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Watching the PS3 launch has been like watching a car crash in slow motion. Microsoft have managed to corner them on almost every aspect, but the real killer has been Nintendo. I think everyone (Microsoft included) has been caught out by the popularity of the Wii and I think that the whole industry has been caught out by the fact that almost everyone is a gamer at heart, it just needed a rethink to convert non console gamers to become console gamers. PS3 will sell to the hard core gamer but then it is up to Sony how many they sell beyond that. There are now two major threats that could send Sony the way of Sega. Firstly, (and foremost) if a consumer Blu-ray drive is released for sub £300, Sony is in real trouble. They can't afford to not to let it be released because that could hinder Blu Ray's dominance of the High Definition DVD market, conversly they can't afford to let it be released because that negates the justified expense of purchasing the PS3. Secondly, if the PS3 is not shipped in huge numbers by the middle of the year, the games development companies may prioritise their efforts on those titles for other consoles that give them greater scope to sell more copies. If these things happen, Sony could find themselves in a negative spiral that pushes them out of the console business altogether and we will start to see Gran Turismo on Nintendo and Xbox.

Nice article Darren.

I'm a big Sony fan-boy so I bite my lip when say this:

Sony have, in recent months, generally come off as overly confident to a point where the line between confidence and arrogance is almost none existent.

For one Sony believe the price tag on it's new machine will not deter the general public - It's sales so far have been hardly impressive and I think the reason for that is the price. As you've already said the PS3 itself is a great piece of kit, but (with the huge price difference between the 360 and the PS3) is it justifiably priced as the best console available?

Sadly, I think what Sony are relying on is it's fan-base. I'd have guessed the majority of gamers already own an xbox360 or plan to do so soon.

The question is, we already have a world-class gaming machine - Do we really need another?

I gave up on Sony just before Xmas and bought a 360. I am more than happy with it. PS3 may be nice but I am boycotting Sony on their European stance. And this is from a man who owns a ton of (excellent) Sony kit (including a PS2!)

Car crash in slow motion? I've not seen any problem with the PS3s launch. It was selling out in a large amount of retail outlets in Japan and N/A and every shop near where I live has already filled pre-order allocations for the UK launch.

If this is Sony when they're messing up I wouldn't mind being part of Sony right now.

For me, a person who has always been a huge Sony fan, the way everything has been handled (especially when it comes to their blatant disregard for the European market) by them has been an interesting insight into how Sony feel about myself and my friends that love and use their systems.

I won't be buying a PS3 now, even if they lower the price and sort out the problems with it. For me, the problems in re to backwards capacity etc are a little embarrassing for Sony, but nowhere near as damning as their apparent apathy towards the European market. It's insulting, for one- especially considering the money they've had from me over the years- I feel like I'm overreacting, but it's caused a lot of ill feeling in the ranks of people who were stalwart Sony supporters, myself included.

The PS3 is going to be a massive success. It may take a little while as the delay has lead to many buying the xbox 360. If the launch had come earlier the PS3 would be destroying the 360. Once people see the amazing PS3's capabilities they will soon get rid of their xbox and convert to sony. Ebay will be filled with xbox 360's going cheap.
Anyone who has ever seen a PSP or a PS2 know what brilliance sony are capable of and this will far exceed past efforts.
The PS3 may appear expensive, it is a fair bit of money to spend on a games console, but what you are getting for your money really is incredible. Unlike the xbox 360 the PS3 isn't full of hidden costs for add ons that should be included in the base package.
Sony are the King of electronics. Long live the king.

Speaking as one who has never owned a console before I can only say that despite the obvious superiority of the Microsoft and Sony products I will be buying a Nintendo Wii. Partly its a price thing but mainly it's the Wii control system. It looks a lot more fun than sitting on a chair clutching a control pad. The Wii strikes me as the future of gaming especially amongst new converts like myself.

Ok so it's like this.

I have a toaster at home that I bought before Christmas.

It's one of those state-of-the-art (lol) one of the very best in fact.

It does all sorts. Toasts bread, crumpets, perfectly.

It did come at a price, though I was willing to pay it as I believed it was worth the money for what I was getting.

-

Alas last night, I see pre-order signs in the window of Woolworths for a "better" toaster. It looks a lot different, and is from another reputable maker.

Trouble is this one is going to cost me about twice as much as the toaster I have now and there are very few features it has that my current toaster doesn't.

Thing is, for a fraction of the price of the PS3 (I mean new toaster) I can buy an upgrade for my Xbox (I mean current toaster) that will make it do literally the same thing.

This article disturbs me, as confirms what I have been feeling as a long time consumer of Playstation products. Is this the end of this iconic games machine that I have enjoyed for so many years?

I, like many others, have felt battered and bruised by the way Sony have treated their core gamers in recent months. Firstly, although the hardware of the machine is second to none, it has a price tag that makes me weep. A delay of 4 months, and then finding out that one of Playstation’s 2 best features, the ‘rumble’ controller, will no longer shake due to a legal spat with its technology suppliers. And of course, the list goes on.

The question that still puzzles me is, how could Sony get this so wrong, after so many years of domination and expertise in its field? They’ve given their competitors a dream start in life of their consoles. Bill Gates must be throwing a party every time Sony gives a press conference. One has to conclude that Sony has no one to blame but itself for these mistakes, and the need for someone to take control of situation has to be at the top of its priorities. It may even be too late.

Although my pre-order is in, I can’t help feeling that this time I may just been on the wrong team, on a ship that is gradually sinking ever further into console history.

Sony, please prove me wrong.

Sony is providing products to Europe which are late, have inferior features to the US/Japan ones and yet they charge much more. They've been actively stopping imports of PSPs and PS3s using 'trademark infringement' actions against grey importers, and yet claim to be 'protecting consumers'. The result is just that Europeans are forced to pay steeper prices for inferior products which lack the backwards compatibility of US and Asian versions.

That said, Microsoft is charging double the US price of Vista to those in the UK, and Apple is doing the same to UK customers of Itunes.

It's about time the EU stepped in to prevent these companies abusing the European consumer.

The rot at Sony started a long time ago. It probably started when they missed the boat on portable digital music players; remember they owner the portable cassette and CD market with the Walkman brand. They should have continued with MP3 players. Instead, they introduced the proprietary (expensive) memory stick format; initially only supported their own audio format....

Add to that their recent problems with copy-protected CDs and it's easy to see a company that has forgotten about the customers.

I remember about a year to two years ago when all the next gen stuff was on the drawing board / development. I argued that Sony were making mistakes by going for too much new technology at too higher price too soon.

I said that people will start to want a different experience offered by nintendo and that simply ramping up the graphics and using the same control method does not a good game make.

I said that due to high costs the ps3 would mainly get rehashes with better graphics of existing franchises.

At the time I was mocked and laughed at. Sony rule and always will.

Its mildly amusing to see how I have been proven right so far. PS3 is overhyped with loads of problems. Games look great but are esentially the same as ever.

Way to screw it up Sony

I've noticed a trend in the past few weeks - PS3 pre-order announcement signs outside of shops becoming bigger and more numerous.

That doesn't sit well with the notion of "selling out in record time". Smacks of retailer desperation to me. The deposit amount required seems to be tumbling like a stone too.

I also notice these same retailers are not including the machine price on in-store advertising, I assume relying instead on customers actually asking when they pre-order, in the hope they are beyond the committal stage by then.

I'm sure come launch day, if there are any machines sitting on shelves Sony will spin you a line about an effective supply chain making sure product was available, but the reality is - demand should always outstrip supply on launch, however many you make.

This time last year I was drooling in anticipation of the PS3s arrival.

A year later and I've no intention of buying one. I have a Wii which is superb and I'm going to try out PC gaming since the new games coming out for Windows are going to be truly next gen.

The main issue with PS3 for me is the lack of rumble. Why pay that much for a console when the controller you get with it isn't as good as the PS2s (I don't see the motion sensing as bringing much to the party).

To be honest, when you can pick up both an Xbox 360 and a Wii (giving you both Hi-Def gaming and a party machine) for the price of the PS3, why anyone but hardcore Sony fanboys would want it is completely beyond me.

