Does the PS3 really need a price cut? Part one

 

There are many people that talk about PS3 being the most expensive console on the market, and are waiting for the price drop. While that is true, the PS3 should always remain the most expensive, for a few reasons. 

     First off PSN is Sonys free alternative to Xbox live. Its a great service that almost matches what Xbox live offers, but for free. The higher price on the PS3 is not needed, mostly because you are paying the extra money for PSN to remain free. If the PS3 was $200 then Sony would not only lose money per console sold, they would also lose a large amount of money by providing PSN for free. While PSN does draw in a lot of money from Downloadable content, and games, its not enough for Sony to actually make money off the service. 

     The second reason the PS3 should always be the most expensive console on the market is because of the features. Why should the most feature packed console be the cheapest? There is no logic to that. Now if Sony keeps removing features at the rate they are doing it, then sure drop the price, but its all not needed. The PS3 is the most powerful, feature rich, console out there right now, and honestly, you get what you pay for. 

     The PS3 at the rate is at, is almost selling as much as the Xbox at double the price, thats amazing. If you PS3 is selling as much as its competitors, then why would Sony need to lower the price, they are selling a lot, and making money off the console per each unit sold. If they are actually making money for a change (Shocker!) why would they want to lose money again? Lowering the price will up the sales, but in the end Sony will make more money by keeping the console more expensive. 

     Sony should focus more on their exclusive games, if they can add a few more to the long list of exclusive games, it will only give gamers more of a reason to buy a PS3. If people realize how great of games Sony makes, than they are more apt to buy a PS3. At the current standing, Sony needs to get themselves out of the hole they have gotten themselves into before they start thinking about a price drop. I price drop woulden’t hurt, but is far from needed.

    In part 2 we will compair the current console prices, and price cuts, with last generation console prices, and price cuts to see if we see any paterns. 

PS3 firmware 2.7 rumors, and why they might be fake

 

Recently a blog named ‘PS3 Trophy Guides’ has reported rumors of firmware 2.7 and what features it includes. While a lot of people would get excited, including me, if its all true, odds are its not, and here are my reasons behind it.  

Friends List:
- Voice Messaging is now available as an alternative to text after selecting a user on the friends list. Voice message recordings are capped at 30 seconds.

    –A highly wanted feature, but more likely being saved for firmware 3.o 

- Trophy number and Gamer Level are listed under Friend names for quick reference.

    –I think this is something they could add, but where? under the name there is already the game they are playing, and generally the games use up the 2 lines available. I’m going to say the odds of this being true is a possibility. 
In-Game XMB:

- Loading time for In-Game XMB has been drastically reduced, resulting in a more seemless in-game experience.

    –Sony keeps optimizing the XMB, but it would take a lot of work to get it to be a drastic improvement. I’m willing to bet that the improvement won’t be as massive as it is set out to be. 

- “Theme settings” options while in-game is now available, allowing custom themes to be applied to the In-Game XMB.

    –A possibility, but a more pointless feature that Sony just ‘might’ add. 

– Internet Browser can now be accessed while in-game.

    –This is what kills it for me, this is where i decided it has to be fake. Something such as an in game web browser is a huge feature, but one of those features that is to good to be true. There are a few main problems with this, the main one being RAM. The PS3 doesn’t have a lot of ram to start with, only 256mb, which almost all the newer games use most, if not all of it. Even without running the game, loading a big video or flash object can freeze up the system. Now if Sony can have the browser use almost no ram, than its a possibility. 

    Now you might be saying, “Some PS3 games already have an In-game web browser” while that statement is true, its not the point. Those games set the browser to a website that is designed to be easy on ram, and limited to that one website. They also put the browser to points of the game where not a lot, if not nothing, is going on, making it really easy on the ram. There is very low chance this feature will never see the light of day, at least on the PS3.

– Voice messaging and voice chat options can be used while in-game.

    –If there going to implant voice in this firmware, why not make it in game? great feature, but more of a 3.0 feature. 

Another thing to note:

- Newly aquired trophies auto-sync in the background

    –In the patch notes the word acquired is spelled wrong.

 

 

You can view the full rumored 2.7 firmware details here: 

 

Friends List:
- Voice Messaging is now available as an alternative to text after selecting a user on the friends list. Voice message recordings are capped at 30 seconds.
- Home Integration: Saved Playstation Home avatar photos can be selected as photo ID for Gamer Card/Friends List.
- Trophy number and Gamer Level are listed under Friend names for quick reference.

Gamer Card & Trophies:
- Gamer Card layout has been changed to more closely resemble the Playstation Store aesthetic.
- Past Trophy information can be viewed in detail by selecting “Recent Trophy History” option.
- Newly aquired trophies auto-sync in the background
- Server infrastructure for Trophies has been optimized. Resulting in faster retrieval time for Gamer Card and Trophy information.

