TIME magazine deems PS3 a bust

[Lazybones]

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/18/time-magazine-deems-ps3-a-bust/

From the article's sub-section entitled HOW TO BLOW A HUGE LEAD in video games: "The PS3 is hideously expensive--it goes for up to $600--and Sony manufactured only a piddling few hundred thousand for the U.S., fewer for Japan. Plus it's hard to write games for; the launch titles were lame. You know you're in trouble when you get beat by something called a Wii."

Probably still to early to say if you ask me... Netcraft hasn't said it yet

[Lazybones]

Direct Time link
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1570831,00.html

[Shayne]

Netcraft?

This really is interesting though from a gamers perspective.  In my mind I saw the PS3 being the overwhelming best seller this console generation taking in something like 50% marketshare. The 360 pulling up in second with maybe 35% and the Wii performing well and pulling in 15%.

Knowing what I know now.  I'm going to recast my prediction.  PS3 40%, Xbox 360 35%, Wii 25%.

Christmas 2007 will be a peek into the future.  Christmas 2008 a "winner" will be crowned.

[Lazybones]

http://www.netcraft.com/ is a service that monitors what OS and webserver software is running on various sites. Slashdot users often site something as NOT DEAD unless it doesn't appear on netcraft anymore. It iwas mostly do to frequent reports that BSD was dead as an OS, but became a common comment for everything as a joke.

[Shayne]

Oh.  i see.

[TheDruid]

More fuel for the fanboy debates.

I'd must admit though, which one fanboys pointed out, the movies coming out for Blue-Ray in the next year are far superior then the HD-DVD lineup.

All movie studios except Universal are committed to Blu-Ray. A number of them are not making any HD-DVD versions at all, like box office leader Sony (Spiderman 3 in '07-woohoo!), Fox (Star Wars, Aliens, and Die Hard franchises), and Disney (including Pixar's awesome flicks and Pirates 1-3). Only Universal is exclusive to HD-DVD, and they have been averaging near the bottom half of all of the big movie studios in how well their pictures do over the past few years.

- Of the top 25 highest grossing films of all time (translated, the most popular films), 16 are by companies that are exclusive to Blu-ray, and 8 others are on both formats. Only 2 are exclusive to HD-DVD.

- Next year, there are currently more than four times as many Blu-ray movies listed for release than HD-DVD

- Average price of a Blu-ray movie (about $23 on Amazon.com) is less than the HD-DVD average price

Damn, will the HD-DVD quench my thirst for High def movie/TV content? Im looking forward to owning Pirates, Pixar's films, Spiderman and the such in high definition. If HD-DVD cant deliver i'll have no choice but to invest in Blue-Ray. Not saying that i'll buy a PS3 to be my player, however i may end up stroking Sony over the Blue-Ray thing if it comes down to content.

[Darren Dirt]

Thanks for finding this "Time" story, Lazy.






I don't read that magazine.

[Tom]

Christmas 2008 a "winner" will be crowned.

Only because the next gen will be out and the old ones will be obsolete

i may end up stroking Sony over the Blue-Ray thing if it comes down to content.

Try not to get an actual Sony device though Toshiba and others should be making BluRay as well.

Personally, I had figured on HD-DVD being the winner, because its much cheaper, easier to support, backwards compatible with DVD, and has lots of room left to improve (they have some very large multi layer HD-DVD disks in the works, 25GB 8+ layers etc).

I wonder if sony had to bribe anyone to choose BluRay? Though its still up to the consumer, if the players are going to continue to be so rare and expensive, people might not have much of a choice.

[Lazybones]

Dual formate drives are being talked about again. It could be a case of DVD-R DVD+R where we end up getting drives that support both.

[TheDruid]

Dual format drives are being talked about again. It could be a case of DVD-R DVD+R where we end up getting drives that support both.

Yeah, but how long will that be and at what price. I think from a technology stand point HD is the better choice. But if Blue-Ray has the content and HD don’t... the choice is simple. Im planning on getting the HD-DVD for Xbox right away, however with Blue-Ray, one day High Def content will be in demand and at that time the consumers choice would have already been made for them, if you own a PS3 that is.

