Sony America Boss Says Gaming Is Like Wine - The Good Stuff Costs More

[The Almighty Aardvark]

"There's a reason the console came about: Sitting in front of a big-screen TV on a couch with your friends. To get the immersive depth in gaming and to get the social experience of sitting around the living room, we're not going to huddle around a tablet. We're not going to huddle around a smartphone."

Wait, I'm not following. He means sitting in front of two different big screens miles away from your friends, right? 'Cause I'm pretty sure that was the direction that they've been intent on moving it to for the last 5 years. Seriously, I can't think of more than a handful of games I played in the last gen that put effort into good local multiplayer.

Halo (going to count these all as one)
Gears of War (borderline on good, it was fairly fun)
Super Smash Bros Brawl
Soul Calibur IV

And I think that's about it. If you want an experience like what he's describing, get a gamecube, not a ps4

 

[Foolery]

Eh. Bad analogy. Yes, people who are into gaming are willing to spend more. But I feel he's forgetting the mid-size game companies. Like Runic Games with Torchlight. CD Projekt Red. All these folks seem to get it. Torchlight II was 20 bucks on release and included the original game, plus mod capability. Witcher 2 was DRM free. Stuff like that is awesome. There's a middle ground here.

 

[Flutterguy]

I like how he mentions tablets and phone games, not PC.

Never mention a superior product in your add.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

Well, as a Dan Murphy's employee in Melbourne with aspirations as a fine wine expert, I can comfortably say BULL FUCKING SHIT.

Seriously, some of the best wines we have in our store are under $15AUD, so the thought that any level of quality comes from a high price-point, especially in the gaming community, is absolutely moronic.

Seriously, the games I've had the most fun with in the last few years have all been under $20AUD, with the exception of Red Dead Redemption, because hell yeah cowboys!

Amen. I mean, people who've had Grange tell me it's pretty good, but they say that at $700 a bottle it does not eclipse the quality of good wines you can get for under $20.

Heck, I went to Dan Murphys (in Canberra) last week and picked up a French Riesling for $12 a bottle. Tasted brilliant.

 

[AldUK]

At least he isn't claiming that PC is dead, like so many others in the game industry ever since PC gaming was born. However I can't help but notice that he does directly compare it to mobile gaming, which definitely doesn't feel like a coincidence. If Sony's bigwigs truly believe that PC and mobile gaming are interchangable, then it is no surprise that they can't envision a world without huge budget consoles. Personally, I can and I predict that the PS4 and the Xbone are in fact, the last of their kind.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

And meanwhile I can buy One Finger Death Punch on Desura for less than tree fiddy, and get more enjoyment out of it than most current releases. Or Iji, which is free and is essentially Deus Ex in 2D, down to the fact that it's amazing.

Spoiler: Yes,

this absolutely was a shameless plug of two games I've really been enjoying recently and want to give more awareness to, but it still makes my point.

I'm not the first person to refute this point, and doubtless I won't be the last, because people just aren't ever going to stop making it.

 

[Frotality]

if its anything like wine then the expensive stuff is a pretentious twat phase you go through before realizing you got more drunk with better taste for 9-15$ a bottle.

 

[Snotnarok]

Ummmm...I dunno my 25 dollar contribution to the Humble Bundle scoring me over 2 dozen games (over different bundles) , some of which being AAA titles says different.

 

[DarthBartus]

This year I paid no more than 50 bucks for all my games, which include Deus Ex:HR, Crisis 2, all three Dead Space games, Burnout: Paradise, Battlefield 3 and some DLC, ME3, and recently - two awesome Batman games, as well as 3 FEAR games. His argument is not only invalid, it is totally retarded.

 

[GamerKT]

Why use that analogy? That applies to everything. Also, games usually get cheaper with age.

 

[Augustine]

Uh-huh. I don't think so. Money do improve quality up until a certain point, after that - diminishing returns into zero. This applies to everything. Clothing, food, etc.

If budget = quality, all AAA games today will be practically orgasmic.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

Not the best analogy, but I get the point.
Think I'll stick with my pc and game my way.

 

[Scrythe]

Out of all this I have learned that Austrian video games taste like antifreeze.