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EGTV: Microsoft execs slam Sony's strategy News
Xbox 360
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Games Industry.biz
And they're off, again - two top Xbox Europe execs have launched an astonishing attack on Sony, the likes of which has not been seen since Sharon Osbourne had a go at Rebecca Loos last night.
Speaking to Eurogamer TV in part one of an exclusive E3 interview broadcast today, Xbox UK boss Neil Thompson and Europe boss Chris Lewis both accused Sony of “forcing” its Blu-Ray DVD technology onto gamers.
“Sony are now making people pay an extra few hundred pounds for a Blu-Ray DVD drive which we don't know is going to be the standard in the next-generation DVD formats,” Thompson insisted.
“This is the company that brought out Betamax – we don't quite know where they're going to go with this,” he added, in a pointed reference to Sony's defeat in the format war against VHS (note for younger readers: sort of like a cross between DVDs and "cassette tapes").
Microsoft reckons Sony is playing right into its hands with the inclusion of Blu-Ray in the PS3, since Xbox 360 owners will have the option to upgrade to next-gen movie tech later this year with the release of a standalone HD-DVD drive.
“If gamers over time choose to go to HD-DVD we're going to give them the choice to do that, but we're not going to force them to buy that day one,” Thompson remarked.
“I find it concerning for consumers that they're being forced into a purchase... I don't think they need to make that decision for another two, three years maybe. Sony now have a very interesting business model I think they're going to find challenging.”
Thompson's frank views were backed by Europe boss Chris Lewis, who added: “[PS3's] is an interesting price point that in my view forces the consumer down a choice path in a way that I'm surprised to see.”
Lewis also added that the high price of the PS3 means there's less pressure on MS to reduce the price of the Xbox 360 before the year is out, commenting: “We're confident that we are at the right price at the right time and will remain so, and nothing I've heard in the last two days does anything other than frankly reinforce that view.”
Part one of the exclusive interview with Chris Lewis and Neil Thompson is now showing on Eurogamer TV. Osbourne vs. Loos is now showing on YouTube.
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BartonFink
30/05/06 @ 16:26
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Firstly let me say they are just saying what everybody else has been saying really.
Good point about the 360 price point why should they bother reducing it when there is no need.
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most recently on 30/05/06 @ 17:28
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NoCodeNed2
30/05/06 @ 16:28
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They do nothing if not hanker after the popular vote...kind of slipped up with the, well we're not going to bother dropping our prices now bit though. Rather annoying from the richest company in the world.
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NoCodeNed2
30/05/06 @ 16:30
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@barton Fink - because it will have been out for over a year by Xmas and you'd hope that the manufacturing costs being reduced will be passed on to the consumer.
Oh, well, big corporation, guess you can't expect anything different. /sulks |
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trampatoni
30/05/06 @ 16:31
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MS are just pissed that they launched too soon to include the HD-DVD drive in it. Wait a couple of years and Sony will be proved to be correct.
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Stormflood.
30/05/06 @ 16:35
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pot, kettle, black
Do they really need to stoop to this bitchy level? Sony are giving themselves enough of a hard time without MS needing to swing their handbags. |
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Blu-Ray isn't important for games. There is very little on a console, if at all, that cannot fit onto a DVD. Compression techniques are getting better by the day, again reducing the need for larger capacity discs for games. Plus, the fabrication costs for DVDs will be significantly less than Blu-Ray, making the DVD the more attractive option for publishers.
Sony isn't just a games company, the Blu-Ray is there to try and stimulate market growth for a movie format that Sony owns. If they can say to Hollywood "look, we have x-amount of Blu-Ray players in the market" then that will encourage take up of the format. It basically boils down to the PS3 being a product of Sony as a whole, and not just Sony Computer Entertainment. So, with that in mind, to bitch about their strategy purely in terms of it being a games machine is missing the point. When you look at it with the wider consideration of Sony as a whole, and them wanting to promote their interests and stimulate growth in non-gaming aspects of the business, then it makes sense.
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 30/05/06 @ 17:43
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BartonFink
30/05/06 @ 16:42
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@Xiphos - I don't get your last comment
Sony - this means that the PS3 is not a threat, but their (Sony's) attempts to undermine HD-DVD are. MS don't have that much of a vested interest in HD-DVD. If Blu-ray did turn out to be a success you can be certain there would be a Blu-ray add on. Microsoft's WMV and HD downloadble media and Blu-ray pissing on it is what is pissing them off. Huh?
