Sunday Thoughts: 19/10/08
Sony's terrible week of misfortune, shitty luck and Xbox 360s.Published 19/10/2008 at 8:25 by nofi
Sunday Thoughts: 21/03/10 [10]
Sunday Thoughts: 07/03/10 [72]
Sunday Thoughts: 28/02/10 [18]
It’s not been a good week, Sony, huh?
When your competition is going all guns blazing with the New Xbox Experience, alongside Avatars and public, 3D meeting spaces, your loyal fanbase is surely hoping that Home is going to beat it to the post. It’s not, of course – there’s more chance of sun in Glasgow than Home releasing before the NXE. For some reason Home has taken about 12 months more than it should have done and it’s still not ready, and now Microsoft have beaten to you it – in precisely one month 360 owners will be able to create their own 3D avatars and bumble about, meet up and chat, all behind a beautiful new Dashboard. And then there’s the fantastic Xbox customer service too – bought a cheaper 360? No problem, they’ll help you out. Bought a cheaper PS3? Ah well, too bad.
Then we’ve got the games. This is probably less directly Sony’s fault, but we all now know that Silent Hill is delayed over here, but there’s a real chance that Sony’s about to lose it’s other major Konami title, Metal Gear Solid, or at least its exclusivity. Naturally Kojima only want to maximise sales, but, you know, if there were a few more PS3s out there then they’d no doubt feel a little less obligued to whore Snake out to the competition, and thus create yet another reason not to invest in a PS3 for its exclusive games. What do we have left from third parties, I’m struggling to think? Sure, our first party line-up is wonderful, but sadly it’s not the Uncharteds and the Ratchets that sell consoles, it’s the stuff everybody knows about, and the less said about third party TV advertising the better.
But our PSN is holding up, right? There’s new stuff coming down the pipes all the time now, and there are the odd exclusive (albeit a timed one) just waiting to pop onto our European Store, but why are we still left behind in terms of who-gets-what? I don’t want to sound like a stuck record, but when the 360 gets a game on a Wednesday, the whole World gets it (give or take) so I know that when Age of Booty lands on the Xbox, I can safely assume I’ll be able to buy it. Not only does the damned game get delayed for the PS3 en masse, but chances are when it does arrive on the US Store it’ll be another 6 months before we see it here in Europe. And don’t get me started on the Beta crap – if you’ve got something to show us, show us, and stop with the pretence that you actually give a shit what we think of your single-level demo.
Speaking of Betas and delays – apparently LBP is delayed. When we were running nofilter we had a story on the ending of the original Saints Row, and because we were the first on the web it became a major traffic pull for the site. Well, it looks like the same is happening with the LBP delay. I’ll keep my own personal thoughts to myself on the whole situation, suffice to say that once again the thoughts of a few have influenced the happiness of many. The original thread is still there, although it’s locked at the time of writing, and it’s clear that not all Muslims feel the same way - the music track was never meant to offend, and to our understanding it’s from a Muslim artist. Go figure. Go create. Oh, wait, you can’t, because every single fucking copy is being recalled around the World at massive expense while Media Molecule create a new master and get the copy machine fired up.
Still, column inches is column inches, right? Well, then you’ve got Sony changing the T&Cs of how your user created content works, the first news of the 360’s GTA IV content, and the results of the Xbox’s price cut over in America having real World results on the sales figures. Last time we checked the PS3’s being outsold in Japan, too. Japan. Sony, this isn’t working. Whatever you’re doing, change it back. Sure, the good games are starting to come in, but remind us what you’ve got that’s exclusive for the rest of the year, please, apart from LittleBigPlanet. Bioshock’s a wonderful game, but it’s 12 months old, and better on the 360. Spending effort and money on Linger in Shadows doesn’t count either, it was a waste of time when your competition is releasing things like Rez HD and Duke Nukem – proper downloadable games. Still, there’s always this, yeah?
I’m trying to think of the bright side, here, but I can’t. I think the LittleBigPlanet situation has brought a massive cloud over the whole week, and I’m only seeing negatives (and that’s as someone with the full game in his hands waiting for the online servers to kick in). The constant teasing of Home isn’t working, people are bored, and all we’ve got left to shout about once Sackboy stumbles over the line is Resistance 2 and Motorstorm 2, neither of which are going to turn the situation around. So, 2009, that’s the year of the PS3 then after all. Roll on Killzone 2. Me? I’ve just bought a 360.
