Playstation 3 pricing announced

[Zappo]

FYI - According to Peter Moore at E3, something like 40%+* of 360 users are using Live. That's a heck of an increase over the last generation.

* I can't find the exact quote now, but it was something like 42% or 46%.

Some increase is natural as more people get interested in online gaming. However, keep in mind that many of the folks that have a 360 right now are early adopters, hardcore gamers, and other high-end buyers that were willing to preorder, wait in a queue, show up at the shop early, and so on. As 360s become more widespread to people that buy it more casually (maybe for their little kids), I expect the percentage to drop. There's also the "silver vs gold" issue to factor in.

 

[Aesthetic Monk]

It won't matter. The Gamecube was also very easy to program for. It sold horribly.

[snip]

The Wii has a long way to go if they want exclusive games back on their console that weren't developed in-house.

Plus, there's the issue of programming for the Wii-mote. E3 reports suggest that Nintendo's first-party games seem to control well to very well while the third-party-exclusive Red Steel from Ubi Soft has some fairly significant control issues. It's early, and it should get better, but I'd say that the launch titles have to control near perfectly or the Wii hype bubble will lose a lot of air.

In short, everybody's doomed!

 

[Kanegrundar]

At this point, if I even end up owning a next-gen console, it'll be either a Wii and/or a 360. The pricetag for the PS3 is going to have to drop by half to get me to even look, plus I despise Sony thanks to the rootkit debaucle. Sony can take a flying leap as far as I concerned.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

The Wii looks very good (although I don't care for the name or the controller). Third party support sort of concerns me, but I'll probably spend all my time playing the old games anyway, plus Mario and Zelda. This one is a given, if not at launch, soon after.

The PS3 has Metal Gear and Final Fantasy, but those might show up elsewhere. I have no reason to think Dragon Quest, Suikoden, Wild ARMs, Valkyrie Profile, Shadow Hearts, Legend of Legaia, Star Ocean, etc. will show up elsewhere, so eventually I will buy a PS3. It won't be until a significant number of those games become available, though, which, considering the development schedule for console RPGs, means the price should come down.

Someone could give me an XBox-360 and the only thing I'd play on it would be NBA Live... which I could play on one of the others. :\ If I want to play PC games (or PC-style games), I'll play them on a PC. All I play on the PC is X-Com, Heroes of Might and Magic and Alpha Centauri. Don't see those as titles for the 360, somehow.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

At this point, if I even end up owning a next-gen console, it'll be either a Wii and/or a 360. The pricetag for the PS3 is going to have to drop by half to get me to even look, plus I despise Sony thanks to the rootkit debaucle. Sony can take a flying leap as far as I concerned.

That is pretty much my view on it. I really try to avoid buying anything with "SONY" on it as I don't trust the company anymore, and the price makes the decision all that much easier.

 

[trancejeremy]

Well, none of the 3 companies are exactly nice.

I would need pages to point out Microsoft's faults, but the thing that scares me about them, is once they become the dominant console, they will put the screws to everyone (consumers and developers), just like they have with PC. Most of Sony's problems seems to be with the hollywood divisions (music & movie) which is very anti-consumer, but their game division has really got a thing against 2D games. This has hurt a couple of small game companies (Working Designs, Agetec) when games they had translated weren't approved.

 

[Michael Morris]

Nintendo is the least evil of the three. Microsoft have done things that are unethical and quasilegal. If Sony where a person it would be facing 30 years in jail. I don't buy from criminals.

I'll be buying a Wii - I'm really interested in trying that controller. The PS3 and Xbox 360 promise more of the same tired boring but nice looking games that caused me to quit playing video games in the first place.

 

[Alzrius]

I have no reason to think Dragon Quest [...] will show up elsewhere, so eventually I will buy a PS3.

Here's a reason: Dragon Quest on Wii.

 

[trancejeremy]

Nintendo is the least evil of the three. Microsoft have done things that are unethical and quasilegal. If Sony where a person it would be facing 30 years in jail. I don't buy from criminals.

I dunno, they do own an AL baseball team, and personally, I think the DH is the worst thing ever invented.

In Sony's case though, it was basicaly a different company. The music division, which Sony only owns half of. In fact, the PS3 seemingly does what the music (and movie) division don't want, allows the playing of mp3/wma and ripped movies (just like the PSP)

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

In Sony's case though, it was basicaly a different company. The music division, which Sony only owns half of. In fact, the PS3 seemingly does what the music (and movie) division don't want, allows the playing of mp3/wma and ripped movies (just like the PSP)

I find it amusing though how they are flat out lying and stating both versions of the PS3 have identical functionality when they obviously don't. In the E3 coverage I was checking out they were stating that, but you can't do true HD on the "lite" version due to the lack of the proper output and that lovely DRM packed Blu-Ray down sampling the HD output. So apparently the 499 dollar vesion can only output like 480 resolution instead of 1080. But that kind of marketing BS isn't nearly as bad as thier behavior in the music arena.

I was so happy when Pearl Jam didn't reup with Sony Music and put out their new album on a new label. I was almost put into the position of having to download my favorite band's new album since I won't buy any music from Sony due to the rootkit debacle.