Oh how the mighty have fallen. Last generation was a decisive victory for Sony. One would expect them to come out guns blazing this time around, but to be honest I haven't seen much innovation or a particularly compelling reason to choose the PS3. Fanboy petulance aside, really; I'm looking for someone to tell me what Sony has over the 360 or the Wii.
They just seem behind the curve. They're the only console not to pick up the BBC iPlayer, they copied the best elements of XBL and Wii Online, they don't appear to be the first choice for movie streaming and they are handedly losing the exclusive arms race. Ouch. As the saying goes, old generals fight the last war and the newcomers blow away their trenchmen with panzer tanks (or something like that).
To top it off Microsoft shelled out a cool $50 MM for exclusive downloadables on what is widely considered the single biggest title release this year, Grand Theft Auto IV. And the rumor mill is churning about their interest in developing their own version of the Wiimote.
But Mike, what about the recent triumph of the Blu-Ray player, you ask? Classic case of missing the forest for all the trees if you ask me. I'll grant that Sony did a tremendous job man-handling the studios to avoid another Betamax fiasco. But what did all that time and money get them? One of two things will happen, a Blu-Ray add on for the X360 or High Def DVDs simply won't be the successor of standard DVDs, digital delivery will be.
In the interest of fairness, not everyone agrees with me. The massive evil gaming conglomerate (or EA) predicts the PS3 will outsell the X360 in 2008. But what do they know anyways? They made this.
I may someday shell out the cash to pick up a PS3 for the sole reason that they carry the exclusive rights to Final Fantasy, my favorite game series ever in the history of things that can be historical.
I know Final Fantasy XIII will be released eventually and they had me sold with that demonstration of what Final Fantasy VII would look like if released on PS3. Once I heard it was simply a demonstration, there stock took a dive in my book.