Sony Crows About Blu-ray, Upcoming PS3 DVR Functionality

Eurogamer/GamesIndustry.biz reports on Sony's pleased statements about the PlayStation 3. The company has made a point to note that Blu-ray was totally worth it after recent comments by some developers who had problems fitting their titles onto a DVD. The interview with the site promises 'big things' for the format in the future. The future of the PS3 itself seems to have changes coming too: a television tuner and DVR functionality looks to be in the offing for the console. Microsoft announced similar plans earlier this year, but there are no firm dates for either company's use of the console.

Questions Sony needs to answer

[_xeno_]

PS3 as a DVR, huh? Well, that raises the following questions:

• Does it support CableCard?
• If not, how does it change channels?
• Does it support HD? (I'd assume it does.)
• Is it an additional add-on? (I'd assume it is, with a remote.) If so, how much does it cost?
• How does it compare to other DVRs? Specifically, does it require a subscription? Offer TV listings? Offer suggestions?
• Can it record while a game is playing? While a movie (DVD/Blu-Ray) is playing?
• Does it use the same hard drive that games use? Will they be competing for available space?

I think that's my list of questions. I could see it working, but it'd have to be able to beat TiVo on ease of use. I'd rather have a separate DVR, but I can definitely understand that some people would want a combination console/DVD/Blu-Ray/DVR unit.

Re:

[LWATCDR]

Gee I have been predicting this from the start.
What I wonder in addition to all of your questions is.
1. Will it let you save the shows to a memory stick to watch on your PSP?
2 Will it let you use your PSP to watch shows over wifi served from your PS3?

Re:

[cbreaker]

Blah blah, poor developers.

Every new platform is difficult if it's not what you've been doing. I don't feel sorry for these people; they're paid to develop titles. And they have been. There's an assload of games being released for Sony's game system.

Exclusives are over-rated; that's why you see a lot less of them these days. I can imagine a world where there's enough room for more then one game console. Why can't you?

ps. Since the PS3 plays games, why not also use it for other things? You know,

Re:

[LWATCDR]

"Blah blah, poor developers.

Every new platform is difficult if it's not what you've been doing. I don't feel sorry for these people; "

If a system is hard to develop for then the developers will be spending more time just making the game work instead of making the game great. Systems that are hard to develop for tend to fail. the Intel i860 cpu, the apx432, the Connection Machine...
The Itantium is a classic example of how hard to develop for has in impact on success. It floundered early one because the compi

Re:

[cbreaker]

Who cares if the DVR thing raises questions? It's a new item, and who knows, it might suck. Ain't nobody forcing me to buy it. It's a fine machine without that, but it might be really cool! I'm patient enough to wait for the details to be released.

Folks like you keep saying "yea all this cool extra stuff is okay but it NEEDS GAMES FIRST." Well, considering how many people and companies are involved with all this, I don't know why you think both can't be done at the same time. From where I sit, t

Re:

[LWATCDR]

You see I find this post amusing because I am not bashing the PS3.
Yes the PS2 was hard to program. But no the Cell is just that odd when used in the PS3. No one is using the theoretical power of the Cell in the PS3. The memory structure is a mess and dealing with the asymmetrical nature of the CPU core+Cells is really hard. Not impossible but really hard. Notice that all the really big games are getting pushed back. Yes being hard to program is a negative. It is one reason that the XBox did as well as it d

Re:

[cbreaker]

You claim you're not anti-PS3 but everything you write, including the "Yea and I loved my Amiga" are backhanded insults. Ridiculous.

PS. Being behind the 360 in sales is an old stupid argument. They've been selling that system for a lot longer.

Re:

[LWATCDR]

I am insulting the PS3? Gee do you think I hurt it's feelings?
It is a game console. I think it is lacking in many respects like software and cost. Get over it it is just a thing and not your family.
If you like it then fine. I am not anti-PS3 because I don't care enough about it to be anti. It doesn't really matter to me since I don't see enough value in it to play $500 or so dollars for it. I don't own a 360 because I don't see enough value in that. Does that make me anti 360?

The 360 being ahead of the PS3

Re:

[Omeger]

MGS4 is still only coming out for the PS3. There's be no announcement yet about any other platforms.

Re:

[Duffy13]

At E3 (July 11th to be specific) it was announced that MGS4 will stay exclusive to the PS3.

Re:

[amuro98]

This isn't the first time Sony has talked about something like this. I remember them talking about a DVR for the PS2 as well. In fact, wasn't that what the short-lived "PSX" was? (yes, there was a real product called "PSX" - and it didn't refer to the PS1 prototype.)

However, with set-top boxes required to decrypt non-OTA HD channels, or even use a satellite dish, and the providers now also offer a built-in DVR for only a little more than their non-HD, non-DVR box, is there really a market for this?

