PS3 - The Aussie Challenge (for Smokey)

[cliffbo]

Australia, January 31, 2007 - Sony is currently facing an uphill battle worldwide in their quest to dominate another generation of game systems. With less than two months until the Australian launch, it's time to take a look at the five biggest challenges Sony face in convincing Australia gamers that its system is the one and only.

1) The Price

We've said it before and we'll say it again - AU $999.95 is an awful lot to spend on a console. Sony will probably sell plenty of units to the hardcore fans at launch, but a console war isn't won on early adopters (Dreamcast proved that), it's won on volume. Building that install base allows manufacturing costs to come down, it makes the system more attractive for developers and it creates momentum. Volume won't come for a while, but there's little doubt that the asking price could be a huge impediment to selling the kind of numbers Sony need to shift.

The flipside to that argument is that pricing the machine so high (even though Sony are still taking a loss with each machine sold) may make it feel like a premium product. After all, it must be pretty powerful and next-gen to command such a price. The logic of this argument, however, mostly boils down to how educated the consumer is. If you've been playing Xbox 360 it's doubtful you'll be able to perceive much of a difference looking at the PS3. If, on the other hand, you're still wrapped up in PS2, it's going to look like a massive leap. Marketing will also play a role in building an allure around the machine - a smart campaign definitely has the power to give the machine a bleeding edge veneer to justify the price.

There's also little doubt that Blu-ray playback will have a role to play in PS3 adoption rates, but right now it's something of a moot point. If Sony were going into this launch with the clear favourite in the next-gen format war, then the inclusion of a Blu-ray player would be added value. Right now, it's just a gamble on Sony's behalf, and the next standard isn't going to be decided any time soon. For our money, the inclusion of Blu-ray capabilities isn't going to mean much to consumers for some time, and thus doesn't help make the price look like better value. This is even more relevant to the Australian market than overseas, where 1080p screens are still a rarity in homes.


Sleek, sexy and heading to Australian homes soon.

All that said, the price shouldn't be a fatal blow. Sony will still sell units at launch, but they need to have a strategy in place to woo the second and third wave of purchasers. Part of that will be through software (see below), but price really has to come into it as well. We understand why Sony wouldn't want to confuse consumers with two models at launch, but releasing the 20GB model a month or two later would be a great way to let consumers whet their PS3 whistle for a lower price point, especially since it's not as gimped as the Xbox 360 core system. Of course, a price drop for the 60GB version later in the year, or perhaps an attractive bundle with an exclusive title could do wonders as well.

Right now, however, Sony are walking a fine line, attempting to have their cake and eat it too. The PS2 has captured a massive casual audience through franchises like SingStar and Buzz, and Sony will still be aggressively targeting those consumers through PS2 for some time to come. There are plenty of gamers, however, who are ready to move on, and without a mass market price point, there's the danger that the Xbox 360 will start looking more and more attractive.


2) The Games

Australia invariably gets consoles later than the rest of the world, and generally this has the bittersweet advantage of the machine launching with a much stronger line-up of games. That's certainly the case with the PS3, but we still can't shake the feeling that the line-up doesn't do much to distinguish itself from the games available on Xbox 360. Mostly because a lot of the games in the line-up are, in fact, ports from the 360 (or other platforms). Call of Duty 3, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Tony Hawk's Project 8, Sonic the Hedgehog, NBA 2K7, NHL 2K7, Blazing Angels, Enchanted Arms, Splinter Cell: Double Agent, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Fight Night Round 3, Need for Speed: Carbon, The Godfather, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007 and F.E.A.R. have all seen releases on Xbox 360, and the vast majority will have no new content to distinguish them. There isn't even any guarantee that they'll look any better. Even more worrying are reports that ports on PS3 often look worse than their 360 counterparts.

Then there are the titles that are coming to both Xbox 360 and PS3, such as Def Jam: Icon, NBA Street Homecourt, World Snooker Championship 2007, Virtua Tennis 3, and, later in the year, Virtua Fighter 5. The currently-PS3-exclusive Ridge Racer 7 shares a bunch of content with the Xbox 360's Ridge Racer 6, while Full Auto 2: Battlelines is really only a sequel for people who haven't played the original on 360.


Resistance is useless! Actually it's pretty damn good.

