In his writeup of yesterday's NPD numbers, reporter for The San Jose Mercury News (and man of a thousand sources) Dean Takahashi wrote, "One piece of news that came out this week was that Sony pleaded with third-party developers not to abandon its struggling platform. That change in attitude is a marked difference compared to the arrogance of past years."Though Sony hasn't always fessed up to that perceived arrogance, we've all noticed a marked change in tone coming out of Sony following Jack Tretton's E3 keynote speech. With only one PS3 game (barely) cracking the NPD's top 10 software chart last month, convincing developers to build games for a complicated console that some even call "a waste of everyone's time" is no easy task. If Takahashi's info is accurate, it sounds like Sony's looking to preempt any developer exodus, hoping this season's delays aren't next year's cancellations.












(Page 1) Reader Comments
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want the most games? 360
want the best reviewed games? 360
want the best graphics? 360 or pc
want the best online play? 360 or pc
can't afford an hdtv? wii
the ps3 has nothing going for it atm other than the fact that japan has completely boycotted the xbox 360.
it has blu ray, but unlike the dvd drive in the ps3, you can't see the difference unless you can afford a really really nice tv, so it essentially means nothing to the casual market that sony dominated last generation...
super expensive high end gaming? pc
mid range? 360
low end? wii
where does the ps3 fit into this picture if it costs more than the 360 and doesn't have better graphics?
Oh how the mighty have fallen. Serves them right.
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Why are there no games, take the PSP, I didn't think it could beat a Nintendo handheld in a million years, but not having games was the last thing from my mind, I figured they'd get great support like the PS1/PS2. I thought it would be more like price, battery life, UMD, proprietary memory sticks, etc. but not games!*
Now they are doing it again! I just don't get it...
*The PSP has good games now... I want one (stares angerly at Joystiq...)
Sure they may not have made the best design choice for the PS3, but they delivered a high performance, reliable, and feature packed system. You need to give credit when it is due.
High performance? There's no real discernable difference from the 360.
As for features, don't care about them. No need for blue ray, wifi (definitely not wanted for gaming), card readers or any of that junk, especially when it adds cost.
I buy consoles for one thing: games. Even then it's only for games that I feel would be better (or not out yet/not coming) than on my computer.
Point is, Sony acted arrogant, Kuturugi got the PS3 seriously over budget, Sony has been struggling to bring it back, and you honestly get nice and humble remarks from many people in Sony except for a noticable few. I mean, need I remind you Perrin Kaplan actually said gamers were bored before Wii, they just didn't know it yet? Perrin kaplan. This was the person who didn't know the batteries in the Wiimotes weren't rechargable...
But you're right. Sony is the only one who has ever acted arrogant. Man, you'd honestly think they were breaking laws while they were in first place, oh wait, that was Nintendo....
Welcome back to the top, Big N. Can't wait to see what you do this time.
Uhhh, I thought we got rid of this "PSP has no games" deal. If you would look, it has more games rated (by IGN) rated 9.0 and up than the DS has...
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This is the stuff of epic fanboy wars...
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Microsoft: Look at our OS! (seriously, yor alternative is Mac, you want that instead? HaHa, Fat Chance) So we're not going to properly debug it and release it to the unsuspecting public! (later...) Ok, the public is suspecting now... Lets make it so tough to crack and assume all public are noobs. No admin rights for you! (unless you know how to hack, in which you're a bad, bad boy)
Nintendo: Granted, they're not anti-customer, but they used to be anti-developer, which is almost equally bad (some would argue they're still anti-developer now, just slightly more mellowed)
I kind of agree with you, but Sony's fault was their arrogance in such quick succession. The way Sony public relations handled the PS3 launch with pricing, rumble, sixaxis, and the root kit fiasco with cd's just gave the general public a bad taste. Those are just examples off the top of my head.
I stopped buying Sony after I stopped working for them. They used to make pretty good hardware, but they've always been known for mediocre software (e.g. Developing for PS2 and PS3).
More fool me.
"Microsoft: Look at our OS!"
Uhm. That's actually good one.
Compare marketing and development of Xbox with those of Wind0ze. Heaven and hell.
As Linux/Windows software developer I can say that difference is that high.
But it happens with MSFT all the time. It's called "Embrace and Extend". First they play very nice - they are embracing things. They follow standards, they talk to customers, they talk to partners. All to grow market share. When market share reaches dominant position they start with second phase - extend. They start extending standards in proprietary ways leaving rest of industry in cold sweat - because now suddenly only solution of M$ works and rest looks broken.
Right now M$ is on "embracing" - they are nice. And Sony is on "extending" phase - they are arrogant.
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What's with the dog picture?
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The dog is Sony. The shoes and newspapers are gamers. The guy who's about to put the dog to sleep is developers around the world.
Next up: the world.
"Developers, developers, developers, developers..."
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Gaming-wise M$ bought many developers and lost many of them. But the developers didn't strayed too far and many now develop for PC and Xbox as indies. That happened even before they started producing Xbox.
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I think the PS3 will be just fine. I also think this "Sony pleading" story is BS. Where is the source for that comment??? IF "Dean" doesn't site a source for that comment, it should have no merit.
See I can do the same.
"Interesting news showed up today that the XBOX 720 will launch fall of 08 with no BC for 360 games."
There, that was easy. I didn't even need a source for such a comment.
I think you are missing the point actually. Take hardware sales completely out of the equation. Hardware sales are not having an impact on publishers so much right now. There could be 20 million PS3s out in the public, but if games aren't selling and turning a profit, that 20 million number means nothing. Look at the PS3 software sales. They are not good by any means. A publisher is putting a game on the PS3 right now only hoping to maybe turn a profit even if the game is great...
That is the point.
My only pint was, this race is not over by a long shot. Anyone would be a fool to think so otherwise.
Does anyone really think that Sony would just pull an MS and Nintendo and start from scratch again in such a short period of time???????
I'm just interested to see where we are this time next year.
If I remember correctly, the numbers were:
At launch of the Wii/PS3:
Xbox 360 = 5.3
Wii = 3
PS3 = 1.5
Now:
Xbox 360 = 7
Wii = 4
PS3 = 3
(approximate numbers off the top of my head)
Another hit is that the Wii is standard def, and based on that, PS3 is competing more directly with XBox360, which has been out a long time now. Developers have already learned to use the XBox360 rather well. However with the PS3 it is going to take a long time for developers to make really efficient use of the Cell processor.
Give it another 3 years and we will see a completely different story.
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Please tell me why the PS3 will not only manage to hang on to developer's with a tiny install base, but will be well positioned to compete against the successors to the Wii and 360.