Gamepro: PS3 on track to sell less than Gamecube?

[Ruined]

http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=137448

Originally Posted by Gamepro

Based on the first 10 months of availability, the troubled PlayStation 3 sold 22 percent less than the Nintendo GameCube for the same period.

And remember, there has been no shortages since late January. Its just a matter of the console not moving units.

Too much money for a console that so far has demonstrated to be less graphically capable than the premium competition (comparing multiplatform titles on 360 vs PS3) while managing to cost $200 more and not even having a tenth of decent games in comparison. You can rant and rave about how great it would be if devs special tuned games for the console, but no third party is going to keep dumping money into developing for an inefficient eight core CPU with strained GPU memory bandwidth architecture when the install base is so poor. Especially when that code is completely useless for other platforms. Classic chicken and egg scenario, and unfortunately Nintendo and Microsoft are the ones selling all the chickens while Sony appears to be stuck with an egg that appears stillborn.

[ganthc]

Wow, according to that argument, the GameCube almost sold more total units than the original xbox. Does that mean xbox sucks?


The ps3 is high priced. As the price comes down, demand will increase. But the real issue is probably the lack of software that pushes these console sales. Once those games come out, the ps3 can move units out faster.

It's nice to see your xboxfanboyxxRuinedxx rants, but maybe it's the frustration from having to send in your shoddily build 360 machine to Microsoft...oh, unless you spent additional hundreds of dollars to have to get an Elite machine that offers everything the ps3 offered to start, minus an HD player.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by ganthc

Wow, according to that argument, the GameCube almost sold more total units than the original xbox. Does that mean xbox sucks?

XBOX doesn't suck, it was awesome. However in the end it was unable to keep up with PS2 in pricing due to PS2's earlier release, price fixing by Nvidia on the XBOX GPU, along with the inability to decouple the hard drive from the console.

XBOX clearly was not the winner of last generation's console wars. PS3 looks like it will not be the winner of this generation's. In the endgame it may very likely suffer from the same problems as XBOX1 due to the mandatory BD/HD drives.

The ps3 is high priced. As the price comes down, demand will increase. But the real issue is probably the lack of software that pushes these console sales. Once those games come out, the ps3 can move units out faster.

Problem is, the XBOX 360 will get there faster and have more good games out to boot. Since XBOX 360 only uses a standard DVD drive and the hard drive is optional, Microsoft will always be able to beat Sony in price this generation while likely maintaining a similar (or better) level of quality on the games.

It's nice to see your xboxfanboyxxRuinedxx rants, but maybe it's the frustration from having to send in your shoddily build 360 machine to Microsoft...oh, unless you spent additional hundreds of dollars to have to get an Elite machine that offers everything the ps3 offered to start, minus an HD player.

And the inevitable flame when the facts run dry. For the record, my launch 360 is working just fine and never had to be repaired despite my extensive use of it (20k gamerpoints). Like most launch consoles, some did have problems, but Microsoft has you covered for 3 years so you get it fixed for free if you have defective machine so you are not out anything signficant.

Further, I was able to use the 360's HD addon for it as a temporary "bridge" in my home theater room to cover the gap between the time I sold the HD-A1 on eBay and my current owning of the HD-A35. Now I'm able to use the 360 addon as a PC peripheral to watch movies in the bedroom on my PC. Can't do that with the PS3's HD player, can you now?

And, to correct your misinformation the most current XBOX 360 builds are the $349 Premium HDMI and $399 Halo 3 Special Edition units, not the Elites.

[Astrakan]

Originally Posted by ganthc

It's nice to see your xboxfanboyxxRuinedxx rants

Heh. I'd hardly call Ruined's posts rants. Propaganda, maybe, but not rants. Some of your replies are closer to being rants than the negative news stuff Ruined posts.

KM

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by Astrakan

Heh. I'd hardly call Ruined's posts rants. Propaganda, maybe, but not rants. Some of your replies are closer to being rants than the negative news stuff Ruined posts.

