McWilliams’ World

I couldn’t resit posting this. It’s way too funny and very true. It made my day.

Source: MotorStorm pushes PS3 to the max

I didn’t read the whole article…as I can’t get to it at work, but the little text I did read doesn’t bode well for any PS3 fan.

Speaking to Edge Online, Evolution Studios has revealed that its PlayStation 3 off road racer pushes Sony’s next-gen system to the max.

Well, that’s pretty sad. Not even 3 months out of the starting gates and Sony’s new box is all maxed out. The developers can’t make the system do any more than what they’ve already done. That’s as good as it’s going to get apparently. So much for, “We’ve only tapped half of the PS3′s potential.” I hope you enjoy your limited $500/$600 game system.

From what I understand, MotorStorm won’t even support splitscreen multi-player becuase it’s too taxing. From what I’ve seen of most reviews, it’s a fairly barren arcade racer. Plus, they can’t run the game in Sony’s “True HD”, a.k.a. 1080p. It has to run at 720p at best. Boo hoo. So much for those big “the next-generation doesn’t start till we say so” promises. Here’s a little clue Sony and all you PS fans…the next generation started over a year ago – you’re late to the party. So, it appears to me that all Sony wanted out of the PS3 is to push Blu-ray – and even that’s not doing well either.

Just do us all a favor and get a 360, which as plenty of headroom left in it, a ton of games for it, a killer on-line service, a great community, and a slew of new and emerging features…you can’t go wrong.

Up until now Sony’s on-line plans for the PS3 has been largely unknown, heck it still is very cloudy even after this last news blast.

Basically it boils down to the fact that PS3 owners will not have a seamless on-line experience. It could very well be that PS3 gamers will have to juggle multiple accounts and friend lists. One for Sony’s Playstation Network and now this xFire middleware plus whatever else comes down the pike. Beyond that pale, what about costs? It’s not free to do on-line gaming. Someone has to pay for servers, bandwidth, upkeep, etc.. With no central, standard system on which to build your on-line enabled game, what are developers to do? It wouldn’t surprise me that multiplayer games on the PS3 will incur some type of subscription service that that subscription won’t cover every game you shove into your PS3; it’d be game to game. That’d be a shame.

Ozymandias made a great point regarding this (emphasis, mine):

The bad news? This definitely isn’t what Sony would have wanted to do if they had other options. What we end up with is a bit of a mishmash of online accounts, logins, and services. For example, now when I play a PS3 title I simply can’t depend on having a single Friends list. Sony will manage the “master” list, which should have presence in every PS3 title, and Xfire will be a plugin that some publishers integrate into some games. This means gamers can’t depend on finding their friends in one place (if the game even supports Xfire). The possibility exists that Sony might do a larger deal to integrate Xfire into every PS3 title, but frankly, they should have simply swallowed their pride and purchased Xfire a long time ago and made it their default backend technology.

I totally agree with his assessment. It’s something I’ve said before regarding all the unknowns about the PS3 (just check out my Sony and PS3 categories). Sony doesn’t get on-line or community. Microsoft has set the bar very high for the seamless on-line experience. So high, I fear that anything else will pale in comparison.

I’m glad Sony’s at least trying to provide some sort of on-line access, but if I spent $500 or $600 on a console, I’d be expecting quite a bit. Yes, they can continue to improve the service over time but that’s just it; out-of-the-gate you already have a system that’s not seamless. Games will be released utilizing other means of getting gamers on-line, but it all won’t be happening under one on-line umbrella. Maybe later they can standardize, but it’s too bad that it won’t be seamless from the get-go. Heck, we haven’t even seen the thing work and we’re about a month out from launch.

LetsKillDave posts a very funny link regarding the PS3′s delayed launch in Europe(postponed till March 2007).

Check it out.

I guess I’ll post this if I have to. The article’s everywhere now. Apparently there’s some big Sony press thingy happening tomorrow but I fear it’ll be more of the same from Sony.

See, I told you so.

The only real reason I post this is that I’m sick of the Sony fanboys who think that Microsoft rushed the Xbox 360 to market. How was it rushed? What do you think it should have included?

No, the bigger question not being asked by anyone is; “Why can’t Sony get their ass to market“?!

We all know that their hardware has been set in stone since mid 2005. What’s taking them so long? Can’t figure how to make it all work? Can’t seem to get anything to look as good as what was demo’ed at E3 ’05 (shocking)? Which is it? Inquiring minds want to know!

Does Sony think that playing the waiting game will give them the advantage just because it came out a year later – appearing to be “better” than the competition that’s now one year old?  That doesn’t hold water since the Xbox 360 will be already releasing 2nd generation games which will eclipse what you will see from PS3 launch titles.

