You've got to admit that the PS3 has had an amazing turnaround in the last 12 months. This time last year there was speculation that the machine wasn't selling in Europe (untrue) and the system had a rough ride following it's launch in the states (true) and Japan (also true).
Since late last year though, Sony have been riding a wave of quality software and new services that shows no sign of stopping - and the PS3 has gone from industry whipping boy to expected champion of champions this generation.
So, how did Sony pull it off?
In my opinion it started at E3 in 2005... Yes, that E3, the one where Sony showed CGI demos and had a PR meltdown after many, many people called them out... The thing people completely missed about E3 that year though was that the demo's were a statement of intent. Sony had a vision for the future of gaming that was far more dramatic, expansive and innovative than anyone else... looking back now, you have to admit, what Nintendo and Microsoft showed seems very dated, while Sony's offering seems to fit right in some 2 years later.
Then of course, the PS3 launched, some of the software was half baked, and the system was expensive due to the blue ray drive and custom processors it contained - rabid launch demand gave way to cynicism from the press - something that fans of a certain other system were only too willing to fuel. It became fashionable to berate Sony as having lost their way... and to be fair, for a while it seemed like they had. Software was poor... the company made PR faux pas by the day... and Sony became an in-joke on internet forums.
In the background though, Microsoft quietly lowered their sales expectations for Xbox 360... and sold less consoles in 2007 than they did in the preceding year... in spite of the battering Sony was taking, consumers weren't 'jumping in' to the 360 at the rate MS had expected.
Then came GDC last year - Sony showed realtime demo's of a 3D community service and a user-content driven game... yes Playstation Home and LittleBigPlanet. Once again, the company showed an ambition and direction that was far, far ahead of anything the competition had shown.
Following that, a raft of in-house content was shown at gamers-day... Uncharted and Ratchet and Clank silenced critics of the PS3 with their majestic visuals. Meanwhile, Heavenly Sword, Folklore, Singstar and the Playstation Eye demonstrated an offering that was broad, if a little patchy in terms of quality.
Fast forward to the holiday season last year, and Sony - following a hardware revision and price cut - did not get the 2 to 1 routing that Microsoft had predicted.
So, that brings us to this year... a year where the stars are about to align for the Playstation brand yet again - as I write, the PS3 has the number one selling game across much of Europe - Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and the system outsold all others in the region. It also outsold the 360 in the states for the last few months... Not only that but following a pre-easter price cut by Microsoft, the PS3 still outsold the 360 in Europe. Meanwhile, Blu Ray is the high definition disc media of choice, and Sony have been quick to upgrade the PS3's system software to keep it at the forefront of Blu Ray disc players.
Only today, teaser footage of Resistance 2 has been dropping jaws across the internet - and the game is a good measure of the delights to come on the format...
Going forward we've got a simply amazing line up on the PS3 this year... so much so that it's hard to see why people complained so much last year. Coming up we've got:
* The new Playstation store application which looks beautiful
* Metal Gear Online open beta test starts this month
* Gran Theft Auto IV at the end of April
* Haze exclusive in May
* Wipeout HD also in May
* The finale of the blockbuster Metal Gear series in June
* Limited edition MGS4 hardware, also in June
* Playstation Home rumoured to be launched in July
* Firmware 2.4 in 'summer' adding much-needed cross-game coms
* LittleBigPlanet in September
* Killzone 3 in September, too
* Motorstorm 2 in October
* Resistance 2 in November
That, my friends is a line up which completely eclipses any other format in the market... and is the reason why anyone who discounted Sony last year, needs to think again... else miss out on what looks to be a golden year for Sony.
Remember this, too... we've not seen a great deal of what Sony has been working on for the past two years, yet - Sony gamers day in May and E3 in July are going to be epic this year... not least because both Sony and Microsoft know that Christmas 2008 is going to be the one that they both have to win to come out ahead of the game.
Given the line up above (which will no doubt be bolstered by some surprises during the year), anyone who thinks they can ignore the PS3 is going to be in for a short sharp shock.
Sony are back... and they've bought the big guns.
Quelle:
http://frag-cast.blogspot.com/2008/04/why-playstation-3-is-system-of-2008.html