PS3 has become "whipping boy" for press, says Ted Price

By Tom Bramwell Published 2 July, 2007

Resistance dev responds.

Insomniac Games' Ted Price believes that PlayStation 3 has "become the whipping boy for the press" because "it's human nature to want to take down the guy on top".

It's a view that's bound to be shared by, well, some of you, who think we're unduly mean to Sony, and comes on the heels of Worldwide Studios boss Phil Harrison's claim that we shouldn't judge consoles by their launch titles.

"I think the PS3 has become the whipping boy for the press, quite honestly. I think everyone just wants to fill it full of arrows because Sony's had some pretty amazing success over the years," Price told GameDaily BIZ.

"And it's easy to overlook that it's been, I think, the fastest-selling PlayStation console. I think it's human nature to want to take down the guy on top, and Sony has definitely gotten its share of...mud [laughs] ... but it's unfortunate,"

Price feels criticism of the console personally because Resistance: Fall of Man - Insomniac's well-regarded PS3 launch title - is "synonymous" with the hardware.

In conclusion he said that the Christmas ahead "should provide a lot of unique content to players" (his emphasis), with Insomniac's own Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction "top among them".

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (114) Latest comment 5 years ago

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  • kissthestick #1 5 years ago

    its the truth, but..

  • space_ace #2 5 years ago

    oi, don't push it down, it's so heavy it'll make a mess

  • Darkedge #3 5 years ago

    it's the whipping boy mainly because of the problems (high price, massively delayed, etc).

    Think price has issues too as he feels it's rebounding badly on his title (which personally is very meh generic shooter with pretty damn poor graphics).

  • Steroyd #4 5 years ago

    He has a point, every good news the PS3 ever gets this year, seems to get countered by some bad news, to the point it's predictable and ridiculous.

    If Sony has a very good showing at E3, watch how somehow, somewhere from out of nowhere, bad PS3 news will pop up.

  • Steroyd #5 5 years ago

    Darkedge do you know Resistance sold very well regardless....

    I'm trying to suss out the "rebounding badly on his title" part because I don't get it.
    Edited by Steroyd at 02/07/07 @ 09:40

  • Dizzy #6 5 years ago

    /whip

    What a bunch of crybabies.

    Those naaastttyyyyy press people did it!

    ""And it's easy to overlook that it's been, I think, the fastest-selling PlayStation console. "

    Only in happy rainbow land.
    Edited by Dizzy at 02/07/07 @ 09:45

  • woodnotes #7 5 years ago

    Ted STFU! It's the whipping boy because of SONY. It's THEIR OWN FAULT.

    They blabbed on about how Xbox 360 was only Xbox 1.5, how the next generation starts when THEY say it does. That people will work extra hours at work to afford the ps3.

    To top it all off, they showed a load of BS pre-rendered trailers at E305.

    Seriously, it's their own fault. What did they expect? If you promise the world, you have to deliver.
    Edited by woodnotes at 02/07/07 @ 09:43

  • MaxiSleep #8 5 years ago

    Have to say I perfered resistance to gears as a single player thing. The graphics start off very wwii generic but once you get into the main bit they are very nice. And the cavern bits are spookily like gears caverns.

    Overall I liked the fact that the mobs went down with less then half a clip :)

    But as for whipping boy sony handed the whip to the press and said go to it. They really have a PR department which must dread whenever management choose to speak.

  • eurisko2k #9 5 years ago

    This type of PR bores me "they hate us cause they want to be us", "they never want the top dog to succeed" BLAH, BLAH, BLAH..

    The truth is your launch titles were shit, your machines over priced, and your screwed europe by releasing the machine 6 months late and taking away alot of the backward compatibility.

    it's your own mistakes Phil, this is why people are bad mouthing the PS3... In 12 months the PS3 has gone from being the second comming to being second fiddle, blaming your previous success for this is just double speak "bad is good, and good is bad"
    Edited by eurisko2k at 02/07/07 @ 09:49

  • jonsaan #10 5 years ago

    What the man says is true if you ask me.

  • Zomoniac #11 5 years ago

    Isn't PSP the fastest selling PlayStation console? In fact, isn't it the fastest selling console ever full stop?

  • Xerx3s #12 5 years ago

    Insomniac Games' Ted Price believes that PlayStation 3 has "become the whipping boy for the press" because "it's human nature to want to take down the guy on top".

    Except it's not at the top is it? Did roger sony give you a ring my dear man?

  • woodnotes #13 5 years ago

    Have to say I perfered resistance to gears as a single player thing. The graphics start off very wwii generic but once you get into the main bit they are very nice. And the cavern bits are spookily like gears caverns.

    Yeah, Angel's Lair is cool, but still far preferred Gears. I felt Resistance was far too repetetive, the story wasn't very immersive, but it certainly picked up nearer the end.

    But Resistance is trying to be like Halo, not Gears.

  • Dizzy #14 5 years ago

    "Isn't PSP the fastest selling PlayStation console? In fact, isn't it the fastest selling console ever full stop? "

    Nope.

  • menage #15 5 years ago

    Well. If Sony spew less half truths and other crap lies I wouldn't have a problem with Sony at all. But they're just so full of shit the past year that. I really don't care if the company bombs or not.

    They have a great machine. Shut the hell up and make some games. And don't publish another bullshit article every day about an exec or dev wallowing in his own misery. That's just the behemoth Sony PR machine.

  • onyxbox #16 5 years ago

    i like the ps3... i think the press do give it a hard time, but I also remember the press giving MS a hard time about the 360 around launch...

    you know...
    o Dodgy power supply
    o Faulty units
    o disk scratching
    o Poor sales
    o no games
    o 9 - 12 month game drought
    o lack of XBLA games
    o small storage media
    o oh it's a dreamcast 1.5

    MS have worked hard to overcome most of these issues: they now have plenty of games, it's proven that it's the right power for the price, it's selling well etc... the only thing left now is to convince people the console is reliable.

    Imagine if MS end up in a situation like Sony were in last year... imagine if MS had to recall every 360 console out there and supply a new redesigned (reliable) model.



