Originally posted by: jpeyton
Originally posted by: Thraxen
Obviously, if they can't figure out a way to turn a profit I can't expect MS/Sony to keep on this path, but that will be a sad day.
Why are you sad? Remember the Playstation 2? Easily the most successful gaming console ever made. It's sold 110+ million units, and is still selling like hotcakes in North America.
Sony managed to debut that system at $299, even with it's groundbreaking graphics and processing units.
Sony needs to be
reigned in for their next generation. Give the consumers the absolute best
gaming experience for $299, and add "bonus features" if you can.
There was nothing groundbreaking about the PS2 in terms of hardware... the PS2 was incredibly weak compared to the Xbox, and even weaker than the Gamecube. It wasn't too bad in terms of CPU power, but graphics wise it was horrible. The limited hardware of the PS2 really hurt some games, such as Killzone, which pushed the hardware to its absolute limits but still looked like absolute crap compared to games like Halo 2 or Ninja Gaiden. Many games, such as Far Cry Insincts, were supposed to come to PS2 but couldn't because the hardware was not powerful enough.
Weak consoles are not just bad for the console crowd. They hurt PC gamers just as much in the end. Unfortunately, virtually all of today's games are based on console technology, and held back by it. If a game can't work on the 360 or PS3, then a developer will not make it (with a few exceptions such as Crysis). If the 360 and PS3 were weak consoles like the Wii, then there would be VERY few developers who would build games that required advanced hardware, as they would only be targeting the rather small PC game market.
Powerful technology allows for far more innovation than the Wiimote. Regardless of what anyone says, graphics is one of the most important parts of immersing you into a game. When a game has muddy, low-resolution textures, low-poly models, and in general bad graphics, then it is much less interesting to play than a game with high-res textures and highly detailed models.
It's not just graphics, either. Physics and artificial intelligence are two other things that make a game amazing. With the increasing power of multi-core processors, we will soon see realistic physics and fully destructible environments. A game world where everything is destructible and water and other objects react realistically changes the game more than any control scheme like the Wii remote. Artificial intelligence is also something that can be improved with the power of multi-core CPUs, and definately brings more realism into the game. However, NONE of this is possible on a console such as the Wii. The Wii doesn't have the power for realistic graphics, physics, or AI.
I don't want a games console to be $299 if it is going to require any corners to be cut in terms of hardware. Personally I think Sony made a lot of stupid decisions with the PS3 that made the price higher than it really had to be. The Cell processor is hard to program for, complex, and huge/expensive (on 90nm, it is 231mm^2 in size). I also question why Sony could not go for 65nm right away, with a late 2006 launch. In terms of memory, XDR memory is probably expensive and I'm not sure it is necessary. I think 512MB of GDDR3 on a 128-bit bus, shared like in the 360, would be a better idea. RSX is a decent GPU, but I question the use of nVidia's GeForce 7 architecture, which is weak in comparison to ATI's GPUs. The most questionable decision with the PS3 is obviously Blu-Ray.... with a fairly large hard drive standard in all models, which game devs could store data on, I'm not sure Sony needs 50GB. Of course, it makes the PS3 a great multimedia device, which I definately like.
Next-gen, I hope Sony cuts some of the fat they had with the PS3 and makes a power-house console at the $500~ price point. I think $400-500 is the sweet spot for a console launch. $300 is far too low in today's money and with the price of today's technology, $600 is a bit too much for something to become mainstream. But I definately hope that Sony and MS don't go the way of Nintendo and make a cheap, weak console. It'll kill not only the future of console gaming, but also PC gaming.