The Sony PS3 thread (apparently *still* obnoxious!)

[Roobarb]

I can't transcribe the entire cover feature article and PS3 supplement, I'd be here all night.

Sure, i'm not asking for the article in full. I was just wondering if they'd identified specific aspects of the PS3 that made it different from the previous consoles.

Nintendo are obviously dropping out of the cpu/gpu power race and hoping their controller and 'touch generations' style fairy dust will get them sales.

360 is typical Microsoft: solid refinement of existing ideas, and bringing some good stuff around a unified online experience.

What is new and different about PS3? It seems to have a similar business model to PS2, a similar emphasis on graphics/cpu power, and a similar introduction of a new optical disk format for films and games. The controller is very much a refinement of the DualShock, online still looks fragmented as per PS2, and from what i understand they seem to have dropped the ball regarding securing 3rd party exclusives, at least for launch.

So i'm intrigued as to why Edge thinks it's a different take on consoles vs PS2 or 360. Is it to do with the machine itself, the games, the business model?

[Mark]

If I was Sony that's almost exactly what I'd want them to write too.

I doubt if there's any great conspiracy or corruption behind the article, I mean you could easily say "If I was Nintendo that's almost exactly what I'd want them to write too". Edge are neutral, if you disagree with their opinion it's not evidence of shady back-handers. Christ.

No. If I was Nintendo I'd want them to put me ahead of both Sony and Microsoft, and ridicule the console arms race.

If I was Sony I'd go for what was printed.

If I was Microsoft I'd go for the opposite - with 360 and Wii tied and it being the PS3's obituary.

Microsoft and Sony are in direct competition, Nintendo, by their own admission, have taken a step back and let them get on with it. Both Microsoft and Sony would prefer the Wii to be everybody's second console (or themselves to be the second console to the Wii). I believe both companies have pretty much said as much, too. The reason - a lot of people have one console, a fair few have two, but fewer still have all 3. Put your competitor in 3rd and they'll sell less consoles.

[Deckard]

I think Microsoft have to careful at the moment. They have several new ish products out there - Zune, Vista and the 360 (which frankly is still new to most of the people I know) and big, big competition - Apple and Sony. Their PR has got to stay spot on or else by pure association they wil be perceived as failures and I dont like to mention at this point that their projected and real sales of the 360 are way off - this is not a dig.

[sty]

If I was Sony that's almost exactly what I'd want them to write too.

I doubt if there's any great conspiracy or corruption behind the article, I mean you could easily say "If I was Nintendo that's almost exactly what I'd want them to write too". Edge are neutral, if you disagree with their opinion it's not evidence of shady back-handers. Christ.

I worry a little less about Edge, and because of their conclusions I am actually really interested in reading the whole article when my copy arrives to see if I agree with their reasoning.

I am more concerned with what I am hearing from BBC, national papers (both UK and abroad), in fact mainstream press in general.

What does slightly concern me about the Edge story in this particular instance, which is why I am interested to read it next week, is that it seems to be saying the same thing the mainstream media is saying, and I do think the mainstream media is regurgitating Sony PR or positioning.

I'll reserve further decision making until I read the Edge article and more importantly anaylse what they say and why.

My personal position at the moment is that Xbox360 is definately leading the next gen wave at the moment, and will do so until Sony's launch gathers true momentum, I can't see anything to suggest that XBox360 will fall by the wayside at that point. Nintendo are actually the tickertape on the whole Next Gen parade, they aren't really leading the way right now in anything other than pure gameplay maybe, but they are definately adding all the colour, noise and fun to everyting.

It's going to be a great couple of months to digest the various events and the reporting on them to see what happens.

Roll on December now for the wider Wii releases

[Deckard]

Plus Sony have their PSP and Nintendo their DS to help tie in sales - Microsoft have no such product (yet).

[Ely]

I thought the Edge Suppliment was rather crass when evaluating the PS3. Every other paragragh had some reason to slate the 360 in some way. EDGE has always had a reputation for leaning towards Sony's Playstation brand, and this sort of journalism does nothing to quash that.

[Rod_S]

I think they should bring Red Eye back.

[Flabio]

Edit: Also, they mention that Lair is technically beyond anything that the 360 will ever be capable of.

And here was me thinking they were close to being credible again

[edit]
I mean, they'd have us believe that a first generation title by a third party is doing things that the 360 will never be able to do? I'm no hardware coder, but that does seem awfully far-fetched.