If Blu-Ray fails to win to format war - and the PS3 is winning any friends on that front - then the Sonyin serious trouble here.

Good article, as a long-standing Sony supporter (PS and PS2) I have been left a little dazed by the build up to the launch of the PS3.

On the one hand it appears technically at least to be a great console, it will play the next generation of games and it incorporates a Blu-Ray player. Originally it also promised backwards compatibility for PS and PS2 games - it all looked rosy especially with a worldwide launch as well!

Then it became apparent that it would be a worldwide launch because of component supply problems, followed by the huge price difference between the console in the US and the UK. Now I read that although 1000 games will be compatible at launch there will not be 100% backwards compatibility.

Just before Christmas 2006 I looked at an X-Box360 instead and toyed with getting that as it was freely available and had good games support coming through, something the PS3 won't have for a little while after launch. What stopped me was not the borderline arrogant Sony swagger or advertising but the fact that although cheaper than the PS3 the 360 does not come with a next generation Hi Def DVD player. When I looked into the likely costs I figured I would be better off waiting for the PS3, which would be more compact as well.

I think Sony are in danger of losing the battle with this launch, they need a price cut and some decent games, at the moment my money is staying in the bank until I am satisfied that the PS3 will be around and supported for at least 4-5 years.

Having had a N64, ps1 and ps2, I also decided not to wait and got a xbox360 and totally love it. I did not want to repeat my experience of the last 2 ps where I got it as it launched and there were no games available. The xbox360 allows you to play the old xbox titles such as halo which you can get for £10. Get a 360 and call of duty 2, go online and you won't have time to read about the ps3.

I think at the end of the day Sony are loosing ground because of their lack of innovation.

Take Microsoft, they have given us XBox Live, the first online console gaming experience, nothing has come close. The PS3 has had major criticism over its online capabilitues.

Nintendo have completely revolutionised the way we play games, instead of just ramping up the graphics they have made a console that has put the fun back into gaming, and actually changed the way a player interacts with the game to a very sophisticated level.

Sony have given us a PS1 with better graphics. No innovation, nothing new, the only remotely new thing is the controller, and they stole that idea off Nintendo after E3. You wioll get the same games and control them in the sdame ways. I can go pick up a PS1 for about £20 or a PS2 for about £50 and do that. Why do I need to spend almost £500!

Wii certainly showed that both the big players have been underestimating how big a market they could have been selling to, by simply targeting each others market share. A dearth of genuinely compelling games for either of the big consoles has meant that the Wii has looked fresh, despite offering a solid batch of tried and tested favourites from the past few years, because the people buying it are not traditional gamers.

I think Redmond has a bigger battle on tis hands, than Sony. While Sony sits atop a gigantic pile of consumer electronic devices, Windows Vista, Microsoft's next cash cow (with which it must fund it's many loss-making businesses), has managed a launch so damp and lacklustre that it made even Sony seem well-organised.

The perception within Microsoft - and most especially among Microsoft's investors - is that Xbox is bleeding the company white. Xbox isn't predicted to break even, as a business, for maybe another three or four years, by which time it will have cost an estimated $40 billion - money that will, essentially, never see its way into the dividend. These things matter to Microsoft investors. Quarterly dividends have been between 8 and 10 cents a share, for some time, and the amount of money disappearing into Xbox, is widely cited as a reason. This year's payouts are expected to be much lower.

As a result, Microsoft share prices have been more or less flat, or declining, for six years straight. In the light of loss-making 'investments' such as 'Live' (which seems immune to the need to justify its expenses) the risk of a shareholder revolt is substaintial, and a major cull in upper management, could mean that Microsoft will not be given the chance to continue to push the Xbox.

I can think of many problems Sony have brought upon themselves. such as: Delayed European Launch, Removing rumble from the joypads, Inferior hardware for European launch, then making things worse by issuing a press release indicating that getting PS2 titles to work using Software Emulation will not be a priority, Poor launch line-up, Inflated price for European regions. The list just goes on and on, along with some terrible PR from Sony.

I am a mid 30's male with plenty of disposable income. I always buy every new games console at launch. The PS3 will be the first console I do not buy at launch since I was a teen. This is due to the way Sony have treated Europe. I may look at getting one in a years time if Sony show a more respecting attitude towards us European customers.

i am a pc gamer. i have a ps2 and would have bought a ps3 but as many have already said, the launch of the ps3 has been the most laughably badly managed launch of any product i have seen in many years. the delayed launch has allowed xbox to dominate the market for over 12 months. most people in the market for a console will have already bought it. the non-backwards compatibility for europe devalues sonys reputation for technological competence and the high price makes them look like profiteers in europe. not to mention other DRM related issues with their CD's etc, Sony's rep is in deep trouble and being outperformed across the board by microsoft (whose pc games are by and large great) and nintendo. the games for wii are flaky but have some good short term appeal.

If Sony want to treat the european market with contempt then they can kiss my ass. I would have bought a PS3, i already have a ps2 but their attitude stinks. no backwards compatibility - u have to be joking, are these people competent or not? xbox has cleaned up in this market for the last 15 months. the price differential between the US and Japan and the European market is just crazy profiteering. Plus the fact that Sony don't release CD's or DVDs in europe as often as in the US or Japan and they are loaded up with DRM rubbish means that Sony's rep is in deep trouble in europe.

Technically the PS3 is an impressive achievement and good value for money considering it has built-in Blu-Ray support.

I agree that the launch titles don't fully exploit the hardware yet, but the reality is that for PS3 and 360 it's going to be years before developers utilise their full potential.

This PS3-bashing is getting so tired now - everybody blog seems to be doing it. Perhaps it's time to give the PS3 some breathing space and see how things progress from there.

I have a X360 and a Wii. People forget that the Playstation 3 is an excellent piece of kit and the price? Well, add all the extras onto your 360 to make it the same as a Playstation 3. A HD drive, wireless router, 60 gig of drive space, full xbox live membership and the price evens out a bit. No one brings that up though!

The lack of playable PS2 games is an issue, but all they are doing is what the 360 does and give you the opportunity to download the updates in the future. Though I think Microsoft got a bit of stick for that from Sony when they mentioned it.

Every online retailer still has PS3's in stock, some cheaper than £425. So not looking too rosy for Sony.

My first console (I was a Specturm and Amiga gamer before that) was a PS1, next came the N64, and then PS2 followed by GameCube.

I'm obviously not anti Sony (I wouldn't have bought their last two machines if I was!) in fact I loved the way they initially shook up gaming with their cool PS1, however I have to concede I found the Nintendo machines got far more play time, I just prefered the games.

So now here I am again with the same choice, well I've already made half the choice and have bought the Wii, however this time I just can't see me owning the PS3 as well. I think this time there's two big problems for me (3 if you include the fact I hate the PS1/PS2/PS3 controller!), it's just too expensive for me to be able to afford it and even if i could, to justify it, and secondly my gaming needs are different these days, I now have a family (which may be a lot of the gamers from my era also have!?) and thus the hard core single player games are just not viable anymore therefore the wii party machine is ideal.... and if I do ever have the luxury of an hour or two to myself there's always Zelda !

Well that's my opinion anyway, I do feel there's a good chance Sony could come 3rd this time as despite the initial furore I now read that there are machines sitting on shelves in both USA and Japan, with the japanese going so far as to start heavily discounting (£180 !!!) to help shift units.

As i say, I take no pleasure in seeing them fail but just like Sega before them, Nintendo before that and even the granddaddy of them all, Atari, the dominate manufacturer of the time is not untouchable and in each case the company has fallen from the top, it is normally because of a combination of arrogance and high pricing (I guess you could argue the arrogance leads to high pricing) which Sony seem to mimicking here.

