PS3

Playstation 3 Battle Report

It's hard to believe that at this time last year everyone thought Sony's PS3 would wipe the floor with the Xbox 360 and the Wii with its powerful Cell processor and its promise of games that looked like the Killzone E3 CGI trailer. Then E3 2006 came around and the doubts started with the price of the two versions of the console ($499 and $599) and the fact that the playable PS3 games didn't look at all like that Killzone trailer. Then Sony said than the planned 1 million shipments would be cut by over half for launch day. Then they cut back on their plans for a global launch, keeping Europe in the dark until March 2007. Ouch.

The launch of the PS3 in the US generated near-panic in many locations in late November (shootings were involved in a couple of towns) and eBay auctions of PS3 consoles were spiking with consoles being sold for many, many times their retail price. Then a funny thing happened. After the speculators got out and the holiday season was over with, people could go to their local Best Buy or Target or Wal-Mart, pick up a PS3, and pay the normal price. Sony stated they have shipped more PS3s than PS2 consoles in the same time period but it's a different world than when the PS2 launched with no competition.

Sure the PS3 had a couple of solid titles; Resistance: Fall of Man is a solid FPS. But it's no Halo or Gears of War. It didn't help that Sony's online features, while free, didn't compare to the Xbox 360's Xbox Live service (and the online network's interface is an HTML page that is hard to navigate). It's still early, however and Sony could still come out on top. We think they need to make these adjustments.

Lower The Price Of The PS3 ASAP

Yep, we know the Cell processor is expensive. Yep, we know the Blu-Ray disk player is expensive. But sometimes you have to take one for the team and if Sony continues to keep the PS3's price at its current levels it will get slammed by the Xbox 360 and Wii in 2007 and it may never recover. Sony may not like it but we think it will be forced to lower the price of the console sooner rather than later. We think they should make a preemptive strike and lower the price by $100 for both versions NOW. That will get more hardware sold and prepare the console for the fall season when the big holiday shopping season begins.

Improve the PS3 Online Interface

The current HTML interface for the online network is clumsy and even hard to read. We think that Sony should dump it entirely and adapt its media bar UI for the network. Integrating the PS3 online store and network with the media bar will make it seamless to the user, much like the interface of the Xbox 360 handles downloads of demos, games and videos.

Make Third Party PS3 Demos Available

At the moment, only first party game demos for the console are available for download but the Xbox 360 and even the Wii allow for other publishers to offer games for their console. If the PS3 is to survive they need to embrace third party games and offering PS3 demos to download from other publishers will be a great way to handle that.

Get More Community Involvement

Again, Microsoft has been the best in offering ways for Xbox 360 owners to get info about the console quickly but there is a definite sense of detachment for PS3 owners. Sony needs to do more than just send out press releases to members of the media. They need to launch their own blog sites and podcasts and really get PS3 players involved in the console.

Keep Their PS3 Exclusive Titles

It's no secret that previous Sony exclusives for the PS2 have been lost in the transition to the PS3. Franchises like Tomb Raider, Grand Theft Auto, Virtua Fighter and more have appeared or will appear on Microsoft's Xbox 360 console. Sony needs to keep the pace up with their own first party titles like Lair, Motorstorm, Heavenly Sword and others along with keeping exclusive third party titles like Devil May Cry 4, Final Fantasy XIII and Metal Gear Solid 4 to be competitive.

Offer Sony Movies And TV Shows For Download

Here is a feature that Sony may be able to beat the Xbox 360 at its own game. With the included hard drive on all of the consoles as well as the ability to upgrade the hard drive to something even larger, Sony is in an excellent position to offer high-def downloads of its movies and TV shows on the PS3. They need to do it soon, though, before Microsoft moves forward with its future plans for the same feature.