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
MrWonderr | 19/10/2008 08:42
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I’m sorry you feel this way.
Sony’s not being great this gen… but I’m still going to stay loyal. I just don’t like Microsoft. They brought their stupid company policy of “Screw loyalty, we have money” into the field of gaming. Sony first decided to earn its exclusives like it should, but Microsoft took advantage of that. I see a bully picking on a nice kid. And their knack for shamelessly borrowing ideas from other people and taking all the credit for it.
I’m not gonna support a company like that. I do care about missing out on some cool stuff like Star Ocean 4 and Tales of Vesperia, but I can try really hard to cast that envy aside. I’ve been a Playstation fan ever since the PS2, and I don’t think that’s going to change. I have faith in Sony. I don’t care if 2010 is the year of the PS3. I’m going to stick with Sony.
Because I’m not going to be bought off.
alisound | 19/10/2008 08:48
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so true.
with all the hype and promises of sony , it is hard to not feel let down.
but then again i mostly only play warhawk, and that is damn better than any game i can think of on the xbox (my oppinion). plus microsoft are a massive bunch of cunts that just copy and steal off truly imaginative companies like apple, google and sony! so microsoft, you can keep your xbox and its botched innards and i will continue to use my very well designed and sleek (did i mention quiet?) bohemoth.
i still have a little faith in sony at present, or should i say incognito. warhawk 2.5 anyone?
artefx | 19/10/2008 10:33
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I agree with nofi completely. Sony this gen has been such a let down so far. Very limited exclusives and the ones that did come out were not that great.
I am one of those people who don’t feel any loyalty to any console. Personally I own all 3 of them and I’ll buy the games on the machine they’re better on, simple really.
Exclusive are gonna be rare in the future in my opinion. Companies are always trying to maximize sales and the only way they can do that is to spread their work over multiple platforms. The only thing that will sway developers is money and as Microsoft don’t mind splashing the cash for the exclusives whilst Sony do it seems like the exclusives can only go one way.
Withnail | 19/10/2008 10:35
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Little bit harsh I think. The Age of Booty thing is annoying, but the delays between US and EU PSN have largely been eradicated now (at least when the publisher submits to both at the same time), and the last few Capcom PSN games have had simultaneous releases.
You can argue that Linger in Shadows was a waste of time, but I’ll take Wipeout HD and LiS over Rez HD and Duke Nukem any day of the week.
Does anybody really care about the GTA4 DLC?
And don’t use the term “NXE” please, it’s just a firmware update, and a massively over-hyped one at that. The PS3 has had its fair share of free updates, including a pretty tasty one just this week, but you seem to have forgotten. Home is imminent by the way, 2.50 was one of the final hurdles, and Ubisoft don’t create game-spaces for a few people in a closed beta.
LBP got an illustrious Edge 10, and will certainly feature in many best-of-year lists. The delay to the game is unfortunate but it’s still coming. I’ll also wager that Resistance 2 will review better than Gears 2 (though it will sell fewer copies). So there certainly isn’t anything wrong with the line-up.
If sales figures are that important to you then OK, PS3 is currently struggling. The PS3 warriors on the forums may be losing a few battles at the moment. Personally, that hulking black box under my TV is providing me with more entertainment than I have time for, which is exactly the reason I bought it.
rothbury | 19/10/2008 10:51
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Couldn’t agree more.
As it is I’m gonna to struggle to play any of the awesome multiplat games this winter I have so much first party awesomness pre ordered.
Metalgsean | 19/10/2008 18:27
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Im with you too! i do get annoyed at stupid delays and exclusive rights and all that rubbish, but at the end of the day my PS3 has kept me grinning from ear to ear since the day it came out. People have to remember that it takes a few years to make a decent game, and a few years ago the PS3 wasnt ready for developers to learn and start developing specificly for it, now they are starting to and I think we are gonna see a very fast turn around from 360 developing to PS3 developing sometime next year. Remember Uncharted is one of the most stunning games to emerge this generation, and it used fuck all of the PS3s power, once developers have had chance to become alot more experienced with the proccessor we are gonna see things that we wouldnt even imagine being part of a game. Keep the faith everyone, we will emerge the victors lol!
Josekenshin | 19/10/2008 11:02
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To be Honest
**GT4 DLC who cares almost all gamers doesn´t even get 100% in the game XD
**MGS Multiplatform there is not even a Next MGS and Kojima isn´t say anything about it…and well MGS saga has been already Multiplatform.
