As heard on this last CAGCAST, Cheapy D, Shipwreck, and Wombat were discussing the list of 2011 PS3 Exclusives that have been announced. Take a look at the list. Do any of these excite you? For me, Uncharted games always will. But what else? Join me after the break for a brief thought dump on this list (dump on list...lol)
Other than Uncharted, which is oddly a game that has brought the Mrs. into my gaming world through couch co-op (I play a level, then she plays the next, etc), I can't say I'm very excited about what I see. I'm kind of a narrow minded gamer, I guess, but holy crap, can we please get some innovation. Did anyone else catch the real theme? uncharted 3, yakuza 4, killzone 3, ratchet and clank 714, etc. I can't speak to the two obvious Japanese specific games (you know which ones they are), but the only true innovation I see here is Journey, and Sorcerer. If I had a Move, Sorcerer would be on the list. Kind of looks like Harry Potter meets Fable. But I don't have the Move, and this isn't compelling enough for me to drop the ridiculous amount needed to acquire it. Journey, as long as it's PSN reasonably priced, will likely make it into my shopping cart. I will have to wait and see if there is very much to do, but I like the idea of crafting your journey through the game, and no two people will have the same experience.
In all, it's a strong list, and I'm sure it will result in a lot of sales of games. But I doubt it's going to result in a lot of sales in hardware. Sony has been behind the 8 ball at every step in the last 5 years. I love my PS3, and think it is a fantastic entertainment machine. But while the stuff on it looks amazing, I would say they have few, if any, system seller franchises. So let's think for a minute about what Sony has in the PS3.
- HD Games
- Blu-ray player
- DVD upscaler
- Digital Distribution of games, movies, demos, art, etc
- Replaceable hdd
- Still one of the most powerful CPU setups in home hardware to date (just not fully tapped yet)
- Applications (Hulu, Netflix, Vudu, etc)
- Photo editor
- DLNA protocol to stream from Media Servers on the Network
- 3d
- Motion Control (via additional hardware)
- Camera
- Music Ripper
- Keyboard/Mouse support
- Web Browser
- Trophy System
- Competitive Pricing, though still high end
- Voice Chat
- Bluetooth support
- Free online play
- Stable systems
- OMG! I don't even feel like typing anymore! You get the point!
Now people are talking about the next generation of game systems from the big 3 being on the horizon. The Wii is expected to go higher-def and offer easier ways to connect people, and M$ is expected to have 3d support and better storage options. Obviously a lot more, but again, you get the idea.
My question is, How does Sony compete? They have nothing new to bring to the market, yet everyone says they need to be first to the market on the next generation or they will get crushed and possibly pushed out of the business. But what do they offer? What haven't they given consumers? Love or hate Sony, there is no argument as to which system offers the most variety for the buck. So maybe that's the whole problem. Instead of treating a game system like a cell phone, why not focus on the most upgradable, awesome gaming rig of all time, and that is what it does. Maybe the variety is what is killing Sony, because with variety/options comes expense, and all of us gamers know that where they really missed the mark was being the high-priced option (and still are). I'm not arguing that you get what you pay for, because you do, but let's face it; Not all gamers are hard-core. They just want the cheapest version that gives them the ability to play the games they want. If not, there would be no consoles, just PC. Hell, I had two family members buy XBOX/Kinect bundles for Christmas AFTER I explained how much the PS was a superior overall system and that the Move controls are the most precise, highest-rated systems out there. So why did they buy the Kinect bundle? "The PS system was just out of my price range, and the M$ bundle fit it".
Sony, that is how you win. You must win the price war, or the PS4 might be the last gaming system you build. Scale the system down to be the cheaper alternative. Like it or not, that is what people buy.
While I'm sure they are in development, I don't see either Sony or MS moving into next until maybe 2013. There are too many blockbuster games coming out in the next two years that it does seem like their cycles are coming to an end. I guess I can make a better assumption after this years E3, but it seems unlikely.