  • Yaster #17 5 years ago

    ""Isn't PSP the fastest selling PlayStation console? In fact, isn't it the fastest selling console ever full stop? "

    Nope. "

    I heard that it is

  • Basselito #18 5 years ago

    Buhu buhuu

  • kissthestick #19 5 years ago

    psp was the fastest selling playstation launch product in Europe. PS3 2nd.

  • Dizzy #20 5 years ago

    "I heard that it is "

    Good for you.

    Fastest selling by what PR spin? First 2 hours, first 30 seconds, first 2 weeks, in Luxemburg?, ...

    Since the PSP launched together with the DS and DS has now worldwide 5 times more consoles how can it be the fastest?

    You can claim anything with PR spin statistics.
    Edited by Dizzy at 02/07/07 @ 10:06

  • peterfll #21 5 years ago

    The Ultra Super Demon 49 (c) was the best selling console of all time.

  • decibel #22 5 years ago

    Is he fucking mad?

    PS3 gets as much negative press as just about every other machine in the history of consoles, especially in the days leading up to its launch. Seems things have quietened down now, but doesn't anyone remember the furore about the Wii's name or lack of 'proper' games? What about the ongoing Microsoft failure rates?

    Perhaps our friend Ted needs to realise that, well, the PS3 has a lot of shortcomings, and that these will obviously be reported and ragged upon by the media and consumers.

    It doesn't help that they were going with insane statements like "We want people to work overtime to buy our machine" or constantly be like "The price is justified! The price is justified!" so yeah, kind of makes sense you're going to get whipped on
    right? Boo-fucking-hoo.

  • Darren #23 5 years ago

    It's so easy to criticise Sony and its PS3 though, particularly as they spent the best part of 18 months in the build up to its release being so astonishingly arrogant that even I joined in at one point!!! With the attitude they had, they deserved to fail! LOL

    It's a different story now I own the machine though and I have to say I'm delighted with it, both as a games console and BD movie player, even if the exclusive PS3 games are rarer than rocking horse sh*t!

    If anyone deserves a whipping it's not Sony - although they really need to be releasing more exclusive games for the system - no, it's Microsoft who should be hung, drawn and quartered for releasing such an shoddily built, unreliable piece of console hardware as the Xbox 360. I'm quite frankly amazed that they're still denying that there is anything wrong with the hardware when it's blatantly obvious to anyone who's on their second or more machine that there *is*!

  • homerramone #24 5 years ago

    "it's human nature to want to take down the guy on top".

    Top what ?

    Top Price ?
    Top Size ?
    Top heavy ?

    Whats on their minds :-)

  • SBfistfun #25 5 years ago

    Wow another Ratchett and clank game, how exciting....

    zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

  • Darren #26 5 years ago

    @onyxbox - Did the Xbox 360 have a "9-12 month games drought" though? I'd say it had a four month one leading up to the release of GRAW and Oblivion then suffered the usual two-three month summer games drought that all consoles have had at some point. Since the release of Dead Rising in late August 2006, it hasn't looked back though but at least Oblivion kept me busy throughout last summer!

  • menage #27 5 years ago

    HEYHEY, we were bashing Sony here, the bash MS is just around the corner:p

  • skillian #28 5 years ago

    The press (not including blogs, obv) have generally been quite reasonable when it comes to the PS3. It's gamers in general that seem to have turned on Sony.

    I think now the press are following on from their readers' lead by jumping on every negative Sony story more than they might have before.
    Edited by skillian at 02/07/07 @ 10:17

  • Beano #29 5 years ago

    Price is absolutly right - Sony and the PS3 is the whipping boy right now.

    Of course some of the "hate" is well deserved but most is just pure negative spinning from Sony/PS haters.
    For example, there's almost no mentioning the embarrising failure rate of the Xbox 360 in the media while if a Sony exec comes with a odd statement, the "haters" comes out of the woodwork and the gaming media hops aboard.
    Edited by Beano at 02/07/07 @ 10:16

  • bdc #30 5 years ago

    The one on top? LOL, it's in third place you fucking idiot.

  • AndyboyH #31 5 years ago

    @beano:

    "For example, there's almost no mentioning the embarrising failure rate of the Xbox 360 in the media"

    [link url=http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=78690
    ]http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?art...[/link]

    [link url=http://kotaku.com/gaming/microsoft/my-360-just-died-262033.php
    ]http://kotaku.com/gaming/microsoft/my-36...[/link]

    [link url=http://www.joystiq.com/2007/05/08/moore-dont-focus-on-xbox-360-failure-focus-on-repair/
    ]http://www.joystiq.com/2007/05/08/moore-...[/link]

    That's like saying there's been almost no reports on global warming on the news since 1980.

  • teabagger #32 5 years ago

    Though Sony have done many things wrong, and spent much of the past year or two with both feet in its mouth I think the guy has got a point.

  • kangarootoo #33 5 years ago

    Unfahionable as this may be, I tend to agree with his two key points.

    1. People tend to support the underdogs.
    Clearly he is not talking about this generation (as some here seem to suggest), as it has barely begun. The PS1 was extremely successful for a first effort, abd the PS2 pretty much fired a cannon into the console market (I forget the numbers, but we all know the scale of the PS2 market put everything else to shame), which puts Sony's "next effort" dead centre in the firing line.

    Its why everyone hates MS in the OS market so much and loves Apple (of course we say its all about the software and in part it is, but the degree of venom really comes from MS being the market leader, and therefore the target of choice).

    2. Don't judge a console by its launch list.
    We ALWAYS seem to forget that the list of launch titles sucks every single time. I have a 360 and I think its a great console, and it now has lots of great games, but the launch list when it first came out SUCKED ASS. Depending on your preference there was basically PGR3 or PDZ, plus a few titles hoving about in the shadows. While we are on the subject, the title list for the Wii is still bloody awful (sorry, but you know its the truth) but no-one seems to mind too much about that (reason being, see point 1).

    Now the 360 has been around for a while, so those with an axe to grind can conveniently compare the list games of available directly as if that means something. When the 360 first launched, if you had compared its list of titles with that of the PS2 you would have surely concluded the 360 was total shite and had no future, right? Or perhaps you would have been unwise to do so...

