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Originally posted by World Wide Suicide
Um...I think I might be the only person on the freakin' planet who is saying to him/herself, "That sounds about right" and "Does the price even matter?"
Hear me out, hear me out. I will admit that $599 for the 60 GB PS3 is crazy and probably won't work, but the $499 20 GB PS3 sounds about right, considering the technical marvel that is the PS3. You complain and moan now because of the other announcements that Nintendo and Microsoft have made but remember, the PS3 has quite a bit going for it as well. The PS3 will have an insane amount of power as well as having Blu-Ray technology, which will be a household name in a few years. Nobody mentions this, all they mention is how Sony "stole" everything for the PS3 from other game companies. Whatever.
And really, if they went anywhere under $450, they would lose a huge chunkload of money for such a powerful and costly to make system. They had to make their money somehow. I can completely understand why they did it.
Granted, I will NOT be buying one of these bad boys on the first day. I probably won't have the money or have CLOSE to that enough cash to buy it. But i'd be foolish to say I will never get one. It'll be where it's at in three years time, just like the PS2 was. Guarantee you.
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I saw this and I just had to respond.
Xbox 360 and Wii are both as much of a "marvel" technologically as the PS3. The largest factor of difference between any of the platforms, as you mentioned yourself, is Sony's inclusion of Blu-ray in the PS3. You say Blu-ray is the next household name, and you're right, but it'll be a household name the same way Betamax is.
The situation with Sony's own Betamax was actually similar in many ways to the current debate between HD DVD and Blu-ray. It's true that Blu-ray discs hold more data than HD DVD discs, but lest we forget, Betamax was the champion over VHS in this category too. But just as that didn't matter for Betamax at the time, it doesn't matter for Blu-ray now. HD DVD discs still hold an extraordinary amount of data compared to present-day DVDs, at as little as 1/4 of the cost.
Like Betamax was to VHS, Blu-ray is much more expensive than HD DVD. It's the main reason the PS3 will be $600, and the sole reason that Sony will lose so much money per console. Price is the answer. HD DVD players will start at under $500, while Blu-ray players will debut later and start at $1,000. The PS3 itself would be $1,000 if Sony actually wanted to make any profit. They are running extremely risky business hoping that an abnormally high amount of game sales will make up for the loss -- when we've already seen that developers are turning to Microsoft and Nintendo for initial game support.
Blu-ray is also the reason why Sony had to delay the PS3 so much. They said it themselves. So, Microsoft and Nintendo already have a huge advantage by shipping their systems earlier. Game developers and consumers don't need to wait for technology that's not ready yet if they choose the Xbox 360 or Wii.
If that's not enough, HD DVD is supported by the DVD Forum, the same people who assured the DVD's position as successor to the VHS over the competing DIVX format. It also stays true to the DVD format by being natively backwards compatible with all previous formats. It uses standard, reliable MPEG technology for video and menus just like current DVDs, as compared to Blu-ray's questionable incorporation of the proprietary and historically unstable Java format.
On the movie front, there are already 200 HD DVD titles expected by the end of the year, because of the open standards of HD DVD. Unlike Sony's control over Blu-ray, HD DVD isn't monopolized by one company. Also, HD DVD discs will also be playable in regular DVD players for people who don't have a new player yet. If you side with Sony, you'll be buying twice.
High-definition is largely an issue for the future. For now, most people won't even be able to tell the difference between games and movies available on DVD and those available HD DVD or Blu-ray, because not many people have HDTVs anyway. But when we do all have HDTVs, we will want the most reliable and trustworthy technology at the most affordable price. HD DVD is it, Blu-ray is not.
I think Sony will horribly fail with the PS3 because of the disaster that is Blu-ray. Even if the technology (minus a few drawbacks) is roughly comparable, the price and the press certainly isn't. They really screwed this one up big time, and I think we'll see that play out next year after the PS3 is released and Sony ends up with huge losses and unmet demands. People will be more than content with their Xbox 360 or Wii and they won't want to spend
$600 for more of the same.
