[MW Forums]

A low price and innovative controller could push Nintendo’s Wii console to the top spot in Japan’s video gaming market, according to two industry experts. more

[Rhywun]

It runs on lower-specification hardware and wont do high-definition, but it does have an ace up its sleeve in the form of its controller.
And a slew of exclusive games that beat anything on the other consoles, IMHO.

[d00d]

Zelda!!

[jedi228]

Let us not forget that Nintendo Game Boy beat out GearGear, Linx and a half dozen other superior gaming handhelds. Price matters.
The pricing of the PS3 is going to be dangerously high. Anybody remember 3DO? I sure Sony now realizes that they have boxed themselves in. The problem is that Sony is introducing two new technologies at the same time. They are doing a new PlayStation and they are doing Blu-ray. Because of this they don't have much room to manuever. Even with subsidies selling PS3 at a loss the PS3 is nearly twice Wii!
Sony was obviously counting on Blu-ray catching on and the licensing gravy train of Blu-Ray. They were willing to lose a little money on PS3 to get the train started, but they may have put themselves in double jeopardy. If one of the two technologies does poorly, it will drag down the other one. Of course they could go to the bank if both technologies do well but this is a game of double or nothing. Sony may end up losing its dominance in the billion dollar gaming industry by trying to use PS3 as a tool to launch Blu-Ray.

[roadwarrior]

Very true, but the ability to do HD would've been sweet gravy for those of us with huge HDTV's. Regardless, I'm with half of Japan on this one...get a Wii right away and a PS3 when the prices come down.

[sigma8]

Well, it's been established that the price for the PS3 is about the same price as the Xbox360 the HD-DVD drive. Both consoles high capacity optical drives should cost around $500 and $600 for the respective versions, before price cuts. Plus, the PS3 includes several extra's for that price:
- optical drive has 40% more capacity
- wireless
- controllers have a tilt sensor
- HDMI connection (if you're comparing the $600 range)
- hard drive (if you're comparing the $500 range)
And of course, we all know they are selling at a loss, so it's probably a good "value" hardwarewise. The question is: how well will it perform? A diamond may be valuable, but if I'm not about to get married, a jeweler, or an industrial cutter, it will be useless to me and just a fancy display piece. Will the PS3 be a hodgepodge of expensive trinkets where the whole is less than the sum? Or a well-built and justifiably expensive performance machine?
If it's the latter, I think it will do well. Having a robust game library will be a big factor there, of course. I think playing blu-rays will really help. Personally, my main initial reason for getting it is the blu-ray drive. A lot of people bought the PS2 for its dvd-playing abilities. Considering that HD-DVD players are about $600 and Blu-ray are about $1000, I think having a new blu-ray player that costs $600 and also plays PS3 games will get a lot of value-conscious people thinking..
PS: I will also note that since it has been determined that the initial reports of sketchy image problems with blu-ray were determined to be codec-related, particular to how the studio encoded the movie on the disc, my concerns about long-term viability of blu-ray movie quality is pretty much erased. The newer discs used the same codec as the hd-dvd, and thus look the same. In the future they'll use the extra space to either look better, place the movie all on one side of one disc, or add extra features. Or all of the above.

[sigma8]

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Very true, but the ability to do HD would've been sweet gravy for those of us with huge HDTV's. Regardless, I'm with half of Japan on this one...get a Wii right away and a PS3 when the prices come down.

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As if you had a choice. Only 400,000 PS3's will be in the US for launch.
I'll probably order one. It's probably a really bad idea... early adopting and all. Rev2 will probably fix 19 hardware bugs. Then again, maybe I'll wait. I don't know. Oh wait, solution: get 2-year replacement plan from retailer.
If the 360 had come with a HD-DVD player initially, I would probably have bought one by now, but I really don't need or want another DVD player, and only two games on the system interest me (dead rising and table tennis). I also don't fancy the idea of my HD-DVD player being a dongle-drive hooked up to an already large device (with a large power brick, too).