ReplyDeleteWhat can Sony do to increase sales? Yeah I totally agree that they should just take the dive and drop their systems to $250 and include an Eyetoy 2 and a move controller. That will never happen.
For next gen, I think it would be smart of Sony to yes get their system out before MS. If you look at the PS2 and the 360, we can see the correlation of releasing a next gen console first.
Next, they need to improve their online community. PS Home was a huge flop in my opinion. It's just wasting space on my HD. They need to make their system capable of creating chat sessions where players can still talk to each other while they're playing separate games from their friends, or waiting to get into an online lobby. XboxLIVE does circles around the PSN. Getting together and playing games on XLive is easy. Nintendo needs to do this, too.
Make games easier to develop for their system. PS3 has the better hardware no doubt. So, why does MS usually have the better graphics in comparison videos? It's because it's so hard too develop for the PS3 vs the 360.
Next, Sony needs to create something on their next gen console that makes it stick out from MS. I think it would be crazy awesome if Sony made their PSN very similar to Steam. Make every game they make downloadable. Have a cloud system for players to save games and achievements on. Have crazy sales during the holiday. Open up the PSN for indie developers.
I also think their system user interface is becoming outdated. Needs to change.
Finally, for godsake Sony make an original controller. The dual shock was never that great of a controller. The move might be a good step for what should be done but god does it look goofy. They need to improve on the aesthetics of it.
On another note, we kind of discussed this about a year ago. But the average consumer doesn't want an original IP. People are more excited for sequels than they are for new IPs.
ReplyDeleteLast year there were some good new IPs. Some of them not my cup of tea but they received high praise from reviewers. But they still fail to sell in comparison to sequels.
How many of you bought Vanquish? How many of you bought 3D dot Heroes? How many of you bought Bayonetta? How many of you bought Dead Space? How many of you bought MAG?
You shouldn't be asking yourself why aren't publishers publishing new IPs? You should ask yourself why aren't I buying new IPs, when it could be beneficial to the gaming industry?
Sony just needs to use the same hardware, upgrade the GPU to allow programmers to use it more, allow for multi-screen output, and come with a faster, larget hdd. It will keep the costs down so they can be the low price option that everyone will buy it. And work on a better security option...lol.
ReplyDeletePSN is so much better than XBox or wii. You have a shopping cart, that then queues your purchases for downloads (need to option automatically install after download), using real money not some fractional point system. But yes, navigating the menu's isn't very intuitive. Also, they'll never have Steam sales on PSN; They still sell 4 year old PSN titles full price.
As far as new ip's go, I guess what I'm trying to say is don't remake the same games over and over. Start combining genre's. Look at the success of Borderlands. Or the newest NFS: Hot Pursuit. They took what worked well in the style of game they wanted to create, and then streched themselves to incorporate things outside of their niche that gamers like. Sure, NFS isn't a "new" IP, but if you compare the latest installment to the rest of all of their games, I'd argue there's more in common with the social sports games (Madden, NCAA, etc) than their predecessors. So maybe new IP was the wrong word. My bitch is that they keep making the same games and not learning from mistakes (i.e. Uncharted 2...love that game, but once they introduced the yeti and final boss fight with blue goo, it lost a lot of it's adventure/story cred).
I think most of the magic that came from Borderlands is in the fact that it's 4 player coop. Even though it's a solid game, I wouldn't have touched it if it didn't have the coop aspect. The story isn't even interesting. Funny at times but the selling point I think it is the coop.
ReplyDeleteMaking a good multi-player experience is what most companies are focusing on. Look at CoD, I have several friends that have never played the campaign but are prestige players. The Japanese market is losing in the west due to lack of a good multi-player game. RE5 was probably one of the best multi-player games to come out of Japan.
But yeah I agree we need more innovation but I can understand why companies are afraid to invest into it. I mean are you going to buy the new Zelda? There's no other game like it other than Red Steel 2 but this is going to be made by Nintendo so you know there's going to be some quality in the game.