I think that this is a highly topical area of discussion as LittleBigPlanet (Game Of The Century ™, you know it!) is due out next month with Sony saying it should be a system seller, and others reckoning that LBP could crucially expand the PS3’s appeal to the masses. It’s so good, it even has certain people jealous. Right, enough of the link overload! First, I think it is time to take stock of what broad-appeal and accessible games Sony already has for the PS3. You’ve got some great innovative PSN games such as LocoRoco Cocoreccho! (I had to look that one up), Super Rub A Dub, PixelJunk Eden, and to a lesser extent- Super Stardust HD (it’s great fun, had to mention it).
Then you’ve got a selection of Sony’s big-hitters such as SingStar and Buzz! accompanied by the Guitar Hero and Rockband franchises. Coupled with with the release of LittleBigPlanet, Sony should be in a great position. But it doesn’t stop there. Continuing innovation is being made with the PlayStation Eye; whilst already having Eye of Judgement out there, it will be joined in future by EyePet where you can draw a picture of a toy and the game will create it. You’ve also got the social giant Home, which is supposed to be launching this Autumn, in beta at least and should provide a fantastic online hub for the PlayStation community. Why stop with games though? Sony have just released the new PlayTV peripheral which, when plugged into your PS3 and TV arial, gives you: access to Freeview channels, the ability to record your favourite shows even whilst playing PS3 games, and a fully functional 7 day TV guide. This is great for families who have a PS3, and works out cheaper than Sky. You can even watch your programmes through your PSP.
Lastly, for those who want to catch up with news around the world and listen to their favourite tunes whilst helping to cure disease can do, with the release of Life With PlayStation. I admit, I’m exhausted just listing all the things you can do with a PS3! It truly is incredible. In short, the PS3 has a rich, pervasive lineup that reaches out to all the demographics out there. Sure, your hardcore gamers are covered (Resistance, Warhawk) but as the lineup above shows, there’s so much more to the PS3’s capabilities. Whilst in my opinion the Xbox 360 has secured some of the most hardcore gamers out there, and Nintendo’s Wii is almost marketed as a cheap toy- Sony have thrown down the gauntlet. They are confident that their box is a true entertainment system, capable of handling whatever form that entertainment may take.
So, have I got this assessment bang on the nose, or am I off by a wide margin? Talk to me!
September 21st, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Spot on for me r kid!
Its always good to see a list of the great things the Playstation already has on its CV and, of course, the great things on the way. The only frustrating thing is that Sony don’t seem to want to (or is that know how to?) advertise these great qualities to those in the market for such a fantastic machine!
Los Havros Says:
September 21st, 2008 at 3:43 pm
I know exactly what you mean. Here’s a case in point: from the latest adverts you’d have thought that Guitar Hero was some kind of exclusive for the Wii! Even Microsoft have managed to promote Rock Band, as if it’s exclusive to the 360. I feel your pain, this really does frustrate me!
glennpfc Says:
September 21st, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Well anyone watching Man U Chelsea will just have seen a Sony funded Fifa advert that took up the whole advert break. Sony also sponsor the Champions League PES’s key licence. Perhaps Sony see the football games as a big xmas seller
September 21st, 2008 at 3:25 pm
It’s a great console, one I’m glad I brought I mainly play Fifa & Warhawk
My concern is that parents don’t know and don’t care about all the things you’ve mentioned and they only see 2 next-gen consoles one at 129.99 and the other from 299.99
I use my BluRay player for movies (rented from LoveFilm.com) I stream content from my PC & laptop so I can watch any movies/ tv programs I’ve downloaded on my TV via my ps3 rather than sit there and watch them on a crappy screen
I love these features and they’re worth the £450 quid I payed for my ps3 alone, and then when you add gaming into the mix it’s just an amazing piece of kit
But Sony need to realise you can’t be all things to all people all of the time, although the ps3 comes the closest possible to this I do think price is a big concern especially given the state of most of the worlds finances
Los Havros Says:
September 21st, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Correct, parents will naturally gravitate towards the cheapest console out there, namely the Wii. You can’t really blame them, especially due to these uncertain economic times. In some cases I’d imagine, little Jimmy would be lucky to even have a Wii at all.
Yea, all the features the PS3 has is ‘value added’. I didn’t even mention a free online service. Whereas with the 360, you have to pay a 12 month subscription, Sony’s online service is totally free. Not enough people seem to know about this.