  • Les #34 5 years ago

    "Price is absolutly right - Sony and the PS3 is the whipping boy right now.

    Of course some of the "hate" is well deserved but most is just pure negative spinning from Sony/PS haters."

    Price is definitely right. But I doubt this has much of an impact on sales. I mean, the haters and the people that read what the haters write on the internet are the typical hardcore gaming nerds. Not exactly the demographic that’ll make or break PS3.

    Right now price and lack of games are what keeps the more casual gamer from getting a PS3 which isn’t that uncommon in the first couple of months after launch of any console.

  • smoothn00dle #35 5 years ago

    an iphone cost a freaking 565 US dollars, 25 dollars less than an PS3. No press complain that the price is too high except Steven Ballmer.. It is just a fone with Apple logo on it. NO bluRay/DVD player, No Cellchip, No harddisc.. PS3 price on people's mind because there is a serious dis-Info campaign on it.

  • Darkedge #36 5 years ago

    Yes I have played resistance and motorstorm. I though both of them were distinctly below par.

    Sorry.

    Oh and the iphone is the biggest ripoff in history but you say the word Mac and normally sensible intelligent people lose their minds for no good reason.

  • Zomoniac #37 5 years ago

    Fastest selling by what PR spin? First 2 hours, first 30 seconds, first 2 weeks, in Luxemburg?, ...

    24 hours is the usual, I believe.

    Since the PSP launched together with the DS and DS has now worldwide 5 times more consoles how can it be the fastest?

    That's because sales of PSP dramatically tailed off shortly after launch, whereas DS exploded when Brain Training, Animal Crossing and Nintendogs showed up, over a year after the initial console came out. There are six zillion iPods in the world but in the first year they only sold about 15 of them, it was just about the slowest selling mp3 player ever.

  • zuljin #38 5 years ago

    @Kanga
    Decided to read all comments first before posting, thanks for reading my mind.

    :)

  • Les #39 5 years ago

    "PS3 price on people's mind because there is a serious dis-Info campaign on it."

    Or maybe because people right now just don't care about its features. There's no arguing that for what's in the box, PS3 is quite cheap. But it's still € 600 and if most of those expensive options aren't required by the average consumer, they'll not buy it. Same goes for 360.

    As I see it, PS3 and 360 are too little of an improvement upon PS2/Xbox. Gameplay-wise they offer nothing new. IMO the success of the Wii is not just about the price but also because it offers something clearly different compared to the last gen consoles.

  • onyxbox #40 5 years ago

    @Darren - I bought my 360 when Oblivion launched (still working!) but I remember there wasn't much around for it for a long time. It's only recently that I feel like there's been an explosion of games for 360.

    Perhaps it wasn't a total drought just one similar to the one PS3 is having.

  • kaosridder #41 5 years ago

    two hdmi-ports, 120 fps/1080p, "HD gaming begins when we say it does" etc.
    Sony Can blame only one. Sony. Arrogant pricks.

  • Pooley #42 5 years ago

    I thought Resistance was great fun. It's one of the few games that I've started to play through again. The recent patches have also extended it's value.

    But Price is right, it's easy to knock Sony. I think they're getting better at communicating with PS owners, their official blog is a good start. ThreeSpeech does as much to harm Sony as it does to support them sometimes. IMO.

    @ peterfll
    The Ultra Super Demon 49 (c), where can I get one of these from? ;-)

  • ProtoformX #43 5 years ago

    Sony's problem is that they're too arrogant. The made claims like HD gaming not beginning until they said it did and how 1080p was "true" HD. Yeah sure, they're a huge company but selling a videogame console seems quite different to selling a TV or a Hi-Fi, IMO. But hey, Microsoft are also still getting substancial negative press and forum discussion regarding the failure rate of Xbox 360 consoles. It's not all on Sony.

  • Weezer #44 5 years ago

    Love the term 'fastest selling'. What bonkers metric is that? 'We sold 100% of three consoles in 0.001 second.'

    Surely the Wii is now the fastest selling - and has been for months?

    'PS3: The world's blackest games machine'. That one works...

  • moggsy #45 5 years ago

    I think that the PS3 has got off very lightly in the press. It's high price (due to blatantly bad design decisions) and Sony's great arrogance have done it absolutely no favours.

    It's not going to hit it's stride until it has an RRP of £299 and has several must have games. I predict this to happen in late 2008 or early 2009. Lets hope Sony haven't already bankrupted themselves by that point ;-)

  • eurisko2k #46 5 years ago

    "an iphone cost a freaking 565 US dollars, 25 dollars less than an PS3. No press complain that the price is too high except Steven Ballmer.. It is just a fone with Apple logo on it. NO bluRay/DVD player, No Cellchip, No harddisc.. PS3 price on people's mind because there is a serious dis-Info campaign on it. "

    Yeah and if you buy an Iphone at that price, your still a friggin idiot

  • septimus #47 5 years ago

    The console that deserves the negative press is the Wii.

    I wish they would focus on how much it and its line-up (inc. future) sucks.

    I'm even tempted to buy Resi Evil 4, again, even though I've played it on GC, PS2 and PC.. completed it at least 6 times. Just because there is f**k all else to turn the machine on for.

    PS3's line up sucks right now, but at least the future looks bright, and until then there are at least some good games, especially Super Stardust HD etc.

  • Dizzy #48 5 years ago

    Whipping boy and shiny black...

    The gimp?

    "Zed: Bring out the Gimp.
    Maynard: But the Gimp's sleeping.
    Zed: Well, I guess you're gonna have to go wake him up now, won't you?"
    Edited by Dizzy at 02/07/07 @ 11:26

  • miiiguel #49 5 years ago

    ypu guys seem to miss one point, 360 failure rate is not that much of a big deal, because kids buy another one if the previous fails, waaaaay faster than spend their parents money on a useless pape weight. I know what I'm talking about, I know quite a few cases.
    Why? Because, as the PS2 the fricking machine has amazing games and (unlike PS) Live system - who cares what's under the hood? Forget that HW specs and shit, that's bollocks, give us the games.

