Brian Hastings (right), Chief Creative Officer at Insomniac Games (the folks who brought you Ratchet & Clank, Resistance: Fall of Man, and more), has written about all the negative spin towards Sony and why ultimately he believes the PS3 will come out on top when it's all said and done.
First of all, let me make it clear that Insomniac is a 100% independent development studio. Sony has neither endorsed nor authorized what I'm writing here.
When I started this blog post I was planning to write about Home and Little Big Planet from a developer's perspective. But as I read some of the media and message board responses to Sony's GDC presentation, I wanted to address an ongoing industry phenomenon. Specifically, the sheer volume of negative spin toward Sony from both the mainstream press and the internet community. Mere minutes after Sony announced a beautiful, ground breaking, free, community-enhancing online PS3 service, 100 internet posters were trying to argue that this was somehow a bad thing. Whether you love or hate Sony, if you're trying to spin Home as a bad thing I can only conclude that you're part of Microsoft's $3.2 billion viral marketing campaign.
I'll be the first to say that Sony has had a very rough road from last E3 up through this year's GDC. Some of their wounds have been self-inflicted, but they've also had to face a conspicuously hostile media. Take the New York Times article "How the PS3 will kill your dog, steal your girlfriend, and infect you with Ebola." And Time magazine's piece "Global Warming: Is It The PS3?" And more recently, GameSpot's "Ten Complaints We Thought Up While Everyone Else Was Watching Little Big Planet."
For the last nine months it has been fashionable to bash the PS3. At first it was controversial, even titillating, to make sensational and dire predictions about the PS3's future. You could watch it happen again and again – a rumor starts on a message board ("The PS3s all caught on fire at TGS!", "Blu-Ray won't have any Porn!"), then it gets picked up by a games industry website, and a few days later USA Today runs the story with the headline "Experts Say PS3 Doom3d!1!!" But the tide has changed so much now that it's downright controversial to suggest that the PS3 may yet be a success. So, in the spirit of sensationalism and controversy, let me present to you 10 reasons why the PS3 will be the console market leader by 2010:
read the 10 reasons why here/source
He brings up some good points in his article but there are a few things that are too unpredictable.
What he calls the Wii fad might be true only if there aren't any good games to go along with the system... also, with the Wii being the cheapest system, it has the greatest potential for saturating the market and will be the secondary system off all hardcore gamers. once the must haves for wii get out, if there is a constant supply of quality must have games, nintendo will have it.
PS2 still outselling xbox 360: because of the price being so high for the PS3, and the relative low cost of the PS2, there shouldn't be an argument as to why PS2 outsells Box360. it's more affordable and there is still an extensive library and support for PS2. when support for PS2 tanks, will the PS3 be affordable?
thouse two variables in his prediction could be all it takes to keep PS3 at the bottom
I wouldn't say that he's totally wrong in saying that the PS3 could still win this generation (although things seem to be getting worse before they are getting better), but his points are pretty easy to argue with:
Home & LittleBigPlanet - Home is just an adaptation of Xbox Live and Wii online, LBP about 50th on the list of big upcoming games.
Free Online - available on Wii, Xbox Live a miniscule $5/month (although still unnecessary).
50GB Games - doesn't matter, only quality matters. You can still have a great game on a 2GB disk or a terrible game on a 50GB disk (besides I haven't yet seen anything on PS3 games that the 360 can't do on a normal DVD).
Casino Royale - are you kidding?
HDMI - wow, for my extra $100 the picture looks a little clearer...I think. Totally worth it! Meh...
Standard HDD - available with 360 premium bundle (do they even still sell core bundles?). Admittedly though the PS3's is much bigger.
Wii Fad will Fade - this has to be lamest recurring insult Sony has been throwing around lately. Sure the novelty will wear off a bit, but the more time developers spend with the Wii, the more new, innovative ideas they will put into games. We will be getting fresh new experiences on the Wii for years to come. The PS3 will deliver the same experiences we have gotten for the last 20 years. Oh and they look a little better.
PS3 CPU advantage - again not noticeable to the average gamer. I'll acknowledge it when something on the PS3 goes way above and beyond anything on the 360.
PS2 outselling Xbox 360 - irrelevant. In fact this also means more people are buying PS2s than PS3s.
Something for Everyone - can easily be said for any console (although the Xbox 360 does seem to target older gamers the most).
I agree with most of what he's saying, but the title of the piece turns me off.
I really don't care who "Wins" or "Loses" this gen.
Poor bloke has dire predictions for the Wii though. Won't earn him any brownie points on this forum!
I love my Nintendo Wii, but I've found that since buying it, I play it less and less. It's more of a party system with lots of people around watching you be stupid. Last weekend I played Ultimate Alliance a lot, 2 player, but before that the only reason I had turned the Wii on was to check out Beyond Oasis which I had downloaded the week before.
I can see alot of his points, but again, they are virtually the same points Sony has had from the beginning. He's overlooking the problem.... the console costs $500-600! People that are buying the PS2 right now are doing so because they can't afford or don't want to spend a whole lot on a console. If they did, they would have bought a PS2 a while back. All three systems are an upgrade to the PS2, so next year, if and when they are shopping for a new console, I doubt they'll be looking at the most expensive one just so they can port over their games (they still have their PS2, after all).