I think Sony is between a rock and a hard place.  On one side they have a machine that’s not even ready yet and on the other they gave their next closest rival a year head start. Not good.

My statement still stands: “When the PS3 comes out and it’s found to be less stellar than what was promised and on par or marginally more powerful than the Xbox 360 while costing the consumer 25% more (I’m being conservitive)…Sony has just shot themselves in the foot”.

Okay, I can no longer be silent about this. Frankly I’m sick of the “PS3 Delay” articles littering my RSS feeds several times a day. I figured that I’d lend my take on the “why” the PS3 is delayed and what it means to everyone; gamers and the industry.

Before I start, I will be upfront with you that I am an Xbox fanboy. I owned a PS1 (among other consoles such as the Odyssey, Atari 5200, NES) but when I came time to upgrade, it was easy to see that the Xbox was the superior machine in power, features, and services. I’m no a game industry insider, I’m just an enthusiastic video game player who happens to believe Xbox is the best. These are just my thoughts and analysis.  That being said…

Why the PS3′s being delayed

If you follow PS3 news you get a few reasons for the delay:

• Blu-Ray issues
• Cost of manufacturing

But I feel there’s more to it than those common reports. My additional thoughts are:

• Cell chip
• On-Line service
• Console Features

I won’t get to heavy into each topic here, but here’s the skinny - as I see it;

• Blu-Ray: Sony seems to be having problems with getting their proprietary format to work right and be able to include it in the PS3 without breaking the bank. Sony’s forcing a Beta vs. VHS format war again and recent reports tend to suggest that industry support is starting to sway in the favor of HD-DVD. You see….open formats tend to work out better for everyone. Cost of the device is also a major concern according to some analysts. If some stand alone players are starting around the $1000 mark and HD-DVD players starting under $500… usually price wins.
• Cost of manufacturing: With all the proposed features of the PS3, it’s been suggested that the manufacturing costs will be very high for Sony. Typically consoles are sold at a loss but you want to keep that loss relatively low. Next comes retail cost of the base console which has been reported to be anywhere from $500 – $900. Can you see little Jimmy’s Mom or Dad plunking down $500+ for a game console? I don’t think so. Sure the hardcore gamer with some disposable income (or a large credit card) will get it, but the general public won’t be biting any time soon
• Cell chip: All 3 consoles this time around are tapping one company for the construction of their CPU; IBM. The approach to these chips are basically the same. IBM has very modular PowerPC chip technology, so they’re not creating these chips from scratch. The Cell chip is very complex compared to the Xbox 360′s (which is more of a general purpose design). I believe that Sony is having a hard time getting their heads around this complex chip. I’m not saying that the Cell is bad - ’cause it’s not. It’s just causing problems for developers to tap it’s strength and work around bugs other issues and thus delaying the PS3′s release.
• On-Line service: We all know Xbox Live is king and has set the bar for on-line play and services. Microsoft has had about 4 years to perfect this service. We all know Microsoft does software really well – so this is all a given. Sony doesn’t do software well – it’s not their focus. So how are they going to provide a unified on-line service for PS3 owners? It’s been reported that they have an Xbox Live killer in the works and will surpass Xbox Live in features and services. But that’s all that’s been heard. It’s all speculation. Officially, Sony has said that they cannot and will not offer a unified on-line service. That all could be bull, but I wouldn’t count on Sony coming out with anything that will rival Xbox 360′s level of integration within games and connection within the home network. It all remains to be seen and up until now, Sony’s hasn’t said bubkiss.
• Console features: What will this beast have included? Will it have a hard drive? Will it really have 7 controller ports (why)? Two 1gb ethernet ports (again why)? It’s also been reported that annalists don’t think Sony could fit all of this into the proposed console design. This also goes back to cost of manufacturing. Too much included. It’s all a macho play by Sony. I’ve said all along you’ll see Sony tout this and that but as time goes on…they’ll slowly whittle away at the feature set. I’ll believe it when I see it.

What the delay means to: Gamers

Gamers don’t like waiting. It’s a drag to see something that you’re looking forward to be continually delayed. At last year’s E3 Sony suggested a Spring ’06 PS3 release. I think that window’s been closed (according to the above points). In the meantime, Microsoft strikes first with the first and only next-gen console. I can imagine that most PS fans can wait 6mo…but 1 year or more after the latest and greatest already’s on the market? My thought is that these consoles are not that different and the extra time that Sony’s taking to get to market isn’t going to make the system any more powerful. It just shows that Sony’s bitten off more than they can chew and by the time they do get to market, Microsoft will be releasing 2nd generation 360 games and have a price drop in the wing to combat the PS3′s release.