    Bright future? you seem like you're buying a house or a car, damn it's a gaming system, the future is now.
    Edited by miiiguel at 02/07/07 @ 11:28

  • skillian #50 5 years ago

    Yeah and if you buy an Iphone at that price, your still a friggin idiot

    The point is, there hasn't been a year long hate campaign against the price of the iPhone. And surely no one is as arrogant as Apple/Steve Jobs.

    I might get flamed for this, but I think it's because the iPhone has a mainly adult audience. PS3's press problem is fuelled by kids who own a PS2 but can't get hold of a PS3 because of the price.

    I know that sounds condescending, and I'm not saying if you can't afford a PS3 you must be a 14 yr old, but that is a huge hurdle for them to overcome, especially when it comes to "smack-talk" on the internet.
    Edited by skillian at 02/07/07 @ 11:28

  • miiiguel #51 5 years ago

    skillian: why should kids (or anyone) buy a PS3 now? to play what?, ok, ok, they might want to have a "bright future"...

    And I talk against myself, I bought one, sold it for less 50Eur, last month. Sometimes I think I should ditched the 360 instead, I might have quit video-gaming, and you know..., go to the beach, stare at the sea (with a gun in my hand)...
    Edited by miiiguel at 02/07/07 @ 11:37

  • sharpfish #52 5 years ago

    No, it's the 'whipping boy' cos Phil and Ken are complete cocks, and the Hardware was way overhyped and way underdelivered (and was stupidly priced too, esp with missing basic features like 'rumble').

    I'm sure a year from now it will be doing very well for itself if it has at least £150 off the price, some decent games, and a controller that doesn't feel like you are holding a cheap lightweight toy.

  • zuljin #53 5 years ago

    Hey Miiiguel, you realise noone here is stopping you right?

    ;)

  • m0thr4 #54 5 years ago

    Look, I own a PlayStation3, and no other games console, but...

    "it's human nature to want to take down the guy on top".

    How could this possibly apply to the PS3? I think he's just sore because Resistance: Fall of Man was so terribly underwhelming and the rest of the PS3 catalogue is comprised of piss-poor Xbox 360 ports.

    I'm optimistic about the future of the PS3, but I think it deserves all of the recent criticism in the press.

  • miiiguel #55 5 years ago

    zuljin: was just a line from "killing an arab" ;)

  • MBar #56 5 years ago

    Erm, it's not the games range (or lack of or whatever) that's drawing the PS3 bad press.

    It's the shocking anti-European hardware changes, the ridiculous delays, the stupid and pointless marketing campaigns and Sony's straight-up aggrogance that they can keep doing this kind of shit and get away with it.

    And then we can start talking about the games, which frankly are distinctly unimpressive so far, and far too few in number.

    Sony deserve more of a whipping, IMO, maybe they'll learn to stop being a bunch of cockwanks.

  • onyxbox #57 5 years ago

    @MBar - chill-out dude it's only Monday :-)

  • miiiguel #58 5 years ago

    I wonder what would be like to play something like DiRT without rumble?

  • konniehuqfan #59 5 years ago

    sony need to give away a free supermodel with every ps3.

  • onyxbox #60 5 years ago

    i just realised the Ninja Gaiden ad on this thread...hmm... start a flame war and advertise a new game.

    did Sony pay extra for that option EG?

    :-)
    Edited by onyxbox at 02/07/07 @ 12:17

  • RandolphScott #61 5 years ago

    Can people please try and understand what he's trying to say before criticising him.

    He is suggesting that Sony is the "guy at the top" because they "had some pretty amazing success over the years" not because the PS3 is the best/fastest selling console/biggest install base whatever.

    Now let the vitriol commence...on 3.

  • Darren #62 5 years ago

    Miiiguel - "I wonder what would be like to play something like DiRT without rumble?"

    ... and without v-sync tearing maybe... well you never know? ;)

  • miiiguel #63 5 years ago

    what's v-sync tearing ?

  • Rirekon #64 5 years ago

    It's the "whipping boy" because Sony execs don't know when to shut the hell up and instead make stupid comments which piss of their target audience.
    ie. "People would buy it at twice the price with no games" (or similar)

  • onyxbox #65 5 years ago

    what's v-sync tearing ?

    just play Perfect Dark Zero at 60Hz and you'll soon find out.

  • Darren #66 5 years ago

    Better still play Colin McRae DiRT, Saints Row unpatched or Splinter Cell: Double Agent on the 360; those three are worst offenders for tearing by far. At least, Saint Rows was fixed (assuming you enabled v-sync in the options).

  • WiseNail #67 5 years ago

    The money for my PS3 is still sitting in my bank account, and I can't see anything coming between now and Christmas (which wont also be available on the 360) which will make me splash the cash. Haze is going to the 360 at some point, and Heavenly Sword looks great but not enough to invest about £440.

    Trouble is I've still only got Zelda and Sports for the Wii, and can't see much other than Metroid on the radar for it either. Here's hoping my 360 hangs on in there...

  • Kami #68 5 years ago

    Wow Skillian... just no.

    Yeah, the iPhone is expensive. Anyone with half a braincell can tell you that and I'm sure 90% of people buying them will also tell you that (though I'd wager most of those left screaming, "eBay! eBay!";). But, here's the thing, it's the latest little fashion accessory. It's small, dinky, cute and it's a sort of status thing. They can carry it around and show people what they have.

    PS3 isn't like that, it sits in your house and people only see it if you invite them round. It's an entirely different kettle of fish.

    PS3 is definitely not THAT expensive. But when you have two rivals - one who is matching you for quality and one which is kicking you in the head over and over despite not being as capable as you... well. Sony can't afford bad PR, or to sound too smug. But they do it. Time and time again.

    Yeah, PS3 isn't a terrible machine. Whether it is good or not doesn't matter though if its competitiors have a lot more content and support, and generally seem more popular. PS3 will get there, but it's going to take time. So Sony have to be prepared to grin and bear it and not sound bitter.

  • Darren #69 5 years ago

    I thnik the big problem with the PS3 is that having come out a year after the Xbox 360, it seems to be playing catch up with many of the 360's best games only just been released on the PS3, e.g. Rainbow Six Vegas. It doesn't help that multiformat releases like DiRT and The Darkness are being delayed over here either although you could always import the latter as the games are region-free. I suspect that GTA IV could be a turning point for the PS3... it might be available on the 360 as well but I suspect many PS2 owners will see that game as a good a reason as any to finally upgrade.

