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NY Times Review of PS3
Posted by
Hemos
on Mon Nov 20, 2006 10:12 AM
from the not-so-much-with-the-liking dept.
from the not-so-much-with-the-liking dept.
An anonymous reader noted that the NY Times has done a fairly negative review of the PS3. It would seem that there have been a fair number of these; it's pretty evident at this point that Sony's launch of the PS3 was not exactly well planned out; issues are still rolling in but the real test will be how it does over the holidays and into the next year.
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PS3 Missed Ship Targets, Loses Exclusives 173 comments
Sony's having a rough week. After shootings on launch day and a harsh review from the New York Times, Bloomberg is now calling Sony out as having completely missed its shipping targets. The analyst company says there may have been as few as 50% of aimed-for units available, and that the company may only get about 200,000 units to stores by the end of the year (something Sony flatly denies). PS3 fans now also have to deal with the fact that Koei is cross-platforming two previously exclusive titles. Fatal Inertia and Bladestorm are now in development for the 360 as well, marking the latest in a string of titles that have slipped away from Sony. There is some consolation for the company to take away from this week, though. They did better than Microsoft last week in Japan, with around 81,000 PS3s, 19,000 PSPs, and 16,000 PS2s sold to a mere 4,000 Xbox 360s and ... 4 Xboxes.
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Just a souped up PS2 (Score:5, Informative)
Basically, if all you want is a PS2 with HDTV graphics and sound, you'll love the PS3. (Assuming you get past the sticker shock.) If you were truly hoping for a new and unique experience, you may have your hopes set a bit too high.
Hopefully, the situation will change as Sony and their partners have more time to work with the hardware, but they're currently lagging out of the gate.
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Isn't that what the next generation of anything is? If it's something different then it's something different.
Some new things are more than souped-up old things (Score:5, Insightful)
Not really. Usually, you do get something more than just "more of the same." Looking at the console history, you got things like 3D graphics (SNES -> PS1), analog sticks (PS1 -> N64), the ability to watch movies (Dreamcast -> PS2) or a real online service (PS2 -> Xbox). Sure, the PS3 brings Blu-Ray, but that's just a better DVD. What else does it have? Most things are faster.
Compare this to the Wii, which brings a really cool new controller. That's not souped up, that's new.
Parent
Something like the Wii Remote has never been done (Score:4, Insightful)
This is either a blatant lie, or you're a bit uninformed.
Frankly, I'm not sure what controllers that have been available "for a while now" you're referring to. Are you talking about motion-sensing controllers? You need to understand that the Wii Remote isn't simply a new version of the old Sidewinder FreeStyle Pro. Motion sensing controllers like the FreeStyle or the PS3 controller only recognize movement and/or the angle at which you hold the controller. The Wii Remote does more: The Wii can calculate its precise position, direction and angle. Position is the important point here: The PS3 controller doesn't know the difference between standing right in front of the TV, or sitting on your sofa far away. The Wii Remote does. The Wii knows precisely how you move the controller, and from where to where you move it in space. Hence, it supports - in addition to all the things the PS3 controller supports - stuff like golfing, sword fights or "pointing" (as in gun).
Make no mistake, something like the Wii Remote has never been done in consumer electronics.
And since your premise is false, the rest of your post is pointless.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Thee are 1 million (give or take 100,000) new Wii owners with firsthand experience who will disagree with that.
(I don't own a Wii, but I have played with it for several hours, and I'll testify that it's no gimmick)
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My mario character have become stuck inside the cartridge, how do I fix this? Can I clean it somehow?
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Actually no. Sony said Rumble was removed as it 'obviously would interfere with the motion sensor', despite Nintendo doing it with the Wiimote, and 3 years ago with Warioware twisted.
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Wii! (Score:5, Interesting)
It's even selling out, in spite of its very healthy retail supply (10x the number of units as PS3).
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2006/11/20/tec
http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/7278/52/ [itwire.com.au]
Isn't Slashdot going to mention it?