So that's the glass half empty interpretation of the number of ports in the line-up. There's another way to look at it though; if you don't own a 360, it's a pretty well rounded selection of games. But still, faced with the cost of a 360 versus the cost of a PS3, with so many crossovers it's harder to justify why you should spend the extra money on Sony's machine. And will well rounded be enough? Every new system needs at least a couple of killer apps, and it's debatable whether the PS3 has them. This is where their true challenge comes in. There are some highly playable first party titles - Resistance: Fall of Man, MotorStorm, even Formula One will probably be a quality title, but whereas I'd drop $1000 right now to be able to play Metal Gear Solid 4, the same really can't be said for any of these games.

Let's not even talk about Genji: Days of the Blade, Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom or Gundam: Target in Sight. What's left? Eight games for download on the PS3 Network service, some of which will no doubt be excellent fun, but they're not system sellers.

Software is one of the major challenges for Sony at launch, but this is nothing new for a console release - all consoles face the same challenge. In its favour, the PS3's launch catalogue is certainly strong, but now it needs to quickly back it up with killer apps to make the machine a must-buy. While a handful of highly anticipated titles, such as Assassin's Creed and Virtua Fighter 5, are no longer exclusive, PS3 had a great showing at Tokyo Game Show last year, with publishers showing off a huge number of titles in development spanning every conceivable genre, so we have our fingers crossed.

3) The Online Capabilities

Like it or not, the gaming world is moving online, and a streamlined online system is a must for any modern console. Sony is still largely an unknown quantity in this regard; the PS2 online network required extra hardware and was cumbersome at best, but with PS3 integrated online is a huge priority. Is it going to be able to offer a service that's as robustly functional as Xbox Live? Microsoft has decades of network software experience, not to mention the successful Live service on the original Xbox, yet the existing Xbox Live network still has the occasional hiccup. For Sony to replicate such a complicated service is a huge challenge, and one that has - in the lead up to launch - seen some very public stumbles.

But first, the good stuff. Unlike Xbox Live's premium Gold service, taking your PS3 online is free. Out of the box you can play multiplayer games, plus utilise voice chat and video chat (provided you have a headset and/or camera peripheral). As expected there will still be costs associated with some premium content and certain genres, such as MMORPGs, but Sony has made online easy and appealing from the moment you get your system home.

Factor in built-in wireless networking, a supposedly integrated friends list from which you can message and email (which isn't so integrated in initial launch titles such as Resistance), multiple user profiles, fully functional web browsing and the slick design of the PlayStation Store (which is where you can get demos, buy games and download other content) and Sony look like they're onto a winner.


Let's go shopping!

Unfortunately there are also signs that aspects of the system's online capabilities have been rushed. Several titles, such as Virtua Tennis 3 and Tony Hawk's Project 8 have had their online features yanked, while the Xbox 360 versions include this online play. MotorStorm dropped online multiplayer for its Japanese release; thankfully the Aussie version will have it. As mentioned above, Resistance: Fall of Man doesn't utilise the integrated PS3 buddy list; instead you build your own in the game, yet on the positive side it supports 40-player matches, a figure unheard of on 360 shooters. These could just be teething problems related to tight development schedules and a lack of experience in the networking arena, but it's still a worrying sign.

There's also a danger that the PS3 service will lag behind in other areas. Gamer points and achievements are a fundamental part of the Xbox 360 experience, and have proven incredibly popular on Xbox Live. Microsoft is also forging ahead with services like Live Anywhere, bringing cross platform functionality to online play and game management. Will Sony be able to keep up? Only time will tell, but Microsoft has a big head start.


4) The Points of Difference

To a large extent the PS3 will sell based on the PlayStation brand name alone, thanks to the stellar success of the PS2. But it also needs points of difference to separate it from its competition. By way of example, Nintendo has done a great job ensuring that the Wii is a completely different proposal to the Xbox 360 - it has an innovative new form of control, it's cheap, it doesn't bother with the hardware arms race and has a stable of Nintendo franchises from which to create games that won't appear on any other system.

