Watching the news come in yesterday about the PS3 Slim, I said to myself, “Man, this is great for Sony, especially if we’re still in 2006.” Harsh, perhaps, but the sentiment is spot-on: had Sony released the PS3, Slim or otherwise, at $299 back in the autumn of 2006, we could well have seen an effortless transition between the PS2 and PS3. As it turned out, three years later, we’re left wondering this: Is the PS3 Slim enough to, say, re-ignite the Console Wars?
Let’s get one thing clear from the get-go: I patently don’t care one way or the other if Xbox rules and Sony drools, or vice-versa. How well a corporation does doesn’t affect me in the slightest. That said, it is somewhat fun to endless speculate “what if?” questions all day long.
With that out of the way, we can move on.
So what is the PS3 Slim? If you weren’t online yesterday you would have missed that Sony officially announced the system at a trade show in Europe. The PS3 Slim, as the name implies, is merely a smaller PS3, but one, crucially, that costs only $299. The PS3 launched, back in 2006, at $599—a ridiculous price even when we weren’t in a recession. The PS3 Slim has the same features as any other PS3 you’re able to find on store shelves: plays Blu-ray discs, DVDs, and CDs; has a hard drive (here, 120GB) where you can store your digital photos and whatnot, then stream them around the house via built-in Wi-Fi; it also, funnily enough, plays PS3 games, as well as PS1 games. Backwards compatibility with PS2 games has totally been eliminated, so keep that PS2 Slim handy if you’re itching to play Final Fantasy XII or God of War again.
Considering that Sony’s own research indicated that very few people were buying the PS3 with the intention of playing PS2 games, I don’t see the lack of PS2 compatibility as anything more than a bullet point in a long, pointless message board thread. (SONY SUCKS AND HERES WHY! kind of thing.)
In summary, in just a few week’s time, you’ll be able to buy a PS3 Slim, and play Whatever 4 and watch Lost on Blu-ray for only $299. That’s not a bad deal, particularly if you’re a movie buff, or like buying TV boxsets on Blu-ray.
But how does that, a $299 PS3, compare to Microsoft’s offering? If we’re to believe the rumors, Redmond will kill the Xbox 360 Pro model, leaving only the Elite and Arcade models, priced, presumably, at $299 and $199, respectively. So now we can compare the two systems pretty equally, provided, of course, that the Elite does drop in price.
And what would you get for the $299 Xbox 360 Elite? No Blu-ray playback, but DVD playback; a built-in hard drive for storing your content, and sharing around the house; and compatibility with all those Xbox 360 games. (Outside of Halo, how many Xbox1 games are worth playing again?)
Save for Blu-ray playback, there’s very little between the two systems, hardware-wise. Can you replace the PS3 Slim’s hard drive, and add a huge one if you want? Sure, but the average person isn’t going to do that.
Then you’re forced to examine the game libraries, which is an argument for another day.
I guess I can ask y’all wether or not you think the $299 PS3 Slim is too little, too late, or just what the doctor ordered?
I had several 360’s which all got returned due to repeated RROD failures. I will definitely be picking up a PS3 for their much higher longevity. The new, lower price point makes this a no-brainer.
@MrSatyre
I know what you mean about the RROD! I had 5 before I gave up and went to PC based FPS COD “World at War”
I use my 360 controller and pinnaclegameprofiler software to enhance the playing experience.
I will never by a console again. Why should I? I use a $5,000 computer with a wicked graphics card, with a 47 inch LSD TV as a Monitor!
Out of spite I will take my 360 Elite, place in the drive way and run over it, before I would send it back to the repair center.
How does XBOX continue to get away with selling such garbage?
“Cheers”
JP
LMAO….. LSD monitor!
I am pretty sure that would be illegal.
And funny…
You play a PC FPS with a 360 controller? How does that work? Seems you’d get destroyed by the keyboard/mouse crowd, no?
To be honest with you, I do very well. I avarage 60+ kills per game. (Punkbuster is always on)
I think I have an advantage, as I am leaning back in my big chair jumping, dodging, knifing and dropping “betties” as I run by while they are hunched over their keyboards trying to remember which of the keys it was that they assigned for for surrender.
I have have programmed enough variables into the XBOX controller to get by with being competitive against the keyboard players.
“Cheers”
JP
haha LSD!