It’s the same with Blu-Ray: if you want a Blu-Ray player, the PS3 represents the best possible value. The PS3 provides the functions of several expensive devices crammed into one sexy black box.
glennpfc Says:
September 21st, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Not enough people know PSN is free…because by and large most people don’t care. People buying Wii’s and Arcade 360’s have no interest in online. Of course that could change with marketing but most people use these consoles to have social experiences at home with friends and family, not to download games, play online or watch movies.
PS2 didn’t hit mass appeal until the price was a lot lower and bundled correctly. Yes you can play Singstar or Guitar Hero on your PS3 but why bother when you can just play it on your PS2. Where is the incentive for your average person to invest heavily to upgrade?
The mass market works on marketing and most of the things you mention are not being marketed well enough to be mass appeal yet. Once Sony is at a lower price point and marketing its features clearly maybe…
Biggest selling game of this year in Europe is Brain Training..A 2 year old game, says a lot about what the mass market want and how it works.
All that said I love my PS3 and all the functionality it provides.
September 21st, 2008 at 3:43 pm
I don’t think PlayTV, PSN games, Eye of Judgment, Home, or LWP have any sort of mainstream appeal whatsoever.
Los Havros Says:
September 21st, 2008 at 3:50 pm
How so?
September 21st, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Like many of us who share financial responsibility with our partners, I had to fight tooth and nail to get my PS3, and I found justifying the price tag of £320 (Gamestation) almost impossible.
But, now that the machine has been sat under my 37″ Bravia for six months:-
Countless Blu-Rays and downloaded AVIs have been watched
Singstar nights have kept the girls entertained
Warhawk has shown the massive value in free online mutliplayer gaming
Resistance has caused me to scream ‘it’s too hard, bugger it!’
The Last Guy has had both of us in fits of giggles
Life/Folding@Home has informed and entertained
And finally, hundreds of pictures and songs have been looked at and played in beautiful Hi-def…
The unjustifiable ‘console’ has proven to be nothing less than the total media package answering all of our questions and sat in one convenient and sleek black box, right in my front room.
Am I glad I got rid of my 360? Yes and no.
Yes because it sounds like a hairdryer is switched on in the corner of the room and that ever so small issue that affect millions of users, the red rings of death.
No, because I miss COD2, slightly better framerates and especially Halo.
Would I ever go back, hell no! Regardless of it’s issues with catalog and some failed ports, the PS3 is the most versatile and powerful multi media machine available in the market today and there is not a day goes by when I’m not watching a film, or playing a game or laughing at photos etc etc etc.
Add to this the arrival of PlayTV, the new mouse/keyboard combination announced earlier in the year, more developers understanding the chipset and how to actually program the machine, the EyeToy Pet thing, Resistance 2, Pacific Rift, Killzone 2 and Home.
The internet has made the world a smaller place…
Now Sony truly own this Little Big Planet we play on…
emperorming1972 Says:
September 21st, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Hallelujah! Praise be!
I almost feel like standing up and saluting my PS3 after that…….ah what the heck……
//stands up and salutes the PS3//
Goddammit, I love that machine like a brother! Maybe even like my mother! ermm…..no….scrap that…..brother will do…….
Los Havros Says:
September 21st, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Exactly. The PS3 is so much more than just a games console. And as you said, trying to convince partners/parents/friends etc to take the plunge at quite a substantial price is difficult! Yet, what you get for your money… the PS3 positively drips with value.
September 21st, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Lets face it the PS3 just rocks
September 21st, 2008 at 6:39 pm
The Fifa ‘09 advert featuring cover stars Wayne Rooney and Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuaín mentioned above was great… it took the whole half time ad break up during the seasons biggest match so far, and highlighted online play
And when the Fifa ad ended it was obvious it was for Playstation, what it didn’t say was “Play online for free”
Why not?
Why go to all the trouble and expense of getting 2 of the worlds biggest football teams together (biggest behind Leicester obviously) and not advertise the fact that online play is FREE
glennpfc Says:
September 21st, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Most people don’t play online…
I just don’t think its a big selling point to the masses.
3shirts Says:
September 22nd, 2008 at 9:41 am
Is this based on statistics or a guess, I don’t mean that in a rude way, I’d just like to see them
glennpfc Says:
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:45 am
Oh you’ve put me on the spot now, I saw some statistics a few months ago to do with percentages of people playing games online (will try and find them). Other than that it is anecdotal I know more people who game offline than on. For the ‘core gamer it matters a lot, but outside of that everyone I know plays locally…this could well change once there is a larger install base, but I know 7 people with PS3s (including me) and only 2 game online and the others don’t even have the wireless connection set up!
September 22nd, 2008 at 9:40 am
The problem is that people don’t appreciate the PS3 until they have played it for some time, or owned one… that doesn’t help sales. The only way to show people how good it is is marketing and Sony’s seems truly dire.
