Playstation 3: You Don’t Need All Those Ports to Play Games
Sony unveiled a box so packed with features that it probably does shiatsu massage as well. The crazy-long list of features includes six USB ports, one SD port, one compactflash port, one memorystick port, a disc drive that supports and insane array of formats all the way up to Blue Ray, WiFi, Bluetooth and video output all the way up to 1080p. If you don’t know what that last one means, it’s probably ok since you probably won’t be the type of person to lay down a stack of cash for a television that supports it anyway. Regardless, all this adds up to a hardware beast that is going to be expensive to make and expensive to buy, but it is certainly going to have some gorgeous games. Take a look at this screenshot.
Amazing, right? Is the shot above really being rendered in real-time by the hardware that will ship out the door? Sony is claiming the PS3 will outperform the Xbox 360 by nearly 100%. Is Sony full of it? They certainly were with the ps2 which was hyped with promises of cinematic quality and delivered with the reality of a jaggyness nightmare (which, yes, was eventually resolved). We’ll find out the truth eventually this time as well.
Looking at the spec sheet and wisely ignoring the not so impartial benchmarks, Sony is focused on getting a powerhouse out the door that will more than likely be the unquestionable performance leader of the three consoles. They claim it’ll be in the Spring of 2006, but I’m willing to bet they’ll say that until it’s clear they’ll miss the date and then push it back to late summer. That’s nothing but total speculation on my part.
You Don’t Need All Those Ports to Play Games
There’s an aura of inevitable success around the PS3 and it will probably be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Sony ruled the previous generation and everyone seems to believe they will at least have a major chunk of the next generation. But Sony is doing more than just releasing a videogame system. With all those memory and usb slots, is Sony taking the strategy we all expected from Microsoft? Are they trying to deliver a game system with a not so hidden desire to be the center of your digital world? It certainly seems that way. You definitely don’t need all those ports just to play games, but you could use them to upload photos on your camera, hook up a printer to print them out and much more.
Could the PS3 Be Sony’s Undoing?
I’m not a Sony basher, but it’s no secret that Sony as a company is not doing so well financially due to a number of reasons. Releasing a console so packed with features that are outside of the blueprint of a game machine is an expensive bet for Sony to make. Each unit shipped will probably ship at a loss, a loss which Sony hopes to make up in not only games sales, but also in people using the additional features of the PS3 as a home media center. What happens if it only gets used as a game console? What happens if Nintendo holds it’s ground and Xbox makes the sort of gains one might see by beating a competitor to release? Loss per unit is a serious burden and any company can only stomach so much. How much success will Sony need to offset the loss on this bundle of silicon? I do not believe that Sony will retain the kind of marketshare they are used to, at least not in the United States (I don’t see the Xbox becoming any sort of threat in Japan even with this next generation). Microsoft is no longer a newcomer and will more than likely see a better percentage than they did last time. As much as both Microsoft and Sony would like to see Nintendo fold, I don’t believe they are going anywhere. I believe Sony knows this and they hope to open additional sources of revenue with a box that does much more than play games, but if those additional features go unused and they get less of the market than they have in the past, will Sony’s financial model on this machine stand on it’s own two legs? It’s hard to tell what their expectations are, but from the spec list it’s probably not a mistake to say that those expectations are high.
The PSP
One clear success that will probably help them smooth out some bumps is their entry in the portable market. It’s clear they are going to take up a decent percentage of the portable market finally weakening Nintendo’s monopoly status. How much of that market is still very much a mystery, but this added revenue may help shore up any difficulties they initially have with the PS3.
The Boomerang Controller
That may be the ugliest controller since Colecovision. Let’s hope it feels better than it looks.
Fashionably Late?
Sony is going to be late to the party, but will arrive is one hell of an outfit. Will gamers wait through the release of the Xbox 360 and possibly the Nintendo Revolution to give Sony their paychecks? Or will Microsoft and Nintendo already have too much of a head start for Sony to have the kind of dominance it’s come to enjoy? Make no mistake: Sony is the powerhouse to beat here and it’s good to have that kind of aura, but that last performance is a tough one to repeat. Seeing this hardware though and enjoying the idea of what it can do, well, you sort of want to see ambition like that rewarded.
Permanent Link
Does anyone know whether the PS3 will be able to play digital media devices like the iPod via USB port? if so, that would be awesome. By the way, even though everybody says that the Xbox 360 will be better than the PS3 because the Xbox was better than PS2, think about how much time there was between the two release dates. I think of sony’s later release date as a blessing in disguise: they will have the oppurtunity to closely examine the Revolution and Xbox 360 and make any last-minute changes to make it better. Then again maybe I have no idea what I’m talking about and have just wasted a considerable amount of your time.
If nobody’s noticed, I am looking for a reply to my comment. -Dartbord
At this point we can only guess what you’ll be able to hook up to those ports, but from the language Sony is using by constantly referring to it as a computer as opposed to a game machine, it’s clear they are hoping you’ll hook up anything and everything. There’s no official list of what will work or not, so it’s all speculation at this point.
As for who will be more powerful, my guess is that the PS3 will be the performance leader of the three, but that certainly doesn’t equal commercial success. Microsoft will have a head start, which could mean quite a bit, at least in the US. Lastly, we don’t really know what Nintendo is up to, but it’s clear they’re up to something.
All in all, I hope people don’t focus so much on the horsepower and instead look at who’s making the best games.
mmm…im really looking forward to its release even dough the controls it has are the worst thing ive seen in my %(¬?!=& life!
Or maybe who ever wrote the ones above me is Full Load of Crapp themselves sincing that they can’t prove that Sony promised anything about Cinematic Graphics on the PS2 since they didn’t even say that and yes they are doing well on the Market since your not a Market Broker.
Or maybe your just Full Load of Crapp yourself sincing that your not working in for Sony’s Stock Market and,knowing that your not a Stock Broker!]
in the First place and critisizing Sony,and plus they didn’t promise anything about the PS2 having Cinematic Graphics from the Begin if I’m wrong than correct me than.
I know you can play PSOne and PS2 games on the PS3, but I dont see a memory card port. So is there a port for PS1 and PS2 memory cards, or will I have to restart all my games. I HAVE 88 GAMES FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!