Sony aren't the 'kings of electronics' as Glen Thomas writes - Samsung are, and Sony know it. Components of Sony machines include a lot of third party chips etc, many coming from Samsung - the true kings of electronics. Sony didn't release dev kits soon enough, as all companies seem to, justifiably, but this means there are reletively few games at launch - and this in no way demonstrate the true capabilities of the machine (this goes for 360). If you must get a PS3, wait 6 months. Then the true picture will have been revealed. Once more, Samsung rock. Now if only THEY would get into they console industry...

interesting one, I feel Sony have missed the boat on this one, delays no European xmas release and by the time the console arrives no doubt MS & Nintendo will launch some attractive packages "Halo 3" perhaps to try and entice people to the cheaper alternative. Bearing in mind that the current Xbox & Wii technologies are pretty much in there infancy in terms of games developments and are improving graphically /gaming complexity all the time (remember PS2 took a while before the developers could exploit the hardware to its maximum potential). Sony will have to pull somnething amazing out the bag to tempt people to go for the PS3, IMHO Grand Turismo is not going to save this one.

One final thought MS have already stolen a march on online gaming and now have a very slick system... there goes another cycle....

This coming from a company that wants to install rootkits on everyone's pc. How surprising!

The thing is, as a certain Wall Street Journal recently indicated, Sony is being run in a very Zhou dynasty fashion; Sony Electronics being their Jin, BMG their Song and Computer Entertainment their Wei.

They're all warring against each other for dominance, and you can tell from the conflicting and often badly designed products that are released in sectors with crossover between the corporate subdivisions. The PS3 is equipped with a CPU that is unsuitable for gaming but works great at scientific applications [Electronics]. It features a Blu-Ray drive which increases the cost no gaming benefit, slower loading times and increased cost [Pictures Entertainment]. Take into account that their last Duke of Wei [Ken Kutaragi] was a jealous and incompetent leader who hid information from the King [Stringer] and acted behind his back... the descent from Zhou to Warring States analogy seems all the more apt.

One wonders what kind of CEO Sony will need to bring about their Qin...

I read this article – and the resultant comments - and was struck by how much I thought the sentiments were spot on. Yes, in my opinion, Sony has lost its way. I used to love the brand – and all that it stood for. But things have been going wrong for quite some time now (Bravia aside); with the PS3 debacle just the latest in a series of wrong market decisions (e.g. PSP). PS3 is a great piece of kit – but it is overpriced. Full stop. The WII, and to some degree the 360 too, have proved that it is not spec that sells. It’s availability, value for money and, in the WII’s case, real innovation. PS3 is relying on BluRay as a major selling point – but I think that’s misguided. HD DVDs are a blind alley. The world is moving toward ‘on demand’ delivery (e.g. HD films or other media down a cable or through broadband). Anyway, if you must have a DVD drive, just buy Microsoft’s cheap add-on one for the 360! As for the European launch of PS3, that was just plain insulting. We get PS3 late, downgraded (i.e. it won’t play the same amount of PS2 titles as Japanese and US versions), and at greater cost than anywhere else in the world. Way to go, Sony. Actually, that should read: ‘Way to go DOWN, Sony’.

i am a pc gamer. i have a ps2 and would have bought a ps3 but as many have already said, the launch of the ps3 has been the most laughably badly managed launch of any product i have seen in many years. the delayed launch has allowed xbox to dominate the market for over 12 months. most people in the market for a console will have already bought it. the non-backwards compatibility for europe devalues sonys reputation for technological competence and the high price makes them look like profiteers in europe. not to mention other DRM related issues with their CD's etc, Sony's rep is in deep trouble and being outperformed across the board by microsoft (whose pc games are by and large great) and nintendo. the games for wii are flaky but have some good short term appeal.

Glen Thomas wrote: "Once people see the amazing PS3's capabilities they will soon get rid of their xbox and convert to sony.".

This is the stand point taken by so many technophiles who have no grasp of why people buy games consoles. Most people don't give two hoots about 'capabilities' or 'graphical power' as long as the games look nice enough to play without being distracted by bad graphics, what people care about is how fun the games are to play. It's for this reason the Wii, with it's last generation technology, is out selling the PS3 5 to 1. Technology is all well and good, but with an inflated price tag, sub par games and a bad public image, it's utterly redundant.

Games consoles have been about how fun the games are, always have, always will. In fact, looking in the past, the technically best console in any race usually loses, look at the Gamecube, N64, Dreamcast, Jaugar etc. All the most technically powerful in their generation, none of them winners.

What gets me is the fact that we in Europe get slim pickings when it is FINALLY released and not only that, I might not be able to play all of my PS2 games on the PS3.

And why so expensive. In Japan, a 60GB, fully loaded PlayStation 3 costs the equivalent of £250, compared to the £425 launch price in the UK. Explanations?

Buy one from Japan if you must - all games on the PS3 are region free, no language problems and no power chord issues either.

As someone who has a house full of Sony kit, I am really disappointed. I haven't opted for an XBox 360 yet, but I might do very soon!

I'm more of a PC gamer than a console gamer, so you could say I'm perhaps more objective when looking at the 360/PS2/Wii debate.

Most folk I know with an 360 will, after the price drops somewhat, buy a PS3. However, all of them are planning to buy a Wii, just as soon as their local stores can get stock. The price of the Wii is closing in on impulse buy price and will keep the gamers I know from falling out with their sposes over time spent gaming...just get the whole family to play Wii Sports.

The PS3 is the technically more accomplished machine, with the Wii falling at the other end of spectum - no question. The PS3 will take the majority of the harcore console gamer market share, xbox360 takes the harcore/mid market, but the Wii is far more astute product, leapfrogging both. Not only will it take some share of the existing consle games market, but its created its own niche - with mass appeal to gamers and non-gamers alike.

In a competitive market, when you can't beat your compeition's offering on product quality, the most valid tactic is to side step the norm and go round the competion, both creating a new market for your own product and making the existing market see the lack of innvoation by your competitors.

The Wii product from Nintendo has done this perfectly.

Glen Thomas wrote:

"Unlike the xbox 360 the PS3 isn't full of hidden costs for add ons that should be included in the base package."

Interesting stance given that a HDMI cable can cost upwards of £30, that one is necessary to take full advantage of the PS3's much-vaunted HD features, and Sony aren't including one with the PS3 as standard...

There are several reasons that i believe have contributed to the PS3's slow start.

1 - Price. The PS3 has launched at such a high price and without the killer app game to sell the machine consumers are rightly going where the best games are for a much cheaper price. For the cost of one PS3 gamers can buy both a Wii and a 360 and enjoy the best of both worlds. So far the PS3 does not have the games to suggest it will be capable of anything better than the 360.

2 - Exclusive games. Every week game websites have new stories on PS3 exclusives that are no longer exclusives and are also being made for the 360/Wii...the latest example of this is the new Mercenaries game. Many developers are also completely abandoning their support of the PS3 in favour of the 360 and Wii.

3 - Unexpected rivals. Just about everyone had written off Nintendo as a challenger to Sony and Sony seemed arrogant and over confident in their ability to trounce the Wii on launch day. Instead Nintendo made an affordable console with some really good games (Zelda, Excite Truck, Trauma Center) and also introduced a truly next gen control system.

If Sony can reduce the cost of the PS3 and produce some games that will turn graphic obsessed fans away from the 360 then they can still have a chance. Sony has had a slow start but the console wars are never won in a few months...this race is a marathon. As pointed out, Xmas 07 will be the big test for all three companies.

interesting one, I feel Sony have missed the boat on this one, delays no European xmas release and by the time the console arrives no doubt MS & Nintendo will launch some attractive packages "Halo 3" perhaps to try and entice people to the cheaper alternative. Bearing in mind that the current Xbox & Wii technologies are pretty much in there infancy in terms of games developments and are improving graphically /gaming complexity all the time (remember PS2 took a while before the developers could exploit the hardware to its maximum potential). Sony will have to pull somnething amazing out the bag to tempt people to go for the PS3, IMHO Grand Turismo is not going to save this one.

One final thought MS have already stolen a march on online gaming and now have a very slick system... there goes another cycle....

PS3 is by no means vastly superior to the xbox360 (Glen) and as far as that being the basis for your opinion how do you explain the success the wii is enjoying considering the graphics are on a par with the original xbox? As for hidden add-ons, it appears that PAL versions are not shipping with any form of HD cables and only the top end model is available to rip off the consumer. Trying best not to sound like an MS fanboy but it amazes me how a company like sony can treat such a large demographic so badly. Not only is the console a year late, Europe will be receiving it some 4 months after the rest of the world, minus the choice of models, at a higher cost, and with what appears to be fewer features (re the emotion engine for backwards compatibility of all games). Why would anyone let a company take the mick so badly and then still buy their product!!!!??

