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Kutaragi Watch: PS3 Expensive… because it’s for Flat Panels
Posted on July 28th, 2005 9 comments
Kutaragi has been making the rounds letting everyone know that the PS3 is going to be hella expensive. Well, we pretty much knew that already. What most people are missing however is what Kutaragi has said about HD and Flat Panels.
We’re looking at a life cycle of 10 years with the PlayStation 3. We’re currently shifting from standard TVs to HD TVs.
Wait, you’re telling me Sony is going to support the PS3 for 10 years?
Indeed. We’ll see if that actually materializes or not. I doubt it.
Basically, Kutaragi is trying to explain why the PS3 is more expensive and why it will be supported for the next 10 years when he says:
But in the next couple of years, most flat-panel TVs will be full HD.
Heh heh. I can’t argue with that. But the fact that market penetration for flat panel TV’s is currently pretty pathetic isn’t going to help Sony win the fight against Microsoft. (Granted flat panel sales are projected to increase and become more mainstream, but not for several years, yet. So what does that mean for Kutaragi and Sony, who seem to be wagering their PS3 against flat panels becoming more HD?
It means that no one (except those dreamy early adopters) is going to buy a PS3 until it is a closer price point to the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 is going to win the console war right out of the gate. And Sony is on crack if they think they can overcome the Xbox steamroller with a $500 multimedia behemoth. Now, in 5 years, when the PS3 is a much closer price point to the Xbox 360, things may start to get a little more interesting.
9 responses to “Kutaragi Watch: PS3 Expensive… because it’s for Flat Panels”
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Flat panal does not equal HD. There are many wide body HDTVs in the world. What difference does it make to the PS3 if your HDTV is flat or not?
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The point is that Kutaragi is using it as a reason that the PS3 is going to do so freaking well, when really, the fact that flat panels are shifting to HD means jack diddly squat.
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“The Xbox 360 is going to win the console war right out of the gate”
Last time I checked, there was no official price for the Xbox 360 either. Comments like this reek of fanboyishness.
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Well, I could go ahead and list all of the reports by various reputable news sites that the Xbox 360 will likely sell near the $300 mark. God, a simple trip to Wikipedia could’ve told you THAT. These same sites have placed the likely price point for the PS3 somewhere between $465 and $500, including these comments by Kutaragi himself.
Please. If you’re going to bother to post a comment, please make sure you are informed.
Oh, and if you think I’m an Xbox fanboy, I direct you to this post:
http://www.topofcool.com/archives/2005/05/microsofts_vers.html -
Of course I’ve read about the rumoured $300 price point before, as I have about Sony’s rumoured (higher) price point.
That still doesn’t change the fact that you’re making blanket statements about the success of consoles that don’t yet exist, based on prices that are just rumours.
Please. If you’re going to bother to post an entry, please make sure you are logical.
Or at least, throw in a little “If these rumuors are correct, I believe the xbox will” before your “win the console war right out of the gate.”
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OMFG. This is a BLOG. If you need a disclaimer before every statement saying “My opinion is” or “I believe” or “In case I offend anyone out there that feels differently, please note that my opinion is”, then what in holy hell are you doing reading blogs in the first place.
Yes, it’s a blanket statement. Yes, it’s my opinion. And yes, it is based on rumored price points… THAT HAVE BEEN GIVEN BY MICROSOFT AND SONY EXECUTIVES!
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Factory July 29th, 2005 at 05:30
“Wait, you’re telling me Sony is going to support the PS3 for 10 years?”
Well it depends on what you mean by support. mobygames aparantly believes that there games released for the PS1 in 2004 and 1994, so they’ve at least had that long for the PS1.“The Xbox 360 is going to win the console war right out of the gate.”
Meh, talk is cheap.– back catalogue
PS3 wins here, I dunno how much this helps a new console though, like, who wants to get a spanking new console just to play old games?– price
For the early life of a console this might not be such a critical problem, early adopters might be quite willing to swallow a pricey machine. In the longer term it is though, but in the long term, both consoles should prolly be priced about the same.– corporate support
Since Sony don’t sell consoles at a loss, they are generally quite safe in this area. MS OTOH are still loosing money on the XBOX, this makes the XBOX vulnerable to being cut if a corporate shakeup happens. And if the the new XBOX sells well, then they will bleeding money even faster. OTOH MS has a fuckload of money.– The Nintendo factor
Nintendo seem to be quite happy in the niche they are in ATM. IMHO they’ll prolly stay in that niche and not really have an effect on the MS vs. Sony tussle.– Non-games stuff
I think if this becomes important MS will be at an advantage, simply because they are more likely to put it front and centre. Sony do talk about things like this, and do have that linux thing, but they never really put an effort into it.– Hardware (at least for games)
Despite the hype that Sony is putting out, I’d suspect that in the end both the consoles will be roughly on par.– Japanese developer support
Prolly the most critical factor and one which appears to be a plus for Sony. MS has failed to get support from jp developers in the current XBOX, and I haven’t seen anything to indicate that they have significantly improved in this area.– Release date advantage
I don’t think 6 Months is that much of advantage. -
You forget that Microsoft has Halo 3 (which they want to unload around the PS3’s launch time), who’s prequel was the best selling game of this gen. On top of that, they’ll no doubt receive support from Rockstar and GTA as well. Those two titles together could make the 360 fly off the shelves, especially if the PS3 is priced at $500.
Also, how can you say that MS hasn’t improved their Japanese support? They have Mistwalker signed on to exclusively release games for the 360. We’re talking key Squaresoft employees here like Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu. Also there’s the support from Capcom, Sega, and Square Enix themselves.
And the whole thing about a 10-year life cycle is just clever wording from Sony. As the above poster said, Sony considered the PSone’s cycle to be over 4 years just because developers were still farting out titles for it around 2001 and 2002. They’ll probably say the same thing for the PS2 once it croaks.
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Factory July 29th, 2005 at 17:48
JV:
“You forget that Microsoft has Halo 3 (which they want to unload around the PS3’s launch time), who’s prequel was the best selling game of this gen.”
I’d question that H2 was the best selling of this gen, [1] gives two other games selling more than H2.JV:
“On top of that, they’ll no doubt receive support from Rockstar and GTA as well.”
Erm, if the support is in the form of a release for the XBOX months after a PS3 release, I can’t see it helping MS a great deal.[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best_selling_video_games
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R July 28th, 2005 at 10:40