Will the Wii's "novelty" wear off? Sure looks like the DS's did. Or wait, no it didn't, it absolutely crushed any competition and continues to be hard to find on store shelves long after it's been released. Regardless if the Wii is a novelty or not, it's so much fun and it's virtually in the impulse buy price range for most people, especially as Nintendo churns out their big exclusives. Will the 360 or PS3 be the main console for "hardcore" gamers? Maybe, but I'll bet most of them have a Wii in their stable. Add that installed base to the group that doesn't play games but bought a Wii anyway (which is much larger than the hardcore gaming group anyway) and you've got a fad with a larger installed base than is possible with other systems. My mother has never attempted to play Call of Duty on my little brothers' 360, but she's a Wii Sports bowling pro.
Home & LittleBigPlanet - A single game isn't a good enough reason, I guess that's why he included Home. Its a sims thing. I'm pretty sure what sells consoles is games. good games. never the less, I'll accept this point.
Free Online - So is the Wii. And XBOX Live isn't very expensive. Point still stands though.
50GB Games - So? Just because they have so much room doesn't mean they'll be good, or long. Like Gun said, quality matters. Invalid point. Down to 2 points.
Casino Royale - ...Are you serious? A single movie isn't a valid point! It's worth even less of a point then a game! Point invalid. Still at 2 valid points.
HDMI - I know I'm not interested in this, DVD picture is fine for me. But for those people that care, point is valid. We are now at 3 valid points.
Standard HDD - Once again, I could care less. But, some people might. Point valid. 4 valid points.
Wii Fad will Fade - This has nothing to do with what the PS3 is capable of. Point invalid.
PS3 CPU advantage - Perhaps it will make a diference. Point valid. 5 points!
PS2 outselling Xbox 360 - So? What does that have anything to do with the PS3? Still at 5 points.
Something for Everyone - I'm pretty sure all consoles have something for everyone. And I doubt the older audience would be interested in the 360 or PS3. They're just not as simple as the Wii. Invalid point.
So in conclusion. they actually have 5 valid points. and 2 of those points don't concern me.
wow Charmander you should have just quoted GlueGun18 for the most part....
I agree with z6, but we shall wait and see.
Wow, if they hadn't said this was Insomniac I would've definitely thought this was another Sony employee dissin' the Wii. They weren't compensated for this interview? Why don't I believe that? it sounds like a cut and paste of a previous Sony statement I saw a few months ago...
I think the Wii will be more successful than the GameCube or N64 but in the long run will still be outsold by the PS3.
Everyone hold him to this. I want to see his face when it doesn't.
Otherwise interesting points, though I wouldn't be stupid enough to allow Casino Royale to be a reason for the PS3's success. I'm buying that movie on DVD, not on the overpriced Bluray. Like I'd pay more for it? I've already seen it once.
Otherwise nice points, don't necessarily agree with them but could see why someone would.
Not sure why he used PS2 outselling 360 as a reason. That's like me saying "ZOMG! Teh SNES outsold its competition so the N64 will to" which it didn't. That argument fails.
I agree with Joker's post for the most part.
Since it seems the fashionable thing to do, here is my rundown of the list:
1. Home and Little Big Planet
- This is something I can get behind. Two upcoming features on the PS3 that are truly exciting.
2. Free Online
- Right. The writer admits that Live is better than Sony's service, and goes on to say how much Live will be costing the consumer. The fact is, that after you've paid for a couple of years of Live and a 360, you've reached the price point that the PS3 sells at. So, it's almost as if the PS3 came with the online price included, in a way.
In my opinion, weak argument.
3. 50 GB Games
- Ok, this makes sense. More space, more gameplay.
4. Casino Royale
- Wooo Blu-Ray won, I not sure what this has to do with anything other than "the PS3's blu-ray player won't be outdated in a year or two"
5. HDMI
- Not a big deal to me. I suppose it would be to some.
6. Standard HDD
- Alright, another thing we can agree on. The 360 should have retained an HDD as a standard, not optional. It only makes sense on powerful systems like these.
7. The Wii Fad Will Fade
- This part is particularily rife with nonsense. Sure, most of the Wii titles thus far have been majorly focused on "party mini-games", with not very many solid single player games on the shelf. But there are plenty coming. Comparing the Wii to Furbies and Tickle Me Elmo? Please.
8. PS3 Has a Major CPU Advantage
- Well, both the Xbox and the Gamecube were technically more powerful than the PS2, but that didn't stop it from dominating the market. Also, mentioned here is the fact that the PS3 is hard to develop for. Sony is apparently trying to improve this, but it sounds a lot like he's counting his eggs before they hatch.
9. PS2 Still Outselling the 360
- This is neither here, nor there. Just seems like filler to me.
10. Something For Everyone
- Alright, the PS2's library of games is beyond huge. But will the PS3's library overshadow that of the other consoles this time around? Hard to say, given that more than a few major franchises have decided to cash in on the 360 side as well. He forgets that the PS3 does not have the install base that Third party developers are looking for if they want to make a game exclusive.