**All console lose Exclusive that is the easy way to get fast money
**NXE is just like Mii…. nothing like Home to be Honest.
**199 Xbox360 nice is a good deal But Ps3 give more at least for me.
**Silent Hill Delayed…360 version is delayed too.
**The PSN is pretty good is free that all i care.
**LBP c´mon is a small delay is not a big deal.
Divine | 19/10/2008 11:03
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WOW, so no more SixthAxis then?
nofi | 19/10/2008 11:19
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Why would you say that?
We’re a fansite, we’re allowed to think and say whatever we want, and we don’t use fanboy blinkers. If anyone thinks the PS3 has had a good week, they’re in denial.
That said, we’re hopeful next week will be better.
Divine | 19/10/2008 11:54
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Hey, I agree with everything you said.
Your last sentence just seemed a little erm… Ominous
fredrikpedersen | 19/10/2008 11:23
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My exact thoughts.
Los Havros | 19/10/2008 11:24
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I wouldn’t go that far, but as Sony read the articles on this site often, this is exactly what they need- a wake up call.
To say that the various bits of news and screw-ups have demoralised loyal Sony gamers, it’s not good. Sony obviously need to change their gameplan.
Want exclusives? Then it looks like Sony better start paying for them. Want sales? Then at least drop the price of the console even a little bit.
As for Home and LittleBigPlanet, theses are tricky and unforeseen circumstances: developing an MMO-like game is never easy, and it’s unfortunate that music track slipped by Q&A.
suicidalllama | 19/10/2008 11:39
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The reason i think the ps3 is being consistently outsold is down to the fact there is practically no advertising, so joe public doesnt know what it has to offer, and its still high price. I can the reasoning for not dropping price (their losses are less now)but i think the losses are likely to be much worse this way as it doesn’t appeal to people right now so they will go and buy a cheap xbox they’ve seen advertised.
fredrikpedersen | 19/10/2008 11:47
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Oh and whats with all the talk of exclusives? Just because the game ain’t an exclusive doesn’t mean it ruin’s the experience for me as a ps3 owner. Far Cry 2, Fallout 3 and PoP just to take some examples. The three last 360 exclusives I played; Bioshock (o wait), Gear of War and Halo 3. The 360 doesn’t get as much 3rd party support as every1 credits it for. Only when Microsoft starts pumping out the $$$.
And one tip to Sony; START FUCKING ADVERTISING!
Divine | 19/10/2008 12:22
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Absolutely. I hope SONY isn’t gonna adopt it’s predictable ‘We don’t need to advertise’ policy this Christmas.
Considering the current financial climate, if SONY doesn’t pull something out of the bag (I don’t mean ‘home’ either!!!) for the holiday season I could see them really struggling.
Jas-n | 19/10/2008 15:39
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The thing with loosing exclusives, is that games are going to lack quality, because of (for example) the 360’s restrictions to DVD. Just think how uncharted would look if it wan’t an exclusive… not half as good as it is now.
cc_star | 19/10/2008 12:08
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Remember the end of 2007 ?
Nope let me refresh your memories, people were feeling down on the PS3
360 fans had it all to shout about it
Sony’s 2nd party devs started saying, it’s OK 2008 will be the year of the PS3, do a google search for “2008 the year of the PS3″
Every single gaming website published stories about how good ‘08 will be for the PS3.
Well we are now a year further on and things are exactly the same
People are still down on the PS3; 360 fans have it all to shout about the only difference is people are now saying 2009 will be the year of the PS3
If Sony were a cat, they would have lost about 7 of their lives by now… and are things looking that good for the future… I can’t see a difference to a year ago
The other thing:
In Japan (Sony’s homeland with it’s biggest fans) the PS3 is the 3rd best selling Sony console behind the PSP & even the PS2 and is the 6th best selling overall unfortunately thats last place!
glennpfc | 19/10/2008 13:26
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Japan has changed….they like mobile and social gaming more than ever..the ps3 is too expensive to compete on that level.
The only thing the Xbox will have this xmas over my ps3 is GoW2 and Fable2…thats all I am interested in…but I get to play LBP and Resistance, so I think I can cope…plus my box has alot less chance on killing itself.
