Original Comment by: John Hummel
http://www.gamerspress.com
Sony, I think, has really lost sight of a lot of things. They want thier products not to work for the customers, but to help them sell more product. Look at their initial Digital Walkman devices, which forced people to convert MP3 to Sony's format - products which bomb badly compared to the iPod, which does one thing very well: play music.
They did a good job with the PSOne and the PS2, because it offered what the customers wanted: insert game, play. Insert DVD, play.
Now, though, they seem to have lost site of that. It would have been fine if they said "Here's a PS3, costs $300, and plays games and Blueray DVD movies - and we have the kick ass $600 version which plays games, downloads them from the Internet, polishes your shoes, plays your movies, and blah, blah, blah".
The 360 is also doing the same thing - "Don't just play games - get trailers and other stuff!", and I would say that both have plans on having their consoles be digital hubs in the home. And then they have interviews where they tell people they want to capture the "mainstream" market, but the mainstream isn't looking to spend $600. Even the iPod didn't take off until they had cheaper units (the Nano, for example) on the market. Over $300 usually does not a mainstream device make.
The problem is: it's not what the consumer wants. Sure, there are some who want the whole digital experience, but they're still in the monitory - and they certainly don't want it rammed in with what should be a simple purchase of "insert game/movie, play".
I think it's something that Nintendo gets this time around. They also have the whole digital experience, but it's a) cheap, and b) you don't need it. Yes, you can add extra storage and play movies off of it, but only if you really want to. Otherwise, a Mom could buy a Wii for their kid for Christmas, and feel fine about it. A hard core gamer could get a Wii, and for the same price as a 360/PS3, go loading up with extra goodies (like the virtual game controller, DVD playback interface, etc, etc, etc).
Of course, this is just my opinion, and I could be wrong. But when my non-gamer wife sees what the Wii offers (ability to move all other units out to the garage and just one device for the kids to play/watch movies on) with a cute interface, and tells me that's what she wants for the family for Christmas, I'd say that Sony is the one who doesn't "get it".