I can’t even remember the last time I saw an advert on TV, billboard or bus for it
glennpfc Says:
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:48 am
I hate those very ‘Artsy’ adverts they ran last year, it was better once they repositioned it and started showing uncharted trailers. I think Sony could do with copying Nintendo with showing ‘you’ in the advert.
The son playing Ratchet and Clank, followed by the whole family playing LBP or Eyepet and then the 2 parents at night watching a Bluray.
I even have a tag line for them “A day in a ‘Life with Playstation’”…as we near Christmas I expect TV ads to ramp up
Los Havros Says:
September 22nd, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Sounds like a great idea!
September 24th, 2008 at 12:09 am
I think the trouble with the PlayStation 3 compared to the Microsoft & Nintendo consoles is it..
a) …has only just (in the last month) been made available in all countries
b) …has too many variations for a new customer to comprehend
c) …has far too many first/third person shooter titles, or racing titles, or shooter/racing titles
d) …is portrayed as a device for adults, with very few titles for children, or for families
e) …is hampered by a poor reception due to relative high pricing, delayed &/or cancelled releases, and the loss of support for backward compatibility
f) …is in competition with the previous generation (PS2) console that is still in production & is continuing to enjoy good quality titles
g) …is all of the above
Regardless of the target audience of the entire demographic range of the population, the Wii is marketed as a games console. There is only one option to consider. Hence, there is only one decision to make. Job done.
It is not presented as a media centre, a DVD movie player, a photo viewer, a freeview video recorder, a video-on-demand hub, or a staging area for portable gaming.
You could also argue that it is marketed. Period.
The Nintendo console is priced to sell on the strength of the fact it just plays games, not only titles designed for the Wii, but also the legacy titles for the GameCube.
The GameCube controllers and memory cards also continue to function without modification or additional expense.
Nintendo also have a very strong brand associated with a highly successful handheld gaming history, as well as in-game characters that are recognised worldwide.
Sony has Sackboy.
The Xbox 360 also has an established audience from the prior generation, but carries the name of a manufacturer associated with mass-market family-oriented software (that is, allegedly, easy to use).
Not everybody has experience of a Sony Walkman, VCR or DVD player, Laptop, or a HD-TV. Everybody has, or knows somebody who has, a Microsoft operating system.
The Xbox 360 has easy to understand products; for example, “the one for playing on your own”, or “the one for playing online”, and “the Limited Edition one to promote the latest Halo game”.
Sony has the first (“how much?”) one, the second one (with extra controller, and two games), the third one (with a smaller capacity, the extra controller, and some different games), the fourth one (with a larger on-board drive, a different controller, and different games), and before the fourth one was out, the fifth one (with an even larger hard drive, the new controller, and a different game selection).
And that’s just in the UK.
Not every customer wants to buy a future-proof machine that can do everything today, tomorrow, and whatever may be available in the next 5 to 10 years.
Sometimes just a machine that can be unwrapped on Christmas morning, plugged in, and played with (without having to download the latest firmware, or sign-up to an online monthly subscription) is what the consumer wants.
Is it really that hard to produce a games console that just plays games?
That said, I will maintain my 30+ years of gaming by continuing to buy Sony consoles for as long as they continue to do what they do & do it as well, if not better, than their competitors. I do this by choice, not by loyalty.
I also have a Wii console, but rarely switch it on.
The titles on Microsoft consoles have never appealed to me, so I have no need for these products.
PS. My thoughts on downloadable content for all three consoles for your further consideration…
“Virtually Physical”
[ http://www.1upgamers.com/virtually-physical/ ]
BFN,
fp.
(1upGamers Forums Moderator)
November 18th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
FYI:
Credit where it is due; I mentioned the “A day in a ‘Life with Playstation’” idea by glennpfc (above)…
New PlayStation 3 Christmas ad - “Office Park”
[ http://threespeech.com/blog/2008/11/new-playstation-3-christmas-ad-office-park/ ]
BFN,
fp.
(Semi-regular contributor to semi-official Playstation blog ThreeSpeech.com)
cc_star Says:
November 19th, 2008 at 1:20 am
I’m not convinced this type of brand advertising works, It possibly isn’t going to reach out to new fans, unlike the Mario Kart Wii ad with the Redknapps, which looks great and screams ‘buy me’
This type of brand advertising that Sony do is more of a slow burner for the long term, and I’m not sure it will convince someone to buy a PS3 who wasn’t already going to buy one
Christmas in retail is all about short-term wins, not long term brand building