Hi everyone,

I know that the Sony conference at E3 was yesterday, but I wanted to take a day and let their revelations about the PS3, both specs and price, sink in a bit before posting anything about them. Saying that, is it just me, or does it seem like Sony never tries anything new on their own, but rather waits for innovative ideas from their competitors, and then tries to quickly cash in on them?

This is something that I just don't understand, and while I understand that it is a good business decision to try and at least match your competitors' products' abilities, it just gets to me that they do it so blatently. "What's that? Nintendo's controller detects all the movements of your arm, in three dimensions? Oh, yeah... Our's has a tilt sensor in it too. Microsofts' online network? Oh yeah, ours will have all of the same features, and it'll be free too." (Not that free is bad, mind you. It's just when they list all the features of their upcoming online network, and the list is almost identical to Xbox Live's list of features that it starts to bother me.)

Now, here's something that I truly don't understand, and it makes me wonder how all the gaming journalistic bodies out there, such as EGM, Game Informer, Gamepro, IGN, Gamespot, and 1Up can say that they are not biased. Sony has CONFIRMED that there are two SKUs coming for the PS3. There is the $500 Core-like package, and the $600 Premium-like package. Both will play PS3 games, but the cheaper model won't feature Wi-Fi functionality, wireless controllers, a 60 GB hard drive (it'll be 20 GB instead), various multimedia card ports, or even the ability to play Blu-Ray movies.

Now, remember about a year ago when a different console making company (Microsoft) announced that they would release their new system under two different SKUs, and the negative feedback that they got back from it? Why aren't the websites tearing Sony a new one like they did with Microsoft? My guess is because of the percent of the marketshare that Sony currently enjoys. This may change a lot after this next holiday season, when both the Wii and PS3 are released. I don't care who you are, when you look at the three systems on the market and see a $600, $500, and $200 one, and each is practically brand new, the one that is $600 seems a lot less attractive when you look at it and notice that it's features are about the same (outside of Blu-Ray movie playback, and there won't be many Blu-Ray movies available when the PS3 launches).

The Wii is in a completely seperate group altogether, really, because, like Nintendo said, they're not trying to go for the best graphics, but rather, try and create a very approachable, new, and enjoyable gameplay experience. If the DS is any indication, then they really know what they are doing in this regard. Their extremely low price point (compared to their competitors) should attract a lot of people to it. Unfortunately, this will bring more kids to their audience, but if Nintendo tries to cater to them AND the older demographic, there really shouldn't be any issue at all. I think they will learn from their mistakes on the Gamecube. That's not a mistake any company with a smart business team would make twice.

So where does all of this leave Microsoft and their Xbox 360? While I predict that they will NOT be number 1 in terms of sales and overall systems sold by the end of this generations' life cycle (possibly 2009/2010), they should have a very strong place in the market, much better than the last Xbox did, probably a very close number two. I think Sony's name will help carry them through this cycle, but people will quickly begin to support the other consoles when Sony's first few batches of the PS3 are defective (Look at the PS1 and PS2 and you can see that this will be true. New technology built as cheaply as possible = a less than perfect product, thus problems). Even if the Xbox 360 doesn't do well, which doesn't seem to be the case so far, it won't die like the Dreamcast did. For one, MS isn't in financial trouble like Sega was. And second, Mr. Billy Gates doesn't seem to be one who likes to lose, or leave broken things alone (Windows 95 anyone?)


I anxiously await your comments and thoughts on this subjects,


Jmann2k1