Re:Wii! (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
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What most people want to know is how many systems were actually sold, when there will be another shipment and when I can get some nunchucks for my
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Amen brother! Amen! Games REQUIRE the nunchuck and Wii-mote combination... however, it appears that there was not an equal supply of 'chucks vs 'motes. I now have 2 'motes without attachments... and I'm hoping (desperately looking for) a store with 'chucks, so I can play some 4-player action over Turkey da
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Re:Wii! (Score:5, Funny)
Every second comment, no matter what the fucking article, is about the Wii.
"After we have dimmed the sun to set back global warming, we can play Mario on our Wii!"
Saying that, I've got a Wii on pre-order
Parent
My Experience (Score:5, Interesting)
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Features (Score:4, Informative)
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In my opinion, text-entry via joypads can be done right, and it can be done wrong. The cell-like system of the PSP is definitely wrong and maddening.
You should have to plug a keyboard into a gaming console. Make a usable on-screen keyboard. It's possible.
Disapointment (Score:5, Interesting)
What this means for the Playstation is that they needed to deliver a dramatic improvement over the XBox 360 for the $100/$200 extra cost up front in order to meet people's expectations. I haven't used the PS3 yet so I don't know whether they did, but I suspect that anywhere they're lacking will be a Huge issue to many people and where they're equal to or better than the XBox 360 will be seen as a Small benefit.
Mixed Review (Score:5, Interesting)
If that was the only review I'd read I'd still be quite tempted to buy one, since I preferred the PS2 to the XBox for the games.
Re:Retarded review (Score:4, Interesting)
As much as I hate Sony and love my 360, I too recognize that this review is very unfair and biased.
-Eric
Parent
Power will not a system make (Score:2, Funny)
yes, and here I was this weekend, playing The Legend of Zelda on my Wii after downloading it for $5 (which I do find expensive, but worth while for this title). Heck, the Zelda game even emulated the frame rate drop when too many orcs are on screen and shooting there bows
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Oh, I need to point out one more thing about the Wii that would make me buy 10 more before buying a PS3... A POWER ON/OFF BUTTON that's on the bloody controller! GENIUS I TELL YOU! Seriously, how long have consoles been out before someone said... hey, lets let the gamers turn their system on and off with their wireless controller aka the Wii-Mote, like a remote control does for the TV!
Sure, maybe I'm lazy, but hey, when I realize I can just sit down, grab the Wii-mote off my end-table push the power but
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Cool. I humbly admit I haven't played the 360 outside of BestBuy's Call of Duty 2 setup, a year ago.
Fanboy-talk (Score:4, Insightful)
First of all, Microsoft didn't take the lead, Playstation 2 still outsells all versions of XBox combined by a rather large margin.
Second, while XBox360 may be very powerful, it sure isn't innovative. The only things that changed between XBox1 and XBox360 are a faster CPU (pretty much to be expected), wireless controllers (not innovative because the technology has been available in stores for many years) and an improved online service (which arguably may be innovative but in fact is just a little more than a glorified ICQ which is nothing really new either).
I think the PS3 is overpriced, rushed out of the door and overpowered, but it sure is innovative: Cell is a completely new architecture and Blu Ray a completely new storage medium.
Of course innovative doesn't equal "better" - which probably is a very subjective thing. However when it comes to innovation I don't see a lot of it on XBox360.
Re:Fanboy-talk (Score:4, Insightful)
Uhh, huh? Cell is just the PS2 architecture taken to it's logical conclusion. Rather than a bunch of special purpose vector units surrounding a single core, you have a bunch of cores. Nothing terribly special, there, IMHO.
And BR is just a souped up DVD. Nothing more, nothing less. It's no more innovative than moving from CD to DVD... it's yet another optical drive, with it's usual host of problems (load times, scratched media, etc, etc).
Honestly, I see very little in the PS3 that's terribly innovative or compelling. The Cell is really the best thing it has going for it, as far as that goes, and ironically, it works *against* game developers by making their jobs significantly harder, as writing a game for the PS3 is now a very different task compared to writing one for, say, the Wii or 360.
Parent
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New storage media - who cares? What's that going to do for the games?
So far, these elements haven't done anything for the games or other features.