These next generation consoles are going to drive HD TV sales. My wife’s uncle (a single income family with a tight budget) went out and bought the 27" View Sonic LCD 720p TV at Costco for $650 to go with their new Xbox360 they bough for the kids this year. HD TVs are getting Very affordable, and just like Gaming drove the PC hardware market its going to do the same with the TV market.

So once you have a HD TV to go with your new game console... where too now? HD cable? No, HD cable box is too expensive and the HD content on Shaw blows. How about HD movies? well my friend, if you own a PS3 your in luck. There’s a nice library of Disney movies, Spiderman and the such available for you to watch right now on Blue-Ray.

Basically my point is, when the consumers are ready to jump into the HD format wars, their minds might have already been made up for them. And if their format has the better content why invest extra money into the other?

[Shayne]

If a Blu-Ray player is $1000 and an HD-DVD player is $600 we could probably see a duel format player near the same price of the 2 combined.  Licensing fees are pretty extreme for both players.  Lots of hardware required as well with both formats handling the "extra features" systems totally different.

I keep hearing rumors of duel format players and a few like nobody companies showing them but I have yet to see any real serious information on a Panasonic player that does both or maybe a Samsung player does both.  I couldn't see Toshiba or Sony even considering a duel format player as they own the other formats.

The fact that Blu-Ray has Disney and such is the very least of my concerns.  It will only be a matter of time before somebody over at Disney thinks to themselves "hmm...a few million HD-DVD players out there, we should make it on both discs to get both markets".  I would also be willing to bet that Lord of the Rings is HD-DVD exclusive.  With Peter Jackson and Microsoft deeply in bed with each other I bet Microsoft will help HD-DVD seal the deal on that one.

[Shayne]

Oh, and spiderman sucks.

[Darren Dirt]

Love some of the comments at joystiq.com, especially this one (it starts otu childish, yet ends up being surprisingly insightful)...

Posted at 8:29PM on Dec 18th 2006 by notu:
38. Sony will win because of Blu-Ray. It's obvious dummies.
...as far as next-gen movie playback formats go, Blu-ray has a brighter future than HD-DVD. All of these 2006 movies are Blu-ray exclusives in the future, meaning anyone wanting them in HD will HAVE to get a Blu-ray player (or a PS3).
- Of the top 25 highest grossing films of all time (translated, the most popular films), 16 are by companies that are exclusive to Blu-ray, and 8 others are on both formats. Only 2 are exclusive to HD-DVD.
- Next year, there are currently more than four times as many Blu-ray movies listed for release than HD-DVD
- Average price of a Blu-ray movie (about $23 on Amazon.com) is less than the HD-DVD average price

The fact that Blu-Ray has Disney and such is the very least of my concerns.

Sadly, it appears to be more than just Disney/Pixar. From the above-quoted commenter:

- All movie studios except Universal are commited to Blu-Ray. A number of them are not making any HD-DVD versions at all, like box office leader Sony (Spiderman 3 in '07-woohoo!), Fox (Star Wars, Aliens, and Die Hard franchises), and Disney (including Pixar's awesome flicks and Pirates 1-3). Only Universal is exclusive to HD-DVD, and they have been averaging near the bottom half of all of the big movie studios in how well their pictures do over the past few years.

:-\

[Shayne]

Comes down to money I guess.  Will companies continue to be Blu-Ray exclusive if the players are double the price and have a lower saturation level?  Tough call.

Im not biased of a fanboy towards any format.  I picked up an HD-DVD player for $175 (I had a $25 EB Gift card) and it came with a free movie ($30 value) so for my investment of only $145 it seems like a deal.  Having watched MI3 and Miami Vice in HD its absolutely awe-inspiring.  I would go so far to say that it looks and sounds better then it does in theaters (oh, and I get to pause and not pay $25 to see it).

If I am forced into getting a blu-ray machine no hard feelings really, but if blu-ray comes out ahead I think we are all so very wrong about the PS3.  It will be MASSIVE because you just ca't ignore the fact that its the cheapest Blu-Ray player on the market and its the most powerful game console as well.

[Darren Dirt]

re. the "#38" commenter I quoted above,
some good points in this rebuttal (namely, listing all the "this will be the next big technology!" promises by Sony that went nowhere)