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 30/05/06 @ 17:45
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Yep.
The Xbox 360 was supposed to come with a HD-DVD drive but in order to beat PS3 launch they just put a common DVD player. MS have no right to slam Sony stategy because they coming out with a HD-DVD player for the Xbox 360 that futher points out they are in the "next DVD format" race as much as Sony ... after all MS "option" is play normal DVDs any HD-DVDs (if you buy their player)... just like the PS3 offers the option of playing normal DVDs and Blu-Ray DVDs. They think we are stupid? sure Sony is backing Blu-Ray and Sony does have a point when it says that PS3 price is cheap for a Blu-Ray player right now with the problem being just that, neither Blu-Ray or HD-DVD (that MS is backing in the Xbox 360) is that important for games right now, 3 years down the line the PS3 ends up being more attractive ... the only question of Sony strategy is the PS3 launch price might serious hurt 3rd party support and we end up with the same situation of the PS2 and Xbox were the technical superior is beaten by lack of support. If Sony execs are not very smart then it seems MS ones are just as smart as Sony .. |
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JediMasterMalik
30/05/06 @ 16:46
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“I find it concerning for consumers that they're being forced into a purchase... I don't think they need to make that decision for another two, three years maybe. Sony now have a very interesting business model I think they're going to find challenging.”
Wow aren't these guys geniuses. Firstly the only way you are forced to buy the Blu-Ray is if you want a PS3 that badly. I'm sick of hearing all this complaining about Blu-Ray and the price. Leave Sony to it, and stop with the hissy fits. If you think that Blu-ray is unnecessary and the console is too expensive, there is the obvious option of not buying one. *prepares to be called fanboy* |
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are they going at it again.
you know what screw it, the Blu-ray did not raise the price of the PS3 so high it was their late decision to include a Hard Drive as standard. If you compare last years tech specs with this years one you'll noticed the difference of the HDD not even being mentioned in the PS3's tech specs. And Blu-ray will be used for games goddamnit. |
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JediMasterMalik
30/05/06 @ 16:58
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The epic CEO said that Blu-ray would be necessary for next gen games, adding that UT2007 may well require the space of Blu-ray. This is probably why it isn't coming to 360. If you don't beleive him who do you beleive?
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BartonFink
30/05/06 @ 16:59
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@Drakon - The Xbox 360 was supposed to come with a HD-DVD drive but in order to beat PS3 launch they just put a common DVD player.
It was since when? |
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There's no way in hell that Blu-Ray is necessary for gaming. I doubt it will hardly be used in PS3 games at all when you consider that developers with publish on the lowest common denominator on next-gen games, just like they have on current-gen. That lowest common denominator is the DVD drive on the 360. (this is a previous argument I saw and stole btw)
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 30/05/06 @ 18:05
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@thinktank
"I wonder how many of you Sony fans would actualy buy a blu-ray peripheral, if it was offered as an add on and the stand alone system was say around £280........." Great point, very few would I imagine... just as very few will buy the HD-DVD add on for the 360, I certainly won't be. Maybe in a few years when one of the formats has won the war (if any of them do), then once they're down in price I'll purchase a stand alone player... I certainly will not be using a games console to play my movies. |
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SuperGamerMatt
30/05/06 @ 17:24
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Shout out if you're getting a PS3?
........ Nope, no one. Microsoft need to start slating Nintendo, they're going to be it's nearest competitors, not Sony. |
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CrumpledPaper
30/05/06 @ 17:33
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Silly comments. PS3 is not a few hundred pounds more than 360. And gamers might be glad Blu-ray is being "forced" on them if it becomes as important to games as many developers seem to be suggesting. It doesn't matter what happens in movies, Blu-ray will still be as useful as it would ever be for games - but I think it's almost a given Blu-ray will beat HD-DVD anyway, IMO.
Also, Sony may have brought us Betamax, but people who brought you VHS (JVC) are also behind it! |
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JediMasterMalik
30/05/06 @ 17:36
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See you people think you know more about game development that Mark Reign. He says more space is needed, yet you morons insist with a passion that he is talking BS. Sure the guy only made one of the most successful shooting games, what does he know?