I read this article – and the resultant comments - and was struck by how much I thought the sentiments were spot on. Yes, in my opinion, Sony has lost its way. I used to love the brand – and all that it stood for. But things have been going wrong for quite some time now (Bravia aside); with the PS3 debacle just the latest in a series of wrong market decisions (e.g. PSP). PS3 is a great piece of kit – but it is overpriced. Full stop. The WII, and to some degree the 360 too, have proved that it is not spec that sells. It’s availability, value for money and, in the WII’s case, real innovation. PS3 is relying on BluRay as a major selling point – but I think that’s misguided. HD DVDs are a blind alley. The world is moving toward ‘on demand’ delivery (e.g. HD films or other media down a cable or through broadband). Anyway, if you must have a DVD drive, just buy Microsoft’s cheap add-on one for the 360! As for the European launch of PS3, that was just plain insulting. We get PS3 late, downgraded (i.e. it won’t play the same amount of PS2 titles as Japanese and US versions), and at greater cost than anywhere else in the world. Way to go, Sony. Actually, that should read: ‘Way to go DOWN, Sony’.

PS3 is by no means vastly superior to the xbox360 (Glen) and as far as that being the basis for your opinion how do you explain the success the wii is enjoying considering the graphics are on a par with the original xbox? As for hidden add-ons, it appears that PAL versions are not shipping with any form of HD cables and only the top end model is available to rip off the consumer. Trying best not to sound like an MS fanboy but it amazes me how a company like sony can treat such a large demographic so badly. Not only is the console a year late, Europe will be receiving it some 4 months after the rest of the world, minus the choice of models, at a higher cost, and with what appears to be fewer features (re the emotion engine for backwards compatibility of all games). Why would anyone let a company take the mick so badly and then still buy their product!!!!??

Glen Thomas wrote:

"Unlike the xbox 360 the PS3 isn't full of hidden costs for add ons that should be included in the base package."

Interesting stance given that a HDMI cable can cost upwards of £30, that one is necessary to take full advantage of the PS3's much-vaunted HD features, and Sony aren't including one with the PS3 as standard...

I own an xbox 360 myself. Since day one of the 360 release. i've been content with microsoft. Offering excellent online service which is second to none. Now all my friends want the PS3 and i laugh i read articles all the time saying how the PS3 is going to fail to succeed. Once one has tryed an xbox360 or owned one. You will be converted because the xbox 360 is a truly awesome machine.

As for the Wii i have the upmost respect to Nintendo being at the bottom of the gaming console ladder. They seem to be climbing back up and very fast too

I want to say something about this issue.Even though I didnot know about the PS3.but recent years, I thought that the Janpanese companies lost their competetion in a series areas. In china, they were replaced by the south korean companies like the samsong.the Janpanese companies heads should change their strangey towards the market so long as they re-appeal the attention from the customers.

Firstly, it must be said that all three of the so-called "next generation" machines are very good in their own right. Each has strengths and weaknesses, good and bad games etc. but where's the fun in being honest and objective, huh?

So why do people go on about how much better value the XBox 360 is over the PS3? A 360 + HD DVD = £395 from Amazon, hardly a massive difference compared with £425 for a PS3, especially when you consider that the PS3 has a 60Gb hard drive compared to the 20Gb on the 360, and that's just for starters.

I already own a 360 and I will be getting a pre-ordered PS3 (hopefully) on launch day and I can't wait! Yes the PS3 European launch delay was disappointing but once it is here that will soon be forgotten. Anyone who says that they will boycott Sony as a result of the delayed launch is just cutting off their nose to spite their face. So it's been delayed, get over it and don't miss out because of it. As for the now less comprehensive backwards compatability, is that really a reason to knock the machnine? Anyone with a pile of PS2 games most likely owns a PS2 too so rather than sell it, for only a modest sum in the current market, why not keep it and its 100% compatability!

As for Nintendo, why are they not getting a hard time from people for not being able to make the Wii more readily available? This is even harder to fathom, especially since the Wii essentially uses off the shelf components and not the more leading edge, custom components used in both the 360 and PS3 (e.g. the infamous blu-ray diode). Despite the fact the Wii was launched 3 months ago, you still cannot today walk into a shop in Glasgow city centre and buy one off the shelf. Whilst this is partially a measure of the Wii's success, why are Nintendo not doing more to flood the market with machines ahead of the PS3 launch?

The PS3 is a leading edge multimedia platform and as such it was never going to be cheap. Likewise being an early adopter and buying on Day One is never cheap either! At the end of the day you pay your money and you make your choice so why not just make an informed choice within your budget and go with it...oh and stop moaning! ;)

I think the PS3's problem is that it's trying to be a jack of all trades and master of none. What do I mean by this?

Well, Sony want us to belive that their system is a one stop shop for Games(HD), Movies(HD) and genral Â鶹ԼÅÄ entertainment media hub. It stands to reason that the more non game related add on's which are bolted onto the PS3, the further it becomes from being a games machine. Maybe I just want to play great Games?

I canot warrant paying such a large sum for a device that is going to be updated (or outdated by non game rivals within the HD sector) in one or two years time.

Furthermore, do they really think (Sony) that they will be the only guys in town pluging HD players and media hubs.I for one donot want to be looking at my PS in dismay in six months seeing that I canot record my own HD material and so on. To me it sugests they are trying to take on the whole of the consumer electronics industry - and losing their core values of "Cool".

Sony are leading us to belive that the PS3 is an all singing all dancing device. That maybe true but I will still not be buying overpriced HD movie disc's anytime soon.(Besides, the PS is a closed system) By the time HD disc's and the like come down we'll be on a new PS. Bottom line, you want a media hub - go get a cheap computer. You want an up to date HD player? Go buy one when your ready. You want to play GT and other great games? Wait the for the PS to drop in price.

There seems to be a problem with duplicated posts...

Sony PS3...Is that's what's new on the market these days???

Get out and enjoy the fresh air, you saddos................

I bought a Sony PS3 imprted from Japan with 2 controllers and one game for £900 about 2 months before it came out in the UK.

I thought i would be the envy of all my mates. However, it turned out they were all far busier playing Halo 2 (a 5 year old Xbox game) than being jealous of me. I was left with little choice. To sell up and get a 360, to join in the fun. When Halo 3 comes out, PS3 will be over. Sony have messed up really bad. Every dog has its day eh?

The lack of the Emotion chip in the PS3 for the EU is a huge mistake for Sony. It seems as if they can't be bothered to treat the EU as a viable market. Just getting the Jap and US hand-me-downs. Small 20 Gb drives and at inflated prices to boot.

The £400+ price tag of the PS3 is the real issue here. From viewing various specialist media sources it would appear that the difference in performance between the PS3 and Xbox 360 is negligible, the only obvious difference being that a Blu-Ray player is included in the PS3 whereas a HD-DVD drive can be bought separately (and at a fraction of the price) for the Xbox 360.

Since the vast majority of next-gen games will be coming out on both systems (due to games compnaies wanting to court as large a market as possible because of spiralling development costs) then the reason for anyone wanting to buy a PS3 at its current price is very questionable indeed. As it stands the £400+ to buy a PS3 could instead be spent on an Xbox 360 (with HD-DVD drive) AND a Nintendo Wii.

When I was younger I was more concerend with cool bits of kit and didn't take into account politcal decision making when it came to buying a peice of kit. Sony have always made nice items TV's to consoles but increasingly I get frustrated everytime I read something about Sony. I know companies are out their to make money but they need to treat their customers right if they want repeat business. I know Sony are not the only offender in this but I would consider that they lead the pack in treating their customers badly. Sony are a company at the front of the line when it comes to DRM and are usually one of the first to start issuing litigation if they feel they are losing out somewhere. The PS2 was the last Sony item I bought and unless there is a serious change in the way they treat their customers it will be the last Sony item I do buy.

