Sony at E3 - Too Little Too Late?

Sony (SNE) is running third and last in this generation of home consoles, having made more mistakes than a Bush presidency. However, here at E3 2009 they started showing signs of getting their act together. But is it too little too late?

There are 364 games coming to Playstation platforms over the next year, presumably they are missing out new years day. And there is a lot for the PS3 in there: Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker, Gran Turismo 5, Rock Band: Beatles, God of War, Agent, Final Fantasy XIV Online and Modern Warfare 2. Just for starters. Impressive stuff.

The Playstation 3 answer to the Wiimote and Natal was announced but is nearly a year away. It is an extension of Playstation Eye and consists of a stick with buttons on it and a glowing orb on the end. Quite frankly, this already looks like old technology compared with Natal’s whole body interface, voice input and face recognition (presuming it all works as advertised).

But the PS3s biggest problem is that it is always trying to play catch up with the Xbox 360 and failing. Most critically because Sony persist in selling the PS3 at an expensive price point that is difficult to justify from the consumer perspective. And after what Microsoft presented at E3 this year one can only see the PS3 dropping behind further.

Comments

[Mornelithe:]

Yes, MS' motion control was a great showcase...of nothing live. Quite compelling. Honestly though, Sony's been in the motion sensing camera market for years now, which MS has not. Therefore, I'm going with Sony's experience on this one. Additionally, Natal, doesn't have 1:1 recognition. That's very, very important when attempting to put these devices to real-life application in gaming. Look at how many people flipped out about the control delay in Killzone 2. Gamers like fast, quick, and accurate response. This will deliver that.

Beyond that, Sony gave an incredible performance, and I'd honestly say they took E3 with their keynote. FFXIV exclusivity, the new ModNation Racer, GT5, GT5 PSP, _2_ new Metal Gear games (The one on the 360 is multiplatform). Trico, GoWIII.....a smashing success imo.

Lastly, everyone told you people no price cut would happen, the machine is worth every penny of it's price tag, and to be honest, just like Sony, I don't care if you can't afford it. I can. So have about 22 million other people. You're not entitled to it, simply because you're a gamer. Earn money and exchange it for goods and services. That's how capitolism works.

Don't bother preaching price cuts until at the very earliest, TGS 2009.


Morne

Jun 03 11:34 AM

[Neven78:]

Amen, brother! MS showed no great games with the exception of Alan Wake. Sony has the titles I want to play. Plain and simple. Also, Is anyone really expecting Natal to grow into anything other than another party/goofy games designed especially for it? The girl who demoed the thing was in excellent shape and she was winded after a few minutes. The only thing I truly liked and could see potential in was the voice recognition aspect.

Jun 03 01:57 PM

[Zenfar:]

Gran Turismo 5 is very late, should have been a launch title. There should have been more memory in the PS3 and a non-Blue Ray version. How do they catch up at this point? Still it is a very nice media / Blue Ray player and has some serious hardware inside.

Jun 04 09:22 AM