Context Sensitive: Who Is the PS3 For?

Susan Arendt

Nerd Queen
Jan 9, 2007
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Context Sensitive: Who Is the PS3 For?

Once again, the PlayStation 3 is suffering with an identity crisis.

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Cherry Cola

Your daddy, your Rock'n'Rolla
Jun 26, 2009
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It isn't for everyone.

It's for everyone with a huge wallet

[sub]zing![/sub]

OT: Interesting read though. Although the Move almost seems better than the Wii in some ways. But I guess that doesn't excuse the fact that the PS3 should focus on lesser things.

Edit: Wait, I just came up with a reason as to why the Average Joe should by a PS3.

Because of Kevin Butler.
 

PedroSteckecilo

Mexican Fugitive
Feb 7, 2008
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While I get more use out of my 360 on average, I must admit that I love my PS3 more... don't know why exactly, there's something "special" about loading a game onto it, I guess because I only pick up a select few titles for it, titles I KNOW are better on it and hence it feels more... I dunno, special than the 360. It's a strange thing really.
 

The Random One

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May 29, 2008
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Yeah, it looks like the higher-ups in Sony are quite confused about who they should be selling this strange machine they built to. Every time one of them opens their mouth their feet quickly enters it.

I think the one reason Average J. Joe would want to buy a PS3 is because the console he already has is statistically likely to be a PS2. Then again, since the PS2 still has games being made for it, there's little reason for you to pay up to upgrade if it's still working well.

Then again, if I had to convince Average J. Joe to buy a PS3 instead a 360 I'd just mention it has free online play. That ought to do it.

(I have a 360, mostly because when I was deciding Saints' Row and Dead Rising were exclusives. The only PS3 only game I genuinely wish I could play is Heavy Rain, and even so so I can see what all the buzz is about.)
 

JaymesFogarty

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Aug 19, 2009
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The Random One said:
Yeah, it looks like the higher-ups in Sony are quite confused about who they should be selling this strange machine they built to. Every time one of them opens their mouth their feet quickly enters it.

I think the one reason Average J. Joe would want to buy a PS3 is because the console he already has is statistically likely to be a PS2. Then again, since the PS2 still has games being made for it, there's little reason for you to pay up to upgrade if it's still working well.

Then again, if I had to convince Average J. Joe to buy a PS3 instead a 360 I'd just mention it has free online play. That ought to do it.

(I have a 360, mostly because when I was deciding Saints' Row and Dead Rising were exclusives. The only PS3 only game I genuinely wish I could play is Heavy Rain, and even so so I can see what all the buzz is about.)
Trust me, Heavy Rain is the most innovative game released in this century, because it has the power to be more like marmite, (in splitting opinions) than even marmite is. It is probably of the most emotional game releases for a while, focussing on very sensitive subjects, accompanied of course by pulse-raising, ferocious action sequences. Try to sneak a few hours on a friends PS3 if you can, this game is definitely not to be missed.

On subject, the PS3 is for people that want visceral, single-player experiences. PS3 is trumped in online, (Xbox Live is more advanced than PSN, naturally because of the year difference and the cost) but the PlayStation 3 offers, (for me, and presumably everyone else) the widest expanse of single-player experiences.
 

Tharticus

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With the PS3 trying to be the Wii, I can't blame Sony for again appealing to the casual audience.

Of course PS2 did appeal to the casual audience with the eyetoy.
 

uppitycracker

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Susan Arendt said:
At first, Sony presented it as an incredible piece of technology that would become the anchor piece of your entertainment center, so amazing in its capabilities that it was more than worth its $600 price tag.
While I completely agree that the purpose of the PS3 seems to be a constantly shifting focus, it appears to me that it's just an unfortunate side-product of this quote here. Being an owner of all current-gen consoles, I can tell you that the PS3 really does make an excellent piece of entertainment gear. The ability to stream or copy movies and music over from my PC, to the blu ray player, the movie service, it all adds up to quite a bit. I fought liking the PS3 as a gaming console for so long, that now that I'm actually finding decent games for it, I can't find a reason to hate it.