I must say I am very disappointed by sony these last few years. First there was the PSP that was released late in europe, was overpriced because of the proprietary UMD drive, that couldn't play movies full screen from memory (unless you pay 25€ to get amovie on UMD), that had a limited firmware (how many revisions until they got even a web browser) and that wouldn't let you install your own apps (on hardware I bought!).
Now we have the PS3 that is again late in Europe, again overpriced, and that again tries to have me buy an expensive movies player in a possibly doomed sony proprietary format (blue ray). I was thinking to maybe buy a PS3 to replace my PS2 the day it broke (and to install ydl linux to get basic computer fuctionality in the living room), but now that backward compatibility isn't assured that will probably not happen. Having about 1000 compatible games may seems a lot, but I have read somewhere that several thousand games were published for PS2, so that may actually not be a very high percentage.
I was right to buy a Wii this christmas...

My first console was a NES, then a SNES. I defected to Sony with launch of the PS1. Since then I've purchased a PS2 and a PSP. I will not be buying a PS3. Why?

1. Price. Are you kidding? I can buy a brand new laptop or upgrade my PC to a decent gaming spec for the price they are going to charge in the UK.

2 Delayed launch. Europe is the second biggest market after Japan. So tell me this Sony, why do we get shafted by getting it last.

3. Reduced Specs. I have a huge library of PS2 titles that I still play. My intention was to pack the PS2 away when I got a PS3. Why are we in Europe getting a different specced machine. They only theory I have is they its cheaper for them to manufacture.

Because of this, I'll probably end up getting a 360. It seems to have a better line-up and I'm not really interested in whizz-bang HD gimmicks anyway since I can't afford a HDTV.

Most of Sony's problems stem from them being rather too ambition technically. Not content to jump one generation ahead of the PS2 they seem to have wanted to jump 1 and a half generation ahead.

Rolling the PS3 into their strategy to set the next gen DVD standard hasn't helped either.

You lot disgust me, the PS3 is going to revolutionize the gaming world, the wait is worth it.

Sony really screwed up in releasing a machine in which it's full potential cannot be realized withouth a 1080 display. Myself and many of my friends are waiting to buy the PS3 until we can get a 1080 display for it first. Of course, that can involve spending anywhere from $600 on the cheap and small end upwards. Thus, you would really have to spend $1,200 just to get rolling. Couple that with the fact that they are having serious backward compatibility issues with PS2 games and the PS3 titles are not much to brag about. Sony has to realize that, while this is a great machine(And I truly believe it is), there is no incentive to buy this thing before the next holiday season. Bottom line, they handled the release of this product very, very poorly. That said, I can't say microsoft is any better. There machine has been out for a while, but remember this is MICROSOFT here. One needs to look no further than the release of MSFT's Vista and Office platform to see that they are just as arrogant as Sony was with this release. My advice, while you wait for Sony to work out the kinks in this system as well has release better games, work on buying a really nice HDTV 1080 t.v. Then, by this time next year, you will be very satisfied with an improved PS3, with great titles and an amazing t.v to view it with.

I was all for the PS3 when it was announced. Then I heard what had happened to my favourite Hong Kong retailer (Lik Sang), and that put me off Sony.

You know you can easily walk into a shop in America and pick up a PS3? You can't do the same with the wii!

The same can be said here in the UK. Its been weeks since pre-orders began for the PS3, and I can still be guranteed one! I've been told late March untill I can even pre-order a Wii!

Sony clearly needs to re-evaluate itself and its goals. Microsft is the serious gamers choice right now, and the Wii is the fun factor. Both can be bought for the same price as a PS3.

When you put it like that it's clear who the winners will be!

Revolutionise ? Looks like Sony's PR spiel is doing it's job with the unwashed masses then ;)

The only format Sony have ever been successful with was the 3.5" floppy.

Sony simply don't understand anything other than proprietary. Anything else is met with a "how can we make money?" response.

Were I an investor in Blu-Ray I would be very worried indeed.

Lets not even mention the fact that IBM could be doing WAY more profitable things in certain fabs than producing Cell chips......

Craig, I haven't found anyone who had trouble finding a Wii for sale at Best Buy or Fry's or any other major SoCal retailer. Maybe it's just your area?

In fact, I just picked my stepson up from a friend's birthday party. The XBox 360 was idle, the PS3 nonexistent. The Wii, however (another party attendee brought it over), was blazing away as the kids took turns boxing against the computer. The boy's mother said the adults had to be torn away from the thing when the kids got back from the birthday dinner, too. :)

So far, no one I know has felt the NEED to get a PS3, but I do know one or two who were instantly enthralled by the Wii's control system. I get the feeling the apathy around the Sony company is starting to spread to the Sony consumers. As for the conceit of the company, they've been doing this kind of thing for decades: Betamax, Discmen that needed special batteries, Memory Sticks, even their own proprietary music compression format. They've constantly tried to corner one market after another, and fail everytime when consumers opt for compatibility. If that isn't arrogance, I don't know what is.

Disclaimer: I'm not a console person - a little football and hockey on the PS2, that's about it. I play strategy games and shooters on the PC mostly.

Dear Sir,
if you want to make any kinds of
football or balls so contact us.

The really sad thing is that SONY have made me look seriously at the XBOX360... I wish they would get off their hyper-ego-trip 'we rule the world and bow before us' and get back to being a company that produces affordable , high quality, easy to use products - and that includes SONY offshoot SONY Ericsson.

Sony to an extent are going the same way Saga went.
Saga released hardware to quickly and left a lot of people in the lurch as the bought 8 bit consoles and then within months released the 16 bit mega drive.
Sony in there arogance have presumed to use people and deny them choice, they are forcing you to bye blue ray players to recoupe there investment in the technology when the technology if it has merit should sell itself and will be renderd usless as a medium via the new hdvd/blue ray compatable disks insuring that ultimately no one format will win out over the other.
there udm format disks for psp were overpriced and were not even up to dvd standards, then in a stroke of genius they bundled a memory stick containing a film as part of a promotion, obviously the market for udm colapsed overnight when people suddenly realised you do not need udm to watch films on psp.
this cost them there cosy little market corner of once again suckering people to use none standard formats for the benifit of sony.
sony as a philosophy believe if you treat people as hosts and feed of them like parasites and trap them in technological niches your a winner sadly for sony people are waking up.
the xbox 360 however has divided its
range into 2 to meet differant price points offering the consumer choice and also the hddvd is an optional extra, redmond clearly believe in customer demand sony do not
to be fair to the shabby european situation weve always come second place, its just not been made as obvious as it has now again due to sony arrogance.
incidently i used to own a ps and a ps2 then got rid of them when average game completion time went down to in some cases 12 hours which works out at approx £3.33 per hour of game play. hiring a dvd is more cost effective per hour, now i use a pc for my gaming needs as game prices drop very quickly and you do not have to struggle to find 100+ hours of quality gameplay at nearly 15 pounds cheeper 0.25p per hour.

I buy consoles because of the games. If Final Fantasy XIII ever comes out on the 360, i'll buy that. Otherwise, I will get the ps3 when the game comes out.

Since I'm going to buy a Wii soon, I obviously hope that Nintendo's machine will be the most sucessfull of all, not just for the admiration that I hold for Kyoto's company, but also because I don't want the Wii to suffer the same fate as the GameCube (an excellent machine, but I don't know anyone personally who owns one besides me).

In 2005, the PS3 seemed to be the most incredible games machine of the 21st century, or so I thought and feared (for Nintendo). That lasted until the E3, when I saw what the PS3 really was, a little more than a mish-mash of the most expensive components and a rushed-in Sixaxis controller, along with several blunders and losses of exclusives. These made me realize that Sony is suffering the backlash of 10 years of dominance of the world's videogames' market share - sheer arrogance and disrespect for the consummers, starting in the constant delays and ending in the sales price.

Sony forgot that due to their dependance on 3rd party developers, they lack a coherent fan-base and an identity of their own, something which Nintendo has developed for more than 20 years. It is one thing to make the most successful games machine, but being a leader is completly different.