Do games look funny on it?
“I will never by a console again. Why should I? I use a $5,000 computer with a wicked graphics card, with a 47 inch LSD TV as a Monitor!”
Because for that price you could have gotten a ridiculously high-end HDTV, every console, and STILL have money to spare?
And most people play games on consoles that do not have a PC version? The majority of console games, id say about 95%, are NOT available on PC, THAT is why I game on consoles, game selection, not the hardware.
The majority of genras I like (JRPG, Action/Acenture, Platformer) etc are not available on PCs either.
@Cyber
Let me clarify.
I loved gaming online with XBOX, I am just tired of the RROD.
I did not go purchase a $5,000 computer to play games. I design and develop websites. This allows me to work at home and since I already own this mega computer and 2 monitors, I thought I might as well use it for gaming.
I only play games online. I never play a game offline. I enjoy playing against real players in a competitive atmosphere.
IMO the best FPS online game is COD 4 and COD WAW.They are on PC.
You are right, PC does not support very many games. It works for me at this time.
“Cheers”
JP
Let me understand this. You say you’ll never buy a console, but are describing the faults on the PC gaming system. I have a very nice PC, but the only thing I play on it is Call of duty games, and Age of empires series, you can not play those well on a console, besides I console is more reliable, because you know that all games that comes for it, will work, you don’t have to be installing drivers, or updating hardware. leave the PC for minimum gaming, and join the rest of us with the best console ever: PS3 !!!!!
RROD = Realtime Realization Of Douchebagness
Sorry, that we all knew about you and didn’t say anything.
We posted a review about this a couple of days ago. If you are looking for a more negative look on this new Playstation then head to: http://wireninja.com/ps3-slimline-announced-but-why/
DUH? PS3 Slim + price cut is going to be dramatic. Now, what is stopping people from getting a PS3 with the price issue out of the way?
The obligatory whining.
I, too, will buy a PS3 now. I was waiting for this price (and size!) drop. Wii vs. PS3 is a very easy decision now. TechCrunch writers really do not understand any consumers other than themselves. They just take their feelings and impose them on all other consumers (see their “FF3.5 sucks” articles).
I’m sold. Sign me up. PS3 Slim all-the-way.
I want to buy it, but I still can’t justify the purchase. I already have an Xbox 360, Blu-ray discs are still just too damn expensive, and even though there’s a handful of PS3-exclusive games that I want to play, I just can’t justify adding another piece of hardware to my setup when I KNOW it will hardly ever be used.
This is an important point. The current generation of consoles is long in the tooth, and every household that has wanted one already has one. PS3 vs. XBOX vs. Wii isn’t even an issue anymore. The issue is whether you want to have two or three of them in your house.
I don’t think Blu-Ray discs are too pricey. I pick up a few discs from Amazon.com every couple of weeks. They always have crazy 50% off or buy-2-get-1-free deals and I’ve picked up a number of my favorite moves for around $13. The average price for new releases seems to hover around $20-$25.
“How well a corporation doesn’t affect me in the slightest.”
How well a corporation fares? How well a corporation waxes their eyebrows? How well a corporation promotes monkey knife-fights?
The suspense is killing me.
+1
Maybe it was how well a corporation does doesn’t affect me.
Get used to it. Crunchgear makes it painfully obvious that they don’t hire their bloggers based on literacy skills.
It was Honeywell the corporation although I don’t know what type of control systems are included in the PS3.
“…effortless transition between the PS3 and the PS3.”
“How well a corporation doesn’t affect me in the slightest.”
Proof-reading is your friend, it’s not as if this story was rushed out minutes after the slim’s announcement.
Leave him alone, english is only his 3rd language!!
¿Que importa? Español es mi idioma segunda. Yo uso correcta gramática en el uno u otro.
“Español es mi idioma segunda” that would be “Español es mi segundo idioma……” that kind defeat the second statement about you using a correct grammar on one or the other….
But you’ve got to admit that would be a pretty effortless transition :P
Don’t forget
“That said, it is somewhat fun to endless speculate “what if?” questions all day long.”
This is easily one of the most poorly written things I’ve read lately. The last couple CrunchGear articles I’ve read all I’m doing is pointing out spelling and grammar errors. Now these comments were posted some hours ago, but the mistakes persist.