  • moggsy #70 5 years ago

    I suspect that GTA IV could be a turning point for the PS3... it might be available on the 360 as well but I suspect many PS2 owners will see that game as a good a reason as any to finally upgrade.

    Not for £425 + the cost of the game they won't! They could alternatively buy an Xbox 360 Core for £200 + the cost of the game and play the SAME game. If PS2 owners are going to upgrade at that point it'll be to an Xbox 360, not a PS3.

  • drumbaby #71 5 years ago

    Sony didn't coin the phrase 'true HD' for 1080p. They've certainly used it, but they didn't invent it.

    So, how is that arrogant if its already an accepted phrase in AV circles?

  • Darren #72 5 years ago

    @Moggsy - I'm betting that the price of the PS3 will drop to £299 prior to the launch of GTA IV. An early price drop is inevitable really and what better time to have one then just before the release of what will surely be the biggest selling game this year?

  • MightyMouse #73 5 years ago

    I'd agree with him to a certain extent, but I think he's being too diplomatic in blaming the press, a large proportion of which have taken a balanced view. The real 'bad press' comes from the people on forums and word of mouth, fuelled by microsoft pr, and because it's informal this press doesn't have to worry about such things as facts.

  • Gurgeh #74 5 years ago

    80% of US homes that have a console with movie playback capability
    13% actually use it
    30% even realize that they have that ability

    [link url=http://www.thediffusiongroup.com/The-Multimedia-Future-of-Next-Gen-Game-Consoles-Remains-Uncertain.htm
    ]http://www.thediffusiongroup.com/The-Mul...[/link]

  • spongebob #75 5 years ago

    I've always found it funny how most press choose what they champion and what they don't. And more often than not, it seems to be the case of following the general trend of writing. It's evident especially in the music press, where some chosen bands are hyped over and over again. Sometimes it feels like there's a meeting of music journos every month where they decide what's going to be the next big thing. And of course many times the decision has little to do with how good the bands really or if they are any better than some others.

    With PS3 coverage and console coverage in whole I think it's funny how things get exaggarated. As a reader and consumer it's easy to chime in to these battles as long as you don't own the machines yourself. When you do and when you experience them yourself, most of the news just seem out of place. If you just concentrate on playing the games, all the mud throwing seems like noise that has nothing to do with the reality of sitting down and enjoying videogames.

    All in all, most of the analyst talk, rumors, opinions by industry big wigs and other similar gaming news have meaning to fanboys, stock market and industry people. It's just too bad that the press really has a lot of power and when they decide to "whip" something, it does eventually affect even the reality of people who don't even read any games media.

    Of course there's good outcome to press "whipping" as well since it puts pressure on the big corporations. Without any of the critical news writing Nintendo would probably be even lazier with the European games release dates, PS3 wouldn't have as good firmware updates as it does now and MS would have easier time handling the Red Ring scandal.

    Still there has been times in the past year when it really felt like any bad PS3 news, no matter how stupid, would be posted everywhere. Mostly because it seemed to be the "it" thing, which readers loved. There's certainly too much scandal style journalism in the games media, even outside the blog press.

  • Darkedge #76 5 years ago

    nahh haven't completed it because i found it dull to start with. Seen loads of screens and still it doesn't look much better that what the original xbox could do and nowhere in the league of Gears for example.

  • Les #77 5 years ago

    "There's certainly too much scandal style journalism in the games media, even outside the blog press."

    +1

    Like I said elsewhere, the gaming press is quite immature IMO when compared to the press of other media. Games don't have the same 'social standing' as books, movies or music and that might discourage the biggest journalistic talent from a career in gaming journalism.

  • Gurgeh #78 5 years ago

    OK here's the daily bad PS3 press

    "As you can see, every company making a football game this year made a decision that the best experience for the Xbox 360 included 60fps whereas the best experience for the PS3 was 30fps. We certainly believe that both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions are our football products are outstanding experiences and recommend that each gamer look at the entire experience, not just one aspect"

    - Todd Sitrin, vice president of marketing sports branding at EA (talking gridiron football btw)

  • zuljin #79 5 years ago

    @Darren
    "I'm betting that the price of the PS3 will drop to £299 prior to the launch of GTA IV."
    Even though I'd like it to, I'll eat my (albeit edible) hat if it drops to £299. I'm thinking more round about 350. 125 pounds off RRP in one slash is pretty hefty.

    @Gurgeh
    Surely those statistics are only due to the elderly generation buying a Wii and not knowing it plays DVDs ;)

  • Les #80 5 years ago

    “Not for £425 + the cost of the game they won't! They could alternatively buy an Xbox 360 Core for £200 + the cost of the game and play the SAME game.”

    Depends on their other gaming tastes. You see simplified reasoning like this all the time on Eurogamer. Let me explain with an example:

    Scenario 1) You want to play Oblivion on a console right now so you can choose between the 360 and the PS3. If you don’t care about any future game (and aren’t too risk averse), then right now the 360 is your best bet: It’s the cheapest machine and it’s got more software available right now.

    Scenario 2) You want to play Oblivion on a console right now. The other console title you’re looking forward to most is Halo 3. The 360 is the only option. You now have to decide whether you think what the 360 offers is worth your € 400.

    Scenario 3) You want to play Oblivion on a console right now. The other console title you’re looking forward to most is Singstar PS3. The PS3 is the only option. You now have to decide whether you think what the PS3 offers is worth your € 600.

    As you can see, only in the first scenario does it make sense to compare the PS3 and 360 on price. As soon as you factor in any console exclusives, the price only plays a role when determining whether to buy now or to wait.

  • Kenshin001 #81 5 years ago

    @RandolphScott.

    Bingo. When Price said "it's human nature to want to take down the guy on top", he wasn't talking about the PS3, he was talking about Sony's history of dominance of the console market with the Playstation brand. It seems some readers failed at comprehension.

