift to Blu-Ray disks. 30 gigs of copywrite protection can certainly put a hamper on playing a game not registered to your system..)

So, for the price of a ps3, you can get a wii, extra controllers, a game and some beer for your buddies...

mikeron wrote:So, for the price of a ps3, you can get a wii, extra controllers, a game and some beer for your buddies...