Sony needs to see what is to come. With the 360 in the future with Vista 360 owners can play online with PC games on certain games. This is something that will give both markets a boost when games like Halo 3 comes out on to the market.
Somy has always been over confident in what they are doing going so far as claming they won a major award (which one it is escapes me at the moment) for their new controllor when it was for the dual shock.

Sony needs to see what is to come. With the 360 in the future with Vista 360 owners can play online with PC games on certain games. This is something that will give both markets a boost when games like Halo 3 comes out on to the market.
Somy has always been over confident in what they are doing going so far as claming they won a major award (which one it is escapes me at the moment) for their new controllor when it was for the dual shock.

When I bought my PS2 I was young, single and living with my parents.
Now the PS3 is released I'm married with children and a mortgage.

I'm going to buy the PS3 after I've bought the HDTV, but that's 1 or two years away.
By the time I buy my PS3 there will be a host of titles available and both the console and the games will have dropped in price.

Sony has a lot of loyalty amongst its PS2 owners, but I feel that many of them are in a similar situation to me. We're not going to buy a 360, but we're not buying a PS3... yet.

For those people claiming that the PS3 has been 'selling out' in the UK, just point your browsers at Play, Game, Amazon etc.. all of the major stores are *still* not shot of their preorder allocations.

Less than 2 weeks to go before launch and they can't get rid of the things, as a serious fence sitter it's certainly putting me off taking the risk of being a sucker and buying a lemon.

The week before the PS3 was released here in Japan, I was so excited I could hardly contain myself & indeed I was in gaming heaven for the next few days. However, it soon turned lukewarm with definite lack of core launch games - or even anything to get you by.
After a few months I bought an xBox360 & a Wii to fill the gap.
The xBox360 certainly kicks compared to the current PS3 & the Wii is (IMO) just a novelty.

I'm still finding that I'm slightly disappointed with the games on the xBox360 though - there are a few notable excellent games (gears of war) but the variety is limited to mostly FPS / 3PS games. On the PS2 there was a vast array of quality games. One week you would be playing as a hitman, the next a combat pilot, the next snowboarding. It seems the games industry as a whole is a little slow to get to grips with this next-gen of games & consoles.

Metal Gear Solid 4 has a lot of expectations to fill.

To anyone doubting sony take it from me (a playstation 1 & 2 owner) Give the xbox 360 a try ...go on "jump in " :oP

"You lot disgust me, the PS3 is going to revolutionize the gaming world, the wait is worth it."

LOL, go look up revolutionise in the dictionary not just for the spelling but for the meaning, what have they brought that is truly groundbreaking.

You can't ignore the fact that hardly anyone (even if you look just here)thinks the PS3 is a good deal atm.

the 360 currently gives more bang per buck FACT.

Look how many studios are behind Blu-Ray when compared with how many are behind HD. If Sony spent less time trying to control the type of media we all use and more on the product itself they may have got the thing out on time and been a little more competitive. I do love the way Nintendo have come back from being written off by both M$ and Sony (and most of the industry too) they are the only ones that could be given a geniune revolutionise (z) accolade.

I own a PS2, xbox, and xbox360. I live in Canada and thought about buying a PS3 but decided to get the xbox360 for a few reasons. Firstly, price , secondly is blu-ray gonna win? (Sony tried that with beta max vcr's)It seems in Europe you are getting the same treatment that we get here with mobile phones. We get much later releases with inferior features. Sony used to rule TV's too, but companies like samsung are beating them in the LCD TV market. And lets not even mention wakmans and losing out to ipods.Sony look to be on the demise.

The problem with Sony isn't just that they were arrogant with the hype build up to the PS3 launch, then with the PS3 launch itself, it's that they're STILL arrogant in the face of the slump they're in now.

The president of Sony Computer Entertainment America bragged that he'd pay $1,200 US for any PS3 that's been on a store shelf for over 5 minutes. I can say for a fact that I've seen full PS3's sitting on store shelves for days.

Their entire PR department feels like they're walking around with their noses so high in the air that all they see is sky, maybe that's why everything looks so pretty to them.

If Sony could only get it's PR department in check, and start putting out some good games ASAP, they'd probably start moving more units of what is a great system, and see a better attitude from the gaming community.

I remember 15 years ago putting a Sony radio into an old pick-up truck I had. It never sounded right.

Sony lost the TV market.
Sony has lost the personal music market.
What is Sony going to lose next?

All in all I have not seen a good product from Sony for a long time.

It's sad. It was a good company.

All the so called amazing features of the PS3 seem to be borrowed from other consoles. Such as Sony's reaction to seeing the wiimote at E3 was to add the same thing to the dual shock, unoriginal. It seems to be recycling old ideas with the PlayStation name and hoping it will pass.

I was a Sony girl back when I first got into gaming. (Yes female gamers do exist) after a while though I got bored of the games available and got a GameCube and haven't looked back. Yes I do long for a tekken game to come out for a Nintendo. But as seen with the GameCube developers soon reacted to the popularity of Nintendo and brought out new versions of the game.

My wii is fantastic. I really feel like I'm interacting with the game and feel part of it. It's inventive and hope to see a great future in it's development. Role on Mario Wii Kart!!

The only thing it does fall back on is the lack of DVD player which is available on the Japanese Wii. Any disappointment I felt soon vanished as soon as I played. As for Blue-Ray this isn't the same as for the PS2's DVD player. Now the majority of people have home DVD players and don't need a console to do that job. Let alone how many people can afford a HDTV to play PS3 and Blue-Ray on.

I remember the excitement I felt getting the PS2 on launch day. This time around I will be fishing on Zelda feeling sorry for everyone who is going to have a very boring and very unoriginal next gen experience.

In an open market differences in prices can only be justified by differences in standards or capabilities.

This has to be seen through to the consumer's needs.

For example: it's your kids birthday and they want a video game console. All their friends have one. You look at the prices. Not many people are going to spend GBP 425 on their kids, while at the lower end, Nintendo looks appealing and has a lot of novelty value (not looking at any sort of other capabilities).

I think Sony is having to push their Blu-Ray standard in the PS3 irrespective of whether it adds value to the gaming machine, because they are one of the proponents of the standard. If they weren't to put it in their brand-spanking-new console, their partners would start to ask questions and they might lose support. That's one of the problems for a big company with lots of hardware interests, as opposed to MS trying to capture diverse markets (subscription services, games, apps, OS's, etc) who realise they need to sell loads and how they do that, and Nintendo always staying true to what it does by trying to create gaming innovation and quality product.

Every console user has slightly different needs. I've always favoured the x-box because of its many 4-way multiplayer games on one console. But people differ.

Whether you are personally impressed or not by the capabilities of any of the machines, it seems to me that at the moment that the price is the most important factor. The more capable the consoles get overall, the more important the price.

Like many others who have commented, I have been a Sony fan for years. I am also a Nintendo fan, and have always thought the two complimented one another. My "serious" games are on my PS2 and my "fun" games were on my DS/Cube and now on my Wii.
Like many others I was fully intending to order a PS3, but having followed all the news on the EU issues, and adding to that the fact that I would have to buy a new HD TV, I have now given up and just bought a new PS2 to play my back games on.So I have my Wii (fantastic machine) my PSP (really cool) my DSLite(Cool) and my new PS2..oh..and an Xbox that never gets used because of all the times it has crashed on me.
Unfortunately, the only people I really trust out there are Nintendo now, and my loyalty has finally switched from Sony to Nintendo.

My local HMV has 100 PS3s, 46 still to sell. If anyone wants one.. come to Colchester!

Nintendo should not be criticised for not flooding the market with Wiis. A console should have a 4-year life-cycle (maybe even 5-6 years, if you consider the NES or SNES) Indeed this is only Nintendo's fifth home console since 1984.

Nintendo was also never the bottom player in the gaming industry. Unlike Sony or Microsoft, Nintendo has also had strong sales of its own games, plus factor in 200 million GameBoy sales!

In the past 2 years the Nintendo DS and the Nintendo Wii have transformed the gaming industry, whilst Sony's offerings the PSP and PS3 have merely pushed the boundaries of technology.

