I know, it’s weird. But I’m really starting to just get bored of the whole PlayStation 3 deal, which is probably a bad sign, since it’s not even due for another five months. Essentially, I was going to comment on Ken Kutaragi’s latest rantings, but I really can’t be bothered.
Oh, okay. Maybe a little bit. The following comes from an interview with Japan’s PC Watch:
“Speaking about the PS3, we never said we will release a game console. It is radically different from the previous PlayStation. It is clearly a computer. Indeed, with a game console, you need to take out any unnecessary elements inside the console in order to decrease its cost. … This will of course apply to the PS3 as well.”
Yeah, it’s not quite in line with back in March, when he claimed the PS3 ’s concept was “4D”, but it’s pretty bad. I mean, sorry Ken - but it’s clearly a console. A US$600, yes, but still a console. Moreover, it’s a way for Sony to shoeshorn the Blu-Ray format into households.
I’m trying not to come off as anti-Sony here, and I hope the last few days haven’t suggested that in any way. I’m a proud owner of the PS2, and it’s done me no wrong (well, except for the analog stick on one of the controllers that’s come a bit loose, and the speaky disc tray, and the grinding noises that occasionally happen) but I’m really finding it harder and harder to see why I would possibly want to buy a PS3 at the end of the year. The games lineup at E3 did very little for me, the lack of rumble in the controller worries me, and I just can’t see myself having a spare grand in Australian dollars just sitting about in five months time.
Sony have a huge task in front of them, and they really need to get things into gear, PR-wise. This seems to be realised by Managin Director of Sony Ireland, Niall O’Hanrahan:
“We have a marketing challenge from now until launch. This is not a done deal. It will require a lot of effort from us. We would never say we cannot fail.”
It’s nice to see that he’s got the right idea, at least, although with Sony Computer Entertainment America PR chief Molly Smith quitting last Friday, they’re not really off to a flying start. Also not helping is Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer:
“[It’s] $499, and look it’s got more bells and whistles than a 747… That Cell processor is extraordinarily powerful and you have nine hours of high definition on the Blu-ray disks alone. The reason it’s expensive [is that] instead of concentrating on just the games player, which would have been done in the past, PlayStation 3 is designed to go somewhere else, where it’s the center of the living room.”
Yeah, the core pack is US$499. I assume that’s only half the bells and whistles in that one. For the rest, you’d have to shell out another hundred dollars. If the CEO is telling half truths, then I’d say that’s a pretty serious problem.
Hmmm. Well, I didn’t actually intend to talk this much about it, but you can see that it’s actually bugging me a lot. I don’t want to see the PS3 fail, unlike a good deal of the Microsoft or Nintendo fanboys out there, because I don’t want to be limited in what I play. I don’t really see that happening, anway - they’re just too synonymous with gaming right now. But, they really need to pull their heads out of their arses, or at least get Kutaragi to stop talking out of his.
Word to Next Gen, for the translation of the PC Watch interview.