It´s a Sony
Promises, Promises PS3:
Today, Sony revealed that they will finally provide the in-game XrossMediaBar functionality that was first demonstrated back in 2006, as well as the “trophy” achievement system promised in early 2007, as a part of their v2.4 software update for the PlayStation 3. They’re not saying when it will arrive, but perhaps that’s a wise choice; Sony doesn’t exactly have a solid track record when it comes to keeping promises.
To be sure, we don’t care if the PS3 can display at 120 frames-per-second or not. We’ll forgive the lack of a second HDMI port and the built-in ethernet router, even though you snatched them right out from under our noses. But after factoring in the constant delays of Home and the faked Killzone 2 assets, we begin to wonder where else Sony might have pulled the wool over our eyes.
In part two of “Promises, Promises,” GameCyte’s look back at the promises — and results — surrounding our game systems, we revisit the hype and spin Sony execs employed to sell the PlayStation 3.
PROMISE: “PlayStation 3 is the only format that has 1080-progressive, which is the true definition of HD, so it’s really premature to be talking about the HD era. The HD era really only starts when we are on the market.” (Phil Harrison, President, Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, 12/14/2005)
While almost a year later, Microsoft revealed the Xbox 360 could also support 1080p, in 2005 the advanced resolution was a huge selling point for would-be PS3 owners — at least, for those who could afford an HDTV to begin with.
DELIVERY: “We prioritize a nice smooth framerate over a different res. Personally, I don’t really buy the whole thing. People did the same with Call of Duty, they did the same with Halo, and they say with those games ‘It’s not running at true HD!’ And it’s like, I don’t care. If the game looks good and it runs smoothly, those are the important things to me.” (Derek Littlewood, Creative Lead, Free Radical, confirming that Haze actually runs at 576p, , 5/18/08)
While it might not have been reasonable to expect a bevy of 1080p titles back when games were using “less than half” of the Cell processor’s potential, over a year later 1080p titles are still few and far between — and even a 720p resolution is not guaranteed in graphic-intensive games. Call of Duty 4? 600p. Metal Gear Online? 655. Grand Theft Auto IV runs at 640p, even as its Xbox 360 counterpart manages 720.
And hey, for many, the lower resolution may well be preferable if it means enhanced graphical fidelity. But that doesn’t change the fact that Sony threw gamers for a loop.
PROMISE: “PlayStation 3, I think, is going to be cheaper to develop for than the corresponding period of PS2 development.” (Phil Harrison, Executive Vice President of Development, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, 5/19/05) While we won’t get into the debate over whether programming multithreaded applications for a 3.2GHz chip with 7 SPUs is any more difficult than programming for a single 300MHz CPU…
DELIVERY: “We have to sell at least 500,000 copies per title worldwide to make a profit on PlayStation 3 games.” (Takeo Takasu, President, Namco Bandai Holdings, 11/28/06)
In reality, PS3 development is anything but cheap.
“Due to high development cost of titles for PS3, we have decided to switch the platform to which we release our Monster Hunter 3 title.” (Katsuhiko Ichii, Corporate Managing Officer, Capcom, 10/10/07)
Now, certainly developers were worried about PS2 pricing back in the day — in 2000, some thought budgets might surpass $4 million, and for quite a few titles, they did — but in December 2007, the BBC estimated the average development cost of a PS3 title at $15 million. Eight years of inflation doesn’t begin to explain the difference.
PROMISE: “Backwards compatibility, as you know from PlayStation One and PlayStation 2, is a core value of what we believe we should offer. And access to the library of content people have created, bought for themselves, and accumulated over the years is necessary to create a format. PlayStation is a format meaning that it transcends many devices — PSOne, PS2, and now PS3. If the developer wrote the game according to our technical requirements checklist, we will have what we believe will be almost perfect backwards compatibility. There will be some exceptions, there always are, but we believe those will be very few and far between. Even less so than we saw from PSOne to PS2.” (Phil Harrison, President, Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, 5/12/06)
Strong words, weren’t they? Sony, obviously respecting the gamers who’d supported them for years, knew how important our existing games were to us, and had us covered with “near-perfect” backwards compatibility. This became a frequent talking point in the months leading up to the PS3’s launch, especially in light of the Xbox 360’s BC shortcomings — which Sony was only too happy to pounce on, as Microsoft prepared their own launch:
“The current Xbox will become antiquated once Xbox 360 launches in November. When that happens, the original Xbox will be killing itself. The only way to avoid that is to allow 100 percent compatibility from launch, but Microsoft won’t be able to guarantee that. It’s technically very difficult.” (Ken Kutaragi, President & CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment, 6/14/05) Harrison even had this to say of the Xbox 360’s backwards compatibility: “I don’t believe that was backwards compatibility.”
Harsh! Still, it was great to know that PS3 owners would be covered — never would they have to settle for half-assed software emulation which would take a back seat.
DELIVERY: “We are aware that a select number of titles have compatibility issues but these problems will be fixed with a software upgrade that will be available in the near future.” (Unspecified Sony Spokesperson, 11/14/06)
To be fair, Sony actually tried really hard to make good on this promise, releasing the original 20GB and 60GB PS3s with the PS2’s Emotion Engine included — providing hardware-based emulation for the vast majority of PS2 titles. The number of incompatible titles was around 200, representing some 2-3% of the existing library. 98% ain’t a bad success rate, except when you consider that the incompatible titles included mega-hits like Tekken and Gran Turismo. From there, the inexplicable happened: Sony took a promise it had actually followed through on, went back, and re-broke it.
“I would like my car to fly and make me breakfast, but that’s an unrealistic expectation.” (Jack Tretton, Executive Vice President, Sony Computer Entertainment America, 11/16/06)
These were the bafflingly insulting words for people who just wanted to play a few of their favorites. Okay, well, needless hostility aside, surely that 98% would increase with firmware updates and such, right?