KM

Maybe so. But what about this:

Too much money for a console that so far has demonstrated to be less graphically capable than the premium competition (comparing multiplatform titles on 360 vs PS3) while managing to cost $200 more and not even having a tenth of decent games in comparison. You can rant and rave about how great it would be if devs special tuned games for the console, but no third party is going to keep dumping money into developing for an inefficient eight core CPU with strained GPU memory bandwidth architecture when the install base is so poor. Especially when that code is completely useless for other platforms. Classic chicken and egg scenario, and unfortunately Nintendo and Microsoft are the ones selling all the chickens while Sony appears to be stuck with an egg that appears stillborn.

isn't flamebait?

The article says nothing about what he just stated here. This struck me as a rant.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by ganthc

Maybe so. But what about this:

isn't flamebait?

The article says nothing about what he just stated here. This struck me as a rant.

Based on the article's comparisons of PS3 sales vs. Gamecube sales my comments seemed like a pretty accurate assessment of the current situation, of course IMO as any forum opinion is. The PS3 is overpriced for consumers and an overcomplicated bear to program for developers. As a result the adoption rate is very slow by both consumers and developers. The former and latter put together is problematic for PS3 and it shows. The consumers don't want to pay the high price especially with a compartive dearth of good games and developers don't want to invest tons of money developing and optimizing for the overcomplicated architecture especially when they won't make back that money due to a userbase that is too small. Chicken and egg scenario as noted in my OP.

Nintendo has a big chunk of the casual market and a system that is relatively easy to develop for; they also have the cheapest hardware which is promising for future sales. Microsoft has the biggest chunk of the console market and any title that you develop for 360 can have its code easily ported to PC through Microsoft's XNA tools - resulting in devs being able to reuse their console code for PC; 360 also delivers gaming goods similar to the PS3 for a lot less money.

On the other hand, PS3 has many problems: small userbase, big pricetag that gets in the way of mass adoption, overcomplicated CPU that does not jive with current gaming development standards, and inability to use PS3 code for anything else due to PS3 failing to resemble other recent gaming architectures.

Games that were slated for PS3 are now going 360 exclusive because the 360 platform simply makes more sense for third party developers; bigger userbase to sell to, cheaper to develop for due to more sensible hardware and better devtools (no octopiler needed here), ability to use 360 code for a PC port again expanding userbase to sell your game to - in summary far more opportunities to make a larger profit off your work with 360 than PS3. That will lead to more games landing on 360 and more gamers landing on 360 to play those games - further compounded by the PS3's price discrepency.

YMMV of course

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by Ruined

XBOX doesn't suck, it was awesome. However in the end it was unable to keep up with PS2 due to PS2's earlier release, price fixing by Nvidia on the XBOX GPU, along with the inability to decouple the hard drive from the console.

XBOX clearly was not the winner of last generation's console wars. PS3 looks like it will not be the winner of this generation's.

I know it didn't suck. Hence the eyeroll. But the apparent purpose of the comparison between the ps3 and the gamecube was to make readers feel that they either shared the same fate, or that the ps3 is an inferior product. You so much as carried the torch for the latter with your proceeding rant.

Problem is, the XBOX 360 will get there faster and have more good games out to boot. Since XBOX 360 only uses a standard DVD drive and the hard drive is optional, Microsoft will always be able to beat Sony in price this generation while maintaining a similar (or better) level of quality on the games.

So the xbox lost the war to the ps2 because it arrived late, but that xbox was still awesome. The ps3 arrives late, but it's not awesome. I have never said that Microsoft doesn't have a strong console (despite build quality issues) or that it doesn't have great games.

And the inevitable flame when the facts run dry. For the record, my launch 360 is working just fine and never had to be repaired despite my extensive use of it (20k gamerpoints). Like most launch consoles, some did have problems, but Microsoft has you covered for 3 years so you get it fixed for free if you have defective machine so you are not out anything signficant.

Apparently, you and Moog were the lucky ones. Hence, the massive billion dollar plan you listed in another thread for Microsoft to correct the mistakes of its original build design: (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/06/bu...1&oref=slogin), which the NYT reported as being a third up to a half of all xbox360's. That's incredible!!

Further, I was able to use the 360's HD addon for it as a temporary "bridge" in my home theater room to cover the gap between the time I sold the HD-A1 on eBay and my current owning of the HD-A35. Now I'm able to use the 360 addon as a PC peripheral to watch movies in the bedroom on my PC. Can't do that with the PS3's HD player, can you now?

