Most pundits are calling Sony’s Playstation 3 dead in the water. The argument makes sense, in a superficial sort of way. The Wii costs only $250 and the Xbox 360 Arcade costs “only” $200. So people are buying both of those platforms in massive quantities. But it’s the quotes around the Arcade’s 200 dollars where the logic of the argument falls apart.
Sure, Microsoft’s Arcade can be found for $199.99 nearly everywhere. But it lacks a hard drive and a Live account. A 60gb drive with a 3 month Live starter kits costs about $100. Of course you’ll need more than three months of Live, so that’s an additional $36 per year.
So in reality, that “$199” Arcade is really about $336. For one year and three months, then you’ll pay another $36 again. But let’s stick with the $336 price for now.
I know what you’re thinking, that still makes the Arcade about $84 less than the $400 Playstation 3. So the Arcade is still a great value, right?
It all depends on how much you love movies and your favorite shows in true 1080p High Definition. You probably know that the Playstation 3 includes a Blu-ray player, but did you know that it’s considered the best Blu-ray player on the market. It is the standard against which all other Blu-ray players are judged.
Did you also know that the Playstation 3 can run Linux so you can fully surf the web right from your big screen TV?
Did you also know the Playstation 3 automatically upconverts regular DVDs to a near HD experience?
And you can buy all of that for only an additional $84 bucks.
I know there are some Xbox fanboys that are going to argue in the comments that the “Xbox Rulez” and that there are great games exclusive to the Xbox 360. But you know what, those types of fanboys will not be buying the Arcade version. Those guys (and gals) will be buying a higher end version. So this posting has nothing to do with fanboys. Heck, even the Playstation 3 fanboys will not be buying the $400 version.
So this posting is not about what platform is the “best.” That’s completely subjective and is something you’ll have to determine yourself. This posting is for people who want value for their living room experience. And between the Playstation 3 and the Arcade, I think Sony wins this round.
27,
What’s odd about that statement is that I have yet to find and XBox exclusive that is NOT available for the PC. Or will be in short order.
One thing that comes to mind during all of the PS3 vs. Xbox 360 vs. Wii debates is what happened to Sega back during the Saturn vs. PS1.
The Sega Saturn was the superior system in terms of hardware, however, much like the PS3 it lacked a large market of games to help move the system off the shelves. The PS1 had a huge amount of games and the PS2 continued to have market dominance due largely to the fact that it had many exclusive games, and continued to have a very large library. Sega soon lost out in the console wars after the release of the Dreamcast and could never regain the market share they owned when they battled Nintendo during the 8-bit and 16-bit wars of the past.
Right now, I would say that Sony resembles Sega much more than any other console manufacturer and needs to make sure that their next console regrows their exclusivity with titles and provides more reasons for consumers to purchase it than it just being a system with better hardware.
If you don’t have your xbox near an internet connection, you will have to fork out an extra $99 for a wifi adapter. The PS3 has built in wifi.
#32
I know, and I am primarily a PC gamer myself, but the average console gamer does not usually factor the PC into his/her decision to buy one console rather than the other. Therefore, I didn’t think this fact would be relevant to the argument.
I have a 360 and I sure as hell didn’t have to pay to use xbox live for multiplayer stuff.
The free live silver works for me just fine, so don’t spout his bullshit about costing an additional $36/year to use the thing online.
Its just as functional online, in fact moreso as Xbox live handles all multiplayer stuff for free where as you have to subscribe/pay to whatever the PS3 game publisher makes you pay as sony don’t provide the service being the cheapass bastards they are.
Here are a couple of anecdotes about PS3. All of my friends who have gaming machines all have PS3. I have both PS3 and xbox360. I use the PS3 more than the xbox because I use it for movies quite a bit. Its DVD upscaling looks way better than the really expensive toshiba unit I bought a couple of years ago that was supposed to be really great. I had a xmas party at my house last night and my mother who had just got back from hawaii brought her camera to show all of us her photos on the little camera screen. I took the sd card out of her camera and stuck it in the ps3 and within 30 seconds we were viewing them in HD on my 47 inch screen. Several people at my party who don’t even game said wow thats the PS3, those play blu ray too right? I might get one of those. A guy I work with who has never owned a gaming machine bought a PS3 used from craigslist to use as a blu-ray player. He bought a couple games to just check out and now hes hooked. He is playing Fallout 3 and GTA 4 and is loving the experience. If the PS3 didnt have blu-ray he would have never got it and would have never realized he liked playing “hardcore games” like fallout 3. I am just saying that maybe the PS3 is a gateway drug to gaming. Maybe we should think of it like an iphone. Its a device that people buy for all of the cool things it does and it just also happens to play some pretty cool games as well.