At the end of all that, the content isn’t even worth reading. Basically you say what a ps3 and a 360 are both capable of, and that they’re going to cost about the same. Where’s the rest of the article? You can’t depend on us to give you content, we only offer grammatical and editorial advice :-)
That being said, the doctor ordered a better written entry.
@myrridin
I own a 40GB ps 3 and actually thinking about giving it away or selling it to get the new Slim. Th extra HD with a the slimmer design is definitely something I could use. http://ziggytek.com/
You realize you can upgrade the hdd yourself for far far FAR less than what Sony charges right?
I have the original where I paid 599.99but for 299.99 the price of a decent bluray player I will buy the slim to add to another room, it’s a no brainer.
Should i go for xbox 360 or PS3 slim…kindly help me….
Owning an Xbox360 and an original fatty PS3 I’d recommend this PS3 Slim over an Xbox.
There are many reasons, if you want to hear about anything specific, ping me at derrquinn at gmail dot com
Spend less time playing, more time writing. Butchered post if you ask me.
Ditto!
Dang! that’s hateful!
So here’s the deal: $299 for a monster game machine + what has been called one of the best BD players period is huge win. Sony wants more BD penetration and the PS3 is the best selling player. The PS3 has always been a better hardware platform than the 360 – it breaks less, and Sony doesn’t try to screw you whenever it can. Sony uses Bluetooth for things instead of a proprietary protocol – so you can use any Bluetooth headset you want. It has USB ports and you can use any USB drive as a save device. You can back up the hard drive. You can upgrade the hard drive. Microsoft allows none of these things.
So yeah, this is huge. Will this overcome the software issues? Maybe – or maybe it won’t have to. Some of the more recent PS3-only titles have been amazing (Killzone 2, inFamous) and as far as multi-platform releases go they’re about the same. It’s not the same old “the 360 version will automatically be better” situation any more.
However, one thing Sony really needs to fix is PSN. Yeah, it’s free. But it still is no where near as good as XBox Live. Hardcore gamers want online play, they want to play with their friends, and they want it with a minimum of hassle. PSN doesn’t do this nearly as well as XBL. Fix that Sony and you have PURE WIN.
The biggest issue for software development on the platform is that it’s a giant pain in the ass for developers to code a game or a port to the PS3. Sony really missed the boat on this – combining the low sales numbers with long, complex development cycles is a recipe to makes the economics infeasible.
They have also recently released updates to the SDK to improve the development process which will hopefully help.
One thing people need to remember is that it’s not just about how good the consumer facing features are, it’s also about the development platform available to software vendors and Sony missed the boat by a mile on that one.
eh?? back in 2000, developers were saying the same for the PS2 , how hard it was to develop for it and how time consuming it was to create games for it. This is all the same repeat when it comes to new technology, but in the end of all of these hard problems these artists get use to all of these technical guesses. I should know, I am a computer animator, and I am always confuse with every technological 3D program advances that are seen every 6 months. No matter how hard a technical mountain is or how hard a program is hard to use! it never stops a 3D artist from creating amazing things using it.
In the PS2’s case, that was because it was THE dominant console that developers had to develop for regardless if it was difficult or not.
The PS3 is not clearly the “dominant” gaming console at the moment, so there is less likely to be more developers attempting to climb the wall of difficult development.
Bryan hit it on the head.
MS was a newcomer so people didn’t trust them yet, and Nintendo screwed up with their measly 1.5GB disks and awkward controller. SEGA was already dead.
People had no choice but to go with Sony.
Plus, the Sega Saturn was hard to program for too, and guess what, that DID do it in. Hard to program for systems tend to fail.
Both the PS1 and PS2 got lucky because Nintendo and SEGA seriously screwed up back then, and the PS1 got FF7 instead of Nintendo because of Nintendo’’s idiocy.
“and Sony doesn’t try to screw you whenever it can”
Err, what?
Sony is the KING of propitiatory formats, if anything they screw you over more often than Microsoft does.
“It’s not the same old “the 360 version will automatically be better” situation any more.”
Im afraid it still is in many cases, look at ghostbusters.
What was better about Ghostbusters? I picked it up for PS3 and thought it was OK, but not a terribly fun game. Would love to hear its better for 360, because I was hoping for a lot…
You still won’t be able to compare them properly.
