What did Sony do right with the PS3 launch?

[Bad^Hat]

Well... one good thing it did for me was make me never want to buy a PS3. Which in turn made me comfortable to buy a PS2 this late to the party just to enjoy it's awesome back catalog (and yet some upcoming goodies too).

 

[smwScott]

IMO, Sony making their launch date was the only thing they did right.

I could spend $600 on a PS3...for essentially nothing. OR, I could spend nothing and continue using my GameCube and PS2 with a WEALTH of terrificly outstanding games.

Also, using Blu-ray is not a mistake...it's necessary when you consider the size of some of these game. I hear Resistance requires massive amounts of storage. The mistake is not releasing a version of the PS3without Blu Ray movie playback. The margins on current Blu-Ray movie players is massive. Do you honestly believe that the margin is slim on a $1000.00 Sony Blu-Ray player. Not to mention, if you don't have an HDMI compatible receiver...the Blu-Ray movie experience is crippled on this thing. The HD sound formats are outstanding and there's no way to hear them through the TOS-Link connection. I guarantee that the movie playback is a HUGE part of their justification for a $600 price tag. Just my two cents.

My suggestion would be 3 versions...$399 for a Blu-Ray movie disabled one, $599 (same as the current one for $599) and $899 for a TRUE media center/PS3 with larger HD, Blu Ray movie playback, TIVO-like software (potential cable box replacement), and analog sound-out to output the HD sound formats. My interest would certainly be higher than it is now. This is all correctable, in my eyes, and if sales keep going the way they have...less than impressive...something similar may happen.

That would be nice, but it doesn't really make sense. Once they have the Blu-Ray drive in there, there's no reason not to include movie playback. Even if they didn't, the thing runs Linux so you could just play it through that. That's not to even mention that one of the main reasons they included Blu-Ray was to get the format out to more people, so they can sell more Blu-Ray movies ... this would be counter-productive. Also, they don't save any money by not letting you play movies (in fact they lose money on future BR sales), so they would be taking an even GREATER loss at at that lower price point.

As far as your media center idea goes, they already tried that with the PS2. They called it the PSX and it was basically exactly what you said plus some other stuff, and it failed miserably. Not to mention the base PS3 by itself is costing Sony $800+ to manufacture, so they would have to charge a hell of a lot to make a profit on that thing (considering all the extra stuff they'd have to include). It might be cheaper to buy the components separately.

 

[VictimOfScience]

That would be nice, but it doesn't really make sense. Once they have the Blu-Ray drive in there, there's no reason not to include movie playback. Even if they didn't, the thing runs Linux so you could just play it through that. That's not to even mention that one of the main reasons they included Blu-Ray was to get the format out to more people, so they can sell more Blu-Ray movies ... this would be counter-productive. Also, they don't save any money by not letting you play movies (in fact they lose money on future BR sales), so they would be taking an even GREATER loss at at that lower price point.

As far as your media center idea goes, they already tried that with the PS2. They called it the PSX and it was basically exactly what you said plus some other stuff, and it failed miserably. Not to mention the base PS3 by itself is costing Sony $800+ to manufacture, so they would have to charge a hell of a lot to make a profit on that thing (considering all the extra stuff they'd have to include). It might be cheaper to buy the components separately.

Thanks for saving me the time of replying. :cheers:

 

[Lt. Drebin]

That would be nice, but it doesn't really make sense. Once they have the Blu-Ray drive in there, there's no reason not to include movie playback. Even if they didn't, the thing runs Linux so you could just play it through that. That's not to even mention that one of the main reasons they included Blu-Ray was to get the format out to more people, so they can sell more Blu-Ray movies ... this would be counter-productive. Also, they don't save any money by not letting you play movies (in fact they lose money on future BR sales), so they would be taking an even GREATER loss at at that lower price point.

As far as your media center idea goes, they already tried that with the PS2. They called it the PSX and it was basically exactly what you said plus some other stuff, and it failed miserably. Not to mention the base PS3 by itself is costing Sony $800+ to manufacture, so they would have to charge a hell of a lot to make a profit on that thing (considering all the extra stuff they'd have to include). It might be cheaper to buy the components separately.

Points well taken. All I'm doing is scheming of ways Sony could overcome the PS3s biggest folly...price. At this point in the last gen...you couldn't find a PS2 on store shelves. It was affordable and had decent games off the bat. If you want...I can grab you a PS3. There's about 10 on the shelves at my local BB.

You're right...the BR drive is already in there. But, again, through software, you can disable FEATURES. Features are what you pay for and they can be either hardware or software. Further...not everyone is entuitive enough to access Linux on the PS3 and play the BR movies. Even further, as I mentioned before, the BR movie playback is crippled on this thing...it's approx. 50%...lacking the HD audio support. Vital to the HD movie experience...it's my favorite part. This is not unheard of...can you play your DVD movies back on the Wii's DVD player, yet anyway?? No. But, Nintendo's not having difficulty moving units. So, it's not that far fetched.

Point is, Sony could probably make up the additional losses through sheer volume sales alone...assuming whatever shortages that remain are overcome. And, over time, as the manufacturing process cheapens...the margins grow even more. If you don't believe that an additional $100 in the consumers pocket isn't enough to move a lot more PS3s, you're crazy. Maybe the media center idea is a little far fetched...I guess the $599 one could serve that purpose. The addition of a built in audio decoder w/ analog out would certainly be icing on the cake.

Just my opinion...well, and my reason for not purchasing.

 

[smwScott]

You're still missing the point. One of the main reasons Sony even included a BR drive was so that more people would have a BR player. Sony's goal is to make BR the primary movie format. By removing the ability to play BR movies Sony would lose even MORE money, in addition to the already discounted price, on every single lost sale of a BR movie.

Sony wants as many people to have a player as humanly possible, the money is made through movie sales not through hardware.

 

[Cole]

If Sony decided that nope they wont allow Blu-Ray movies to be played...then uhhh.. you wont be changing the price of the machine..and removing a feature. A major feature Sony wants to push forward.

You = Fail.

 

[Lt. Drebin]

Look, I'm just trying to get Sony down to a reasonable price point without changes to hardware. It's not a bad idea..it was even rumored before when the $499 model was going to be without HDMI. How many HDTVs run 1080p through component?? The BR movie experience would have been completely crippled...there would have been absolutly no point in including the movie playback.

Again, I'm not suggesting that all models be without BR movie playback...just a cheaper one. At least seeing that the PS3 starts at $399 is enough to get people looking at it deeper...maybe saying to themselves...hell, I can watch HD movies for a mere $100 more if I get this one. Sony could even offer a patch to unlock playback if, in the future, you decided you wanted it...$100 or something like that.

MS really is my model here. They're handling this HD-DVD situation incredible well. $299 for the Core 360...if you want some HD-DVD action...$200 more. Simple as that. Not being forced to pay for features you either don't want, can't utilize or don't need. You get the BR drive regardless with the $399 PS3...so I think the $100 price difference between core models would be justified....the PS3 is more capable from that standpoint.

But, the simple fact that there's a BR drive in this thing is not inconsequential....they needed it. It wasnt put in there for movies. That's an ADDED benefit. They were worried about certain games fitting on your standard media. Resistance uses 22GB of storage. That's only the beginning....considering a single layer BR disk only holds 25GB.

Well, to each his own. I have never used my consoles to playback movies...and never will. If I really wanted to watch Blu-Ray movies I'd buy a stand alone player...same goes for HD-DVD.