#23
I haven’t forgotten why I’m an M$ hater, and while I consider their products to be of inferior quality, that’s not why I hate them. I’ve been an IT professional since 1979. I’ve watched and participated as microsoft grew. From MSDOS to every version of windows up to xp I’ve done it all. I’ve built and maintained BBS’s and later ISP’s on netware, windows, linux, and solaris, I’ve done design and programming on IBM mainframe, mini computer, micro computer, Mac, Amiga, and PC. What I’m getting at is I’ve had the priveledge to use a lot of software from a lot of different companies. Most of them have fallen to the business accumen of M$ and not to their technical superiority. Add to that the influence they’ve had over the hardware industry. Plus the cute way they try to get patents on technologies they didn’t invent, or establish standards unilaterally. I hate them for the way they’ve stagnated the entire industry.
You ain’t dealing with some ignorant fanboy!
OK?!
There’s something about these pictures that fits perfectly with the childish subject matter of the post. The only person who would post those pictures is an early teen boy — or somebody with the equivalent sexual experience — because he’s still at the stage where he’s under the impression that such pictures demonstrate his manly sexual desire — a demonstration that normal, sexually active men wouldn’t conceive of having to make.
It’s sad, but a little bit funny too.
Pathetic attempt by a PS3 fanboy to justify his ridiculously overpriced hardware.
Look, not everyone wants a hard drive or live account, so the $200 price point is just that: $200. Not everyone wants a blu ray player, and not everyone wants to pay ridiculously high prices for blu ray movies.
The PS3 (and blu ray in general) is in a death spiral. Anyone suggesting otherwise is in denial. Calling anyone who supports a different format a ‘fanboy’ in what’s supposed to be an objective article automatically loses any credibility they might have had.
Look, the PS3 is and has always been overpriced. Sony force feeding blu ray on consumers when they didn’t want it in the first place was why they’ve lost. A vast majority of people are more than happy with the looks of their standard def DVD players on their HD TVs. They surely don’t want to pay extra money for their movies, even more so now in this terrible economy.
It’s funny that the author fails to mention that sony isn’t charging for their online experience not because they are generous, but because it sucks so bad that NOBODY would pay for it. If it were anywhere near ready for prime time you can sure as shit bet Sony would be charging you for it.
SN, you’re a fucking sony SHILL, a total and complete douchebag.
Oh, one more thing, how fucking pathetic are you, SN, that you have to pepper your ‘article’ with scantily clad women so people will pay attention?
Get a fucking life, twit.
#41 “…you have to pepper your ‘article’ with scantily clad women so people will pay attention” – Brian
was there an article? the center pic is HOT!!
Nope, sorry. The one thing that both Sony and Microsoft don’t understand is that this is a GAME SYSTEM! They insist on stuffing everything but the kitchen sink into their systems, charging a mint for them (and they’re still loss leaders) and hoping against hope that someone actually buys some games so that it’s worth the loss. Unfortunately, everyone is buying the PS3 as a cheap Blu-ray player and not buying any games for it, which means that for every unit sold, Sony is just losing money.
Somehow, I don’t think that’s an intelligent business strategy.
Does the Playstation come with a free rootkit? Can I type the word “Playstation” without getting sued?
I’m sticking with the PC (homemade) as long as I can.
35,
Possibly. I myself am a PC gamer and have been since my Apple IIe. I do have a PS2 because I wanted to play GTA. I never liked the PC ports. They lacked the proper polish and immersion. Plus God of War. God, I loved that game. And MSG. And SSX.
And that’s why I’m getting a PS3. There is no exclusivity to XBox for me.
40, 41.
Wow! Take your meds dude. SN posted his decision and his supporting arguments. He didn’t say you’re mother is a whore.
42,
Don’t know if it matters to you but Kate (obviously not her real name) from Kates Playground is a native of BC Canada. And she has one foot and one hoof. And I’m NOT joking.
The rest of her is pretty slamming though. Foot fetishists beware.
Where’s the scantly dressed men?
48
Why? Are there real women on the interwebitubes?
If you do not have a big hd tv don’t bother.
And why bother if you are not going to get blue ray movies, as stated by others here, the blue ray disks/movies are overpriced too.
