Sony PS3 - It never deserved its launch criticism

[samhain81]

Back when the PS3 was first showcased at E3 2006? It was criticised for being this hugely priced peice of hardware, especially when compared to the significantly cheaper 360.

EVERYONE complained about its price, which I will never understand. It was dearer for a reason. If you factor in everything it came with, the price was fairly justified. Lets have a brief look at the two systems specs at the time of their launch.

PS3

Bluray Player (standalones retailed for around £300-350 alone, at this point, so thats £300 of the price essentially in the drive alone. )

60gig HD (3x the size of the 360's)

Controller charge function via the USB ports

Built in wi-fi

HDMI output

Backwards Compatible Hardware/Software Emulation (Yes, the EU were slightly shafted here with software emulation instead of the NTSC hardware emulation, but still, every NTSC console owner could play EVERY ps1, and ps2 game. )

360

HD-DVD Drive/Player - Still retailing for £200+ but still cheaper than Blu Ray Players

20gig HD (3x smaller than the launch PS3 HD)

No wi-fi (Separate wi-fi component was sold at £39.99)

No charge function via usb (A Play n Charge kit was sold separately for £19.99)

No HDMI output - (Component provided an acceptable HD signal, but Sony was one step ahead with HDMI)

Backwards Compatible Software Emulation only - (Through irregular updates which no longer occur, original xbox games would be made available to play through the 360)

Thats all from the top of my head, but seriously, were people that blind to see what exactly the PS3 had inside the system, as oppose to the 360? In regards to the console, the ps3 definately offered more in terms of a complete system. The only thing I can say in defense of the 360 is that it had a stronger software lineup for launch, but this about hardware specs only.

What are you thoughts on this?

[noobish hat]

That's true, but expensive hardware is expensive hardware. You could encrust the console with diamonds and jack the price up even more, but that won't help you shift units. I don't own a PS3, so I'm not exactly an expert, but aren't Bluray games quite a big failure (and the drive was the biggest price-inflater?) My friend is constantly slagging off the Bluray format because of the loading or what-have-you. On top of that, Bluray only won through as movie format because of Sony throwing its weight around. So the expensive drive was just another of Sony's bullshit proprietary formats that it foisted on us all in order to make itself more money - they weren't doing us all some huge favour.

[Team Alfie]

EVERYONE complained about its price, which I will never understand.

They couldn't afford it.

From a launch point of view, there was no exclusive killer app, the multiformat titles were technically inferior to the 360 versions, released later and missing Achievements. In Europe at least, it was also released at the wrong time of year. Just like the Vita. And the 3DS, I suppose, which suffered at its March launch. The Wii and 360 had Christmas launches and never looked back.

Sony were also massively arrogant in thinking they couldn't be toppled. Iceberg, right ahead!

[Matt_B]

The problem wasn't so much that you weren't getting value for money with the thing - they were selling it at a loss for a very long time after all - rather, it was a case of having to fork out rather a lot more money than for a 360, and a heck of a lot more than a Wii, if you just wanted something to play games on. Oh, and the games weren't exactly that great to begin with either.

Of course, a lot of people did end up forking out for all the extras with their 360s in the long run, but most people just look at the upfront cost rather than the lifetime one. It's much the same reason why people sign up for mobile phone contracts that'll cost them the thick end of a thousand pounds over a couple of years, but would flinch at paying five hundred for a handset.

[MikeFishcake]

What you get for your money isn't necessarily relevant. If you haven't got that kind of money then it's too much.

Despite the increased capacity of Blu Ray discs, it just wasn't worth it for a lot of people. In it's simplest form - Xbox 360 and PS3 both played games in HD. A £150-ish (IIRC) price difference is a hell of a lot. You could almost buy an Xbox 360 AND a Wii for the same price as a PS3!

Most people don't have bottomless wallets, and that's what it comes down to in the end.

[The Laird]

It did and still does.

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

I greatly prefer the PS3 to the Xbox, but it was a terrible launch and deserves all the criticism it received at the time.

Late trophy integration, dodgy online initially, terrible blu-ray that was vastly inferior to HD DVD which did everything out of the box, an insanely high price and so on.

The PS3 was the equivalent of buying a lavish house, walking inside and discovering that the only rooms finished were the bathroom bedroom and frontroom. Everything else was still being constructed.

[slacey1070]

What you get for your money isn't necessarily relevant. If you haven't got that kind of money then it's too much.

Despite the increased capacity of Blu Ray discs, it just wasn't worth it for a lot of people. In it's simplest form - Xbox 360 and PS3 both played games in HD. A £150-ish (IIRC) price difference is a hell of a lot. You could almost buy an Xbox 360 AND a Wii for the same price as a PS3!

Most people don't have bottomless wallets, and that's what it comes down to in the end.

This. If people don't have the money, they don't have the money and if you can play almost the same games for £150 less, then the PS3 looked poor value. The price was the sole reason I was given a 360 over a PS3. Had they been the same price, it would have been the PS3, which was my prefered choice.

And I'm sure many people all over the world made decisions on this basis.

and Sony still haven't learnt with the Vita either.

[DreamcastRIP]

For the OP to characterise the criticism of PS3 at launch as solely a price issue is very wide of the mark. Sony and PS3 were roundly lambasted for a heck of lot more than just the 60GB console's US $599 (£425 in UK) launch price. Memories are short it would seem.

[Negative Creep]

The 360 has a better controller, achievements system, online store and dashboard layout. I own both and generally use the Xbox for gaming, and the PS3 for its far superior video playback

[DreamcastRIP]

EVERYONE complained about its price, which I will never understand.

So a video games console was launched at a price of,

* $599 in the USA

* £425 in the UK (equivalent to over US $800 at the time as I clearly recall it)

... and yet you claim to not understand why folk weren't happy. Seriously?

[Megamixer]

Bluray Player (standalones retailed for around £300-350 alone, at this point, so thats £300 of the price essentially in the drive alone. )

I think you'll find that standalone players were far more expensive. The first one was a Samsung model that launched for not much less than a £1000 so the PS3 asking price was a bargain in comparison. This launch was mid-2006 though and we got the PS3 in 2007 but I think the window is still too small for the standlone prices to have fallen too much.

In any case, everybody is right in saying that no matter what you get for your money, expensive is still expensive.

Personally I just held off and ignored the 360 until I could pick up a Slim PS3 £250GB for just under £300.

[samhain81]

EVERYONE complained about its price, which I will never understand.

So a video games console was launched at a price of,

* $599 in the USA

* £425 in the UK (equivalent to over US $800 at the time as I clearly recall it)

... and yet you claim to not understand why folk weren't happy. Seriously?

Man someones butthurt they couldnt afford it, sheeesh why so mad brah? I would have loadned you the money just needed to ask.

[DreamcastRIP]

EVERYONE complained about its price, which I will never understand.

So a video games console was launched at a price of,

* $599 in the USA

* £425 in the UK (equivalent to over US $800 at the time as I clearly recall it)

... and yet you claim to not understand why folk weren't happy. Seriously?

Man someones butthurt they couldnt afford it, sheeesh why so mad brah? I would have loadned you the money just needed to ask.

Utter fail. I bought a PS3 on launch day.

[samhain81]

Ok.. lol