In-Game XMB:
- Loading time for In-Game XMB has been drastically reduced, resulting in a more seemless in-game experience.
- “Theme settings” options while in-game is now available, allowing custom themes to be applied to the In-Game XMB.
- Internet Browser can now be accessed while in-game.
- Voice messaging and voice chat options can be used while in-game.
- Options that cannot be used in the XMB during game sessions are grayed out (but still selectable) to eliminate user accessibility confusion.

Misc:
- Other slight UI tweaks and enhancements.

Can Microsoft continue to buy it’s way to victory?

    It is no doubt that Microsoft, the creators of the Xbox 360, have put a lot of money into beating sony. With a major price drop on the 360, buying exclusive content, and even paying other developers of sony exclusives to bring their game to the console. While this strategy has worked very well so far, how long can it continue? How long can Microsoft continue to buy it’s way to victory?

    When Microsoft first said price drop, no one expected to be at the scale it was. The Xbox actually dropped in price lower than the Wii, which is drastically inferior the the Xbox. A massive price cut right before the holidays greatly raised sales. This was a desperate move for Microsoft as the PS3 started outselling the 360 for many months in a row. Shortly after the price cut, Xbox sales went up, but were still almost being matched by the PS3, which is currently selling at double the price. It helped the Xbox, but not as much as microsoft intended. 

    No one can doubt that Microsoft puts towards tons of money on gaining exclusive content, either it be Downloadable content, or games. Now most of the time, this ends up being a waste for Microsoft. Microsoft payed $50 million for exclusive GTA downloadable content that released almost over a year after the game came out. Now many people are out of the “GTA Phase” and have moved on to bigger, better games. This isn’t the first time Microsoft has wasted money on exclusive rights. 

    Microsoft keeps buying exclusives from third party, but how much longer can they go on doing this? Third parties will gladly accept the money to make a game exclusive to the 360, but it doesn’t come cheap, and doesn’t always pay off. If Microsoft were smart they would put the money  they are wasting on third party, and get some first party started. These days a console can’t live on just third party, especially with Sony going all out on their first party. Modern games are so expensive to make these days, that a third party would need a really good reason to make their game exclusive. 

     Microsoft has to much money to throw away, with so much wasted money on exclusive content, console repairs, price drop, and more. Even after all these actions, the Xbox continues to be outsold by the Wii, and equally numbed by the PS3. With so many great PS3 games coming out soon, such as Killzone 2, it is no doubt that Microsoft really needs to step up their game if they plan to stay ahead. 

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5 reasons why killzone wont be the next halo

 

Boxart

 

 

5) Split screen

     -Halo has it, killzone 2 doesn’t. Almost any halo fan would love to go to a friends house and set up a round of halo and pwn their friends, show off their skill. Killzone 2 lacks the split screen modes, making a less of an enjoyable experience when a friend or family member wants to play with you. Most heavy hitting shooters, such as call of duty, have split screen, and killzone 2 lacks this important feature. 

4) Marketing

     -Microsoft treats halo like a new king, they make sure everyone knows that their game is comming out, and make sure everyone that has an xbox 360 goes and buys it. They target soda drinkers, web surfers, tv watchers, and even drivers. Days before the release of halo 3, you couldn’t go a day without seeing at least one halo ad. Sony isn’t doing this. They have a great game coming up, but they are not marketing it. There is no killzone 2 soda, there is no killzone 2 billboards, there isn’t even a TV ad yet. This will defenetly hurt the sales of what will be a great game. 

3) Multilayer options

     -Halo is the kind of game that people would just buy for the multilayer, it is loaded with multilayer modes and options. With modes like V.I.P and Slayer, and even a “semi” map editor with other tid-bits like editing your character. Killzone 2 lacks the ability to modify maps, and lacks a lot of game play modes that halo has. While the few maps killzone 2 has are amazing, it may never live up to what halo has to offer in terms of multiplayer. 

2) Fan base

     -Killzone 2 lacks a massive fan base from killzone 1 that halo 2 and 3 had. Killzone 1 was a mediocre FPS and didn’t score nearly as well as halo did, and it lacks a lot of the features halo did. Killzone 2 can almost be considered starting from scratch because the killzone fan base is tiny. There should be lots of new fans of the series being introduced because of this great game, but it has a lot less to start with. 

1) A less memorable main character

     -Common, sev? what kind of name is that for the main character of such an iconic game? He is your typical every day shooter character, and has no features that define him as special in any way. Now if you look at halo, the main character, “Master chief” is an iconic character, heck he is even on the cover of almost all the halo games. When you think halo you think master chief, when i think killzone 2, i think Helghast.

 

Killzone 2 will be a major hit, but will it even live up to the expectations of halo?

 

 

 
Edit: A lot of people are calling me a Xbox fanboy, because i am bashing Killzone 2, while it could be seen as bashing, it really isn’t. I am just stating the obvious, and the main reasons why Killzone 2 will not be as huge as Halo. No where do i say Killzone 2 is a bad game, or that it will flop. I own a PS3 and i am buying Killzone 2.

 

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