I am waiting for a new slim version, perhaps a bit more streamlined.
I am happy with plain old dvd on my old tv.
If i was going to get a big hd tv, i might consider it, but even then i probably would not bother getting it.
They lost allot of the market with the bugs with the backwards compatibility of the games there at the start.
I do like that they upgrades the software in it, but they have to or else it would age even faster then it will.
It will sell more as more people get new HDTV’s, but will it have enough lead when the next Microsoft unit appears?
We see right now some things that will probably be in the coming systems.
Flash hard drives for one, or something like it.
The download market are here to stay, and not having enough memory to store the content is a big nono.
More sensors, we have all seen what the wherry simple system can do in the wii, but we have also an idea on what can come in the near future without much trouble.
Costs must be taken into account, if you want parents to get their kids the system.
It also counts allot with the soft core gamer, and the casual gamer, why pay out your ass for something not much used.
Why buy a gaming system and use ‘it plays movies!’ as an excuse for its cost being so high?
Why would anyone spend $30 for a blu ray disc for a movie you’ll watch once? Don’t tell me you’re sitting there watching batman or iron man over and over and over again. They’re a one time watch.
Better idea is to buy a system that streams HD movies online like Vudu.
Sony is struggling to get their ‘Home’ portal up and running, so of course it’s free you clowns.
#40, #50, #51. you may find this hard to believe but LOTS of people buy DVDs and (some, but fewer) buy blu-rays and watch them over and over again. I never presume that the way I use media is the same way everyone does.
(plus, obviously you can rent blu-ray disks on NetFlix, BTW, or rent them the old fashioned way at your local Blockbuster. so it doesn’t have to be $30 a pop.)
Oh yes, lots of people buy lots of DVDs, my own collection, looking at my most recently updated database, is 1843 DVDs. And not one of them has ever been played on a PS3, or a PS2 for that matter, even though I own 2 of them.
It’s all about what parents will be buying for their kids. They’ll buy a wii or a 360 becuase they’re cheap, worry about the hard drive later.
No parents parents will give a crap about linux, bluray, or upconverting.
BTW, wtf do you mean by a “superficial sort of way”? The article points to the SALES. Not a bunch a geeky BS that fanboys argue about.
I wrote a similar blog post, not long ago. I think you made some points I didn’t and vice verse . Check it out if you want.
http://tenpoundhammer.wordpress.com/2008/11/18/ps3-picking-up-steam/
I’m sorry, was there text between those pictures?
What’s with the cheesecake, John? Especially the bare-breasted lady pressing against the wall. I’m no prude but don’t understand how that is appropriate or relevant here, just seems goofy.
I bought a refurb Xbox for $150 with 20gb HD, I like it. All the games I’ve bought are used. Top price $10. The biggest shock for me about the Xbox is the fan noise, slightly less then a vacuum cleaner. Can’t imagine anyone using it to watch a DVD. Luckily game sound drowns out the fan noise. I wish Sony made a Blu-Ray DVD player that works as well PS3.
Thanks for this topic SN! I was going to begin shopping for an upconverting DVD player, and my search ended yesterday with buying a $249 PS3 that does that and a whole lot more.
I cant read the article, my eyes just can look the photos
#59 – I’m not sure what you got there, but the 360 I have works perfectly quiet when I play a DVD in it.
I consider myself somewhat of an expert on consoles. I will reserve my credentials due possible disclosure agreements, but suffice to say I have the ability to provide expert analysis on gaming consoles.
The PS3 is an amazing machine. It has the capabilities, but lacks the advertising and sales drives to move enough consoles to make it competitive. We can argue all day about MS, but in the end we still have to agree that they have sold more units than Sony. (I’m only speaking of the 360 vs. PS3 comparison.) No matter how you slice it, the problems that Sony has with the PS3 is not a good indicator for their internal business plans.
Perhaps the worst thing that can happen to the gaming industry is to lose a serious competitor such as Sony. We should all hope that Sony has the ability to keep up with the competition for the good of the gaming industry.
If you are indeed looking for a BD player then the PS3 would make a nice choice. However, with recent price drops (still not enough yet) there are other players that are cheaper. But…
1. BD player and media are still EXPENSIVE
2. BD movie selection are STILL limited
3. BD isn’t progressing as quickly as most had thought. Mfg cost is still high, obviously.
I’m waiting for the burners to come down in price as well as the media’s.