I don't buy consoles because of what hardware or storage medium they use. I don't buy them because they're "innovative". I buy consoles for one purpose, and one purpose only: GAMES.
If you come out with a console powered by pigeons and it can some nifty set of games - I'll be there.
So far, the 36
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Microsoft got the 360s software very, very right. Sony'
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Re:Fanboy-talk (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Not exactly well planned out... (Score:3, Interesting)
What's going on with Sony? (Score:2)
What went wrong with Sony? Why can't they compete anymore? What's up with the bad quality of the online system?
I have no actual insight into what's happening at Sony, but I think there's a possibility that might be some kind of brain drain going on there. Sony used to be a cool place to work for during the PS1/PS2 era, but ever since the Rootkit fiasco, they've been the bad guys. What self-respecting geek would want to work for Sony?
Maybe they simply don't have the quality and quantity of programmers to i
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The complete answer: You believe what you read on the Internet and there's been a lot of biased anti-Sony stories. Therefore, you believe that something went wrong at Sony and they can't compete anymore. If you were more discerning, you might just wait and see whether Sony's strategy with the PS3 works.
(And on the MP3-player front, their content divisions screwed that up because they were afraid anything they'd do would hurt their CD sales.)
Positive Experiences Here (Score:5, Informative)
My impressions of the unit:
Resistance looks great and plays great. If you don't like 1st person shooters, don't bother, but if you do you will not be disappointed. I found that most of the game demos on the floor didn't show the best aspects of all the games available. Sad, but true-- the actual game was much better than the demo.
The downloadable games are a lot of fun and very reasonably priced at under $10 a pop. The launch titles were much stronger than the PS2 launch titles and certainly on par with the Wii and 360. As with any console, the best games will be 6 to 9 months out-- but this is just the typical next-gen timetable. If you have an HD tv, this is the console to get.
Blu-ray movies look as good as they should. Kudos for that. I consider that a token only because I think it would be hard to screw that up. However, as with DVD, the best experiences are to come. Talladega Nights looked good and sounded great, but I really want the Matrix in Blu-ray to confirm it's superiority to HD-DVD.
So the PS3 lived up to all the hype. Here are some interesting improvements I'm certain we'll see over time. And, thankfully, we can expect regular updates of functionality just like the 360. Honestly I could go on and on about how much I liked the experience and enjoy the games. I also know full well that there is improvement to be made over time, and it WILL be done. Here are some ideas:
1) When buying a game demo, purchasing the full game should be an unlock code and not another download. They are large.
2) You should be able to download content in the background from the store.
3) Motorstorm is an amazing game and it's a shame it wasn't available on launch day. I can't wait to get my hands on that one.
4) More Bluetooth compatibility for keyboards and mice.
5) Drop the price to $399 - $499 and it's a no brainer. $599 was pricy but for me, eh, I'll live with it.
People love to bash the PS3 and praise the Wii online-- it's progressed to an art form now. But, I just don't see it. I know the Wii is nice and all, but if you are looking for an HD experience look no further than PS3. The games really are great, the downloadable content is competent and very fun, and the UI is pretty slick.
Re:Positive Experiences Here (Score:5, Informative)
Warner uses Microsoft's VC-1 encoder for all of it's titles. For Bluray releases, they use a tool, written by Microsoft, to convert the encodes to a format the Bluray authoring tools like.
The PS3, from the reports I've read, doesn't currently support BD-J, so the HD-DVD version will likely have better extras than the Bluray version and have the exact same picture and sound. There aren't any Bluray players that support BD-J (the Java interpreter for Bluray that allows for advanced interactivity features) currently out or announced, BTW. Expect them sometime mid-to-late 2007.
Like it or not, the extra bandwidth and space avaialble on Bluray isn't turning into better picture quality or sound for Bluray releases at the moment, and may not in the future. Microsoft's codec team has done a spectacular job with their VC-1 tools and they're still making big strides in bringing down the size of HD video. One could argue that they're the primary reason HD-DVD is doing so well today. The only real world advantages that Bluray currently has is studio support (which interestingly enough is not resulting in more titles) and device manufacturer support (ditto).
