Well its about fucking time. PS3 for $299

[dj4monie]

Sony PS3 is/will be a dead format. It's sales figures speak volumes. Blu ray sure but an awfully expensive blu ray at that. Software libraries are the key driver of console sales, and no console is going to sell on promises - they've got to deliver. Sony needs more must-have first party titles to sell consoles and quite frankly they don't. I had a friend at work purchase a PS3 but I didn't have the heart to tell him he made the wrong choice and wasted his money.

Cant say I agree. At $499 and $599 it wasn't worth it and indeed a total rip off. Instead of focusing on developing great games they were focusing on using the cell processors to cure diseases and trying to convince us that rumble support wasn't important. They finally have a decent lineup. They offer a great Bluray player. They increased the hard drive space and have Built-in Wi-Fi. At $299 it's finally worth the money in my opinion. I just wish it was backwards compatible. Its a shame they didn't offer that to there customers.

How long has it been/taken for it to become what it currently is? I just feel sorry for those poor saps who actually paid $499-$599 for it in the first place. The fact it isn't backwards compatible is a slap in the face to the current owners.

It was worth the money if you wanted the most advance console on the market and was willing to wait for the software to take full advantage of it.

If you bet on the games for the console 2 or 3 years after its release it would be worthy of the hardware, then you bet correctly those are current 20GB and 60GB owners. Late comers bought the 40, 80 and 160GB models.

Now that its $299, I believe its a complete slap in fact to turn its back on PS2 owners. But I think Sony believes the people that were holding out for a price drop own a PS2 and don't want to part with it.

I am just running out of room and electrical plugs... I have a PSOne, the Original Playstation (Sept '95), Dreamcast (when it was discontinued, it was cheaper than ever) and I will be adding a PS3 here pretty soon. I am going with a refurbished model that has BC in it so like I said I can put my Slim PS2 away and use about the same amount of space...

[dj4monie]

Sony PS3 is/will be a dead format. It's sales figures speak volumes. Blu ray sure but an awfully expensive blu ray at that. Software libraries are the key driver of console sales, and no console is going to sell on promises - they've got to deliver. Sony needs more must-have first party titles to sell consoles and quite frankly they don't. I had a friend at work purchase a PS3 but I didn't have the heart to tell him he made the wrong choice and wasted his money.

Cant say I agree. At $499 and $599 it wasn't worth it and indeed a total rip off. Instead of focusing on developing great games they were focusing on using the cell processors to cure diseases and trying to convince us that rumble support wasn't important. They finally have a decent lineup. They offer a great Bluray player. They increased the hard drive space and have Built-in Wi-Fi. At $299 it's finally worth the money in my opinion. I just wish it was backwards compatible. Its a shame they didn't offer that to there customers.

How long has it been/taken for it to become what it currently is? I just feel sorry for those poor saps who actually paid $499-$599 for it in the first place. The fact it isn't backwards compatible is a slap in the face to the current owners.

It was worth the money if you wanted the most advance console on the market and was willing to wait for the software to take full advantage of it.

If you bet on the games for the console 2 or 3 years after its release it would be worthy of the hardware, then you bet correctly those are current 20GB and 60GB owners. Late comers bought the 40, 80 and 160GB models.

Now that its $299, I believe its a complete slap in fact to turn its back on PS2 owners. But I think Sony believes the people that were holding out for a price drop own a PS2 and don't want to part with it.

I am just running out of room and electrical plugs... I have a PSOne, the Original Playstation (Sept '95), Dreamcast (when it was discontinued, it was cheaper than ever) and I will be adding a PS3 here pretty soon. I am going with a refurbished model that has BC in it so like I said I can put my Slim PS2 away and use about the same amount of space...

[dj4monie]

Sony was going to die over the PS3? Hardly! People complained about the original PS2 being $299 when was released.

Nobody complained about the price of the PS2 which was the same price as the PSx. Even with the Dreamcast (RIP) at 149.99 the PS2 still moved at a record pace. Sony became the first console to dominate 2 generations in a row (handheld units being the only exception.) now Sony got way to cocky thinking that the same people would cough up 499 and 599 in droves while the 360 costed 299-399 and the Wii costed 249.

Actually it was their mistake not to have a popular title ready to go on the system when it launched. What they bet on what capitalizing on the First Person Shooter trend on PC's. Look at the first couple of titles out on the PS3.

Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII
Call of Duty 3
Def Jam: Icon
Enchanted Arms
FIFA 07
Fight Night Round 3
Formula One Championship Edition
Full Auto 2: Battlelines
Genji: Days of the Blade
The Godfather: The Don's Edition
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire
MotorStorm
NBA 2K7
NHL 2K7
NBA Street: Homecourt
Resistance: Fall of Man
Ridge Racer 7
Sonic the Hedgehog
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
Tony Hawk’s Project 8
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom
Virtua Fighter 5
Virtua Tennis 3
World Snooker Championship 2007
F.E.A.R.
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

I put the FPS in bold and a trend on PC's not consoles, the user base on PC's is much larger. Not all of the 24 millions users love First Persona Shooters

The rest of the launch titles are a series of hack and slash games, niche sports titles and low volume sales games.

People weren't looking to play Ridge Racer 7 or Need For Speed, what they wanted was Gran Turismo!

What people wanted wasn't a dying gender - The Platformer (Sonic The Hedge Hog), they wanted Metal Gear Solid!

They didn't care if GTA4 was exclusive they just wanted the game, why did it matter which console it came out on first? It mattered to Microsoft and they overpaid for that right to have it first on their console.

Some Blockbuster titles would have allowed Sony to take the lead and keep it. They are in a different market than the Wii, I don't even count the Wii as competition when they are still releasing Mario based games...

Nintendo can't even come out with a competitor to Sony's top titles and their multi-platform titles always pale in comparison

Nintendo knew they couldn't compete toe to toe with the hardcore gamer market, they focused on the casual gamer and that's where they are succeeding.

The launch titles Sony came up with don't sell consoles... When the original PS1 came out, I pre-ordered it because I knew we were going into uncharted territory in video games, 3D was largely the domain of expensive 486 PC's and those who could afford Voodoo add-on cards.

That fact that the games were 3D were enough for many people to buy the console. When games like GT and MGS came out or even NFL Gameday that caused people enough excitement to buy the console.

When the PS2 came out they had Madden 2000 READY and MGS was only a few months away. They showed a teaser at the second E3 I was at, the first year in Los Angeles.

You need software to go with your hardware. If you have Game Changing Hardware like Sony did, you need popular games to show off the Hardware's power. First Person Shooters are far too niche to have wide success with them.

It was a marketing blunder!

They have time to make up for that though and you'll see this Christmas.

[CaptainGeech]

In the end I think it comes down to the exclusive games. All you really need is one UNBELIEVABLE game to sell a new system. This happened with Halo and the original Xbox. It also happened with me on the Nintendo 64 and Mario 64. I remember seeing that game in the local Target on display and having my jaw hit the floor. I didn't care if that system had any other games. I didn't care how much it cost. I needed that thing and I was going to make my parents life a living hell until they bought it for me.