PS3 600 dollars? Sony is on crack

[reanjr]

There is pretty much nothing that's cheaper in Japan and hardware is no exception. A used slimline ps2 I bought there a couple of months ago was about $160, iirc. The PS3 game prices you are quoting are more expensive than past games, but by about the same amount that xbox 360 games are in the US.

PS3 lite at $427 ($499 in US), Wii at $212 ($250 in US), 360 core system at $256 ($299 in US).

I reiterate, launch console hardware is cheaper in Japan.

 

[ohGr]

PS3 lite at $427 ($499 in US), Wii at $212 ($250 in US), 360 core system at $256 ($299 in US).

I reiterate, launch console hardware is cheaper in Japan.

Well, to be fair, the PS3 is cheaper because "Americans thought the $500/$600 price was cheap" (Krazy Ken's words, not mine), the NA Wii comes packaged with Wii Sports whereas the JP one doesn't, and, well, Microsoft is just getting their ass handed to them in JP so they've just recently announced that price cut (until now, or whenever the price cut takes effect, they've been paying the same price, or very nearly, that we have, IIRC).

When it comes to software, though, JP prices have been generally higher than NA prices.

 

[Rackhir]

PS3 lite at $427 ($499 in US), Wii at $212 ($250 in US), 360 core system at $256 ($299 in US).

I reiterate, launch console hardware is cheaper in Japan.

You're original line was "I know hardware tends to be cheaper in Japan" I lived there for three years and was there about 3 months ago. It doesn't tend to be cheaper, prices for two yet to be released products not withstanding. And the yet to be implement Price on the Xbox 360 represents a price cut. I suspect you'll see a similar price cut in the the US before christmas/PS3 launch.

 

[drothgery]

You're original line was "I know hardware tends to be cheaper in Japan" I lived there for three years and was there about 3 months ago. It doesn't tend to be cheaper,

Heck, IIRC, hardware is typically more expensive. But exchange rates and Microsoft's desperation to catch on in Japan are factoring into this round.

prices for two yet to be released products not withstanding. And the yet to be implement Price on the Xbox 360 represents a price cut. I suspect you'll see a similar price cut in the the US before christmas/PS3 launch.

Microsoft officials are adamant that there will be no 360 price cut in the US this year (though there are pretty strong rumors about bundling more stuff with them for the same price). I'd bet there won't be one while you can actually get 360s, and can't actually get PS3s, and will be a serious ($50-$100) price cut shortly after then (and no later than the middle of next year in any case).

 

[reanjr]

You're original line was "I know hardware tends to be cheaper in Japan"

My original line was of course in the context of the conversation which was launching game consoles... When I said games, did you presume I meant PC or board games should be included in that statement?

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

Ouch...

While the PlayStation 3 and 360 versions of Assassin's Creed are virtually identical, Raymond did say that on the 360 the team is putting a special emphasis on achievements. The hardware also allows for improved threading, which will improve even further the crowd AI.

And I'm not really sure what to make of this...

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3875&Itemid=2

While the Xbox and GameCube both received at least some support from Final Fantasy developer Square Enix, it’s the PlayStation 2 that laid claim to the big-hitting games such as Final Fantasy X and XII, Dragon Quest VIII and the Kingdom Hearts series.

Square Enix senior VP Michihiro Sasaki told the Wall Street Journal today that his company is certainly going to support the PS3, but it isn’t going to overdo it. "We don't want the PlayStation 3 to be the overwhelming loser, so we want to support them," he said. "But we don't want them to be the overwhelming winner either, so we can't support them too much."

 

[DonTadow]

Ouch...



And I'm not really sure what to make of this...

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3875&Itemid=2

It means pretty much waht a lot of people in the industry have been saying. Sony won't be making so many exclusivity contracts in this next generation. You can see that happening in the latter days of this generation. Final fantasy on the xbox, grand theft auto on the xbox Metal gear on the gamecube. The software makers have been figuring out and trying new ways to skirt the exclusivity agreements they do have. Final fantasy XI is online so that doesnt count, So long as theres a year between the games it should be ok.

This next generation we'll see a lot of things released multiplatform. I bet to the point where we will open up game magazines and the only section may just be multiplatform(it certainly will be the largest).

 

[reanjr]

I'm really surprised at the multi-threading comment. What about the Cell architecture makes it deficient at multi-threading? Why can't the multi-threaded features be replaced with multiple process an inter process communication? Anyone know?

From what I've seen of Suare Enix's lineup, I think they plan to release the core FF games on PS3 and all most other games on the other platforms. Square Enix very much remembers when Nintendo was the despot of the gaming industry and they see Sony going in that direction.

 

[drothgery]

I'm really surprised at the multi-threading comment. What about the Cell architecture makes it deficient at multi-threading? Why can't the multi-threaded features be replaced with multiple process an inter process communication? Anyone know?

The Cell's bad at conventional multithreading because it's an asymetric multiprocessing CPU -- it's got one fairly conventional core (the PPE), and the 7 SPEs which are really wierd, and only really good at single-percision floating point. So the techniques you'd use to scale an application so that it's faster on a dual-CPU (or dual-core CPU these days) machine don't really work for offloading stuff on to the SPEs. And you'd rather do as much on the PPE as you can, because it's very similar to the main core on the Xbox 360, so anything you do there doesn't have to be reworked for a port (in either direction).

There's a lot more overhead with processes than with threads, and for various reasons it's kind of difficult for the SPEs to talk to the rest of the system.

 

[TwistedBishop]

Here's a snippet from Arstechnica about the different cores:


"However bad off Xenon (360 CPU) will be in that department, the PS3's Cell will probably be worse. The Cell has only one PPE to the Xenon's three, which means that developers will have to cram all their game control, AI, and physics code into at most two threads that are sharing a very narrow execution core with no instruction window. (Don't bother suggesting that the PS3 can use its SPEs for branch-intensive code, because the SPEs lack branch prediction entirely.) Furthermore, the PS3's L2 is only 512K, which is half the size of the Xenon's L2. So the PS3 doesn't get much help with branches in the cache department."

-Arstechnica