Why the doom and gloom? What has Xbox really got that your missing out on? All there big announcements are just games that were once just PS are no longer, we still get them…
Both are good systems, but by the team you have bought your wireless adapter, Xbox live subsciption etc it stops looking so cheap a hardcore alternative
GamerRiley | 19/10/2008 20:18
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Good points Glenn, both machines are great, both have great games now and in the future. But what swings it for me is the fact I can play online for free, usually on a game that’s available on both systems, and the fact that when I’ve finished playing online I can chill and watch a BluRay film in True HD.
Demibeard | 19/10/2008 13:41
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You’re right it hasn’t been a good week for Sony, but then again it’s not been as good a generation as the PS1/PS2. That said the PS2 took a while to get going, but the 360 and the Wii (I know it’s not in the same game, but it’s playing in the next field) have gotten off to better starts.
Did people really think Microsoft would let the PS3 rule? Maybe the Sony board thought so, but as with every other area of life, there’s competition.
I like it, strange as it sounds, but without it there would be no PlayStation brand. (thanks to Nintendo saying no to the CD add-on for the snes)
As a sony fan(man?) I don’t understand why anyone would want an x-box, but there must be a reason, they sell enough.
Is it because it’s cheap(er)? Are the games better? It might be the underdog thing (I know it’s microsoft, but the x-box was the underdog to the PS2).
I did consider a 360, but decided to stay with PlayStation because I want to play the games that are on the PlayStation, specifically GT. God forbid that going multiplatform… well urgh no, I’d give up gaming.
I do think Sony have dropped the ball, and the trouble is someone from Microsoft was at the door and switched off the light. Until Sony decide to focus their efforts the PS3 will remain underated and misunderstood.
I love my PS3 it does everything I want, it’s on everyday (PlayTV, Games, Music, Movies and the Web) but instead of stating all of it’s strengths, concentrate on the one that sells the most machines (Games).
Spend some money on exclusive content and advertising (not everyone likes Football games) because if you don’t you won’t have any consumers to inform about the machines other abilities.
I would be interested in knowing if and why people buy the xbox over the PS3. Anyone know?
seedaripper1973 | 21/10/2008 13:07
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nope…
and great little write up…
stefhutch20 | 19/10/2008 13:56
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If you’re a fan of cloned FPSs and RPGs, I’m guessing it’s great. If you’re not, then it’s not.
kellyonline | 19/10/2008 14:10
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From the first time I played Tranz Am on the Spectrum in 1983 to the day last week when I swore blind that the London Underground level of Resistance is out to get me, I’ve been a ‘loyalist’ to one machine at a time.
We Sinclair bods put up with the Commodore propaganda in the playground..
I fought long and hard that the MegaDrive would destroy Nintendo..
The sound of Tekken and Tomb Raider rang out as the PSOne made it’s way into my front room and once again the Nintendo wars were on..
I watched the Jaguar crash, the Dreamcast deliver so much but fall so far (sorry UK:R, but some things you have to live with), the Saturn, the 3DO… All gone. All good machines, but ultimately, all gone..
We gasped at the utterly appalling opening line up for the PS2 and watched in horror as the DVD playback skipped, and yet still the PS2 is outselling it’s bigger brother..
And then I jumped ship to the original Xbox, the lure of Halo was just too strong…
From the Xbox to the 360 I went, and in came Bioshock and COD2 and GoW..
So, what’s my point?
In April this year, in the middle of replaying Bioshock and COD4 and Burnout Revenge and Halo 3, I simply sold my 360 and bought a PS3, much to the annoyance of my closest friends/wife/bank manager..
The attraction of this monster of a console was too much. I wanted to feel the thrill of Motorstorm, explore the ruins of Uncharted and most of all, come home to Sony..
So that was April, and now it’s October, and were are we?
Still waiting for Home, LBP delayed, no TV advertising of any worth, lost exclusives etc, etc, etc…
And yet, I simply don’t have enough time in the day to fully utilize everything this utterly brilliant machine can do.
I’ve been around games since I first played in the arcades in the mid to late 70’s and I’ve seen it all, and this is just another evolutionary step towards Sony winning the war. Of course, it may not seem like it now, but the war will be won by Sony, not Microsoft.
History has shown us this.
We just need to keep playing, keep writing, keep supporting TSA, keep expressing our opinions and most of all, keep believing that the big black box under the TV is the future, because if we don’t, then we might as well give up now..
We need TSA more now than ever.
Apologies for the serious tone of the comment, next time I’ll mention tits or something..
