Well, it was release last week and still big news today that the PS3 is getting a makeover! It's smaller, cheaper and even keeping its big hard drive (120 GB). This is something that Sony needed to do a year ago and is long over due.
Although I am more of an Xbox 360 girl, I was one of the few to also get the PS3 not long after it came out. I was in love with the tower defense game Monsters (available at the PS store by Pixel Junk), and the fact that it had a Blue ray player built inside was a nice bonus.
Anyways, I have complained about the PS3 for some time. Mainly that for what is it, it cost WAY too much. Although it does have a Blue ray player built inside, I feel that the infrastructure is something that Sony got completely wrong. First of all, their online setup is extremely frustrating. It is confusing and although it is free, I would much rather pay for something that works better and easier to navigate like Xbox Live. When I was trying to play Call of Duty 4 online, I could barely get into a game without having some sort of problem. I would get kicked, or all of sudden half the team was gone. And don't get me started on the microphones that people used to talk to everyone else. That drove me crazy!
Secondly, I will give Sony that the graphics are amazing and the game developers have the potential to create something beautiful to look at. However, many of their exclusive games have now been released (or are going to release) their titles for the Xbox as well. One franchise that will not be exclusive on Playstation anymore is Final Fantasy. In April 2010 Final Fantasy XIII will also be released on the Xbox, which is a major move since all the Final Fantasy games before this have been Playstation exclusives.
A major reason for this is because the Playstation has been difficult for developers to create games for. The game Haze, which was developed by Free Radical Design and release in May 2008, was just one of many to put the blame on their lack of game design on the PS3. The technical issues that they were having on getting the game to actually run on the PS3 kept them from spending more time on the game's design, which led to many critics giving the game poor reviews.
Ok, now back to the new PS3 slim. There are a lot of great things about Playstation and there will always be a little place in my heart for it since it was the first game console I played on (shout out to Crash Bandicoot). With the release of the PS3 slim coming in early September, many are speculating that this is exactly what Sony needed to do in order to save Playstation.
One reason that some believe it will be saved is because the cost to make the PS3 has dropped significantly since its release in 2006. GameSpot estimated that the PS3 slim will cost around $250/unit to make, where as in 2006 it was costing them around $840/unit. Another reason to have hope is that the failure rate that the PS3 has had compared to the Xbox 360 have been significantly better. An article in this month’s Game Informer took a poll that compared the PS3, Xbox 360 and the Wii in terms of customer satisfaction. The Xbox 360, although selling a lot better, did drastically worse when it came to malfunctions as well as the repeat of a malfunction. Let’s not even get into the Red Ring of Death right now.
Either way, it will be interesting to see how the PS3 Slim does once it is released. Will more people buy it compared to the Xbox 360 and have a come back in the video game industry? Or will in continue to slowly push Sony toward completely throwing in the towel and moving on to something else?
Below is a look at the new PS3 Slim along with the new price and features. Enjoy!
Price: $299.99
Capacity: Shipped with 120 GB hard drive
Release Date: September 1, 2009 (or pre-order now)
Although I am more of an Xbox 360 girl, I was one of the few to also get the PS3 not long after it came out. I was in love with the tower defense game Monsters (available at the PS store by Pixel Junk), and the fact that it had a Blue ray player built inside was a nice bonus.
Anyways, I have complained about the PS3 for some time. Mainly that for what is it, it cost WAY too much. Although it does have a Blue ray player built inside, I feel that the infrastructure is something that Sony got completely wrong. First of all, their online setup is extremely frustrating. It is confusing and although it is free, I would much rather pay for something that works better and easier to navigate like Xbox Live. When I was trying to play Call of Duty 4 online, I could barely get into a game without having some sort of problem. I would get kicked, or all of sudden half the team was gone. And don't get me started on the microphones that people used to talk to everyone else. That drove me crazy!
Secondly, I will give Sony that the graphics are amazing and the game developers have the potential to create something beautiful to look at. However, many of their exclusive games have now been released (or are going to release) their titles for the Xbox as well. One franchise that will not be exclusive on Playstation anymore is Final Fantasy. In April 2010 Final Fantasy XIII will also be released on the Xbox, which is a major move since all the Final Fantasy games before this have been Playstation exclusives.
A major reason for this is because the Playstation has been difficult for developers to create games for. The game Haze, which was developed by Free Radical Design and release in May 2008, was just one of many to put the blame on their lack of game design on the PS3. The technical issues that they were having on getting the game to actually run on the PS3 kept them from spending more time on the game's design, which led to many critics giving the game poor reviews.
Ok, now back to the new PS3 slim. There are a lot of great things about Playstation and there will always be a little place in my heart for it since it was the first game console I played on (shout out to Crash Bandicoot). With the release of the PS3 slim coming in early September, many are speculating that this is exactly what Sony needed to do in order to save Playstation.
One reason that some believe it will be saved is because the cost to make the PS3 has dropped significantly since its release in 2006. GameSpot estimated that the PS3 slim will cost around $250/unit to make, where as in 2006 it was costing them around $840/unit. Another reason to have hope is that the failure rate that the PS3 has had compared to the Xbox 360 have been significantly better. An article in this month’s Game Informer took a poll that compared the PS3, Xbox 360 and the Wii in terms of customer satisfaction. The Xbox 360, although selling a lot better, did drastically worse when it came to malfunctions as well as the repeat of a malfunction. Let’s not even get into the Red Ring of Death right now.
Either way, it will be interesting to see how the PS3 Slim does once it is released. Will more people buy it compared to the Xbox 360 and have a come back in the video game industry? Or will in continue to slowly push Sony toward completely throwing in the towel and moving on to something else?
Below is a look at the new PS3 Slim along with the new price and features. Enjoy!
Price: $299.99
Capacity: Shipped with 120 GB hard drive
Release Date: September 1, 2009 (or pre-order now)
Fantastic post! You do a great job f breaking down the numbers, and it think he opinions you have are shared by a lot of people. I agree that I would rather pay for a functioning network service, then to be handed a broken one for free. Keep up the good blogging!
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