Sony: We've Captured The Hardcore

[Knight Templar]

How exactly did sony "capture the hardcore"?

"Sony as the hard and now wants your mum".
What? I was just talking about Sony's marketing plan, you have a dirty mind.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

...*scratches head* Okay, Team Ico has made games into a viable art form

Yeah, that.

What I said was-

...*scratches head* Okay, Team Ico has made, Ico, Shadow of the Collusus, and...?

...I'm drawing a blank.

Can't we all just agree that ALL the major companies are oblivious and run by coporate dipshits who see gaming as a commodity to pump money out of people? Sony is arrogant, self assured, and oblivious. Microsoft is arrogant, self assured, and as mature at the averag XBL player. Nintendo are oblivious sellouts whose master plan is running out of time because they forgot to make GAMES.

Don't twist my words to suit you or make such bold, unsupported accusations. Two cult hits does not make you the jesus of gaming. I could argue your not a hardcore gamer if you didn't play Pyschonaughts, by that logic.

And altering my quote to suit your vision and prove your point is a bit dirty. Let me give you an example.

Original

I would say the Xbox 360 caters for the hardcore/frat boy demographic.

UFF is a fundamental evil.

Anyway about the PS3 taking the hardcore demographic it seems to me like they are just boasting through insecurity. Sony gaming is dead, and should stay dead. PC gaming has a monopoly on hardcore gaming.

And you say they're living in the past.....

Modified

I would say the Xbox 360 caters for the hardcore/frat boy demographic.

UFF is a fundamental evil.

Anyway about the PS3 taking the hardcore demographic it seems to me like they are just boasting through insecurity. Sony gaming is dead, and should stay dead. PC gaming has a monopoly on hardcore gaming.

I'm a shill!

U see whut I did thar?

 

[Woe Is You]

They made the first purely, undeniably and pusposefully artistic game

Woah, let's not get ahead of outselves. Moondust? Vib-Ribbon?

But yeah, modifying a guy's quotes is pretty lame -- even from you -- unless you're obviously joking.

 

[shMerker]

They're probably right. Basically the reason to own a PS3 is completism. You only care if games are a very big deal to you, which is basically the definition of hardcore. Otherwise you get a reasonably priced console or a PC or just don't game.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

They're probably right. Basically the reason to own a PS3 is completism. You only care if games are a very big deal to you, which is basically the definition of hardcore. Otherwise you get a reasonably priced console or a PC or just don't game.

When put into that perspective, he's right. Now I don't mean the "reasonably priced" console part because thats a whole other can of worms, but the PS3 has always been about the "hardcore" crowd. And it's fair to say that PS3 has a large share of that crowd. But ALL of it? I'm not so sure i'd go that far.

...But seriously, your not saying Killzone 2 was artistic, are you? I'm misunderstanding you somewhere.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

do i have to work the gulags?

 

[sirdanrhodes]

I think actually the wii has, and will never loose the casual gamer.

 

[bue519]

Sony sound increasingly desperate with every press release, just how much money did the TV and MP3 player departments blow last year?

Besides Killzone, Devil May Cry and Ratchet, what PS2 originating franchises have they put on the PS3 so far?

Um, Metal Gear Solid IV. Disgaea 3. Grand Theft Auto IV. Armored Core 4. Soul Calibur IV. Final Fantasy XIII is soon. Gran Turismo V will be shortly as well. God of War III is coming. And this is just off the top of my head...

Shhh your making sense.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Sony sound increasingly desperate with every press release, just how much money did the TV and MP3 player departments blow last year?

Besides Killzone, Devil May Cry and Ratchet, what PS2 originating franchises have they put on the PS3 so far?

Um, Metal Gear Solid IV. Disgaea 3. Grand Theft Auto IV. Armored Core 4. Soul Calibur IV. Final Fantasy XIII is soon. Gran Turismo V will be shortly as well. God of War III is coming. And this is just off the top of my head...

Shhh your making sense.

I'm not denying PS3 has great games. Valkyria Chronicles, want q-q

 

[Doug]

I'm thinking Koller really should just shut his trap.

Indeed. Both him and Microsoft PR guy (whatever his name is) should shut up.

Did you read Indigo's statement? "You're not a gamer if you haven't played/don't like this Team!" was the sum totallity of his arguement. How would you prepose to counter that? "No its not" is about it.

Or do you have some idea of how to respond to that projection of personal opinion onto the world?

Well have you ever played a Team Ico game? Clearly not. Considering popular consensus, you need to show how Team Ico are bad, or how someone can call themself a gamer without playing their games considering how revolutionary they are. It would be like saying you are a FPS veteran with never having played an id software game.

Well, have you ever played an Infocom game? What about Dune 2? Or Monkey Islands? Or Adventure on the Atari 2600? The original Final Fantasy? Ikaruga?

For the record, I liked Ico's minimalism and thought Shadow of the Colossus merely fails in many ways Ico doesn't but this is just silly. We can have a huge pile of arbitrary requirements to what it means to be a gamer but in the end, it really won't do anyone any good. Get off your high horse, will you?

This - basically, grow up Mazty. I hold that you aren't a gamer yourself, you're merely a fanboy trying to declare yourself 'ze Master Race of gaming!' And yeah, I know PC gamers joke about that after the whole Yahtzee thing, but yeah, its a joke!

 

[mcgooch]

And even then, like fix-the-spade said, Sony's relying too much on previous franchises. So in reality they don't have many hardcore PS3 fans, just PS1 ans PS2 fans who've made the jump to PS3 to still play their favorite franchises.

