***Official PS3 Discussion Thread - E3 Launch Thread*** (1 Viewer)

[Ken Chui]

I concur. Consider that the GPU's performance alone exceeds that of two 6800GT cards in SLI mode (that's US$1000 worth of technology), when you start adding the individual components together, $400 would be a bargain in my book.

 

[Doug Miller]

I don't think any of us that have bought consoles on release day are really concerned with price.

I watched both of the 3 minute press conference recaps for PS3 and Xbox 360, and I thought the graphics looked better on the PS3 demos too. You have got to be kidding me with Fight Night, that looks great!

I'm surprised we haven't really heard anything about online capabilities -- with the speeds listed (I'm not a tech guy, so I won't talk about flops, gigs, blips, beeps, or whatever ) but it looks like the PS3 is "faster" so I don't understand why it wouldn't pump an online play. Could there be a "major" announcement in the works?

I like the media hub functions of the XBox 360, they want it in my living room, and they want my wife to be interested enough in it to let me buy it - ha-ha. That said, better specs on the PS3 AND HD-BlueRay compatible makes this a must buy for me. (It also makes me wish my TV had more HD inputs, it only has 3.)

BTW, did anyone think it was funny that EA and Square Unix both pledged their full support... for both platforms at their unveilings? I watched the PS3 first and said "Holy Crap, EA is all over Sony I am there!" Then I watched XBox 360 and said "Holy Crap, EA is all over XBox I am there! Oh... wait."

As much as I hate to say it, I'll probably end up buying both.

Doug

 

[ChrisMatson]

I have been saying that for months, but that was before recent talks of unifying the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD camps.

If a copacetic compromise is reached within the next few months, you can bet that PS3 will use that rather than an obsolete Blu-Ray format.

If Toshiba doesn't play nice, Sony will go ahead with Blu-Ray and HD-DVD will be DOA.

 

[Doug Miller]

Just another side note on pricing:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it announced that Microsoft had lost $2 billion dollars on the XBox? I remember when both PS came out, Sony lost money for years on both consoles -- it's all about software attatchment rates.

I would also anticipate an under $400 release price. I would also expect that the price will match the XBox 360 for better or worse.

Doug

 

[Ken Chui]

The $2B figure is fairly accurate. Microsoft is still incurring losses on the Xbox (had an operating loss of $154 million for the first quarter of 2005; it's actually an improvement for the same period from a year ago, when the figure was $209 million). MS' Home and Entertainment division (which the Xbox falls under) has never turned a profit since the console was launched back in late 2000.

Sony has turned profits on both PlayStation consoles. Part of this can be attributed to software attachment rates, another is reduced manufacturing costs on the console (e.g. opting for a smaller die in the fabrication of the CPU chip, combining the GS and EE chips into a single processor, dropping features that aren't being used [such as the Firewire port on the older PS2s], mainboard redesigns, etc.)

 

[NickSo]

anyone seen the Fight Night video yet?

man, im not usually a playstation fan, but the videos from the PS3 have really impressed me... the same cant be said for X360 vids im afraid...

 

[Sean Laughter]

Well, we haven't heard anything about Sony's own online service similar to Xbox Live, but during the press conference is was pretty clear what internet connectivity the PS3 has.

For wired connectivity it has Gigabit Ethernet, with 3 ports with a built-in switch (1 port is main input, the other 2 are the switch ports so you could connect your HTPC or something).

For wireless connectivity it supports built in Wi-Fi 802.11b/g standards.

 

[Garrett Lundy]

I hope the DualShock controll for PS & PS2 work with the PS3. Its my personal favorite controller (Nintendo's my current least favorite). The controls look the same, so heres hopin!

 

[Chris]

Sony's biggest advantages here are it's more open platform for online support, and it's broad support of HiDef formats. If Sony comes out with a PS3 with BluRay (HD) support, it attracts other audience, not just game players, as an affordable HiDef player for the home theater.

I think Sony has a potentially big winner here.

 

[David Galindo]

Well, hopefully PS3 will be under 400. We shall see...

 

[Evan M]

Ok.. how is a non-standardized online platform a good thing? The great thing about XBoxLive is being able to carry friends lists and messages from game to game.. to tell what your friends are playing and jump in with them if you are so inclined.

XBoxLive is squarely an advantage to Microsoft, and Sony has to play catch up there.

Sony has them on Hardware.. should be a pretty even fight, if ya ask me.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

But what if online play isn't a big deal or developers are only doing deathmatch-style games and not enough co-op ones? I got X-Box Live a year and a half ago and didn't use it for more than a few weeks since I got it. Online isn't a big selling point for me right now, especially since the games I'd like to play online (fighting or FPS) are harder to play with the current X-Box controllers (for me) and don't have the kinds of modes I'd like.

In other words, I'm looking for a more solid single-player or offline experience.

Sony allowing up to 7 controllers per PS3 is a BIG deal, IMO. Imagine getting two HDTVs, one PS3, and 6 of your friends only bringing their controllers. Right there, two-screen 1080p multiplayer with only one unit. That's pretty impressive.

