Playstation 3 improving?

[Gareth]

Originally Posted by dragon

Reliablity definatly being one of the xbox's bad points

And the noise of the damn thing.

[dragon]

Originally Posted by Gareth

And the noise of the damn thing.

Can't aruge with that!

[Gareth]

What did you say...? You'll have to speak up a little.

[ShadowTD]

I've been into this gaming thingammijig since the Amstrad CPC, so I'll expouse my views.

Looking back at the previous generation, Sega had a fantastic machine out there. They'd sold a good couple of million and the system was building fast. It could get on the internet and online play was imminent. And then the PS2 came out. Despite the price, lack of true AAA titles for at least the first 6 months and no hint of any online features the PS2 crushed the Dreamcast.

Now we're currently in the situation we were when the PS2 really started to batter the 'cast. There's some decent titles appearing or slated for the PS3 and the system is starting to appear with decent bundles for a reasonable price. Yet the 360 is still going good guns, not to mention the Wii. I think the gaming landscape is going to be different this time. Sony won't 'give up' on the PS3 because of the loss of face (Japanese company, you see - even if it is run by a yank). Microsoft are determined to try and monetise the investment they've made in the Xbox brand so I can't see them giving up any time soon. I can see it being like HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, where the market ends up accommodating both, with the Wii being a licence to print money for Nintendo.

As a footnote, I currently only have a Wii. There are finally a few games I want to play that aren't out for it - Skate, Sega Rally and Orange Box. All of these are multiplatform. Yet I've decided to plump for a 360. I'd much rather get a PS3 and have a blu-ray player thrown in as well (even though I think HD-DVD has the edge) as well as better eliability. But look at Eurogamer and their multiplatform roundups. The majority of games available on both systems look and perform better on the 360. Probably because that's what they were coded for first. This is what happened with the Sega Saturn - despite being out first it was a pig to code for. Sony courted devs with cheap devkits and lots of help. Hence people ended up coding for the PS and 'porting' to the Saturn which didn't work very well at all. With the 360 in the position of 'lead' platform (especially for EA) I think it's currently my best option. So I'll be getting one at xmas.

And anyway, it's only a method to play games FFS. I was arguing about CPC vs C64 in the playground at high school - have we not come any further than that? (Speccy was never in the frame! )

[Gareth]

I almost agree with everything you said there, ShadowTD... until you said that the Speccy was never in the frame. That's blasphemous!!!

The demise of the DC was, as you say, because of the success of the PS2, which itself was largely caused by the phenomenal success of the PS1. Sony held the press release for the PS2 almost an entire year before the console was actually launched, which resulted in many people holding-off getting the DC whilst they waited to see what the PS2 could offer. As it turned out, the DC was technically superior to the PS2 but by the time people realised it was already too late, and Sega had failed to get enough interest in the console. Such a shame, because the DC was a fantastic piece of kit - very ground-breaking for the time.

Ironically, the PS1 was originally developed by Nintendo and Sony together, but the CEO of Nintendo didn't like the terms and conditions of the contract and decided they should split... and instead they jumped into bed with Philips. The rest, as they say, is history.

[ShadowTD]

@Gareth: *chuckle*. Yeah, many hours spent arguing about 'Speckle-drums'... :P We even had one kid who had a BBC B. Nobody spoke to him and he smelled a bit funny...

ISTR that it was Philips that had the first swing of the bat developing a CD system with Nintendo - that's why there are 2 Zelda games on the CD-i (I've got them both and they're hideous). Nintendo 'wasn't impressed' and so went to Sony (the other inventor of the CD). This project got pretty far - prototypes were built and custom silicon cut but by this time the MegaCD was singularly failing to ignite the market. Ninty decided to focus their resources on 'Project Reality' and the T&C's of the 'we don't actually want to bring this product to market' deal they did with Sony meant Sony got the IP for what had been devleoped for SNES CD.

And yes, Sony killed the DC with marketing. I thing this is the basis of a lot of people's negative attitude towards Sony. They've gone from being the plucky upstarts to the arrogant leader who doesn't deliver what they promise. This Stringer fella who's in charge now seems to have a bit of a clue and I think that 2008 will probably be a good year for the PS3. Still getting a 360, though...

[icestar2]

Wow PS3 has actually outsold the WII for 2 weeks in a row now. Then again it is in japan its home turf but hopefully this is sony turning the corner now. Seems the 40GB model is having a great impact for sony now and is starting to help shift units plus the games comming out are starting to make the investment in the machine worth it.

I hope there remains room for all the consoles as its good for us and its good for dev's. Gives us more choice - each machine is pushing each other to deliver and that can only be a good thing in my book.

[Gareth]

Yeah, saw the sales figures... can't believe how badly the 360 does in Japan. There were more PS2s sold during the week than 360s!!! Makes you wonder why Microsoft still bother.

Like you say, having one of the manufacturers fail isn't good for anyone so hopefully this will be a turning point for Sony.

[Damien]

To be fair, the Wii is only getting out-sold because of stock problems

[Tod]

Sony have not really advertised the PS3 since launch on TV, but now it seems to be on every ad break on ITV. I guess it's make or break time!

[Tightscot]

Originally Posted by Tod

I guess it's make or break time!

.... or Christmas time...

[keithwalton]

The Wii only has stock problems in the UK / Europe, in Japan the PS3 is outselling it on merit.
The PS3 is definitely improving, we're now up to version 2.01 of firmware and it is much better than the 1.5 my ps3 came with.

With regards to the HDMI note, my PS3 has been running on HDMI since day 1 without much of a problem.
It did improve when they added the software scaler option (for dvd's, blu-ray and ps1/2 games) so that the console always outputted at the resolution you wanted rather than what it decided. (It used to want to do 1080i when infact 720p was a much better
match).

They do still have a problem tho, when games are coming out on both multiple platforms the ps3 version is usually later and more expensive than the xbox version (eg Juiced 2, it was originally £40 on the xbox and £50 on the ps3 with the latter being released two weeks later)

[Damien]

I still would not count Japan as a key marker anymore though, There is the gamer drift and the fact that the console market has shifted to the western markets

[dragon]

Originally Posted by dragon

Resistance Yes, ok I'll give it that looks good but I won't be buying a ps3 just for that alone.

Most of those games listed aren't exclusives which means I can get them on a console I already own (the 360) or on pc.

Now I'm not saying I won't buy a PS3 (because I probably will, particularly when the next Final fantasy and MGS games come out) but theres nothing in that line up that makes me want to rush out to the store and buy one this current second. Espcally as I need a new HD tv as well to get the proper Ps3 experience (I cheat with the 360 and use the pc monitor)

Change probably will to just did... and it will be more accurate
Resitance is pretty neat so far (only game I got for the time being) I like that gun that you can tag them with then shoot them from around corners

[SamH182]

In my opinion the 360 is the best for online play and gameplay.
PS3 is slightly better in framerate but not lighting,
The wii is amazing for gameplay but some games are annoying.