As muc

Re:

[dreamchaser]

You do know that TiVo has at least 2 models, the Series 3 and the TiVo HD, that not only do HD but work with CableCard specs so that you don't NEED a separate set top box, right? As for being able to play a game while recording, why not? There is ample processing power, or the DVR component could even have a separate co processor to handle encoding/decoding/recording. We just don't know yet.

Re:

[amuro98]

Yes, I know about the series 3. I also know the series 3 is $300, and that Comcast doesn't support cablecard (how nice of them!)

So I'll still have to get Comcast's cable box, Comcast's digital cable, and now I'm spending $100/mo. just for programming. And don't forget about the Tivo service fee...

Oh, and since I already have the cable box, why not get DVR for just $10/mo more - that's about the same amount Tivo's 3 year service program costs.

What about satellite? Well, DirecTivo is a thing of the past -

Re:

[fistfullast33l]

Obviously no details have been released yet, but we can at least speculate (I reorganized your questions):

Is it an additional add-on? (I'd assume it is, with a remote.) If so, how much does it cost?

Seeing as this would be a huge marketing thing if it was built in, I think we can assume that this would have to be an add-on. The PS3 has USB ports, so I'm thinking that's an obvious connection method.

Does it support CableCard?

I don't think we can answer that definitively, but seeing as they already make a dig [cnet.com]

Re:

[jamie(really)]

The article seemed to refer to free terrestrial DVB digital broadcasting in new zealand.

I wouldn't touch a CableCard based system if my life depended on it. I've never gotten it to work (or I should say my cable company who charge me to come to my house and fuck about for an hour at a time) have never gotten it to work for more than a day. CableCard is quite amusing. The Cable Industry is fucking me about in order to protect someone elses content, while the content providers themselves will sell it to me o

Zonk Vents Bile at Sony

[19thNervousBreakdown]

There's a headline for you. What, they're not supposed to be proud of their invention? A game wasn't unable to fit on a single DVD? If you're going to Sony bash, do it for something valid, like their rootkits, horrible customer service, or the way they managed to destroy Star Wars. Blu-Ray actually isn't bad, so when you gripe about it, it just makes your legitimate gripes look like more bellyaching.

Re:Zonk Vents Bile at Sony

[Winckle]

Star Wars?

Elaborate.

Re:

[karmatic]

SW:G [sony.com]

'nuff said.

Re:

[Winckle]

Ah I see. So much potential.

Re:

[Floritard]

Ahem.

Star Wars Galaxies - 2003

Star Wars Episode I : The Phantom Menace - 1999

Give credit where credit is due [wikipedia.org].

Star Wars Galaxies

[BKX]

'nuff said

Re:

[eln]

From your link, the PS3 is number one in Amazon sales (not total sales, just those made on Amazon) and the Wii is number two. Also, the PS3 is selling from Amazon direct at retail price while the Wii is only available through third parties at (at least) $75 above retail price. I would imagine these facts are all related in some way.

Re:

[Mr2001]

Also interesting: there are no PS3 games in that list. There are three Wii games (4 if you count Wii Play), some DS/PS2/360/PC games, but nothing for the PS3 except the controller and remote.

Re:

[donaldm]

I am just curious on why you are looking at Amazon for the best game sellers. Why don't you try http://www.vgchartz.com/ [vgchartz.com] the site is much more informative at least you can have a reasonable amount of confidence that the figures are fairly correct. Oh on a different note please don't use the site to compare the DS against the consoles you should compare it against the PSP which for those that are interested is 45M (DS) to 22M (PSP). Surprisingly for some this is actually very good for both hand held devices

Re:

[Mr2001]

Actually, the Xbox 360 Elite system is at #19 right now. That's on the first page (1-25).

Re:

[sxeraverx]

Annoyance? Thanks to the separate brick (well, at least partially), the PS3 doesn't overheat, unlike some other consoles without bricks that I know.

Re:

[antek9]

Come again? I was talking about the 360 package if you didn't read my comment. The 360 has a separate brick, yet does overheat just like my wife sometimes does (which means, a lot). The PS3, on the other hand, doesn't sport either of the problems I mentioned: doesn't have an ugly brick, doesn't overheat (and become a brick, mind the pun). It is cool like me (compared to my wife, that is).

Re:

[British]

When there's not that many games for the PS3, it stands less of a chance of overheating due to less frequent use. It's not a design flaw, it's a feature!

Consequently I run into less problems with Linux than Windows since I only use it as a file & print server! :)

Re:

[donaldm]

Yawn! Oh come on how many times to we have to read this.

