Wandered into Game saw PS3...

Moojuice

Wandered into Game saw PS3......thought "hmm it looks ok" nothing to blow my mind. Might have considered it if the price was not so stupidly high. I know loads has been posted about price etc etc, but someone sent me this link to the Australian Launch, attended by Sony people

http://kotaku.com/gaming/ps3-launch/australian-ps3-launch-shindig-246437.php

I almost feel sorry for Sony, almost.......

From what I saw in Game this morning (Dawson Street) it was possible to buy one without having pre-booked them.

Ill give it a year or two and pick one up when the price drops by a few hundred euro.

Kiith

I'm surprised that there are any available. Considering the small number that are available, and the (general public) reputation of the playstation, i would have thought it would fly out. Even with the high price. I have to say i've even been tempted recently, even with the toned-down european version, terrible sony PR, and big price.

po0k

Wait for the die-shrink in six months.

Mad Mike

Kiith wrote:

I'm surprised that there are any available. Considering the small number that are available, and the (general public) reputation of the playstation, i would have thought it would fly out. Even with the high price. I have to say i've even been tempted recently, even with the toned-down european version, terrible sony PR, and big price.

I think you haven't been paying attention to the internet buzz. PS3s are not exactly flying off the shelves anywhere in the world. Unless Sony can pull a major rabbit out of the hat very quickly they are losing this round of the console wars right here right now.

Moojuice

Die-shrink?
Do you mean price shrink?
I saw the moto racing game thing and it looked great but it was on a HD tv and TDU looks great on a HD tv on the 360. It did not seem to have any graphical advantage over the 360 but time will tell.

KdjaCL

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=74495






kdjac

Moojuice

French launch was a disaster too...

http://www.playfuls.com/news_06689_PS3s_French_Debut_A_Total_Disaster_95_of_Consoles_Left_Unsold.html

Oh dear Sony, oh dear. I do hope this is a wake up call for them. Their attitude towards Eurpoean consumers has been despicable. I am sure the PS3 is a good machine but I think Sony have ****ed up one two many times for people to rush out and buy a PS3 on, or shortly after, launch day.

super_furry

I actually consider them an inferior console to the 360 in games available and online setup. I've yet to see anything to convince me the PS3 can out-perform the 360 and as such, I won't consider buying one until it's roughly half what it costs now.

honru

How has their marketing campaign been? Granted, I don't watch much TV yet I've hardly seen much mention of the PS3 in newspapers and such.

For me, I'm going to decide which of the current-gen consoles I'll get in the run up to Christmas, and at the moment it's looking like the 360. At the moment there's nothing on the PS3 that would make me want to buy the machine but hopefully Sony can get up to speed within the next year. Price isn't so much of an issue for me once there's enough games to justify it.

Sarky

Their "this is living" ad campaign is rubbish, as far as I'm concerned. One could easily be forgiven for thinking it was about some new movie channel coming to cable tv.

It's a far cry from the nerdy man in glasses "warning" people not to underestimate the power of Playstation way back in the 90's. I still think the "This Christmas, get them... Stick!" ad was a comedy milestone.

Retr0gamer

The this is living campaign really is awful. Whatever about dirt balls and not showing any game footage but the new advert doesn't even make 1 mention about the PS3. What a pathetic way to waste 6 million Sony.

ChowChow

We got 3 PS3's at work today. My first impressions were the controllers seemed small and cheap in comparison to the 360 controller - I realise the force feedback/rumble tech is missing. I had a quick go on Resistance: Fall of Man, the graphics were nothing special, it's a bit like a cross between Call of Duty 3 and some sci-fi FPS. The machine itself is very slick looking, much more so than the 360 with touch sensitive controls for the power switch and Blu-ray drive. Most of all in operation it's extremely quiet in comparison to the 360. I still wouldn't shell out the guts of 600 euro for one though!

yawnstretch

I played it yesterday on the PS3 pod with the Bravia TV (motorstorm) and in PCworld today on a massive Samsung (around 50 inch). It looks better on the big screen but:

Joypad: - Rubbish (No rumble, too light, looks awful)
Machine: - FUGLY (massive, awkward, looks like a combination of a cheap dvd player stuck to a microwave)
Price: - ludicrous
Launch date: - well over a year too late especially considering the rest of the world has had it for ages
Zero games: - worth getting and nothing on the horizon for at least a year
BC : - issues (and I traded my PS2 - nice)
HD: - Doesnt have vga, has lots of scaling problems, has resolution compatibility problems with most HDTVs on the market - microsoft got HD right, Sony messed up.