 

[Sean*O]

Found this little link and got a kick out of it.

http://koti.mbnet.fi/jadelor/random/...ou,%20sony.jpg

 

[TimG]

Sean*O, now that is funny.

Tim

 

[Ken Chui]

I disagree. Microsoft's forecast calls for an installed Live userbase of 2 million by the end of June, i.e. about 1 out of every 10 Xbox owners. Online console gaming is still in its infancy (it's not as mature as on the PC side). This is why Microsoft is shifting the focus of the Live experience from online gaming to the proposed Marketplace. They're hoping to appeal to a broader audience by allowing users to create and sell customized virtual creations which can be used in any number of games, i.e. the VelocityGirls out there (anyone who saw MS' E3 presentation know what I'm referring to ). On paper, it sounds great, but so does every online commercial venture. As a PC gamer, this model is a tough sell. Having grown accustomed to downloading maps, skins, game mods, etc. free of charge on any number of gaming sites, why would I want to pay someone for the same on a console? What is MS' cut per online transaction?

Seeing as Sony isn't rolling out their console until 2006, they do have a bit of time to work on their online service. I think they're doing the right thing by not revealing much at this time. It's better to underpromise and overdeliver, rather than vice versa.

 

[Sean*O]

It seems that Microsoft isn't going to take the high road and risk another Saturn/Dreamcast-esque "wait for the Sony system.. it will be better" type attitude from consumers -and have returned fire.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/617/617951p1.html


Nothing really shocking here. Just MS showing that they can compare apples to oranges just as well as Sony can.

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

There is so much raw graphical horsepower in both machines that it is basically pointless to nitpick and fanboy over one or the other. And regardless of the processing is the developers' ability to take full advantage of it. Have they even fully tapped what the current Xbox can do? On the PS2 it's probably pretty close to the limit as developers have had more time to get to know the system. And if I recall it is easier to program on Xbox than PS2, and ease of programability should continue with the 360 given the new "universal" programming language being touted (software experts intervene here).

Bottom line is we all win: two monster consoles with a wide range of feature sets and new games to play. Give it a few months after launch and owning both will not be too much of a stretch (space constraints aside).

 

[Morgan Jolley]

The videos of the stuff on the PS3 that was running in real-time was, I believe, put together in less than 2 months. Considering Perfect Dark Zero looked like it did and had been in development, with an X-Box 360 dev kit or not, for the last 4 years is a big disappointment in comparison.

Frankly, the PS3 videos were just more impressive. And beyond that, I expect the games to actually look like they did in those videos, pre-rendered or not. The real-time demos convinced me of that. Nothing I've seen for the X-Box 360 has done that for me, so far.

It might be a competition of hardware, software, and services, but if I want to play Metal Gear Solid 4 (and all the other games confirmed for PS3) offline, then Sony basically wins hands down.

 

[Sean Moon]

I am not buying into Sony's bullshit. I am sorry. I will still buy a system on day one, but they just overpromise and dont reveal real numbers when the release specs. The PS2 demos and specs when released were like "holy shit!" then it took four years to get something that looked like that. The launch stuff didnt look half as good, but it didnt matter. Sony just showed some tech demos and everyone bought it.

If the Killzone stuff is realtime, so what? Its a graphics demo. Start factoring in gameplay, AI, sound, etc, it will take a big hit in performance.

Blu Ray? Other than people on this forum, what percentage of gamers out there would really care about it? Seriously. I am excited because I will get a cheaper blu ray player now, but since i dont have HDMI on my HDTV, it wont do much for me. And do we really need 50gb of storage for games when even the most graphics intensive games out there and longest games dont yet fill a DVD? Seems like overkill to me.

The system is larger than expected. It also looks like the cousin of a BOSE Lifestyle system. And the controller looks horrifying, at least there is time to fix that.

The biggest mistake Microsoft made this time was showing work in progress games. Sony showed "projected" final look of games for almost everything. Nothing playable or anything. Just videos of "look what it does when doing NOTHING but graphics!", where MS gave early versions of games that ran like shit since they werent finished. Granted though, some of X360 stuff was prerendered as well, but at least some real gameplay was shown. I will be happy if just once, Sony showed some real games to showcase a system instead of videos.

Overall though, the systems will be very close power wise this time, just like this gen. PS3 will be more powerful, but X360 will be close, but it always boils down to games and the experience. And in spite of what others say, online play is BIG part now, and will be bigger next gen. In that area i think MS is going to murder Sony. MS did their homework this time around, and Sony has not yet come up with a good answer to that threat. It will be an interesting battle ahead I think.

 

[Evan S]

Morgan, where are you getting your info regarding PDZ? IGN reported that when Microsoft actually did debut the game at E3 it looked amazing, groundbreaking even. Even running on a system that is only supposedly 30% of the final hardware specs of the XBox 360, they said the game was stunning. This is the link in case you haven't seen it...

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/616/616196p1.html