Parent
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I know that you're being paid (or at least I hope you're being paid and aren't actually as stupid as you appear from your inane, fantasy-laden rantings!), but really, a review in the New York Times is hardly "trolling the net" for anything bad to say about the PS3.
It's the f-ing NEW YO
Re:Just Give It A Fucking Rest (Score:4, Insightful)
The anti-Sony crap wasn't something Slashdot created. It was born from Sony's missteps over the last year.
"And Slashdot is still trolling the Net looking for someone 'saying something bad about teh PS3' articles."
Haven't you noticed that Slashdot doesn't have to travel very far to find these stories? Face it: It's a bad year to be a Sony fanboy. That's not Slashdot's fault. Zonk didn't price it at $599. Zonk didn't tell everybody they could go get a second job if they didn't like the price of the machine. Zonk didn't cut their production ridiculously low. Zonk didn't toss rumble functionality in favor of a ripped-off/band-aided motion sensor. Zonk didn't even make mediochre launch games for the system. You cannot blame Slashdot for Sony's lousy PR this year.
Sony tripped over their own feet. They set the tone for how the PS3 would be recieved and the media has responded. Just give it a fucking rest.
Parent
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I think the point was how odd of a statement Sony is making with the PS3
"HDTV is the way of the future! there is not point in sticking with your crapp
Review review review (Score:5, Funny)
There's a lot of "I like the Xbox360 better" in this review. Ok, great. Good luck with that. But this is supposed to be a PS3 review, not a console buying guide that compares the different features. Buy a 360 if you want one. I hear they're great. But "the PS3 is not an XBOX360" is not a valid criticism.
It's not saying "PS3 != Xbox360". It's saying "PS3 lacks what Xbox360 had at the same point in time". And a review should tell me whether it's a waste of money, and the question of whether something comparable is better speaks directly to that.
His first specific criticism is that there's no cable to hook up a PS3 to an HD TV. This is simply incorrect. Sony includes a cable that works fine. It doesn't do HD, but it does hook up and let you use the system. This kind of untruth is to be expected from the NY Times, which is more about an agenda than about accurately describing the factual situation.
Well, that was more to emphasize a deficiency, but I'll agree it was misleading.
There are some things the reviewer found annoying. These are valid points. But it's the first weekend of the PS3. Did everything go perfectly on the first weekend for the XBOX360? Does everything ever go perfectly? This part of the review was not balanced, but it was useful and therefore adequate.
But it was balanced -- at the time of the Xbox360's launch, it was quick to set up. At the PS3's launch, it wasn't. Apples to apples.
There's a paragraph about televisions and walkmans. Does that tell you if the PS3 is fun?
Please, that's just background info, to acknowledge that this is a deviation from a brand's otherwise good historic reputation.
I give your review review a 3.5.
"Who reviews the reviewer reviewers? Reviewer reviewer reviewers review reviewer reviewers."
Parent
Re:A review review: this review sucks (Score:4, Informative)
Then when you buy one you find that
a) it only comes with the same rubbish composite cable that the PS2 came with
b) Motorstorm and Devil May Cry 4 only run at 720p, in order to keep the framerate up
c) there is no internal scaler, so those of us with 720p TVs that can't take a 1080p signal can't even play the sole launch gem Resistance: Fall Of Man at 720p, and have to resort to standard def.
Added together, that's a pretty damning failure in their HD strategy.
Parent
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'Resistance Fall Of Man' is only in 720p, not 1080p.
The 360 apparentally can upscale 720p to 1080i, so this shouldn't be a problem for the 360.
IGN has more details:
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/746/746282p1.html [ign.com]
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Who the fuck are you to make up rules about what how a review should be structured? Have you ever written a review for anything? Clearly not!
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I just did.
Has the NY Times reviewer ever developed a game console? Clearly not! Who the fuck is he to to make up rules about what features a game console should have and how it should work?
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Re:bitch bItch b1tch (Score:4, Funny)
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Let me know if you run out and I'll put up a few more to use. :)
Parent