Everyone forgets in this period of PlayStation (1995-2005) the original lessons of the gaming console industry which was won by Nintendo, not by the electronics giants of the 80s (Microsoft, IBM, NEC, Atari, etc all failed) by offering a cheap machines with old technology, but fun games.
Zelda, Mario, and Tetris.

Before this makes me sound Nintendo-bias (and I am). I bought a GameCube at launch and haven't played it since 2 weeks after getting it. I don't play my GameBoy Advance either. But I do recognise that gaming should be about games first, glamour second - Nintendo have always realised that too, it was just a generation Y issue who failed to grasp it.

Sony have fallen to the classic problem affecting large corporations. They are attempting to dictate to the market rather profiting from a fast response to it.

It's not a problem dictating the market, as long as you really have that control. Sony do not.

One thing strikes me as missing from most of the posts here - the GAMES.

If you want testosterone-fuelled first and third person shooting games and online play, then fine, get a 360 (they have their place, but I like a lot more variety than that).

The Wii has yet to prove its mettle as a long term prospect - just how well will that controller be used in two years' time? I'm sure that there will be some great games using the Wiimote, but will they tempt the "non-gamers" buying the machine just for Wii Sports (anecdotally a significant number)?

If you want to see the future of the games on the PS3, look at the PS2. Final Fantasy, Okami, Ico, Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Shadow of the Colossus, Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo, Eye Toy, Buzz, Guitar Hero, Singstar, plus all the mainstream multiformat games from EA, Capcom, Konami etc. Still to come - God of War II, Rogue Galaxy, Tomb Raider Anniversary. Almost all exclusive, and if you can't find something there to enjoy, then maybe you shouldn't even be gaming. That's the secret of the PS2's success - fantastic variety with great mainstream and niche games. If the PS3 comes anywhere close to this quality and variety, then in the long term it stands a good chance of replicating the PS2's success.

The PS3's price IS exorbitant and the biggest barrier to early sales - but it will come down. I've never been an early adopter - I love my PS1 and PS2, but didn't buy either until they had been out for at least 18 months. I will wait and catch up with all those great games on the PS2. I'm sure I'm not the only PS2 owner who feels like this, and Sony have sold an absurd number of PS2s.......

One thing strikes me as missing from most of the posts here - the GAMES.

If you want testosterone-fuelled first and third person shooting games and online play, then fine, get a 360 (they have their place, but I like a lot more variety than that).

The Wii has yet to prove its mettle as a long term prospect - just how well will that controller be used in two years' time? I'm sure that there will be some great games using the Wiimote, but will they tempt the "non-gamers" buying the machine just for Wii Sports (anecdotally a significant number)?

If you want to see the future of the games on the PS3, look at the PS2. Final Fantasy, Okami, Ico, Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Shadow of the Colossus, Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo, Eye Toy, Buzz, Guitar Hero, Singstar, plus all the mainstream multiformat games from EA, Capcom, Konami etc. Still to come - God of War II, Rogue Galaxy, Tomb Raider Anniversary. Almost all exclusive, and if you can't find something there to enjoy, then maybe you shouldn't even be gaming. That's the secret of the PS2's success - fantastic variety with great mainstream and niche games. If the PS3 comes anywhere close to this quality and variety, then in the long term it stands a good chance of replicating the PS2's success.

The PS3's price IS exorbitant and the biggest barrier to early sales - but it will come down. I've never been an early adopter - I love my PS1 and PS2, but didn't buy either until they had been out for at least 18 months. I will wait and catch up with all those great games on the PS2. I'm sure I'm not the only PS2 owner who feels like this, and Sony have sold an absurd number of PS2s.......

I find it strange that some people are basing whether or not to but a Playstation 3 on the attitude of Sony to European gamers. As every UK gamer knows, in the gaming world Europe are the poor relations. Release dates for consoles and games invariably are several months after the US/Japan release dates, if they are even released in Europe. This is not a new phenomenon.

Is your problem the rather lack lustre release titles? I recall that the titles available for the Xbox 360’s launch weren’t the most spectacular and only picked up when game developers had time to work with its hardware. It was the same for Playstation 2. In fact has been the same for every console ever. I would argue that the 20 of the 30 titles available for Playstation 3 release are looking good. There are a few games that I am considering and one game that I definitely have my eye on.

If you don’t like the fact that the console isn’t 100% backwards compatible, do what I am doing and keep your Playstation 2 to play the Playstation 2 games.

I doubt that the Wii has taken Microsoft or Sony by surprise. All game console manufacturers will make their money, not on the amount of consoles they sell, but on the amount of games that are sold for that console. Casual gamers are called such because they don’t buy that many games. It is always in the console makers best interests to target the more serious gamers as a top priority with a view to converting the less serious with the ‘party’ games. At least two Wii-owning casual gamers I know have no intention of buying another Wii game and will probably only be cow throwing and boxing when their mates are round after the pub.

The PS3 is doomed to failure in Europe. Its main selling point is BluRay, and as most of Europe know, with the format war currently occuring between BluRay and HD-DVD, no one is going to move until we see dual format players, or a standard created by the competing players. HD content is still a very small percentage of the market as a lot of consoles are still bedroom machines, not main HDTV computers.

Furthermore, European's being ripped off on price, stripped components, an online store that doesn't work, a system that has removed rumble feedback, which has become almost a requirement these days...

Its sad to see Sony busy copying other people's innovations (online content, motion control) whilst the games are no different to play than they were 10 years ago on the PS3...

I have Worms on My Xbox 360, who needs another version of Gran Turismo?

sony have not only digged there own grave, but willingly destroyed a hole contenant as a market, now i seeen the PS3 in action, and im really not impresses, there is nothing new, it just pure Power, there is nothing really inventive about it. What peaople have to remember that most of the games out for the NEXT GEN concoles will not use it full power, it will only be flagship games, and lets face facts sony dont have that many, Devil May Cry 4, Metal Gaer Solid 4 (WHICH IS RUMORED FOR THE 360), and final fantasy XIII, will be the only games that stand out. It also looks that BLU-RAY is going to fail, so sony would have realised a pointless machine, and to spend £500 to get the machine and a few games that have been out for nealy a year some of them does not interest me, I have a 360, and a Wii, and in time i will get a PS3 if it develops, but it will be an american import, becuase taking out backwards compatibility was the biggest mistake sony could ever make,

As a PC user of many years, i was happily playing games that console players could only ream of playing. it was the PC market that pushed gaming to the forefront. I've had various systems; Sinclar, Amiga, PC, PS1/2, XBOX
As for the platforms:

Nintendo - R.I.P. Won't get any of my time, as far as i'm concerned it's still a 'kiddie' platform pushing the same old cute colourful games (only just comming out with a couple new titles). Yes it has innovation and a cheap price, but that's about it.

XBOX - Jumped on the bandwagon late in the day and proved itself a worthy opponent, mainly because Microsoft has the money to back it....and pay-off most of the developers.

Sony - Became king through developing the PS1 console for Nintendo who wasn't interested in a 'disk-based' console...so they produced it themselves (IMAGINE IF NINTENDO ACTUALLY DID TAKE THE CONSOLE OFF SONY. THE AFORMENTIONED WOULDN'T EVEN EXIST IN THE MARKET!!) Once king, they dominated the market with innovative games and game play. Now, ignorance, arrogance and greed has set in. Sony itself will cause the demise of their own platform.

i intend to stick with my PC & XBOX for sometime to come. Todays PC can handle more than these 'next-gen' consoles, the XBOX may be dated....but has the backlog of good titles, even a couple of recent ones too. I'm going to wait and watch as there's no rush, it normally takes a couple of years before the market settles down anyways.

Re: Message 19. Dan.