    Generally the gaming media like Joystiq and Kotaku have been pretty piss poor when it comes to the PS3, lots of FUD and Sony baiting up to and on its release. Examples:

    PlayStation 3 won't play used games? - Joystiq

    Rumor: PS3 hardware "slow and broken"? - Joystiq

    Rumor: PS3 Riddled With Issues, Delay Likely? - Kotaku

    Since then they've made a concerted effort to take quotes out of context and blow small things out of proportion to satiate the hysteria of the "PS3 sux" crowd, slyly, in a kind of wink, wink, nudge, nudge sort of way. Really the only thing Sony can do is release a bunch of awesome games and let the console speak for itself. As the consumer base grows the Sony bashing media will be shooting themselves in the foot and alienating their readers every time they slag off the console people have invested their hard earned money in.

  • angstmann #82 5 years ago

    @Les

    +1 to you my friend. Totally agree with your last point there about the decisions people make when buying a console (or any product of a similar type).

    Personally I'd be upset if any of the current gen of consoles go to the dogs, as I own all of them!

  • Xerx3s #83 5 years ago

    I think people are confusing things here. The ps3 is an excellent piece of kit, be it a bit pricey. I don't think the press or gamers in general are attacking the ps3. People are attacking the shear arrogance and way sony thinks they can treat their customers. Gamers and press alike still haven't forgotten things like 'aiwfciapsp'.

    What sony needs to do is quit whining (like this through their dev teams) and get off their arses. The only ones who are to blame are they themselves and the only ones who can fix it are they themselves. They created their image problem with their arrogance and now their fine product is facing the consequences for it.

  • Virvel #84 5 years ago

    PS3 is the whipping boy of the GAMING PRESS yes, but not the general press. The general press is just Playstation and Nintendo.

    97 % of the so called bad publication articles on PS3 never reaches the general press. And even if the bad Sony news reaches the general press, its like "Oh well, this fantastic machine has some flaws, but it is still fantastic beyond belief!!..".

    REMEMBER GUYS, if you are on these forums or read gaming news, you are a member of that 1% or maybe 3% niche of gamers that are "hardcore". You are all geeks and mentals, and your opinions and the stuff you read is insignificant to the big picture.

    If you have never thought about these things, like the fact that you are part of a small gang of geeky gamers, you should be ashamed of yourself.

  • moggsy #85 5 years ago

    @les

    I was responding to the comment that GTA IV will make PS2 owners buy a PS3. My point was that I suspect that instead they will buy a 360 core at half the price to play the same game.

    In my opinion the 360 core is far more of an impulse purchase than the PS3 is at the moment and so when a game is released that is a 'must have' then people are more likely to go for the more affordable option aren't they?

    @Darren

    While a price point of £299 in September would be excellent I suspect it's too soon for such a cut. Maybe by the time the next version of GTA is released in a couple of years time the PS3 will have settled at this price point.
    Edited by moggsy at 02/07/07 @ 17:06

  • Darren #86 5 years ago

    Most places sell the PS3 for £399 now and it's not unheard of for a console's price to drop £100 within a few months of launch... have you guys forgotten the N64, Xbox and PS2? ;)

    Sony have already hinted at the PS3's production costs falling what with cheaper BD parts and a part software, part hardware emulator so I'm absolutely certain the price *will* drop before Christmas. So will the Xbox 360's but that's long overdue really...

  • onyxbox #87 5 years ago

    REMEMBER GUYS, if you are on these forums or read gaming news, you are a member of that 1% or maybe 3% niche of gamers that are "hardcore". You are all geeks and mentals, and your opinions and the stuff you read is insignificant to the big picture.

    I totally agree.

    We 'hardcore' bicker about the slight dip in frame rate here and the odd bit of better bumpmapping there and argue the success and/or the demise of a console based on this but as Virvel points out... General public couldn't give a shit about any of the things we care about.

    My wife can see the graphics are 'a bit better on 360/PS3' than the Wii but as she puts it... 'it still looks like a computer game' and you know what... she's right and people like me need to move on... get a life and just play the f'ing games and enjoy them for what they are whatever the platform. Not study their rendering engines, or 7.1 sound like some autopsy to decide which platform will OWN!

  • bioreit #88 5 years ago

    Kenshin001

    And here I was, thinking that Eurogamer was my sanctuary away from you and your FUD about Kotaku's FUD.

    Damn. Need to start looking for another games site now.

  • ronuds #89 5 years ago

    I don't care what the PS3 has under the hood - it's too expensive for a games console. Not to mention that half of its specs are uneccessary.

    I believe Sony deserves everything they've gotten. They've been arrogant and annoying the whole time leading up to the release of the PS3. They've certainly had to eat a large slice of humble pie and they deserved to. You can't promise the world and deliver hardly any of it and expect people to let you off these days.

    Where's my "Live Killer"? Where are my "killer exclusives"? Where is "teh power of teh cell"? Where's the advantage of blu-ray? How is it proven the PS3 is the most powerful and why do I have to keep hearing about it? How has it been proven that the PS3 is worth more money than the Wii or 360? It has been nearly a year and we've yet to see a shred of evidence that the PS3 is even a necessary contender in this war.

    In other words - where are 99% of the things Sony promised? THAT's why they get bashed. Don't tell your customers one thing and deliver something not even close and expect us to just shut up and not bitch about it. And God I can't tell you how tired I am of hearing Phil Harrison talk about how the PS3 is the most powerful yet devs don't know how to unlock it. Just prove it and stop talking about it already.

    Like, a Ferrari is fast than a Honda and I know this because it can prove so.

  • Les #90 5 years ago

    @moggsy

    In case they only care about GTA IV (my scenario 1) you're right and I agree with you.

    With regards to impulse buying, € 400 is much too high as well and (just with regards to impulse buyers) the € 200 difference between 360 and PS3 is irrelevant. So I don’t think there are many people that will consider buying a 360 or PS3 for just one game.

  • Les #91 5 years ago

    "You can't promise the world and deliver hardly any of it and expect people to let you off these days."

    Personally, I don't understand why people get upset by companies over-promising and under-delivering. That’s called marketing. I can’t be bothered by all that bullshit. If a product does what I expect of it and it’s available at a price that I am willing to pay for it, I’ll buy it. Even if it turns out it does only 1% of what the company promised in the past, as long as that 1% fulfils my requirements, why wouldn’t I?