Nope, but that is a feature accorded to an add-on.

And, to correct your misinformation the most current XBOX 360 builds are the $349 Premium HDMI and $399 Halo 3 Special Edition units, not the Elites.

Which is still additional to the money people paid for their initial 360, if they got tired of fixing their original console.

[187ontheVHS]

I'm glad I bought 'em all so I can just enjoy playing video games, and not arguing over what console is better, units sold, future prognosis or marketing strategies! I played some Halo 3 this morning, in a little while I'm gonna play some Lair, maybe watch a BD or HD DVD, and then start Metroid Prime 3 after I have some supper. Days off are so much fun!

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by Ruined

Based on the article's comparisons of PS3 sales vs. Gamecube sales my comments seemed like a pretty accurate assessment of the current situation, of course IMO as any forum opinion is. The PS3 is overpriced for consumers and an overcomplicated bear to program for developers. As a result the adoption rate is very slow by both consumers and developers. The former and latter put together is problematic for PS3 and it shows.

And saying it this way would have not illicited the same response from me. The first was to flamebait. What you just posted now sounds like reasonable criticism.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by ganthc

And saying it this way would have not illicited the same response from me. The first was to flamebait. What you just posted now sounds like reasonable criticism.

No, the first post was to briefly comment on the article without writing a lengthy 4 paragraphs explaining myself.

[Iguana Man]

Originally Posted by Ruined

No, the first post was to briefly comment on the article without writing a lengthy 4 paragraphs explaining myself.

Ruined, you always have to splain yourself since you know this type of response is a given.

Ganthc! Dude! Where is the love man?

I'll pay for both of you to get a Wii. I will then pay to fly you both out to a secluded area in which you both battle it out in..."______"

Filers! Pick the game !! Haw!

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by Iguana Man

Ruined, you always have to splain yourself since you know this type of response is a given.

Ganthc! Dude! Where is the love man?

I'll pay for both of you to get a Wii. I will then pay to fly you both out to a secluded area in which you both battle it out in..."______"

Filers! Pick the game !! Haw!

I already own a wii. If it's any type of FPS game, I concede defeat already. I suck at those games.

[Iguana Man]

Originally Posted by ganthc

I already own a wii. If it's any type of FPS game, I concede defeat already. I suck at those games.

I not only suck at FPS, I blow. Hey! Don't no body take that the wrong way.

[umainebearman]

Originally Posted by Iguana Man

I not only suck at FPS, I blow. Hey! Don't no body take that the wrong way.

Well depending on where you are blowing nobody will.

[Agalloch]

I've never really understood the arguments for comparing one system to another etc. I don't recall it ever being written somewhere that there can only be one good and / or successful system out at a time. Competition is a good thing, it breeds innovation and drives prices down. Personally, I only own a PS2 and Xbox360, but I'm in no hurry to see the PS3 or Wii go anywhere.

[187ontheVHS]

There hasn't been a good console since the Atari Jaguar in my opinion, perfect controller, great games like Trevor McFur and Club Drive, not to mention the fact that it had 64 bit power while Sega and Sony were still doing wimpy 32 bit. I wish Atari would get back into the ring, along with 3DO, those were REAL competitors, that was a real console war! I long for a shot at playing Ultra Vortek 2 or Fight For Live 2, or having some friends over to play some Zhadnost 2K7.
A man can dream...

[Jeff003]

Well all I can say is that I hope the ps3 sales go up.I own one of these great consoles and I also own a 360.I love both the 360 and ps3.I would like to see the game studios start putting out more games for the ps3 since I bought one.I have the 60gb version.I'm hoping that Ace Combat 7 and Bully Scolorship will make their way to the Ps3.I'm also hoping that The Incredible Hulk game next year will also be coming to the ps3.Also the ps3 has blueray going for it thou most gamers will buy it mostly for gaming blueray is another incentive and with the new 40 gb in December that will only cost $399 maybe ps3 sales will go up.Right now I just want some better games to come out on it like the ones I have listed above.Also I still have my xbox 1 and a Ps2.Both are still working great.I'm keeping the xbox 1 until the dvd drive fails on it.I still play games on it.