This dive into the motion controllers, however, just seems like an excuse to dust off those lousy eyetoy cameras again, and maybe make them sell. While it is interesting how they're kinda 1-uping Nintendo in certain aspects of capability and function, it's still going to end the same way, another gimmicky device with a library full of garbage shovelware, and maybe a couple of decent games thrown into the mix (half of which could be just as easily enjoyed, if not more so, with a standard controller).

Sometimes, there are certain aspects of gaming that don't require a lot of innovation, and I think this is something Sony has been struggling with, not quite understanding, for some time. Right now, what the PS3 absolutely needs, is some harder hitting titles to really identify itself as anything. As much as I love my PS3 these days, I see this as being the unfortunate truth.
 

Susan Arendt

Nerd Queen
Jan 9, 2007
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uppitycracker said:
Susan Arendt said:
At first, Sony presented it as an incredible piece of technology that would become the anchor piece of your entertainment center, so amazing in its capabilities that it was more than worth its $600 price tag.
While I completely agree that the purpose of the PS3 seems to be a constantly shifting focus, it appears to me that it's just an unfortunate side-product of this quote here. Being an owner of all current-gen consoles, I can tell you that the PS3 really does make an excellent piece of entertainment gear. The ability to stream or copy movies and music over from my PC, to the blu ray player, the movie service, it all adds up to quite a bit. I fought liking the PS3 as a gaming console for so long, that now that I'm actually finding decent games for it, I can't find a reason to hate it.
Couldn't agree more. The PS3 is a marvelous piece of hardware, a worthy addition to any gamer's home. If only Sony had more confidence in it.
 

zakski

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Mar 24, 2009
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Ps3 for me just dont got the killer app, or least didn't until it was too late on account of havin a 360, that kinda hesitation will cost them sales
 

SaintWaldo

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Jun 10, 2008
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So, what does Natal say about XBox? I'd just like to know that the same standards are being applied.

It doesn't make sense to me to say Sony is confusing folks because they are following Wii with Move when MS is doing...the SAME thing with Natal.

Why is Sony described as "confused" for chasing the Wii's casual audience, when MS does the same thing?

Why was the press obsessed with Sony's motion controller name, and whether it was "exciting", but they've never asked MS to give us something other than the dev name?

I mean, come on, even the straw man in the article seems a bit out of bounds. Seriously, someone walks into a game store and we should believe they wouldn't be able to work out that the PS3 plays games? In my opinion, this so-called "identity crisis" is as much a factor of the (mostly western) press reaction as anything else. No, it doesn't matter that I'm a gamer. I was never confused about what I was buying. The people who I've recommended a PS3 to knew what they were getting (and so did the folks I recommended get a Wii or 360, BTW), a game machine that played the kind of games they wanted.

Where is the review of the XBox history? That machine seems a bit confused right now, as well. One example: they seem to have changed from "10 years is WAY too long for a console lifespan" to "well, you know, we think the XBox 360 will be around until 2015". THAT'S a reversal that has gone completely unnoticed by the western press. They have bought into Sony's lifespan plan. In fact, you can find Nintendo saying similar things about the lifespan of the Wii. Why isn't this as noteworthy as a retrospective of the PS3's marketing, and not the FIRST one at that, mind you? Just 2 years after the fact, XBox has been allowed to live down a 30% defect rate that bordered on fraud. But Sony is just CRAZY because 6 years ago they had a weird add. You see why that might seem a bit off-putting?

You see, it's news if it's new. We already know the early marketing was filled with hubris and silliness. That's not news. We also know ALL consoles are putting out motion controls, which in a regular world running on human logic means that none of them are confused about being gaming consoles that have motion controllers.

Why it's news for Sony, and apparently bad news from the tone of the write up, well, I guess that's wisdom for the US gaming press to create and deliver.
 

mrx19869

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Jun 17, 2009
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"Figure out what the PS3 is, Sony, and let it be that."

I think the commercials speak for itself, the PS3 wants to be EVERYTHING.

is that hard to understand?

i didnt buy a Wii because it was rushed, crappy graphics, and lack of features.
the wii is just a gamecube your shake a stick at.

the PS3 is going to win this console war again.

ohh an no matter which way you look at it the PS3 is cheaper than the xbox360..
 