The PS3 actually has more games than the Wii, Xbox, Xbox360 put together if you take into account PS1 and PS2 games and it will smooth and upscale them to 1080p if you have a HDTV that has that resolution. Granted the current lineup of native PS3 games is relatively small (over 30 I think) but over time it will grow.

I don't know that may people who can afford all the PS3 games much less the the same number of Wii or even Xbox360 games so just sayi

Re:

[NeutronCowboy]

Cute - another AC unwilling to put his name behind this. If these numbers are so accurate, then why is Halo 3 on that list - twice? Someone's really trying to do some spin himself.

Re:

[Stevecrox]

Did you not read the list? Halo 3 is listed 5th on the list, Halo 3 LIMITED EDITION is at 26th. Its becoming common practice for many publishers to release two versions of the boxes for example Myst V and Myst V collecter edition (the latter came with the soundtrack and the next myst book extract) Black & White 2 and Black & White 2 Limited edition (the latter having a making of DVD.) Most of the time these "limited editions" are brought out during release and generally cost exactly the same althoug

Re:

[NeutronCowboy]

I guess I missed the part where Halo 3 has been released. Could you please point me to the nearest retailer that is selling Halo 3? Oh? What's that? It hasn't been released yet? Weird. I'm sure it has no impact though on how PS3 numbers are tabulated.

Re:

[Stevecrox]

Theres this amazing thing called PRE-ORDERING take Myst V the only game I pre ordered I paid for the game 3 months before it came out and play.com mailed the game to me a week before its release to make sure I got it on release day. Its standard practice in the games industry you can even pre order films and music albums your either a troll or an idiot I'm not sure which

Re:

[Yahweh Doesn't Exist]

I find it far more interesting that the Wii is 2nd in an hourly chart despite being out of stock

Re:

[LKM]

It regularly claims number 1 (and when it does, a bunch of Wii peripherals often occupy the next few slots) as soon as new stock becomes available. The new stock then sells out within ours, and the Wii falls to second place again, and the peripherals disappear from the top of the list.

If only Nintendo could get production capacity up. They could sell three times as many as they currently do.

Re:

[MeanderingMind]

Zonk would be a very petty man indeed if he got worked up over that list.

It's the video game bestseller list of the North American portion of an online retailer who does not specialize in video games. It is not a statistically sound sample for how any console is doing overall.

If/when the NPD or an analogous operation overseas puts the PS3 on top, laud it and rejoice. This list, however, does not deserve the special attention you continually call to it.

I'm almost inclined to believe you're a very carefully d

Re:

[tb()ne]

It's the video game bestseller list of the North American portion of an online retailer who does not specialize in video games. It is not a statistically sound sample for how any console is doing overall.

It is certainly not a definitive indicator but it is current and available. To give you a non-American retailer, the German Amazon site currently ranks PS3 at #14 in the games section. The highest ranked XBox360 was #381. Of course, it would be nice to know where the 360 would rank if you combined sale

Re:

[cgenman]

Actually, Bizzare Creations has since retracted that statement [bizarrecreations.com], saying instead that the real reason was they wanted to focus financial resources on a weather system.

Which is all fine and good. "Crowing" about it seems reasonable (as defined as "to gloat, boast, or exult"). I'd hardly call that Bile. Also, Sony did use this slightly thin example to say that their Overpriced-but-with-blu-ray strategy had been vindicated.

Re:

[19thNervousBreakdown]

At some point you have to interpret tone, and Zonk has never posted anything positive about the PS3. Given that, and the fact that crowing usually is meant in a negative manner, you have to interpret the post as negative.

Also, I'm tired of hearing that the PS3 is overpriced. Is it expensive? Yes. Is it too expensive? For me, yes. Not that I couldn't have one now, but it's way more than I'm willing to pay. The thing is, it's not milk. It's not electricity. You don't need it, so if you're not willing to pay

Re:

[MeanderingMind]

At some point you have to interpret facts.

Zonk has never posted anything positive about the PS3

This is blatantly false. Here are stories Zonk has posted that are positive.

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/24/ 1312223 [slashdot.org]
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/23/ 2146211 [slashdot.org]
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/11/ 2018259 [slashdot.org]
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/09/ 0253236 [slashdot.org]
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/23/ 214231 [slashdot.org]
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/08/ 1 [slashdot.org]

It is $100 less

[SuperKendall]

Just thought you might like to know your wishes have been answered. Well, you and whoever modded you "insightful" asking for something that has already come to pass...

No it's not

[Actually, I do RTFA]

They're having a firesale of old 40gig units, lowering the price of the 60 gig units to where the 40 were, and adding an 80 gig unit where the 60 gig used to be priced. But they aren't making 40 gig units anymore.