PS3, on the other hand, will have to work hard to convince consumers that it's different (let alone better) than the 360. As we've already noted, it's significantly more expensive, at this stage it has no perceivable edge in visual quality, it has a lot of the same games, its online capabilities are robust but still behind Xbox Live, and Blu-ray playback out of the box may prove to be important in the future, but right now isn't. Plus, while Sony's online service will have both indie games for download and a huge array of PSone titles that can be played through PSP, both Xbox 360 and Wii have similar systems.

In the casual area, where 360 continues to struggle, Sony's PlayStation brand certainly has a massive audience, but Nintendo are making inroads here. And until titles like SingStar, Buzz and EyeToy hit, along with a price drop, Sony is unlikely to be able to (or even want to - PS2 is still hugely profitable) utilise that mainstream audience.

Having said that, there are still several true points of difference between the PS3 and the competition. Sony's Sixaxis controller has tilt support, while Xbox 360 doesn't, but what that will mean to consumers remains to be seen. The machine itself is quieter than the Xbox 360, which may not sound like much, but it can still make a difference to consumers who expect their electronics to be silent. Trying to watch an HD-DVD film on 360 sounds like a plane taking off and detracts from the home theatre experience significantly. Finally, unlike the Xbox 360 system, where publishers can determine whether their games will have region coding or not, the PS3 is fully region free. Nice, but still not a big deal.


5) The Reality Vs The Hype

Sony has at times come across as arrogant and out of touch in their campaign to get the gaming community onboard the PS3 bandwagon. Ken Kutaragi has made numerous outlandish statements about the capabilities of the machine, telling us that it will be "4D" and "too cheap", insinuating that we should bow down before him for the pleasure of parting with our cash for it. Coupled with pre-rendered game footage being passed off as in-game at E3 a couple of years ago (followed up by a thoroughly lacklustre showing the year after), Sony has generated a fair degree of scepticism and cynicism amongst the press.


Phil Harrison and Ken Kutaragi at E3 2006.

The company mercilessly hyped the machine, so it's no wonder that when the reality isn't an all-singing, all-dancing, fully formed virtual reality playground where hot elf women constantly attend to your every whim and desire, it can be a bit of a letdown. How much this really matters outside the hardcore gaming community is debatable, but since it's going to be the hardcore gamers buying the machine on day one, this is still a challenge for Sony to overcome.

Let me just state this clearly - the PS3 is a more than competent game machine with the potential to really excel in terms of multimedia. We're looking forward to the launch day as much as anyone else, but we can't help but think Sony have a long road ahead.

http://www.gametab.com/news/802770/

$999.95 = £395. your getting a bargain Smokey!

[Smokey]

thanks cliffy

my thinking

AU $999.95 is an awful lot to spend on a console

true but we paid 800+ when ps2 came out. and i think Dreamcast was signifigantly lower. when the xbox came out it was cheaper i think but they slashed the price within months & even gave them away with phones & such just to get some out there. the reason ours is "dearer" than the US one in money exchange is because sony is using the EURO as the rate which sux but oh well its a MUST have lol

If you've been playing Xbox 360 it's doubtful you'll be able to perceive much of a difference looking at the PS3. If, on the other hand, you're still wrapped up in PS2, it's going to look like a massive leap

im on the massive leap side but this is where sony is going to have problems. the problems of being the second one out this GEN.

There's also little doubt that Blu-ray playback will have a role to play in PS3 adoption rates

this i think will help somewhat with AV fanatics. i already know a few who are buying ps3 just for this point. as it being the cheapest one out there

All that said, the price shouldn't be a fatal blow

the Sony brand will help it

Right now, however, Sony are walking a fine line, attempting to have their cake and eat it too. The PS2 has captured a massive casual audience through franchises like SingStar and Buzz

it will take a while before they capture this market. i know some people who have only just bought thier first console...PS2
but all in all with brand name, good games, free connectivity hardcore will lap it up. as i said 800+ for ps2 in 2000-2001 cant remember lol. but it will be a sore point looking at the competition until ps blooms more graphically & people realize sixaxis & such is fun.

thanks for the good read cliffy

[gibmonster]

factor inflation into it and we're getting a pretty damn good deal compared to what we paid for launch PS2s we're getting so much more bang for our buck. We are however getting jipped when we buy coke cans from a vending machine, and I don't see anyone complaining. Sony will have to do something to entice second/3rd wave consumers, but I think this will come down to more exclusives and good titles before any price drop.