“We have made clear on many occasions that our priority is on developing innovative new features and services for PS3 and not on backwards compatibility. The 40GB model no longer contains any elements of the PS2 chip set which powered backwards compatibility in previous models, and is therefore only compatible with PS one titles.” (Nick Sharples, Spokesman, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, 10/5/07)
Huh. Not a priority. I guess “priorities” and “core values” don’t always go hand in hand. Sure enough, Sony would go on to introduce the 40GB model, which included zero PS2 BC, and the 80GB model, which dialed it back to software-only, which was suddenly okay despite it not counting when Microsoft did it.
Well, surely the decision to remove backwards compatibility in newer models despite its earlier semi-successful implementation wouldn’t prove a barrier to late adopters of the system. Right?
PROMISE: “As we announced this week, SCEA’s product offering in North America consists of a 80GB PS3 available in August and a 60GB PS3 available now for $499. We will have ample supplies of both models to meet the needs of consumers for the foreseeable future.” (Dave Karraker, Senior Director of Corporate Communications, 7/13/07)
Oh, good! So I can go ahead and get a 60GB model with the hardware-based BC solution, and everything will be –
DELIVERY:“We’re no longer in production for [the 60GB PS3], so once that product is gone from the retailers shelves, then we’re back to the $599 SKU only, so it’s not like we have a two-price strategy here in the US market, which we found out very early on, that consumers react mostly to having one SKU as opposed to two.” (Kaz Hirai, President, Sony Computer Entertainment, 7/13/07)
Oh.
PROMISE: “I think the decision that we’ve made to build in the SIXAXIS functionality, and Bluetooth wireless, and great battery life, and all the other functionality that comes with it, far outweighs the chatter that we’re getting on vibration.” (Phil Harrison, President, Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, 10/26/06)
Okay, let’s be perfectly fair — this is not actually a promise. At no point did Sony declare that rumbling controllers would never occur again, which is good, since the DualShock 3 is in plentiful supply today. We feel the need to point out these statements, however, because they are indicative of Sony’s overall habit of 180-degree turns.
“The issue is trying to isolate the vibration feature from the motion sensors. Is it technically feasible? Absolutely. But the balancing act that you need to do, is to be able to present the controller to the consumer at an affordable price. We have one controller in the box, but many consumers will want to go out and get an extra controller. To isolate the vibration from the sensing, if that means that the controllers are going to be so expensive, then we’re doing the consumer a huge disservice… We felt that ultimately, the vibration feature, which is a feedback feature, as compared to the motion sensing which is an input functionality… when you compare the two, we decided that the input device is a lot more important that feedback, and that has been a strategic decision that we’ve made.” (Kaz Hirai, President, Sony Computer Entertainment, 10/3/06)
No mention was made, of course, about the other comparison of the two features; namely, motion-sensing functionality was the feature Sony wasn’t being sued over. But, surely, whether it was the real reason or not, Sony’s justification could still carry a certain amount of weight. Surely, combining rumbling and motion-sensing into one peripheral was a tough job, and obviously too troublesome to mean that much to Sony. It was just inconsequential “chatter,” after all, and anyway nobody in the future would really need rumble. Sony was quite sure of this for some time:
“Now, rumble I think was the last generation feature; it’s not the next-generation feature. I think motion sensitivity is. And we don’t see the need to do that.” (Phil Harrison, President, Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, 2/26/07)
Well, if that’s how you feel, that’s how you feel, Sony. Thanks for putting the issue to bed.
DELIVERY: “Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) today announced that it would release DUALSHOCK®3 Wireless Controller, a new controller for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3®) incorporating a rumble feature, in Japan in November as a separately sold accessory. It inherits the basic design and functionality of the popular PlayStation® controller, while keeping the high-precision, high response motion sensitive six-axis sensing system. Introduction to North American and European markets is expected in spring 2008.” (Press Release, 9/20/07)
Well, let’s hear it for incredible technological breakthroughs. “[Rumble and motion-sensing] can counterexist due to some very clever algorithms that filter out the effect of motion sensitivity and part of that is done inside the controller and part of it in the library.” (Phil Harrison, President, Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, 9/20/07)
Again, let’s remember this definitely has nothing to do with Sony finally settling up with Immersion about their vibrating patents some six months prior.
Do you do this for fun, Sony? Does it just amuse you to completely flip on your “top priorities” and “core values” at every opportunity?
PROMISE: “Users will be able to store their content in an online storage server called the ‘Cell Storage’. And the Cell processor, when it’s not being used, can refine the content’s quality. We call it the ‘aging’ process. For example, users can ‘age’ their Standard Definition (SD) video and up-convert it to High Definition (HD) video. We have many plans [for the PS3], but this ‘Cell Storage’ service is something that we definitely intend to launch. By using the Cell’s security feature, users will be able to rip DVDs that include copyright protection and lay it in the storage area to refine its video quality.” (Ken Kutaragi, President, Sony Computer Entertainment, 5/25/2005)
DELIVERY: Raise your hand if you knew this ever existed. Now lower it, walk away and pretend Sony didn’t suggest that PS3 owners could intentionally subvert DRM and forgo re-purchasing their DVD collection on Blu-Ray — or via the rumored PS3 video store.
We hear the last guy who asked about Cell Storage got two in the back, courtesy of Sony Pictures…
Mahlzeit, PS3 Bad News Anchorman bald wieder da mit neuen Stoff
http://www.gamecyte.com/2008/06/17/promises-promises-sony-playstation-3/1859
der war gut! Die können doch mittlerweile nicht mal Spiele von Videos unterscheiden!!!