GamerRiley | 19/10/2008 20:25
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Hi Kellyonline I like your little history lesson although is was the C64 that wiped the floor with the Spectrum. But apart from that a good post. Nice to hear you’ve jumped ship from 360 to PS3, it’s usually been the other way around of late.
seedaripper1973 | 21/10/2008 13:22
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Totally the same story as mine (minus the xbox stuff)
And i absolutely concur that the ’speccy 48′ was the home comp of choice (Although i did have a commodore plus4 as well)…
I do find it depressing that Sony arnt doing enough to bloody advertise the thing though, every other advert revolving around games are either Wii/DS ads or sodding 360 ads. All this resting on ones laurels could end up being a bit of a stinger in their arse.
I’m more pissed off with this lax attitude on Sonys behalf, because i invested a shit load of money/time/heart into the system (£550 launch day, countless propaganda against rivals (not unjust) and singing praises for a machine i think will win this ‘war’?)
If this turns out to be not the case then i will be mightily pissed off…
But at the ‘end of the day’ im an eternal optimist..so discount anything i just said, because everything is happy happy la la…
TITS!
nofi | 19/10/2008 14:58
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I think people have misunderstood my post (and I’ve had some RIDICULOUS emails since writing it). I, and the other writers here, don’t get paid to do this. This isn’t a ‘PR-sponsored’ blog – the adverts on the right barely pay for our bandwidth.
If something’s on our minds, and it doesn’t affect any NDAs or otherwise, we’re perfectly entitled to say it. I paid for my PS3, at full retail price, on day one, and I’m obviously happy enough with it to spend half of my waking day on this damned website.
It’s just that recently the news has generally been negative, and Microsoft seem to be doing the right things. I’ve not sold my PS3, it’s still here, pride of place, but a bit of spare cash and the boundless enthusiasm that Microsoft seems to have tempted me back to the 360 as an additional gaming machine, alongside the PS3, the Wii, the PSP and the DS.
This site’s going nowhere, we’re now way above ThreeSpeech in terms of hits and Alexa ranking, so we’re obviously doing something right, but I’ll keep doing what I’ve been doing for 16 months now: speaking my mind. If Sony do something right, you’ll be the first to hear about it, but when MS get the upper hand, well, that affects us all.
Enjoy your day.
Hodgi92 | 19/10/2008 16:51
The Thumb
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TOO RIGHT NOFI…I love this site
cc_star | 19/10/2008 17:45
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Well said
GamerRiley | 19/10/2008 20:31
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Well said Nofi. The only thing I would add to the end is that when Microsoft has the upper hand it only makes Sony work harder to get it back. And that should only be a good thing to all of us who have invested so much in Sony’s machine. In a fight like this there is always going to be one winner and that is the consumer.
KittDJW | 20/10/2008 02:33
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agreed!.. been tempted myself and i never thought i’d feel this way, will resist as long as i can! i love my PS3 and just wish Sony would get their act together quick smart.. please Sony i don’t want to be ringing Microsoft Technical support because my 360 broke… don’t make me buy one.. Please for the love of all that is good can we have a few good weeks and some news on some decent RPG’s and exclusives.
g00nerz | 20/10/2008 13:49
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Ahh. The anticipation of 360 hardware failure… It’s in the post Nofi my son!
Dafro1989 | 19/10/2008 15:36
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I don’t see anything wrong with you buying a 360 nofi – the console is going to get SOME exclusives that will appeal to the gamer in you. I prefer my Sony consoles as I’ve always had great longevity out of them, and prior to this generation the game library was bigger and IMO better.
That doesn’t stop me considering buying a 360 a lot of the time to go alongside it, so that I can enjoy Fable II, GoW2, Lost Odyssey etc. whilst taking a break from Resistance 2, Valkryia Chronicles & Metal Gear Solid 4.
I agree with the Blog post really – Sony really hasn’t got their a** in gear this gen. I’m not very impressed by the NXE it must be said (slightly better looking Mii’s and a new lick of paint for the dashboard – no biggy), but having an avatar system out on time etc. is better than what Sony has provided. Home could be really fun – but I see a major problem being the lack of people actually on it at any one time =/.
What the PS3 needs to turn Japan around is a high number of exclusive JRPGs – worked wonders for Microsoft after all!
Apart from that, just better time management would be nice on Sony’s part – delays are not helping the PS3 one bit.