[minderbinder]

I probably won't even consider the PS3 or 360 based on pricing, at least not for a couple years or more. Honestly, I'm pretty disappointed that PS2 and Xbox prices never came down more.
Wii looks like a possibility, they made a smart move by pricing it in a range people can afford. If they can ship in big enough quantities, they could grab a LOT of market share fast.

[d00d]

Plus the Wii is much more likely to tap into previously untouched markets. Think about how many older people would get a Wii and play Tennis or Golf on it thanks to the Wiimote.
Standard controllers are an easy sell for people of my generation because they're familiar, but my parents just get confused by them.

[OM_user]

Same here. I've been pretty loyal to Sony over the years through several iterations of their PS console (I have the last 'slim' model PS2), but I'll probably be passing on the PS3, at least for some time. Although it sounds like it will be incredible, I simply can't justify buying it at their asking price. If I was a really serious hard-core gamer, I might consider it, but for the times I want to play games it seems like too high a barrier to entry. I realize it's expensive because they've crammed so much high tech inside it, but I have to wonder if Sony shot themselves in the foot by not reducing a little of the feature set and subsequently lowering the price.
Nintendo may have a shot at really capturing some marketshare from others like us who can't, or won't, pay the high price of the PS3. Sure the Wii is not as beefy as the PS3 will be, but it's still seems to be a capable console at a more palatable price.

[jedi228]

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Well, it's been established that the price for the PS3 is about the same price as the Xbox360 + the HD-DVD drive.

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Yes, everybody knows this. But its not the total price that counts, it's the starting price that counts. The XBox 360 can start lower. The Wii starts even lower than XB360. The PS3 only comes in one configuration--expensive. The XB360 allows the user to start with the lower price and add HD-DVD later--a two-part payment plan. The PS3 forces a single payment.

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A lot of people bought the PS2 for its dvd-playing abilities.

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Yes they did. At the time PS2 was released, DVD was doing quite well and was the only technology.
Today is quite a different story. Blu-ray is not established and is currently in a format war with HD-DVD. (Neither Blu-ray nor HD-DVD are doing well in numbers.) Blu-ray hardware is quite exensive and adds a chunk of change to the base PS3.
I'm not concerned with the codec problems you mention. In fact, I'm convinced that Blu-ray is an excellent choice from a technology point of view. It's the price. I've never said anything bad about Blu-ray performance. Oh and did I mention the price.

[jackaxe]

I pre-ordered my Wii earlier this year. I'm kind of bummed that they won't ship a black version first though. I waited to buy my GC, until it was available in black. But at least it's not that horrid GC blue.
Ahhh, finally an article that doesn't mention the myth "hard-core gamer," or anything similar. That term in my opinion is complete BS, only because it's not the Clich XBox/PS2/GTA playing kid that they've all assumed.

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Unless we hear some fantastic pieces of news tomorrow [at the Tokyo Game Show] from Sony, they are playing catch-up to Microsoft and Nintendo."

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Sony could wait 4 years, sell the PS3 at $1k, and wouldn't need to play catch-up with MS's minuscule console, at least in Japan. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
<]=)

[warlock7]

At the time the 3DO was priced at triple the price of any other consoles on the market for their time.
The PS3 is actually priced very competitively for this generation of consoles.
Not to reiterate, but:
Just to compare feature-wise:
PS3 premium - $600 (incl: wireless, BluRay)
XBox 360 premium - $400
Wireless Adaptor - $100
HD-DVD Drive ~ $200
Total cost of 360 ~= $700
Total cost of PS3 = $600
Feature for feature PS3 is less expensive than the 360 with the "same" feature set.
While the Wii is much less expensive, it is just a game console while the other two heavy hitters are going after the home entertainment hub market.

[droidworx]

Wait till you need to replace the Blu-Ray drive in the PS3. Personally I think Microsoft did the right move making it modular, it allowed them to get to market early and add the components as it becomes cost effective to do so.
By the way, the day Sony launches, so will Halo 3 and a slew of other games and accessories for the 360 including a true wireless force feedback wheel bundled with a special edition of Project Gotham Racing 3. This can do nothing buy take away from the splash Sony makes in North America. That combined with Nintendo's position in Japan could make Sony do a big belly flop out of the gate.