Re:

[Actually, I do RTFA]

The cheapest normally available unit (and the most expensive normally available unit) maintained the same price. What you get for your money increased, but absent getting one of the discontinued models, you cannot get a PS3 for less money. Hence, it is not $100 less.

It's not discontinued though

[SuperKendall]

If it were discontinued it would be lacking in function in some way. As far as playing games or movies, it is identical to the 80GB model, just with less storage.

Furthermore, what makes you think the 80GB model does not drop $100 as well when they run out of the current ones?

Obviously the price is here to stay, regardless of what people such as yourself looking for an excuse to bash Sony have to say.

Re:

[Doctor_Jest]

So, with the exception of the rumored $50 price drop (which could occur)... what are they adding over in Redmond to not lower the price of their console?

I'd rather see Microsoft fix the flaw in theirs, too. (and I agree... Sony can cheapen it over time, like the PS2... it just takes time...)

Re:

[Kelbear]

Word I'm hearing is:

Well, the good news is that they've started to fix the flaw. They're adding another heatsink and a heatpipe to consoles that are returned for RROD repairs.

The bad news is that the turnaround time on repairs has also increased to 6-8 /weeks/!

New Xbox360 elites from manufacture batches after 7/23 have the 65nm chip and the quieter Benq drives.

However, there are a lot of Xbox360 premiums, so they are going to be clearing all the older ones out into the retail channel before 65nm premium bun

Re:

[Doctor_Jest]

That's interesting... I figured the Elites would (this gen, previous to the 'falcon') be 90mm across the board. I want to see the proof (in the pudding) that the 65nm chips solve their systemic flaw before I even bother looking for one. :)

Way to cover up a fundamental flaw, Microsoft. :( I still don't see how they can avoid a recall with their own admission that all the current consoles (the ones in the retail channel as they went to press with their prepared statement) will be failing at some point in th

Re:

[cbreaker]

And I feel like you're spreading FUD. I'm glad they keep making the PS3 better. I was happy when it was just a game console. Now it's a media player, upscaling DVD player, and soon a DVR. How cool is that?

PS2/Xbox 4/8 Gigs, PS3 25/50 Gigs, 360...7 Gigs!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

What the hell did people expect to happen when Microsoft made the inane decision to be the first console maker ever to actually ship a system with LESS storage space than a previous generation.

Atari 2600
NES - more storage space compared to previous gen
Genesis - more storage space compared to previous gen
N64 - more storage space compared to previous gen
Playstation - more storage space compared to previous gen
PS2/Xbox - more storage space compared to previous gen
PS3 - more storage space compared to previous g

Re:PS2/Xbox 4/8 Gigs, PS3 25/50 Gigs, 360...7 Gigs

[ironwill96]

I do so hate responding to AC's, but just wanted to point out a fatal flaw in your argument. The 360 has a 20 GB base hard drive, some of which is taken up by system storage etc, but I know on my hard drive right now I have 14 GB free, odd if I only have a 7GB drive. Get your facts straight.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

No the 360 does not have a 20 gig base harddrive. Some 360s have harddrives, some don't. Every 360 game is required to run without a harddrive(except some European sports game).

That is why Rockstar has been complaining about what a nightmare being forced to support the gimped 360 is.

And regardless of the lack of a standard harddrive, nothing is ever going to change the fact that the 360 has a gig less storage compared to the PS2 and Xbox last gen.

That is so amazingly pathetic that only a company like Micros

Re:

[ironwill96]

Ok assuming you bought the actual version with the hard drive (most people do), here it is on Amazon.Com in the header for ya: http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-Console-20GB-Hard-Driv e /dp/B000B43OY4/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-3708007-6314047 ?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1186008321&sr=8-1 [amazon.com] Note where it says "Includes 20 GB Hard Drive". That is THE STANDARD size hard drive in the Premium SKU (the $399 model with the hard drive). In the new black "Elite" SKU they include 120GB Hard drives.

Re:

[amuro98]

Yes, yes, but there's also a "360 Core" SKU which doesn't include a HDD at all.

This was solely created as a side-effect of Microsoft thinking that the PS3 was going to originally cost about $400. This way, Microsoft could point to the stupid Core unit and truthfully say "the 360 is cheaper."

And despite the appearance of the Elite, the Core is still going to be sold for the foreseeable future.

Re:

[Eivind]

It's ridicolous though, isn't it ? a *20*GB HD ? And the console is *new* can you even imagine how ridicolous that will look in 3-4 years ? Can you even -get- them that small in retail if you try these days ? Sorta like how a 16MB memory-card today retails for aproximately the same price as a 2GB usb-memory (a factor of 128 bigger !)

