Has Sony Won the Battle but Lost the War?

[Scott Tortorice]

Sony has clearly won the Blu-Ray / HD-DVD battle, but are they losing the console war? I ask this because I heard two interesting bits of news over the last few weeks. First, Valve has announced that they have no plans on releasing a PS3 version of their hit game, Left 4 Dead, citing a bad experience with The Orange Box [IIRC] conversion for the PS3. Now, Destroy All Humans has been cancelled for the PS3 as well:

From Edge:

THQ has confirmed that the upcoming PS3 version of Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon has been cancelled due to "development issues", reports Shacknews. The game will now be an Xbox 360 exclusive....

This is not the first time a THQ-published game has found friction with Sony hardware. Speaking to Gamespot last year, Kaos Studios’ producer Joe Halper suggested that the "the Unreal Engine has some challenges with the PS3”, before the development team cancelled the PS3 version of Frontlines: Fuel of War in January.

What do you think?

 

[KingNothing12]

Let the PS3 die!!Whoo microsoft loyalty!!

 

[Dr Zaius]

Microsoft is certainly in a good position at the moment relative to Sony. Has the Xbox 360 actually "won" this round of the console wars? I don't know if I would go that far, as the PS3 has plenty of life left in it yet. However, it's probably fair to say Microsoft is happy with the way things have turned out.

It'll be interesting to see how the fight shapes up between the next generation systems. Will the Xbox 460 (or whatever Microsoft calls it) come out a year before the PS4? Impossible to predict at this point.

 

[KingNothing12]

Microsoft is certainly in a good position at the moment relative to Sony. Has the Xbox 360 actually "won" this round of the console wars? I don't know if I would go that far, as the PS3 has plenty of life left in it yet. However, it's probably fair to say Microsoft is happy with the way things have turned out.

It'll be interesting to see how the fight shapes up between the next generation systems. Will the Xbox 460 (or whatever Microsoft calls it) come out a year before the PS4? Impossible to predict at this point.

Another sign, Microsoft released the "New Xbox Experience" dashboard update that added the ability to install games(like the PS3) and added avatars(xbox 360 mii's), while the PS3's "home" continues to be delayed.

 

[Pdqport]

As someone who has had an Xbox Live Gold account for about a year the "Experience" is kinda lost on me. I find the new interface more confusing than the old and the mii style avatars are just plain goofy. The fact that I was able to find one that looks almost exactly like me only makes it more weird

Back to the thread topic, Sony does seem to be losing this round. Blu-ray doesn't seem to be much of a factor and the 360 has a superior game library, imho. I'm beginning to think that Sony's model of building consoles for a 10 year life cycle is working against them. The PS3 is now beginning to hit its stride, but what will happen if the next model of Xbox is released in a year or two, with no PS4 on the horizon? It seems like the console biz is largely about hype and MS is winning that war right now. Heck, the PS2 is still a viable gaming platform with support from its manufacturer, but does anyone care?

 

[Dr Zaius]

It also bears repeating that Xbox simply has a superior lineup of games at the moment. PS3 has not really produced many unique hits, while the Xbox has a number of "must haves."

 

[KingNothing12]

It also bears repeating that Xbox simply has a superior lineup of games at the moment. PS3 has not really produced many unique hits, while the Xbox has a number of "must haves."

Resistance 2 wasn't the hit sony had expected it to be.

 

[FJ88]

I do find myself playing my Playstation more and more. But I still have to agree that the X-Box has a superior game lineup at this point.
I have to think that 2009 will be the deciding year of the PS3. It has to finally have a better year than the Xbox or it might never catch up.

Saying all that, I think the best game I have played in this console generation is actually a PS game. Metal Gear Solid 4 blew me away with its quality in every aspect.

I think we are a long ways away from the next generation consoles. I have read various articles stating that we are going to start seeing longer and longer waits between console generations.
A developer that worked on Resistence and the Ratchet and Clank series has stated that so far no game has even tapped 75% of the PS3s power. I have read various things saying the same thing about the Xbox.
You also have to factor in that there is a massive cost of developing these machines.
I would not be suprised if the Xbox stayed around 7-8 years before we see a new console.

Finally I would also not be suprised in the next generation of consoles began a trend of some sort of upgradability to their hardware. Nothing major or labour intensive. But something to increase their shelf life and lengthen the time between console generations.

thoughts? commnets?

 

[Scott Tortorice]

I think we will see a new Xbox sooner than later. As MS recognizes that they have the better of Sony right now, I think it would be simple intuition to realize that if they can get a new Xbox out there long before the PS3 gets its stride, they might be able to checkmate Sony for a long time.

That's an interesting idea about upgradable hardware. The only thing is: isn't take taking consoles down the PC path?

 

[FJ88]

I think we will see a new Xbox sooner than later. As MS recognizes that they have the better of Sony right now, I think it would be simple intuition to realize that if they can get a new Xbox out there long before the PS3 gets its stride, they might be able to checkmate Sony for a long time.

That's an interesting idea about upgradable hardware. The only thing is: isn't take taking consoles down the PC path?

Yes but something has to be done to stop the balloning cost of consoles.
Sony's game division has not made money in going on three years now and the XBox is still being sold at a loss.

Only the Wii has reaped financial benefits and that has been done by appealing to a massive untapped demographic.

I think we will see in the future moves being made to lengthen the amount of time a console is useful and the only way I can see that happening is by making some sort of hardware upgrade avaliable.
This has been done in the past to varying degrees.
The horrible failure that was the Sega CD and 32X.
The never released Nintendo 64 HDD add on
The Nintendo 64 ram cartridge that you put into the controller for certain games
In this generation we see bigger HDDs being released

 

[Sizarrorm]

Has Sony Won the Battle but Lost the War

awesome articles Alexis. yea sadly i think if the trend continues for sony they might stop. i mean the psp is also doing horrible so its not like when nintendo had their problems with the gamecube they had the ds to fall back on. its a double whammi for sony. granted they are just more than a gaming company and the ps2 is still selling but u know with losses that big is it really even worth it.