[Dio]

It seems to have a similar business model to PS2, a similar emphasis on graphics/cpu power

Well, we all know what a success that was. OK, at least they had the sense not to build the render backend themselves this time so it isn't a complete mess like the PS2 and PSP ones are, but PS2 is far less than half what it was made out to be.

[matt303]

I thought the Edge Suppliment was rather crass when evaluating the PS3. Every other paragragh had some reason to slate the 360 in some way. EDGE has always had a reputation for leaning towards Sony's Playstation brand, and this sort of journalism does nothing to quash that.

Where do you think the funding for any of these Edge supplements come from, the one they did about careers in games was stuffed full of adverts from a single publisher iirc. In my opinion a lot of future advertising will have been hanging in the balance and as is the case with most games magazines this will have an editorial effect.

[Yak]

I must admit I find Edge's attitude a bit weird on this one, since most people technically in the know admit that there isn't that much between the ox360 and the ps3. Both have their strengths and weaknesses but they are similar enough that most games will look the same on either one. *Some* stuff coded to 360's strength may be better, *some* stuff for ps3's strength may be better, but *most* stuff will be pretty much the same.

Given that, I don't see how they can say ps3 is "teh future" and ox360 is "teh past"... for me a big part of what makes next-gen next-gen is seamless integration of online, and Wii and x360 have that whereas ps3 seems to be a bit behind if anything. Not that they might not get there in the end but it's not there yet.

So I don't know what magic they are invoking to diss the 360 so.

Oh well, looks like I may have something to write about in my next Edge column then ....

[gilesgoat]

I thought the Edge Suppliment was rather crass when evaluating the PS3. Every other paragragh had some reason to slate the 360 in some way. EDGE has always had a reputation for leaning towards Sony's Playstation brand, and this sort of journalism does nothing to quash that.

Where do you think the funding for any of these Edge supplements come from, the one they did about careers in games was stuffed full of adverts from a single publisher iirc. In my opinion a lot of future advertising will have been hanging in the balance and as is the case with most games magazines this will have an editorial effect.

Well .. take any magazine of that kind publishing stuff .. they live on
adverts and paid insertions .. I think it's very hard they can only live on
their own and anyway people that buy magazines want to see some adverts as well.

Now .. let's try to count how many adverts there are in and where they
come from and let's make sums ..

Certainly, they can't speak too bad about "their best sponsor" huh ?

IMHO it's quite clear that in this moment Sony is a bit "climbing the mirrors".

They clearly are far behind schedule, they don't have really proper
material to do a proper launch, they had and still have a number of
problems to correctly launch the machine.

So they created a huge campaing and built a "hype" over .. over nothing
or to be more precise over "nothing yet".

I can't see why they wanted to hit the marked with PS3 NOW when I think
they could have done really lot better delaying some months further,
fix some more things, come out with some really good stuff and make a better impression.

So far, it all looks like "we are still not there but we want everyone to believe we are and we are
better than anyone else".

In my opinion, it's really not like that and they'll have to work very hard
to catch up and even harder to polish the image their created about
themselves that to me is NO good at all.

They are/been behind, they did not want to admit it, they are trying to
pump up everything just creating "noise".

That's the point, let's say a "more reasonable approach" would have done
(IMHO) a more serious impression, so far they look to me "a questionable company" with a quite questionable policy.

But sounds like "that's the way you make war", you have to piss on
anyone else and shout loud "I am the best", unfortunatelly a policy that
nowadays seems to apply anywhere in any field.

As a consumer I say "well, we'll see, so far I am seeing what I am seeing"
( and it's not convincing me much ).

Quite probably in the future I could buy a PS3 sure, when I'll feel I will
have a REAL REASON for me to do that, at the moment I don't have it, later maybe.

[Bubba]

Edge tend to get games right. But I doubt they have anyone qualified to judge whether x is possible on hardware y or not. They'll be going by the numbers printed from Sony, or whatever wrapped the cash in the brown envelope.

As has previously been said, comments that Lair is technically beyond the 360 over it's *entire lifetime* is a big pile o' wank

Cheers

Bubba

[GrapeApe]

Edge tend to get games right

mumble, mumble...Gunstar Heroes..6/10

I always get the impression that Edge witers enjoy their own words more than the punters who buy the magazine do.

Has Future got the official PS3 magazine license????

[Yak]

I'm going to ahve to get ahold of Edge and read this now (for some reason I got dropped from their free subs list some months before I started writing for them (!)). I'm just really interested to see how they work that out, is all. It just goes against just about every bit of feedback that has happened in the real world over the ps3 launch.