The Rise and Fall of the PlayStation3

[Decessus]

"The Rise and Fall of the PlayStation3"
By: James Dudeck

Pre-Launch:
Basically, you can merely mention the PlayStation3, and you will have hardcore gamers drooling over thoughts of the powers and technical specs that were reported for the PlayStation3. The thought of it's combination of two new technologies of the Blu-Ray drive and the power of it's cell processor could get a rise out of serious techies, and they didn't even have to be gamers.

Post-Launch:
Now, we know these new promising technologies would be backed by only 256MB of RAM, and we nearly had a heart attack. A serious gaming machine cannot be run on a mere 256MB of RAM. It's hard enough to find a usb jumpdrive or mp3 player with only 256MB of capacity, but 256MB of RAM? On top of that, both technologies (the blu-ray and the cell processors) are still only prototypes, and are already having problems. Problems with the Blu-Ray has already pushed back expected launch titles, making the early XBOX360 problems of reading the DVD in the middle of a game seem like nothing (atleast Microsoft was able to fix that). Also, the cell processors are already crashing and over heating. Top that with it's graphical processing unit (GPU) is actually preforming 40% less than it was reported to preform at (as reported by TheInquirer) it seems the end has already come for the PS3, and to think, we were so dissapointed when they said that the rumble feature would no longer be supported. Is Sony really expecting people to pay almost twice the money for almost half the power? Apparently not, because not even 2 months after it's release, 80% of them have been returned around here. All in all, it looks like there really wasn't a rise for the PS3, just Sony set it on a cliff, saying it was the most powerful gaming machine available. We took one look at it, and pushed it off, to let it fall, and that's all it will continue to do.

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I am still working on it, just wanted to see what you guys thought of the rough draft /happy.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\'^_^\' />

[Vercz]

hmm... nice piece, now that you mention it ive heard no glowing reviews of the PS3... or ANYTHING about it since its release

some interesting figures in there too, such as Theinquirer saying its performing 40% lower than sales pitches... nice work with weaving in the quotes and technical references, my literature teacher would LOVE you /blum.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':P\' />

nice work there Dec.

[Decessus]

[quote name=\'Vercz\' post=\'38306\' date=\'Jan 24 2007, 03:13 AM\']hmm... nice piece, now that you mention it ive heard no glowing reviews of the PS3... or ANYTHING about it since its release

some interesting figures in there too, such as Theinquirer saying its performing 40% lower than sales pitches... nice work with weaving in the quotes and technical references, my literature teacher would LOVE you /blum.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':P\' />

nice work there Dec.[/quote]

haha. scary seeing i hate english classes /blum.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':P\' />

and thanks /biggrin.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':D\' />

[Alexander]

the fall of the PS3 was something everyone predicted even before its release, Sony were arrogant enough to initially overprice the device, use disk formats which arent even a standard (i mean it would have been like a Sega Mastersystem using BetaMax tapes) and of course only the super gamers will actually buy it (casual gamers seem to be heavily attracted to the Wii), sony have been buggering up everything they do lately, i mean look at the battery recalls! (hmm i wonder if the PS3 uses a sony battery /happy.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\'^_^\' />).

[Decessus]

[quote name=\'Alexander\' post=\'38308\' date=\'Jan 25 2007, 03:02 AM\']the fall of the PS3 was something everyone predicted even before its release, Sony were arrogant enough to initially overprice the device, use disk formats which arent even a standard (i mean it would have been like a Sega Mastersystem using BetaMax tapes) and of course only the super gamers will actually buy it (casual gamers seem to be heavily attracted to the Wii), sony have been buggering up everything they do lately, i mean look at the battery recalls! (hmm i wonder if the PS3 uses a sony battery /happy.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\'^_^\' />).[/quote]

I don't think the problem is the fact that the Blu-Ray isn't standardized, but the fact it is still mostly a prototype, and will be for some time. There are only a handful of manufactures producing anything to do with blu-ray media, and nothing to do with computers, just players. Such as Pioneer's BDP-HD1 racking in at $1,500 USD for the player, and even those are having problems. So far it seems like the only reason there are even the movies and the few players is because of Sony's push for the PS3 launch, and would have a corner on the market. Other companies are not caring about the quick profit for a faulty product, they are waiting for all the bugs to be worked out. This is the main reason Microsoft chose to back the HD-DVD for the XBOX 360 for now, Blu-Ray is too buggy. Once the bugs are worked out of it, you can probably expect Microsoft to back it then. Microsoft can't seem to get operating systems right, but they do gaming better than anyone else.

Now, on the note of BetaMax, the problem wasn't that it wasn't standardized, nor the fact of it being buggy. The fall to that is due to how Sony handled the media, only allowing Sony movies or Sony liscened movies to make movies on the BetaMax tapes. Meaning either you would have to become a part of Sony Motion Pictures, or deal with VHS. The BetaMax [i]was[/i] a better format, and had no bugs. If sony had at the least licensed out the right to reproduce on the BetaMax format, then it would have taken off, and replaced the VHS format all together.

[Electrix]

Ah, the PS3. The only reason Ill buy one is if my favourite games stop being released on PS2. But I will always be a loyal sony fanboy, may even have to get myself a Wii if i feel compelled enough to do so.