LittleBigPlanet is a past franchise? Resistance is a PS2 franchise? InFamous, Heavy Rain, Fat Princess, Uncharted, and Valkyria Chronicles are all past franchises?

I'll agree that Sony has relied on past franchises such as Metal Gear Solid and Ratchet and Clank, but I'm just challenging this viewpoint because quite frankly Sony has a good mix of past and new franchises/games that people don't give credit to them for.

But as for the article, do we really expect anything less from them? I usually read this off as Sony just being enthusiastic about their company and not letting the whole economy and whatnot bog them down. After all, everyone has to be enthusiastic about their own company, right?

I agree that they have a good balance of new to old franchises and besides all consoles rely on past franchises to sell the consoles it's how it works. Using one example for each the ps3 used MGS, the 360 used Halo and the Wii used well all its' past franchises (Almost). It's called marketing, people are attracted to the familiar and the respected over the new unknown quantities.

 

[KDR_11k]

Bit late for that, no? The prediction I've read was that their last chance to make significant inroads was around E3 2008.

I have a feeling they mean Buzz and Singstar, franchises that still work perfectly fine on the PS2 (99&#8364 and don't benefit from the PS3's power (399&#8364 at all since they're only about questions and sound. I wonder how they'll try to explain that you need next gen HD graphics to display text and notes on a screen...

...*scratches head* Okay, Team Ico has made games into a viable art form

Yeah, that.

Try as I might I can't come up with a reason how "gamer" and "art" are somehow related. Gamer comes from gaming, PLAYING. You're a gamer if you care how it plays, if you care about its artsyness you're an art snob, not a gamer.

You know which game has legitimately become a part of culture and art that people actually recognize? Tetris. Art in other media references Tetris because Tetris reached the masses, it was a part of the actual culture your average person experienced. Ico meanwhile is some kind of gamer injoke.

 

[bue519]

I own all 3 consoles and have been gaming for most of my life and I don't like Sony at the moment. They can't attract casual gamers, the PS2 is on its last legs and the PS3 is to expensive and cumbersome for casual gamers to even consider it.

The PS2 had a good run, but the Wii has got the casual gamers down pat.

Most PS3 owners I know (okay, almost all) had their parents (or parents' job company) purchase the system for them, whilst 360 chose it specifically (and Wii owners are anyone who loves SSBB)...at least in my experience and I'm sure it varies.

Wait are you complaining about the prices? Their nearly the same a 60 gig 360 cost about 299, plus the wireless adapter you need to buy is another 100. Whereas you can find an 80 gig ps3 for 399.(note 20 gigs more than the 360 and a built in wireless device) And what nice is it doesn't cost 50 dollars a year to play the ps3 online and you don't have to worry about the ps3 doesn't break nearly as often as a 360. (all my friends have sent in theirs atleast once, most twice) So I don't see how price really comes into play.

 

[Inverse Skies]

When you think about it, it's exactly the sort of business strategy Sony should be looking at, broadening their market to include not only the so called hardcore gamers (which I would probably agree with them in saying they make up the majority of PS3 owners) into the lucrative casual market which currently the Wii dominates. They're also trying to push into the niche and gain a foothold before Microsoft can so when Microsoft inevitably follow suite (and they will, especially if Sony finds the venture to to profitable) they will already have a strong consumer base. It's good business, whether or not they pull it off is another question.

 

[Inco]

How about sony defines what kind of hardcore gamer they have 'captured'?
Because i don't think the people who spend heaps building powerhouse rigs would like being defined as a 'casual' gamer (assuming that they assume that Sony means the entire community of hardcores)
But seriously, Every console has hardcore gamers, even the Wii (mind you that is deminishing with every sub par game released for the console) that will come on the internet to defend it from evil, evil articles like this one which are basically made for flame wars.

In fact i bet Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are all in it together and they get their monthly laughs by releasing these articles and then watching fan-boys, anti-fan-boys and anti fan-boy fan-boys start to rip each others throats out with insults often involving their mother and a few tins of baked beans.

 

[Doug]

...(which I would probably agree with them in saying they make up the majority of PS3 owners)...

Actually, they were claiming all hardcore gamers were in PS3's pocket.

 

[Inverse Skies]

Actually, they were claiming all hardcore gamers were in PS3's pocket.

Lol, then that might be just a slight exaggeration then. I would say that they make up the majority of both the 360 and PS3's consumer bases though, but the idea that Sony has every hardcore gamer is a little over the top. That'll teach me for misreading it.

 

[Doug]

In fact i bet Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are all in it together and they get their monthly laughs by releasing these articles and then watching fan-boys, anti-fan-boys and anti fan-boy fan-boys start to rip each others throats out with insults often involving their mother and a few tins of baked beans.

Yo' Mama!

But seriously, you maybe onto something. Regardless, the fanboys on this thread pretty much prove the closed mindset and circular logic, heh.

 

[Doug]

Actually, they were claiming all hardcore gamers were in PS3's pocket.

Lol, then that might be just a slight exaggeration then. I would say that they make up the majority of both the 360 and PS3's consumer bases though, but the idea that Sony has every hardcore gamer is a little over the top. That'll teach me for misreading it.

Heh, indeed And lets not forget the PC gamers.

 

[Inverse Skies]

Heh, indeed And lets not forget the PC gamers.

It is easy to forget them isn't it with the console wars? Ok, they're spread out over 3 main gaming bases then. Actually, that further discredits Sony's statement. Hmmm... lol.