Yeah, I know they're laptop-drives, which gives miniscule bang-for-buck compared to 3.5" ones, but still.... 120GB is about standard for a new laptop these days, certainly not "

Re:

[kosanovich]

The 360 base system (also called the core system) doesn't have any harddrive. If you buy one of the others then you would have an HD with 20 or 120 gigs depending on the model.

However if you take a minute and look at the AC's post it is pretty obvious that he's not talking about harddrive space. PS2 didn't have 4 gigs of HD space, the PS3 doesn't have any 25/50 gig models. Then when you look at all the other systems listed in his post they did not come with any form of HD. It's pretty clear he's talking abo

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

The PS2 had a standard dual layer DVD drive that supported 4GB for single layer discs and 8GB for dual layer discs.

The Xbox had the same storage space as the PS2.

The PS3 has a BluRay drive that supports 25GB for single layer discs and 50GB for dual layer discs.

The Xbox 360 has a standard dual layer DVD drive that supports 3.5GB for single layers discs and 7GB for dual layer discs.

There is some sort of DRM/security reason that around a gigabyte of storage is used on 360 discs. The exact details have never be

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm assuming you're the same person who posted about this last time, so:

Can you PLEASE provide a link that corroborates this, that isn't a two year old Digg article and isn't the Wikipedia?

Otherwise, I think you're full of it. There's no way a DRM scheme would waste that much space. I think you're confusing "dummy files" with DRM.

Re:

[donaldm]

The PS2 had a standard dual layer DVD drive that supported 4GB for single layer discs and 8GB for dual layer discs.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_ 2 _DVD-9_games [wikipedia.org]

The Xbox had the same storage space as the PS2.
This one is not true the Xbox had a 8GB disk drive (http://www.xbreporter.com/xbox_system_specificati ons.php) but a modded Xbox could take a much bigger drive. The PS2 could take a 40GB add-on disk drive although from what I can gather it wasn't really supported.

The PS3 h

Re:

[MeanderingMind]

I think that kind of power abuse might be why you don't get modpoints.

Re:PS2/Xbox 4/8 Gigs, PS3 25/50 Gigs, 360...7 Gigs

[flewp]

Well, there's just not any games YOU like for the PS3.

I know a few people who are plenty happy with a few games for their PS3s.

For what it's worth, I'm not buying a PS3 until there's a few more must have games that interest me. I'm also hoping this will coincide with a price a drop, because while I think the PS3 is fairly priced, it's still too much for budget, given I'd probably only use it to play games. (I have no desire to run Linux, etc) If they add in DVR+TV Tuning, and keep the price the same, I might be more interested though.

I also don't really remember any games for the XBox360 coming out in it's first year that made me want to get one. In fact, there's still no games out for it that make me want to get one. Isn't it kind of the natural way of things for really great games to take a year or more to come out after a system's launch? I know there's exceptions, but on the whole, the majority of good games for the past few generations of systems seem to have, for the most part, come out well after the system has launched. (hooray for excessively long sentences)

Re:

[Floritard]

I also don't really remember any games for the XBox360 coming out in it's first year that made me want to get one. In fact, there's still no games out for it that make me want to get one.

Thank you. I'm not trying to bash 360 in favor of PS3 (I own neither yet), but it really bugs me that people keep pretending the 360 has this mega library of great software. Hell they don't even have Halo, the only real reason to have owned an original XBox (besides Ninja Gaiden for those of us who could put up with the evil difficulty of it). The only company that has ever consistently released great software at launch is Nintendo, and no I don't have a Wii either. You can't argue with SMB, SMW, PilotWing

Sony making a PVR

[chazard]

With their history of unfriendly DRM (think atrac3 and rootkit history) from Sony, I think I will steer far, far away from any DVR functionality that would likely cost me a few hundred dollars to use the existing harddrive in a P3S.
Mind you the idea of running Myth on it could be pretty cool.
C

Re:

[nuzak]

> if Microsoft wins, gamers lose big. Games will be subscription based and DRM will be so much worse.

I can't speak for DRM, since Sony is just as bad (hell, even the _games_ turn on HDCP), but what makes you think MS is going to do anything to piss off the third party developers for its console? Hell, the 360 has XNA, which is a limited API to be sure, but at least it can use the GPU.

Microsoft's one not a DVR...

[spectecjr]

The future of the PS3 itself seems to have changes coming too: a television tuner and DVR functionality looks to be in the offing for the console. Microsoft announced similar plans earlier this year, but there are no firm dates for either company's use of the console

Microsoft's one doesn't look like a DVR - but is instead IPTV [wikipedia.org] - it remains to be seen what recording features it will have, but presumably it can work in the background over the network the way that Live downloads work now; as it's multicast, there's probably enough bandwidth for it to come in over your regular network connection without really affecting your transfer rates for other data. Sony's looks like it plans to use an over the air tuner, and even weirder, looks like it's set to be used for Freeview [wikipedia.org] (there's also a NZ equivalent).

