Seth Scheisel’s review of the Sony PS3 in the NY Times has a bunch of wince-inducing quotes.
Howard Stringer, you have a problem. Your company’s new video game system just isn’t that great.
…
Sony blithely insisted that the PS3 would leapfrog all competition to deliver an unsurpassed level of fun.
Put bluntly, Sony has failed to deliver on that promise.
…
It falls far short, however, of providing the world’s most engaging overall entertainment experience. There is a big difference, and Sony seems to have confused one for the other.
…
the whole PlayStation 3 system is surprisingly clunky to use and simply does not provide many basic functions that users have come to expect, especially online.
A Weekend Full of Quality Time With PlayStation 3 – New York Times
I’m shocked, truly, that the online experience is clunky.
Allow me to repeat my prior comments: the PS3 and X-Box 360 are, effectively, prettier versions of the PS2 and X-Box. You could argue that the PS2 and X-Box are “good enough” for even very complex console gaming, and while they lack HD, in other respects, they are very similar to their replacements. The PS3 and X360 are evolutions with the primary feature upgrade being HD and potentially bigger games (although if all of that storage on the discs is used for graphics files…). I’d argue that the GameCube (versus prior Nintendo systems) is a rough analogue – not enough of a step to be a must-have winner.
I’m guessing that there’s some limit to what the guys that actually produce the games can deal with, too – it takes more effort to take advantage of all of the whiz-bang on the new boxes, probably a lot more effort in the case of the PS3.
The only thing that would potentially make the PS3, and, eventually, the X360 – when they upgrade it, as they certainly will do, being Microsoft – must-have will be the BluRay / HD-DVD bit when there’s enough content available, and that will just be based on overall value, not the gaming platform per-se.
As far as current-gen consoles, the Wii is probably the most interesting – the price is achievable for a larger audience, and it offers something new rather than just something more.
Of course, I’m a hypocrite and I’ll probably end up buying one of the others once the prices fall to something resembling sanity.
cdg
I have a PS3 and while it does get hot around the edges – I like it so far.
Folks cant expect the first batch of games to be ground breaking.
So are you getting a PS3 anyway or an Xbox 360?