So the Xbox 360 is eventually going to cost Microsoft $40 billion?! Seeing as Bill Gates' fortune is 'only' $56 billion then I can only assume that either you mistakenly entered $40 Billion instead of $40 Million, or even $400 Million for arguments sake, which are both amounts so small to a behemouth such as Microsoft that it is but a drop in the metaphorical financial ocean, thus rendering your argument pointless. Or could I assume that you're a Sony Fanboy telling porkies? Tsk tsk.

working in video games retail, i have watched first the 360 and then the wii launches, and in my opinion the only next gen console to have is a PS3. the range of 360 titles, even now 18 months after launch, is poor, developers seem to be rushing out bad ports and poorly developed titles. wii just seems like a gimmick, sales seem to have quickly dropped off (appalling distribution problems ) and most wii owners i speak to barely use their machines now.
however i feel the PS3 launch titles look fantastic, motostorm in particular, plus the recent announcements about free (microsoft?) online content, personally i cant wait to get mine march 23rd.

I pre-ordered a PS3 at my local shop (purchase price £425) then discovered it comes with only one controller (extra sixaxis controlloer approximately £30), no HDMI cable (approximately £30) and no remote control (approximately £20). I've pre-ordered these essential "accessories" now as well which brings the price for a realistic setup to around £500 (and that, of course, is without any games). How can Sony launch the machine with no HDMI cable and no remote control incuded when the Blu-ray HD capability is its only compelling feature?

My boys' PS2 was destroyed in a fire a couple of years ago and I offered to replace it at the time or said they could wait for a PS3. Obviously, they decided to wait for a PS3 as, at that time, it was just around the corner. After all this time, I felt I had no choice but to honour my committment. If it were not for that, I would have purchased an Xbox 360 long ago.

Yes, Sony could have managed the launch of the PS3 better and been more competitive on price given the competitive nature of gaming platforms.
However, the company continues to be extremely innovative in other areas, ultra-portable PCs being the obvious example. The dominance of the clunky portable notebook computer is coming to an end. The battle for a smaller more portable successor has already started. I wouldn't be writing off Sony just yet. Similarly, the Blu-ray v. HD-DVD battle has a long way to go. Sony may well have learnt something from the VCR wars of the eighties. Time will tell.

I am ammazed by how poorly sony has treated Europe. as an owner of the PS and PS2 im going simply vote with my feet and transfer to an xbox. why should i pay aprox. $100 more for a console that not only took 5 months more to reach me but is a lesser version of the console that the rest of the world have been delivered (lack of backwards capabillity). i hope others from europe follow suit. i am simply not going to buy whatever mess sony roll out.

I have to agree with the initial post by bobbles31 as to the demoralizing state of affairs for Sony. The Wii went in with relatively low expectations, aside from a certain amount of novelty value, but it's popping up all over outside of the traditional gaming media and for good reason. If Nintendo could ever grasp that games for adults meant intelligent story rather than over the top sex and violence (pay attention on that point please Microsoft) it would truly be the killer application. In the long term it's surely for the best that Sony stumbles as competition always ultimately benefits the consumer, but thinking of all the fun I've had with them over the years this is indeed uncomfortable to watch. Perhaps not a car crash, but a nasty case of food poisoning made worse by the knowledge it could have easily been avoided. They just had to finish off that 3 day old pizza!

I am a big fan of playstations console and i think the delay of the ps3 don't matter to me. Ps3 will dominate the industry of gaming for the next generation and i will be paying the full amount for the ps3 on 23/03/07

I am a big fan of playstations console and i think the delay of the ps3 don't matter to me. Ps3 will dominate the industry of gaming for the next generation and i will be paying the full amount for the ps3 on 23/03/07

Sony used to be a word synonamous with gaming heaven.
Lately for European consumers it Would appear to resemble gaming hell.
Perhaps it's time for a consumer led electronic equivalent of hiroshima.
If this debarcle and total loss of face (re pricing hardware spec and backwards compat issues) is not sorted Sony will be facing a financial nuclear winter.
As people do have long memories and he who has not bought a ps3 (has not bought one for a reason) will probably never buy another sony product ever again.
Unfortunately for Sony
Europe unlike America & Japan has a better educated person to idiot person ratio therefore our idiot market is far smaller.
Shame Sony didnt invest in a little thing called honest market research.
Perhaps sony would like to give my self and associates a call when Launching ps4 if they are still around for the next gen console war.As this war was a resounding victory for Nintendo and Microsoft.
If it were a race over 100 meters Sony would still be int the blocks at 8.99 seconds to little to late to be effective no man has ever runn 100 meters in half a second what makes Sony think they could suceed as a bussiness.
Tsun Tsu Art Of War
Sun Tzu said: Whoever is first in the field and
awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight;
whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle
will arrive exhausted.
No mention of third.

I will not however be buying a ps3 or any other sony product unless we in Europe a treated a equals and with the respect and intelligence we deserve.
I wish Matsushta Electronic Industries Truly the worlds Largest Electronics Manufacturer(MEI /Technics / panasonic/ etc ) Would wade back into this debarcle and side with microsoft or perhaps offer a viable alternative.
Bring on the backlash

Im a big fan of Playstation,I buy every one that comes out.I might be buying the PS3,I say might because I have the Xbox 360 but I didnt wan't it because I said to my brothers that I didn't wan't it because we might get the PS3 but we got it for Christmas.I think the PS3 is a little over price but I might be sitting outside of the shop wating for it to launch for hours.

Let the rivalry begin.

Happy gaming bye.

Greetings from across the pond. You think you got it bad when the PS3 launched, people actually attempted murder here (mostly in the mid west and east coast of the U.S.) so that they can make a quick buck on ebay. To top it off, Sony didn't even offer any help of any kind to the families who where affected by these incidents. Of course part of the problem here is that we still allow anyone to buy guns, but it goes to show, like a previous person posted, we have too many idiots because of our greed for money.

Shame on you Sony, shame...

PS3 is NEXT GEN.
XBOX360 is old news.

I've been tempted to buy a XBOX360 many times. But anyone with more than 2 braincells will know the PS3 is going to be far more powerful than the 360. The PS3 will be faster, it will display and handle better graphics. Its going to blow everyone away with its beauty. I cant wait to see the faces of all the XBOX fan boys, when they see what the PS3 can do.
If you own a 360, trade it in now for a PS3.

TRUST

when will the ps4 come out and how much will it b?

I have a PS3 and I can say that the console is absolutly amazing. The fact that the console is requiring software updates for both emulation of its predicesors and to add new features is both a curse and a blessing. New features are being added to the actual operating system with each software release, not to mention 1000's more games being supported from the back catalouge from the history of the console king. The console is that of shear genius with free online play unlike its main competator the 360 where you have to buy the kit and then pay a monthly premium on top of your internet cost (Discusting the internet is a part of life not a privalage) You can actually choose what addons you want to buy and the gaming is free! Not only that but it also supports Blue-ray playback, the 360 has the HD-DVD drive but thats an extra 100 pounds as an external plus Microsoft wont be utilising the capacity of the discs as its not fair on the consumer to pay for a console and then have to pay another 100 pounds to be able to play the best games.....Which means in a few years time the 360 will be left behind as the games become larger than 9GB (which most likely happen in a couple of years with HD graphics using far much more power and space). Good luck Microshaft have a nice funeral :)

My Sony is going to be great, no really it is, just wait till developers start to take advantage of it's power. I will be able to design and build aircraft, watch average movies with crystal clear images, cure cancer, create and prove my own unification theory, examine and possibly travel through black holes, slice bread, learn quantum physics in 15mins or maybe even play the odd game.

It has so much untapped potential that Sony have been forced by the UN to include a self-destruct function, just in case all those PS3s connected to a shitty online service suddenly become self-aware and launch some sort of SkyNet style armageddon on biological life forms.

I just wonder why: with all that power, all that incredible engineering, the behemoth of Sony behind it and a core group of rabid fan-boys who can ignore facts and latch on to a brand like it holds some personal life long significance to them: why is my PS3 still crappy? Why does it have a slower video card than the 360 when EVERYONE knows a system is only as fast as it's slowest component? Why don't the same games look better on my Sony slug-box?

Just to bring some perspective to the fanboys who can't be convinced - Folding@home is the PS3s CPUs crowning acheivement, performing incredible numbers of calculations/sec. A single ATI GPU can do the same functions 50X quicker. That's right, 1 dedicated chip can outperform the Cell by a factor of 50.

Now go cry into your milk Sony-suckers.