Nice Start

[JamesRose]

But I'll wait till I can see clearly theres no DRM problems.
And then I'll wait for a price drop.
And then I'll wait to see if Blu-ray becomes dominant/affordable.
And then I'll wait for some really good games to come out. ...And then I'll get a PS4 ;)

Re:

[Faylone]

Now, the PS4 may be going to be the best console that ever has been or ever will be made ever, but you're assuming it's not going to be even worse than than the PS3 is.

Re:

[Mark Gillespie]

Have fun waiting, as PS4 is due in 8-10 years time.

I think you are confusing Xbox release cycles with PS3 release cycles.

Here is a cut out and keep easy reminder.

Historic Console Lifespan:

Xbox 3-4 years
Playstation 7 - 10 years
Nintendo 5 - 6 years

.kkrieger

[sssssss27]

I'm sure the guys behind .kkrieger are happy they went with BluRay...

http://212.202.219.162/kkrieger [212.202.219.162]

All this for $599.99+$99+$149+$X

[photomonkey]

This seems to me like Sony scrambling to offer SOME feature that will move these things off the store shelves. What next? A toaster and removable HDD MP3 player?

Games, guys, games. That's what this thing is made to do. And right now, nearly a year after launch, the titles are the same old crap. And crap available already on other platforms too.

Re:

[The13thSin]

You sir, are an idiot! (Also good mod.) Anyway, before this thread turns into a big sony bashing orgasm, cos all good news for teh PS3 obviously warrants that, I'll just mention I'm getting this if they'll keep the price not much over 100 dollars/euro for the hardware addon, and it supports HD (which I presume it will). Nice extra for my media machine I'd say. A nice 300 gig or so 3.5" Harddisk won't hurt either I suppose. Also, for added randomness and since Fox had this nice piece on Anon a short while

Re:

[realmolo]

It's looking better, I guess. But that's only because it couldn't look any WORSE.

There still aren't any "system seller" games for it. And it's still too expensive. The only good news, really, is some of the upcoming games that were shown at E3. Most of which aren't coming out until this fall, and most of which are also coming out for the 360.

Sony is still in a world of hurt, I think. The PS3 just doesn't have any momentum at all.

Re:

[cbreaker]

Says.. you?

Microsoft has only sold (to retailers) about 10 million consoles. Considering Sony sold 120+ million PS2's, I'd say there's still quite a market left of people that haven't pulled the trigger on the Xbox or the PS3. Considering that the Xbox isn't exactly cheap, someone could just as easily buy a PS3 over the 360.

Just like you said, a lot of games are released for both platforms, so it's just as easy to assume someone would buy the PS3 over the 360 because it's more feature-rich out of the bo

Re:

[MeanderingMind]

Technically, neither the 360 or the PS3 are doing well if you factor in that the Wii is outselling either one by a ratio of 3 to 1.

Hence, were we to assume (erroneously) that each PS2 bought had a unique owner, would only buy one console and that the entire market was PS2s, the end result this generation would be (given the current trends) 68.2 Wiis, 29.4 360s and 23.4 PS3s.

Of course in reality trends change, people buy new consoles to replace old ones, the market isn't zero sum or static, and the world cou

Re:

[cbreaker]

I have a hard time counting the Wii because almost everyone I know with either the 360 or PS3 also have one of those. Then there's the people that have the Wii but plan to buy either the 360 or PS3 at some point in the future.

The reasoning, I guess, is that the Wii is fun for awhile, and fun if you want to swing around and stuff, but there's something missing, and they want more. I'm guessing - better graphics, and something that uses their HDTV as an HDTV.

Re:

[donaldm]

Too expensive means to many that "you can't afford it". My simple answer to that is buy something you can afford. But please take into account game prices. If you want to really save money buy a PS2, there are a huge amount of games for it and it is still supported with new games still coming out for it.

If you really want a PS3 then I suggest looking around you may pick one up reasonably cheaply, retailers do actually deal if you are not in a hurry. Since the PS3 will also smooth and upscale PS1/2 games

Re:

[Khaed]

Considering how badly they've done everything else... don't hold your breath.

HDTV with PS3?

[backslashdot]

I wonder if they will come out with an HDTV that has the PS3, DVR, internet browsing, or shopping (or games and movies) functionality built in to it.

I bet the remote for it will suck ass. Won't they build a simpler remote with one or two OLED buttons and/or a touch dial ipod style like the appletv has -- especially if the menus appear on screen? Ideally it would also feature a "touch a button and speak" voice activated remote control capability.