If you have a big tasty compatible HDTV, no 360 and patience then sure, go ahead. I'll wait till a killer ap like wipEout or maybe Killzone or something shows up. I had a 50 euro deposit on a PS3 but I figured it was 50 quid I simply lost

projectmayhem

i'm going to wade in here now, as a ps3 owner

yawnstretch wrote:

Joypad: - Rubbish (No rumble, too light, looks awful)

one of the games i got was f1, and i thought i'd seriously miss rumble (especially going over "rumble strips") but once i got stuck into the game i didn't notice. now, i do admit i'm a big PC gamer, so it feels fine to me regardless, so maybe console-only people may feel a bit strange. i do know that after i played for a few hours and went back into TDU on the 360, the 360 controller felt a bit sturdier, but oddly heavy (never felt like that before the ps3)...

yawnstretch wrote:

Machine: - FUGLY (massive, awkward, looks like a combination of a cheap dvd player stuck to a microwave)

when i unwrapped the machine and it shined, with no bits making noises inside and feeling heavy and well-built, i felt like i just spent €600. when i unwrapped the 360 i didn't feel like i just parted with €400. it is awkward though. i had to re-jig my DVD collection to fit the thing under my tv...

yawnstretch wrote:

Price: - ludicrous

i won't argue this because i've already done it. you're getting extra's without being given an option to ditch them (blu-ray player, wireless connection, etc.). if you brought the 360 up to spec it would be around the same price, if not slightly more expensive.

yawnstretch wrote:

Launch date: - well over a year too late especially considering the rest of the world has had it for ages

this is living..... in europe.

yawnstretch wrote:

HD: - Doesnt have vga, has lots of scaling problems, has resolution compatibility problems with most HDTVs on the market - microsoft got HD right, Sony messed up.

i haven't tried any movies or PS2 games yet, but so far it works a dream. the 360 works a dream too. i'm using HDMI, if that matters...

yawnstretch wrote:

I had a 50 euro deposit on a PS3 but I figured it was 50 quid I simply lost

you can get a refund from most stores no problem...

nothing

This is living ... so that's what those ads where about! I thought they were for a new tv channel or something... lol... Besides the Wii hype hasn't died down yet, bad timing Sony, bad timing....

kaisersose77

the online store interface is absolutely awful, you would think they would make a proper interface for it, not a crappy webpage. You would swear it was for the ps1.

Slutmonkey57b

Looks like the europeans have finally had enough of having to pay twice as much for something they have to wait twice as long to get. Movie studios and CD floggers, I'm looking at you here. Hopefully we're all starting to get some sense and the companies concerned will think twice about taking the piss again.

Kevok

projectmayhem wrote:

this is living..... in europe.

Why is it that you feel the need to defend this? Nintendo, arguably the worst offender when it comes to shafting europe was able to manage a near simultaneous worldwide launch.

ambro25

Sony really needs Europe, because it's already very well known, reported and documented that it just isn't selling "well" in JP or the US (do your Google homework, and prefer GamesIndustry.biz for hard data).

I'll tell you one: if it isn't flying off the shelves with early adopters in France and the UK, it's well and truly f*cked for now.

France is the second biggest gaming market in Europe, with more grey import customers than the UK (grey imports in FR of JP stuff goes wayyy back to the mid-80s).

The UK alone didn't "save" xbox 1 in the last gen (the UK was xbox 1's biggest European market by a country mile). But then xbox wasn't defending a market share, it was only after paving a way for xbox 2 - not quite Sony's situation (thank God for them they still have the PS2).

I'll tell you another one: I'm not going to bother tracking sales numbers or any other such meaningless stuff anymore. My focus now shifts to 3rd party support, and tracking to see whether it grows, stagnates or improves - my €s' weren't on Sony 6 months ago, they're less than ever now

Cuddlesworth

Lol, after all the rubbish about pre-orders and panicking by fanboys, I walked into a store Saturday and bought one for my little brother. On the other hand my Wii was imposssible to get and I ended up in a huge que waiting on Dawson street a month after it had been released.