  • miiiguel #92 5 years ago

    over-promising and under-delivering = lies

    lies != good

  • ronuds #93 5 years ago

    @Les

    I agree that you are going to hear lies from companies and you have to make your own decisions... no doubt about that. Ninty and MS are certainly no saints either if that's all you're going to focus on. But I think even Ninty and MS are 100% more trustworthy than Sony at this point. Sony will say anything to get you to buy a PS3. "You want it to drive you to the station? Sure.... ummmm.... yeah... it'll do that! Give us your money!"

    The point being when is it too much? This is where I think Sony crossed the line. They've lied to the point where they're not trusted by a large portion of the gaming community. If someone were to purchase a PS3 based on what they had been told by Sony - because not everyone does enough research to realize when they're hearing nonsense and the truth - these people would be gravely disappointed in the product they received as opposed to the product they thought they were supposed to receive based on Sony's lies.

    Not good for business... not good for customers.
    Edited by ronuds at 02/07/07 @ 17:51

  • G-Money #94 5 years ago

    "I might get flamed for this, but I think it's because the iPhone has a mainly adult audience. PS3's press problem is fuelled by kids who own a PS2 but can't get hold of a PS3 because of the price. "

    I dunno guys, i think theres some people on here attributing way to much significance to price. I have a background in marketing and imho Sony is being pretty shrewd in their strategy. There is a well defined demographic of people out there that will consistently gravitate towards a quality offering over a 'bang for buck' product such as the 360. The sort of people who buy an Audi over a Vauxhall VXR, Clearly 0-60 mph is not the primary consideration..... Sony know there is a growing market in 20-30 yr olds with significant amounts of disposable income and to these people a high price is actually a snare for their weighty wallets and equally weighty egos. Quality Brands are not built by immediatly switching to appeal to lowest common denominator (ahem,..MS), rather the product should speak for itself on ALL levels; such as the ON/OFF switch on PS3, which serves to remind every owner where their money went, and the constant wurring noise from the 360 which has a similar effect on it's advocates.

    Its a lifestyle choice for a lot of people and big mistake to assume Sony is suddenly going to nail MS in the nuts buy dropping their price. The 360 serves a very useful purpose (to MS!) in satisfying demand from a wider more price sensitive market but volume and margin have a complicated relationship and I wouldn't bet against Sony having got their calculators out a while back......

  • Les #95 5 years ago

    "If someone were to purchase a PS3 based on what they had been told by Sony - because not everyone does enough research to realize when they're hearing nonsense and the truth - these people would be gravely disappointed in the product they received as opposed to the product they thought they were supposed to receive based on Sony's lies."

    Fair point, but what exactly did Sony promise about PS3 that they didn't deliver without making it public before it's release?

  • miiiguel #96 5 years ago

    G-Money : sure lifestyle, and those esoteric issues (well we might take a photo of it and show to our friends, but, but: what about the games???!!!, it is a gaming system, isn't it?, or just "a pricy thing" ?
    Edited by miiiguel at 02/07/07 @ 18:43

  • muftak #97 5 years ago

    @miiiguel

    Loads of games to choose from 50 inc psn titles (what this comes down to is the 360 which had a year extra on sony has more titles to choose from so far and a lot more having alrdy started on lead development this will change)

    here's a few of my favs so far
    R:FOM (totally underrated)
    F1 Championship edition (again shite review on here cause the guy didn't like F1 makes you wonder what journalist school they went to on here probably none)
    motor storm ( another underrated title)

    With HS and lair coming this year ooh and sing star it will be a great year

  • G-Money #98 5 years ago

    Another advantage of targeting a more mature market, they (I/we) know the games WILL come and don't necessarily demand the instant gratification the 360 admittedly provides. Its a more thoughful purchase in my mind..... I don't want to go down the whole 'BluRay built in already' path but the old (marketing) adage of "buy once and buy right" certainly comes to mind.

  • ronuds #99 5 years ago

    "Fair point, but what exactly did Sony promise about PS3 that they didn't deliver without making it public before it's release?"

    I suppose I can go to the web and get a bullet-by-bullet list of what Sony hasn't delivered on, but I'd say the main "lie" they propogated was just that with a PS3 you'd get "more and better" than what you would with the other consoles. Not just more and better in a general sense, but a very literal one.

    Sony truly had people thinking the PS3 would bring an experience to gamers never had before on any other console. That the PS3 could do things that the 360 and Wii couldn't even dream of. Simply put, that is hardly the case - and if anything at this point it is a worse experience. "The next gen doesn't start until we say it does" type of thing. Turns out, the next gen started a year before Sony said it did... MS just wasn't waiting around for them to say it.

  • Les #100 5 years ago

    "I'd say the main "lie" they propogated was just that with a PS3 you'd get "more and better" than what you would with the other consoles."

    That's as much a 'lie' as the 'lucid dream' one to market the 360 was. How one experiences the piece of hardware and the software on it is completely subjective and these kind of statements can't be called lies. It's just marketing hyperbole. People that believe that shit aren't smart enough to notice they've been fooled once they get the product.

    Literally, you do get more (wifi, BluRay) for more money. As for better, software-wise again is quite subjective, build quality a little less so.

    "Turns out, the next gen started a year before Sony said it did... MS just wasn't waiting around for them to say it."

    Literally, it started with 360 (as they were the first to release a console after the previous generation). Gameplay-wise (as in taking gaming to where it hadn't gone before) it started with Wii.

  • Shadar #101 5 years ago

    This is the kind of shit that makes the games industry look silly, immature and stupid. When did you last hear of a movie director or a studio exec bitching to the press about how it's being unfair to their products? They don't! They realize that when they fail to capture the market, it's because ... wait for it ... the market has spoken, and it didn't particularly want their fucking product!

    Guess people in the games industry have yet to reach that kind of understanding of the market they operate in: It's not the press' role to fawn over products. It's their role to report on them, and give their opinion of them. In the PS3's case, and in Sony's case, the press has been reporting on plenty of hilarious press statements, obvious internal struggles over the direction of the PS3, the completely unrealistic pricing policy, the poor launch titles and the overall lack of focus in the offering.