Does that mean the PS3 will suck? No. It’ll just mean those that waited have waited a year longer than necessary because Sony couldn’t get it right in time.

The risk is if the PS3 comes out 1yr later than the Xbox 360 and it’s less stellar that what was promised by Sony and it’s only marginally better than the Xbox 360, I think I’d feel cheated (and a bit pissed) especially If I had to pay 30-40% more that what the Xbox 360 costs.

Oh the PS3 will eventually come out, but how long will gamers be patient with the constant delays? It makes you wonder if there’s something wrong with it. One thing’s for sure, it’ll give those waiting enough time to save their pennies or get their loans to buy the thing.

What the delay means to: Game Industry

This can’t bode well with game developers. If they’re starting to develop for the next-generation of game consoles, they’re only able to sell for one system right now – Xbox 360. The PS3 doesn’t even exist yet and I believe that they’re still having problems getting their games running right or optimized right on PS3 hardware.

There have been reports that the PS3 is hard to develop for and the Cell chip poses some very challenging development issues. Now, it can’t be that hard to develop for but I believe that Sony doesn’t have the best tools to get development off the ground. Technically the PS2 was a pain to develop for as well. Remember, Sony’s good at hardware…not software, so I believe that developers are somewhat on their own to get their code running right.

So here we have a game industry that’s in a slight state of limbo. The consumer knows the next generation is here so they’re either jumping on the Xbox 360 or waiting it out. I cannot believe that they’re still running around buying up the current systems; maybe late adopters or those on a budget. So consumers are waiting and that means softer sales. And if, as I said before the PS3 comes out later than sooner and differences are slim between it and it’s closest competition and at a price point that’s much highter…that doesn’t bode well at all for Sony or those developing games for it.  Developers have no choice but to develop, but with that does that mean? Less stellar titles? Do they cut corners to get to market ASAP?

There’s money to be made, but money’s only made on that which is being sold.

In Summary

Things are not looking too rosy for Sony and the PS3 – at least from where I stand. Little to no information has been released since E3 ’05 regarding the PS3. All that’s been reported is speculation. With little official word from Sony on the state of it’s new console (even at recent gaming events put on by Sony), reports of high console manufacturing and retail costs, issues with development, and unfortunate continuing bad press regarding delays in releasing the new console, this doesn’t look good for gamers or the game industry.

I do believe Sony will get to market at some time but it may be closer to 2007 before they do. But at what cost? Once again, if it’s no better than Xbox 360 (and I believe it’ll be less stellar than) and at a greater cost – that’s not a good thing. Gamers will fell cheated and the game industry will have no choice but to make games with what they got.

Do we all win? No, not everyone. I’m happy in the camp I’m in. How about you?

PS3 will be ‘late and full of bugs’

I’m no fan of Sony’s game systems (although I did own a PS1) this article may have some legs to it. May being the operative word here. I doubt that Sony will release a buggy product. They’ll more than likely be over budget and little late. Keep in mind that the Xbox 360, PS3, and Nintendo Revolution are basically cut from the same cloth. All systems are utilizing IBM for the CPU and Microsoft and Nintendo both are tapping ATI for the GPU (graphics processing unit); Sony is using nVidia (which Microsoft used in the first Xbox). Oh the irony.

Being that they are all basically cut from the same cloth, one can only speculate why Sony and Nintendo are coming out so late. You have to think that all the silicone is set-in-stone. So the thought of, “oh they’ll have more time so technology will get better” won’t fly here. There’s no way they’re still tinkering with hardware. I believe it’s a software issue and that’s why Xbox 360 was able to get out of the starting gates faster – although that could be argued if they should have attempted a worldwide launch at Christmas. Microsoft does software and has all the tools to get developers up and running.

Personally, I believe that Sony has, once again, overstated what their machine can do, won’t hit expectations, and will slowly whittle down the listed features of the PS3.

Remember, Sony has all but admitted defeat in the on-line realm since they either cannot or will not offer a centralized on-line experience like Xbox Live. I feel this is key as Microsoft sent the standard for on-line console play and solidified it’s grip with the Xbox 360.

GamesFirst! || No PlayStation LIVE for PS3 | Playstation 3 | PS3

Simply amazing. With Microsoft’s Xbox blazing the on-line trail, you’d think Sony would get its act together and come up with something – SOMETHING. But I think it comes down to that they just can’t do it. I’m not even sure they’ve tried.

They talk a lot of smack when it comes to the competition and what they’re systems can do, but it’s a lot different when the rubber-meets-the-road.

Xbox rules!