Rainboq

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Nov 19, 2009
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The PS3 should be a gaming console, nothing more, sure the PS2 could play movies, but no one used that, so Sony, stick too the gaming with the PS3
 

SaintWaldo

Interzone Vagabond
Jun 10, 2008
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Random Bobcat said:
If I recall 360 marketed its HD-DVD capabilities (add on of course) and Sony followed suit later with "our technology can beat up your technology".

360 copied Miis with Avatars, the PS3 then answered with Home. Then all the downloadable games utilities sprung up.
I agree with your overall premise, just a couple nits here:

PS3 always was going to have Blu-Ray. 360 tacked on the HD-DVD player after release as a "me do HD too" sort of move.

The correct historical order is Miis, Home, Avatars. Downloadable games (for consoles) preceded all of these, and in fact were first available on the original XBox.

Again, not arguing the premise, just correcting some of the history.
 

Monshroud

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Jul 29, 2009
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I finally bought a PS3 about a month ago, for one main reason... PS3 Exclusives. (Like God of War, Ratchet & Clank, etc) When I originally wanted it, it did in fact do everything. I was saving to buy a PS3, but every iteration of the device they removed some functionality. While all of these may not be important to you, I liked the idea of replacing a bunch of my electroics with one solid piece of equipment.

They removed: Multiple USB ports, SACD, Backwards Compatibility, Multi-Reader.

While I currently use the PS3 to play Blu-Ray movies, of which I have two. I am planning on buying an Oppo instead which is a higher quality and faster player. Sony wanted to take over the living room and instead settled for having a game system that plays movies too... Just like the PS2, too bad they got out of the gate late and made the thing difficult to program for.
 

Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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Tharticus said:
With the PS3 trying to be the Wii, I can't blame Sony for again appealing to the casual audience.

Of course PS2 did appeal to the casual audience with the eyetoy.
Not just the eye ty but things like Singstar too, and the guitar hero francise (Which started off on the PS2)

So, really trhey have always tried to pull in all kinds of markets, and all kinds of groups...granted, they have not always worked, and not always been successful...
 

Snotnarok

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Nov 17, 2008
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The PS3 was a total disaster, it took them way too long to come out with it (they thought they could make a system that ran solely from the processor I gathered) it cost WAY too much and had no games, it's the hardest system to program for currently making any ports take extra wor and they lose some detail, they had no reason to get one for the longest time. The system didn't even have a vibrating controller for god sake that's something even the PSOne did. And the online is only now starting to come together, it's been quite a trip with the online with PSN. Then they put out some sweet games for it, then ...they removed backwards compatibility (this for me angered the hell out of me because there's only one reason for it, they want to do what xbox360 does and sell older titles for the system, while I still have BC if my system ever dies I'll just be a bit pissed to be honest.) along with the memory stick support. I won't comment on the PS3 arc...move, whatever they're calling it since I am bias against motion controls beyond a bowling game but, yeah.

The PS3 itself is defiantly a disaster, more so when you compare it to the PSOne and PS2 which when it came out people went ape shit bananas over it. Hell I still regard the PS2 as incredible, it did so much right and so little wrong.

Yet even after ALL this screw ups the system still seems to be flying well. That's probably because Sonys exclusives are beyond great and that's why the system is still around. Sony has amazing titles that sell the system, Uncharted, Metal Gear, and holy crap God of War 3. While Sony screws the console up, the games just make up for it and then some I guess I'd say. While the PS3 isn't a bad system (it's actually quite the neat system) the decisions that have been made for it are incredibly poor. It's funny, if you think about it these kinds of decisions might have killed a console years ago but the PS3 is still doing well.

So all considering what the PS3 has gone through and it's still being successful (only more so since God of War 3 is coming out I'd imagine) is quite interesting, at least in my eyes.

Edit: I'm not bashing the PS3 if you didn't get that from reading my large post, I'm simply saying there's been a lot of bad things that's gone on with it, and it's overcome some large hurdles that'd stomp other consoles I guess. I have one and it's quite the neat system, I'm honestly surprised they got themselves out of the hole that they dug because a lot of consoles died early on for the same reasons the PS3 system went through.
 

mrx19869

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Jun 17, 2009
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does anybody know if this "Susan Arendt" the author of this post owns a PS3, and if so what model?