    So suck it up, boys. And just make something that actually appeals to the market the next time, instead of actively blaming it for rejecting your half-baked efforts. You're not getting a single iota of sympathy from me.

  • onyxbox #102 5 years ago

    Les is right on the money IMO.

    And G-Money has a good point, looking at Stuff magazine the PS3 is definatley positioned that way. In these gadget magazines the 360 is the poor mans next gen console and this is why MS are trying to address this image by releasing the 'more expensive' elite.

    The feature set of the Elite just doesn't warrent the cost hike but as G-Monkey explains... that's not the point.
    Edited by onyxbox at 02/07/07 @ 20:04

  • penguin_overlord #103 5 years ago

    The PS3 gets the knocking that it does because Sony is still the market leader in the games industry. True, Nintendo are outselling Sony now but Playstations far out-number any other console and many PS2 games even today sell more worldwide than games for any other console.
    Edited by penguin_overlord at 02/07/07 @ 20:33

  • dredd97 #104 5 years ago

    'Ted Price, so far up sony's ass. sooooooooo far.'

    probably because he works for them you noob..

  • dredd97 #105 5 years ago

    expect a ps3 price cut to be announced at e3 (but it will be for north america only) :(

    $299 dollars me thinks, just to push the sales a bit...

  • penguin_overlord #106 5 years ago

    @dredd97

    The PS3 is currently $600 dollars in the US so there's no chance they'll halve the price. Even the Xbox 360 is $399 and the Wii is $350. There's no doubt that a price of $299 would see the sales rocket but Sony would lose too much money for it to be practical.

    I think they'll drop the price in the US to $450, forcing Microsoft to drop to $299.

    I definitely think Sony will drop the price of the PS3 in the UK and the rest of Europe as well as this market is important to them. A drop to £349 seems reasonable.

  • QotSAfan #107 5 years ago

    Even from these comments i think the guy in the article is proven right. People complaining about poor launch games. Who the hell complains about launch games? You always get one or two good games and then the rest suck. Halo for the xbox, crash bandicoot for the ps1, Ratchet and Clank for the ps2, Call of Duty 2 for the xbox 360, Wii sports or zelda for the Wii and Resistance and Motorstorm for the ps3.

    A lot of the bad press is due to the immaturity and the poor quality of games journalism. Games journalism is worse than music journalism and that is saying a lot. Reading up on some articles on upcoming games on Gamespot or IGN, you see that the journilist express his opnion. Granted, its okay to express your opnion but you shouldnt have the whole article stinking of it. Not like "Sony said: "We believe in the power of the ps3 to deliver the next gen" And from what we saw of the ps3 and its brillant boomerang controller, it looks like they are right.", every third line you read. That just builds up unnessacary hype. At the moment games journalism is hyping up consoles and then they bandwagon and write bad articles about what they previously hyped. What other type of journalist does that or believes what a PR department has to say? There needs to be more profesionalism in the industry. More facts, more focus on what is good and what is bad(which you rarely see nowadays, read any gears of war review "OMG GRAPHICS".), no more stupid quotations every five lines, no more taking everything out of context and more solid reviews. Instead of a average game being a 7 and terrible games being a 5. Games journalism is tabloid journalism. Jumping at everything said so as to get the main headline and grab more exclusive stories. Currently i only get my gaming news from two places teletext and eurogamer.

    Also, id only expect a price drop in North America as thats the only place where the ps3 is performing "badly". The game boy nearly outsold it. Also, why the hell do microsoft still sell their core system?

  • QotSAfan #108 5 years ago

    Damn, i kept on having to correct that while typing. Must have missed one. Aw well, coinage ftw!

  • 3william56 #109 5 years ago

    Aren't you lot tied of this cr*p yet?
    I certainly am.

  • Avaloner #110 5 years ago

    While I am one who criticized Sony quite openly this generation and went for a 360 this time around, I would be the first to say that I do not want Sony to fail. In fact in a couple of years time when (or rather if) they release a slim version of the console, I will be the first one to get it at a reduced price.

  • spongebob #111 5 years ago

    QotSAfan, you and I share the exact same opinion about game journalism. You're great.

  • moggsy #112 5 years ago

    I dunno guys, i think theres some people on here attributing way to much significance to price. I have a background in marketing and imho Sony is being pretty shrewd in their strategy. There is a well defined demographic of people out there that will consistently gravitate towards a quality offering over a 'bang for buck' product such as the 360. The sort of people who buy an Audi over a Vauxhall VXR, Clearly 0-60 mph is not the primary consideration

    You can't compare the car market to the console market.

    Audi make a profit on every car they sell. Because they are a premium car manufacturer they make more profit on each car than say Ford do and so do not need to sell as many cars. They then also make money on servicing and parts, which again is more expensive than Ford and so more money is made from less cars.

    Sony make a loss on each console made and have to cover this loss and make a profit by selling games. The fewer consoles they sell the fewer games are purchased. The fewer games purchased also means third party publishers will release less games on the format, and will certainly less likely to entertain releasing exclusive titles.

    The console market is all about getting as many units into people's homes as possible. The current price is incompatible with this strategy and is not a sustainable business model.

    So, the last thing Sony needs is for the PS3 to be a desirable bit of kit that is out of reach of your average punter, but that is exactly what it is at the moment.

  • moggsy #113 5 years ago

    Also, why the hell do microsoft still sell their core system?

    Because it allows a low price of entry to the world of HD gaming.

  • G-Money #114 5 years ago

    Granted moggsy, but you've missed my point a little. I wasn't comparing the car industry with the games industry. Read again, i'm using the car industry to illustrate the presence of two clear consumer groups (the former being of growing importance in a 'bling bling' society).

    I agree with your comments RE unit sales intirely. But the market Sony is after is more than large enough (and growing) to sustain mucho growth. The 'average punter' will get his day when the price does come down and by then Sony will have already created a great deal of allure through the premium positioning. Until then Sony is gaining yet more of a foothold in a hugely valuable market within which it can promote it's next relatively expensive product.
    Edited by G-Money at 03/07/07 @ 18:44