Re:

[Dr Kool, PhD]

Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Resistance and Motorstorm are all great games. Lately I've been playing MLB 2007 The Show and it's great too. I still love NBA 2K7 and little downloadable games like Super Rub a Dub. I think your assertion that PS3 has no games is without merit.

Re:

[MeanderingMind]

To be fair those are great games, but the problem is they are either on the other platforms, remakes of old games for predecessors of the other platforms or have nearly analogous counterparts there.

What is really being sought aren't just good games, but good games whose experiences can not be duplicated by competitors to any close degree.

Re:

[kosanovich]

This is such a stupid troll. "let me know when some decent games come out"?? Yeah let me tell you when a game that you like comes out. If you don't like any of the games on a system then that's fine, don't go out and buy one! I personally look at the releases coming for the Wii between now and the end of the year and the games that i want to play on it are Metroid (because of the hype, not that i think i'll love it all that much), Mario galaxies, and bully (have the PS2 version but want to see what they add

Re:

[antek9]

The utter stupidity of some people never ceases to amaze me. Stop trolling, you don't own a PS3, and no one is forcing you to. Are we cool now?

Re:

[antek9]

That's too bad for you then. But would you mind to elaborate why you bought a PS3 in the first place if there weren't any games within reach that might interest you? Just curious.

Re:

[cbreaker]

Why did you buy it?

I use mine all the time. It's good enough at all it does to avoid putting a PC under the TV, which I find great. Ohh, and the games I've purchased are great, too.

Re:

[feepness]

I want some games to play on this effing over-expensive monolithic black tablet taking up all the space on my desk - it's been sitting there turned off for about two months now!

There are 22 games listed at ign.com reviewed at 8 or higher.

There are another 24 in the seven range.

May I suggest visiting a store where they sell games? They have them both online and at your local mall. I've heard games are also available at larger retailers.

Good luck in your search!

Re:blu-ray

[Slothy]

I'm not a PS3 hater, I just wanted to see the games that are 8+. I went to IGN and I saw these:
(here's the URL: http://ps3.ign.com/index/reviews.html?constraint.n ot_null.article.overall_rating=is_true&ordering.or der=desc&ordering.attribute=article.review_date&co nstraint.max_rows=40&constraint.locale=us&sort.att ribute=article.overall_rating&sort.order=desc [ign.com])

Ninja Gaiden Sigma Action 9.3 Jun 29, 2007
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, The RPG 9.2 Mar 26, 2007
MotorStorm [AU] Racing 8.9 Mar 22, 2007
Ninja Gaiden Sigma [AU] Action 8.8 Jul 4, 2007
Super Stardust HD Shooter 8.7 Jul 2, 2007
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas Shooter 8.7 Jun 27, 2007
Super Stardust HD [UK] Shooter 8.5 Jun 21, 2007
Super Stardust HD [AU] Shooter 8.5 Jun 20, 2007
Calling All Cars! Action 8.5 Apr 25, 2007
Resistance: Fall of Man [AU] Shooter 8.4 Mar 27, 2007
F.E.A.R. Shooter 8.1 Apr 20, 2007
Bigs, The Sports 8.0 Jun 26, 2007
Resistance: Fall of Man [UK] Shooter 8.0 Mar 22, 2007

There are only 13 lines there, and there are multiple lines for one game. So if you eliminate the multiple listings, you get:

Ninja Gaiden Sigma Action 9.3 Jun 29, 2007
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, The RPG 9.2 Mar 26, 2007
MotorStorm [AU] Racing 8.9 Mar 22, 2007
Super Stardust HD Shooter 8.7 Jul 2, 2007
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas Shooter 8.7 Jun 27, 2007
Calling All Cars! Action 8.5 Apr 25, 2007
Resistance: Fall of Man [AU] Shooter 8.4 Mar 27, 2007
F.E.A.R. Shooter 8.1 Apr 20, 2007
Bigs, The Sports 8.0 Jun 26, 2007

So down to 9. Which is actually cool, 9 good games on a platform in the first year is a great thing. I'm just wondering about the 22 thing. Is this URL wrong, or lacking games that you found elsewhere?

Re:

[feepness]

My method was to go to IGN and count the 8s and 9s in their review section. I did notice there were many duplicates for AU and UK and tried to skip them but honestly I wasn't very careful and I have had [hic] a beer or two.

Here for the 8-9 for example. [ign.com]

Being more careful this time I get 16 at 8-9 and 3 at 9+. So 19, not 22. Whoops. But still, anybody who says "my PS3 collects dust because there are no good games" has their head firmly up their ass.

Re:

[LoveMe2Times]

But still, anybody who says "my PS3 collects dust because there are no good games" has their head firmly up their ass.

