Should you wait for the PS3?

[UAK]

Should you wait for the PS3?
Even if the Xbox 360 is a rousing success, Sony will likely still dominate the console universe.
November 21, 2005: 6:23 AM EST
By Peter Lewis, FORTUNE senior editor

NEW YORK (FORTUNE) - More than 90 million PlayStation 2 consoles have been sold worldwide since the PS2's debut in 2000, compared with some 25 million Microsoft Xboxes sold since 2001. Even if the new Xbox 360 is a rousing success, Sony's dominance of the console universe is likely to continue, and there's a powerful new PlayStation coming next year.

The PS3, scheduled to be introduced in Japan in mid-2006 and in the U.S. a few months later, is expected to be technically more advanced than the Xbox 360 in many ways. Notably, it will include a high-definition DVD player intended to capitalize on the growing market for HDTV sets, which, of course, Sony also makes. (The Xbox 360 supports HD games, but it lacks the ability to play next-generation, prerecorded HD movies.)

Sony's CEO, Sir Howard Stringer, said recently that Sony will sell the PS3 at a loss in order to populate the world with Sony's favored high-definition DVD standard, known as Blu-ray. If millions of Blu-ray PlayStations find their way into living rooms, Sony figures, movie studios will be compelled to embrace it over the rival standard, known as HD-DVD. Yes, brace yourself for another Betamax vs. VHS standards war.

Sir Howard said the PS3 will sell for $300 to $400 and will come with a bundle of games, movies, and TV shows, many of which Sony also makes. The question is whether the titles will be bundled on Blu-ray DVD discs or on a built-in hard drive.

Because the first standalone Blu-ray DVD players are expected to cost $1,000 or so, Sony is essentially giving a free next-generation DVD player to every PS3 customer. That eases the pain (a little bit) for people faced with buying new, high-def versions of their favorite DVDs.

Of course, nothing is stopping Microsoft from adding a high-definition DVD player to the Xbox down the road, once the standards battle has been resolved.

How else does the PS3 stack up against the Xbox 360? It's based on a bodaciously powerful Cell processor developed by IBM and Toshiba, which appears to outmuscle the IBM PowerPC custom chip used in Microsoft's Xbox 360. Sony has also tapped nVidia to supply the graphics engine in the PS3, and it's going to be a whopper, with nearly double the rendering power of the top graphics card that nVidia now supplies to PC gaming enthusiasts. Again, on specs alone, the PS3 should have a graphics edge over the ATI-based Xbox 360.

Fancy hardware doesn't mean anything, though, if the people who write the games for the hardware can't take advantage of it. (Exhibit A: The PlayStation 2 is technically inferior to the original Xbox, but it's still the world's most popular gaming platform based on the selection of compelling game titles.)

At its launch the PS3 will be backward compatible with thousands of earlier PlayStation titles. But Microsoft knows software, and game developers are praising it for providing them the tools and support to build new titles for the Xbox 360.

So should you wait a year for the PS3 or buy the Xbox 360 today? Current Xbox owners are likely to upgrade to the 360, and current PS2 owners will probably stick with Sony. New gamers, however, have little reason to wait nearly a year for the PS3, and Microsoft is almost certain to gain some ground on Sony.

The one wild card: Sony could slash the price of the current PS2, perhaps to $100, making the $400 Xbox 360 seem less attractive.

Strike, counterstrike: It's all playing out like a good videogame. Only in this game, billions of dollars are at stake.


http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/21/technology/playstation_fortune_112805/index.htm

[No Compute]

Revolution

[UAK]

Revolution

My sister wants one 

[Don Seer]

nice article...

IMO sony are taking too many risks this time..

[UAK]

nice article...

IMO sony are taking too many risks this time..

They're gangsters.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc_Association

They can't wait to sell Blu-Ray DVD Players.

[Don Seer]

well this stinks of sony trying yet again to dominate a medium used by general consumers.. first betamax then minidisc and memory sticks.. sure there've been others inbetween...

blu-ray does have an impressive array of members/backers though..

[Trauma-san]

In MY OPINION, and I could be full of shit, Sony is in trouble.  Their company is hemmoraging money, and the PS3 will lose ground over the 360.  I don't know if it'll be enough to push sony to 2nd place, but I think their clear dominance of the market is over.  I see their price as being a huge problem.  I don't see them coming in at 399, and 399 is pushing it for a system in my opinion.  Neo Geo nearly went bankrupt selling theirs for 500 bucks and it was vastly superior than everything else out at the time.  In years past everybody could buy the ps2 and the xbox and whatever the hell came out, but now talking with people a lot of people are making noise about the 360 being 400 bucks.  Sony's gonna push it over even that and I think it'll severely hurt sells.  On TOP of that, everyone they sell they lose their ass on.  I know that's been an effective strategy in the past, but it's NOT intelligent business, and they're losing more than ever on the ps3, even with the high pricepoint. 

[UAK]

well this stinks of sony trying yet again to dominate a medium used by general consumers.. first betamax then minidisc and memory sticks.. sure there've been others inbetween...
Memory sticks are nice 

blu-ray does have an impressive array of members/backers though..

Who's missing?

[Bch]

xbox would be smart to lower the price on the 360 as soon as the sony pS3 drops that would be a great marketing move 4 them

[Don Seer]

they prob will... i mean if the first PS3s will hit japan mid summer and the rest of the world by this time next year.. Xbox 360 will have had a year of "wow time".. and PS3.. although technically _slightly_ ahead of xbox. won't wow as much as xbox360 versus the last generation...

also.. from many reports ps3 will likely come out priced higher than the xbox360 launch price

another thing.. it normally takes developers a while to really push the power of a console... xbox360 games will be pushing better performance by the time ps3 drops.. whereas ps3 will be untamed just like how the first batch of xbox360 titles dont use the full potential of the console right now.

plus.. something i keep plugging.. MS gives developers better tools making it easier for them to get more from the console quicker..


i believe MS has done a lot right this time around.. but we'll see. just remember they are pretty much expert at infiltrating market sectors and dominating.. its gotten them in trouble and brought the hate because they're so adept at it.

[wcsoldier]

Revolution man  Off Topic isn't sell at lost forbidden ? 

[Bramsterdam (see ya)]

Im waiting for ps3..

[$do11a biLL$]

not waiting for shit X-Box and PS2 is good enough for me

[Shallow]

I could see Microsoft winning the next war if Sony fucks up this time but I don't see Sony going from nearly 4 times the systems sold that X Box had to falling to number 2. A lot of the PS2 owners are alreay in their early to late 20s to mid 30s, they have jobs and a $400 to $500 dollar investment that will last 5 to 6 years worth of quality games coming out isn't that big a deal. These are the same people that spend a grand every 2 or 3 years to get a new PC. Also, Playstation offers a garauntee to most consumers. The kind of garauntee Nintendo used to offer in the home console market. Even though something like GEnesis could come out, be very good, more powerful than NES, and have a huge jump on SNES, the masses had more trust in Nintendo and many just just with NES and waited for SNES. Just like how Sega did very well competing, I think XBox will gain some ground, but when it's all said an done, Sony will sell more systems and more games, for this round at least. That's my prediction anyway.

[Machiavelli]

Im waiting for ps3..