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The price point for the PS3 seems high to most people at this time, but it's premature to start bashing Sony on the decision to include Blu-Ray. We know that BR is meant primarily for hi-def movie viewing, and it remains to be seen how effective developers are in utilizing the extra capacity. Still, I applaud Sony for having the guts to include a new feature in their next gen console instead of the generic upgrades that lead some to call Xbox 360 the Xbox 1.5. If the PS3 life cycle is 6-8 years and hi-def movie formats catch on, as I anticipate they will, Blu-Ray may become a very useful feature. As bad as Sony's record is at successfully marketing proprietary formats, console hardware add-ons have fared badly too. I don't like MS's strategy of covering all the bases so they can say they did it too after Sony did the market testing for us. Remember when MS said that they weren't going to support HD storage media at all? If MS wants to be the leader in consoles they need to have some balls like Nintendo instead of being pussyfoots.
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Gradthrawn
30/05/06 @ 17:47
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I would like to point out that SCE is requiring all games to be published on BD. They cite security concerns as the primary reason for this. So, there is no question of if games will be on BD. However, a game simply being on BD and a game actually taking advantage of the extra space are obviously 2 different things. It will be interesting to see how and if that extra space is used. I think its far too early to make an accurate assessment about how well the extra capacity will be utilized (or needed). I think by the time the 2nd generation of PS3 games, 3rd and 4th gen. of 360 games, roll out and devs. have had time to come to gripes with next-gen development, we’ll have a clearer picture about the advantages, or lack thereof , of Blu-Ray with gaming.
Were I to add in my wild speculation about the subject, I would guess that SCE's 1st party developers will likely try to make use of the extra capacity very quickly, in order to help justify the medium for gaming. I would guess that the 1st gen. or so of PS3 games (from all developers) will use that space, but in a rather haphazard way that doesn't necessarily contribute anything meaningful to the gaming experience. SCE will likley encourage devs to add “DVD style" extras to the PS3 versions of games in order to help carry it through the 2nd Holliday season at full price. However, I think that after the initial wave of 1st gen games passes, and as the 2nd gen of PS3 games rolls out, the extra capacity will start to be used in a meaningful way. That's just my wild speculation.
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 30/05/06 @ 18:56
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kangarootoo
30/05/06 @ 17:52
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Isn't this kind of like Ronald McDonald saying he doesn't like Whoppers very much?
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JediMasterMalik
30/05/06 @ 17:55
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lol Nige, so true. Peter Moore, if your reading this, I don't like you and your tatoos. :D
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bah i am sticking with my pc. its troublesome, breaks down, games need patching, but when it works.........oh yeahhhhh..........the PC is like a super car in some respects..........
who here is excited about high def dvds........and who here is going to stick with dvds and maybe be get a dvd player that ups the resolution...........me i am sticking with dvds for the time been......... |
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SlackMaster
30/05/06 @ 17:58
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The blue ray drive is a part of the PS3 as Sony want to succeed in the next generation of movie playback. Pure and simple... as to the coments above UT2007 will be released on xbox360 and 1 or 2 dual layer dvd9 discs are more than enough for any game... the nonsense about having to swap is well... rubish... you only have to swap the disc once after playing through the inital disc.
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JediMasterMalik
30/05/06 @ 18:03
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The UT2007 developers said they have not started developing the 360 version yet but have considered it, meaning for now it is PC and PS3 exclusive.
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inpHilltr8r
30/05/06 @ 18:22
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MS don't have that much of a vested interest in HD-DVD
Actually they do. They provide the interactive layer in the format, and stand to make hefty royalties on each disc. Blu-Ray went with a Java based system instead, thus incurring the wrath of Redmond. Up until that point MS was fairly format neutral. One of their video codecs is standard on both platforms. |
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SeesThroughAll
30/05/06 @ 18:41
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Blu-Ray is TECHNOLOGICALLY SUPERIOR to HD-DVD, that's all I'm interested in. Not in Microsoft's two-faced bullshit.
"If gamers over time choose to go to HD-DVD we're going to give them the choice to do that, but we're not going to force them to buy that day one" The words of those who are shoving Vista, lame media file formats, and more DRM than Sony can think of, down everyone's throats. |
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