14 DAY TRIAL // If anyone remembers, a Seattle Times piece said that the PlayStation 3 was a 'flop', some while ago. Sony has changed a few things with its console since then, launching a cheaper, back-compat-lacking, poorer hard drive-enabled SKU, but keeping the Blu-ray player inside. Why? Because Sony is now aiming to attract more videophiles and less gamers, that's why. Or at least so it looks.
As it turns out, the same journalist writing the respective 'PS3 - flop' piece back then is now having second thoughts too (via Evil Avatar):
"I had written off Sony's PlayStation 3 game console as a flop, but it may be time to reconsider.
One reason is Sony finally brought the price down, with a $400 model announced last week. But what's really interesting, especially here in the hometown of Microsoft, RealNetworks and Amazon.com, is the way Sony is accelerating plans to position the PS3 as a digital media center."
So, given that there are surely quite a few people reading the respective journalist's column daily, this piece of news may very well influence potential customers. Which is not a bad thing and you'll soon see why:
"Those companies are all jockeying for position with devices and services as the world moves to high-definition television, digital music and online game and video content," the piece reads on. "The Xbox 360 is a pretty good solution for streaming content from a PC. But it's loud, and you have to buy a $179 external HD-DVD drive if you want to play 1080p discs.
Microsoft is helping partner companies develop "extender" devices that wirelessly play PC-stored content on a TV, but they don't have as many features as the consoles and they cost nearly as much."
True. So even at this point, the recently launched 40GB PS3 is every videophile's best option. OK, but what about the games? What about Sony's reputation as leading video games platform manufacturer? Is everything going down the drain because the company is suddenly having a change of heart?
Not exactly. Just yesterday, we discussed about Sony's shifting attitude towards video game developers. The company is practically begging the companies in charge with creating games for consoles not to forget about the struggling PS3 and to try and develop games for it. So the electronics giant seemingly doesn't want to drop out of the fight yet. Whether they'll actually be forced to forget about the games and focus on media, that remains to be seen. Either way, what's happening to the PlayStation brand is truly sad.