Sony is going to lose this one.

wayne040576

projectmayhem wrote:

one of the games i got was f1, and i thought i'd seriously miss rumble (especially going over "rumble strips") but once i got stuck into the game i didn't notice. now, i do admit i'm a big PC gamer, so it feels fine to me regardless, so maybe console-only people may feel a bit strange. i do know that after i played for a few hours and went back into TDU on the 360, the

I didn't really notice it with Motorstorm but I got resistance on Saturday and playing it for the first time I realised how much I had been using rumble with shooters. There were a few times i didn't even know I was getting hit until I noticed my energy bar. I'm not that mad about the trigger buttons on the controller.

projectmayhem wrote:

when i unwrapped the machine and it shined, with no bits making noises inside and feeling heavy and well-built, i felt like i just spent €600. when i unwrapped the 360 i didn't feel like i just parted with €400. it is awkward though. i had to re-jig my DVD collection to fit the thing under my tv...

I thought the machine looked ok. But one thing I noticed is that it is a dust magnet. I set it up on Friday at about 1.30pm. By 5pm it had a layer of dust on even though I had hardly touched it.

It's very quiet when first turned on but I thought the blu-ray drive made a bit of noise.

LookingFor

The UK launch went rather well, it seems

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/26261/Record-breaking-165000-PS3s-sold-at-UK-launch

Record-breaking 165,000 PS3s sold at UK launch
New format becomes fastest-selling home console ever over its debut weekend.

projectmayhem

wayne040576 wrote:

But one thing I noticed is that it is a dust magnet. I set it up on Friday at about 1.30pm. By 5pm it had a layer of dust on even though I had hardly touched it.

It's very quiet when first turned on but I thought the blu-ray drive made a bit of noise.

yeah it attracts a lot of dust alright, especially in my room (dust central). i don't think the colour helps much, shows off the dust more then the 360 ever would...

as for blu-ray i didn't notice until a quiet moment in casino royale (only brd i've watched) towards the end, but the fans were going at some rate at that stage, but i put it down to the 3 hours of gaming i had done before popping the movie in..... my poor eyes.

Kevok wrote:

Why is it that you feel the need to defend this? Nintendo, arguably the worst offender when it comes to shafting europe was able to manage a near simultaneous worldwide launch.

i didn't think i was defending it at all...

LookingFor wrote:

The UK launch went rather well, it seems

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/26261/Record-breaking-165000-PS3s-sold-at-UK-launch

saw that on eurogamer alright. the thing is, in the first 2 days that'll be people who wanted a ps3. it'll be the same for the first 6 months or so. these will be people who wanted the machine, saved up and bought one. at christmas and beyond, it's up to sony to convince everyone else that they need one.

LookingFor

projectmayhem wrote:

saw that on eurogamer alright. the thing is, in the first 2 days that'll be people who wanted a ps3. it'll be the same for the first 6 months or so. these will be people who wanted the machine, saved up and bought one. at christmas and beyond, it's up to sony to convince everyone else that they need one.

Totally. But I suppose it is reassuring to see some more 'normal' launch circumstances i.e. good sales, as opposed to the midnight launch stories from certain parts doing the rounds.

Retr0gamer

Did a bit of research to shoot down the fastest selling console in the launch weekend argument but if the sony figures are true then it's correct.

You could argue that the Wii and 360 would have sold more since they basically sold out on day 1 but there's no denying the facts.

Still I think sales are going to drop off rapidly between now and Christmas. That price just isn't impulse purchase friendly. The only thing I can see increasing the sales is if something really special is released for it, as in GTA 3 and Mario 64 groundbreaking special. I think the next holiday season will dictate the order of the consoles in terms of sales. The 360 has a big head start but is selling a lot slower than MS would like, the Wii has become a phenomenon but Nintendo need to keep the momentum up with the mass appeal games that worked wonders with the DS and the PS3 needs to hang in there and hope that the brand name is enough to convince the parents of little johnny to remortgage the house to afford one at Christmas. A few must have exclusives and maybe even a price drop would go a long way.