You are neglecting an important point: this is slashdot. I'm not trying to say that dotters are capricious but that our tastes are, on average, not aligned with mainstream. Based on your own reference, it would be very reasonable to expect a significant number of slashdotters to think that the PS3 has no good games. There are several reasons a dotter might feel this way:

1. In the context of this discussion, people are talking about full retail games. StarDust and Calling All Cars don't count.
2. Slashdotters

Re:

[iainl]

By the way, Tekken is a download game, not a retail one. Not that I think there's anything wrong with that, by the way; as a 360 owner I seem to spend as much time on Carcassonne and Geometry Wars as I do on Forza 2 and Crackdown.

Re:

[king-manic]

That's trimmed the list from 19 to 4 games that you might expect the average slashdotter to care about on the PS3:

If you play that game, you could really say that the 360 has about 4 good games as it's mostly sports, FPS, multi-platform releases, games that are better when ported to PC, and re-releases of PS2 games.

Re:

[MeanderingMind]

It's a game that needs to be played.

One of the major issues both Microsoft and Sony have been facing is the problem of uniqueness. While many of the hardware or online features both offer are unique, their software libraries aren't. Beyond titles such as LittleBigPlanet and Dead Rising, most everything on both systems either has been ported outright or has a near equivalent counterpart.

So, having played our game and found both systems wanting, what does one do? We're left with online experiences that are di

Re:

[feepness]

I hear they also hate games that start with 'M' so that'll have to go.

Seriously, that was a remarkably silly list. Retail only? What, who said that? And wouldn't an avid gamer want the extra content/visuals in Gaiden? And Oblivion looks far better on my buddies PS3 than it does on my PC.

Re:

[MikeBabcock]

I just want to know who all these overpaid people are that think they're going to play more games a year than this. At $70 each with no price drop yet, I own Oblivion, Resistance and Motorstorm and that's it for my budget till closer to Christmas. Then it'll be a toss-up for Ratchet or Lair or something.

There aren't hundreds or thousands of good games for the PS3, but there are quite a few and considering it hasn't been out a year yet, that's pretty impressive. Does anyone remember what the original game

Re:

[ucblockhead]

Shit, I've been playing just Oblivion since April and still haven't finished the damn thing.

It does end, right?

Re:

[MikeBabcock]

lol no it doesn't actually :-)

I played 250 hrs as one character in Morrowind without ever finishing the main plot. You can complete the main quest if you like, but it doesn't "end" the game in any meaningful way.

Motorstorm is a nice break from adventuring and shooting (Resistance: FoM) when I just feel like tearing up some dirt. Resistance I've logged about 400 online battles in and am working my way through the single player game on hard mode right now.

More games? I don't have time :-) lol I'm happy wi

Re:

[TheBlackSwordsman]

I have to point out that half of these games are ports or remakes of older games.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma - remake of an Xbox game
Rainbox Six: Vegas - also released for PC and Xbox 360 (scored a 9.3 on 360 vs an 8.7 on PS3)
F.E.A.R. - also released for PC and Xbox 360 (scored a 9.1 on 360 vs an 8.1 on PS3)
Oblivion - also released for PC and Xbox 360
The Bigs - also released for Xbox 360 (scored an 8.3 vs an 8.0 on PS3)

Right now "games" just doesn't seem like a great reason to buy a PS3. You can find most

Re:

[doyoulikeworms]

That list doesn't represent all reviewed PS3 games. You need to filter it by "Standard Retail Games" to have all games listed, then sort by score. You'll then get: Ninja Gaiden Sigma 9.3 Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, The 9.2 Resistance: Fall of Man 9.1 MotorStorm 8.9 Virtua Fighter 5 8.8 NBA Street Homecourt 8.8 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 8.7 NHL 2K7 8.6 NBA 2K7 8.5 College Hoops 2K7 8.3 Fight Night Round 3 8.3 Madden NFL 07 8.3 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 8.3 Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidge Racer 7 8.2 F.E.A.R. 8.1

Re:blu-ray (A properly formatted reply...)

[doyoulikeworms]

That list doesn't represent all reviewed PS3 games. You need to filter it by "Standard Retail Games" to have all games listed, then sort by score.

You'll then get:
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 9.3
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, The 9.2
Resistance: Fall of Man 9.1
MotorStorm 8.9
Virtua Fighter 5 8.8
NBA Street Homecourt 8.8
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 8.7
NHL 2K7 8.6
NBA 2K7 8.5
College Hoops 2K7 8.3
Fight Night Round 3 8.3
Madden NFL 07 8.3
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 8.3
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidge Racer 7 8.2
F.E.A.R. 8.1