The PS3 comes with a rechargeable controller and wifi built in. Not to mention the larger HDs. And the free access to the PSN (which includes free demos). Built in optical audio out as well.
The XBox 360 does not come with wifi. Nor a rechargeable controller. You have to pay extra for these. The Live network costs you. The HD space leaves a lot to be desired. To get optical audio out you need an adapter.
The XBox 360 wifi adapter is $70. The PS3 is by far the better value. Before the price cut, and by far after.
And I forgot to mention one of the best Blu Ray players on the market that’s net connected and easy to run firmware updates.
Most of these arguments are valid. With the 360 however you can get Xbox Live Silver for free, which will allow you to download demos.
FYI,
@myrridin
PSN allows you to download demos…
Exactly. Factor in the PITA that the 360’s spotty reliability (still!) causes and the PS3 was an easy decision for me.
I will say that XBox Live’s online experience is far more polished than PSN – system-wide voice chat is especially cool. I know high-school and college friends that live hundreds of miles apart that drink beers and play video games with each other every week via Live. Gaming has an anti-social rap, but MS has really done well with the social aspect of gaming.
Could this reply be any more biased?
Its funny how people look PURELY at the hardware when trying to compare the systems, most notably when they compare the PS3 and 360.
How soon you forget, remember last year? Remember the system that had the weakest hardware BY FAR but still kicked ass? The PS2?
Notice how the Wii is by far weaker, its not even HD, and is kicking ass?
Hardware means JACK, and people could care less about the bells and whistles a game console comes with, as long as it can play games, the PS2 and Wii have proved this.
Plus, try comparing the software. I am not only talking about the games, but the system software as well. A $10000 state of the art computer is useless if its running a stripped down version of Windows 3.11.
The price reduction is fantastic. I think we will definitely see a increase in units sold. But is it enough to outsell the Xbox? Absolutely not. It’s a great Blu Ray player. It was for a while the cheapest BD player on the market, but now with BD players almost hitting the $99 mark it takes away one of the PS3’s biggest saving grace.
This is not a fanboy comment by any means as I own both systems and love them both. There is much more exclusive content on the xbox then the PS3. Lets get it straight. A lot of developers refuse to even produce games on the PS3 because of the difficult of encoding. Even if the same video game is on both systems, there is generally unique content in the form of DLC’s for the xbox. If they have the same content it is generally released a week early on the Xbox.
My biggest complaint is; The PS3 Slim is totally ugly! The PS3 Fat was at least a beautiful looking machine with piano black finish, touch sensitive buttons, media card reader ( on various models). It felt like what all next gen systems should be. Now the PS3 slim is full of standard plastic, tactile buttons, the box it comes in is absolutely ugly. It looks like the PS1 should of came in there. The packaging is horrible and Sony is still sending AV cables.
If I didn’t currently own a PS3 Fat. I would not go out and purchase a PS3 slim. I would purchase a used PS3 Fat.
That’s just my opinion and opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.
My understanding is that the dropped the price on the PS3 Fat to $299 already; whereas, you have to wait until Sept 1st to get the PS3 Slim. So, if you do not like the design of the Slim, just go out and by a PS3 Fat for the same price!
How about proofreading your post before publishing it? Come on.
“effortless transition between the PS3 and PS3.”
do you people get paid for this crap?
yea, can i have your job? i’m pretty sure i could write a butchered article like this in 5 minutes too.
This article is full of grammatical errors and even some sentence fragments:
“How well a corporation doesn’t affect me in the slightest.”
TC – do you give these articles even the quickest read over to ensure they sound professional before you post them? I love your reporting, but come on, this is third rate stuff here.
One thing that is often left out of the PS3’s feature set is the ability to upscale all Digital video formats like DVD, DivX, XviD, etc.. Making ripped home movies and backups of your favorite blockbusters playback flawlessly on the PS3. So using the system as an all-in-one media center really is amazing and works very well. I’ve tried using a MacBook Pro and a PC to playback Movie files and they just don’t look anywhere near as good as they do when I play them back using the PS3. The one thing that does really hurt the PS3 is not having Netflix support, but personally I think that they are working on a deal with hulu or boxee who has said that they are looking to work with console developers to get boxee running on home theater devices. This would be a huge move for the PS3 if they were able to actually get boxee integrated into the system.
I would buy a PS3 right now if boxee was able to work on it. I would be even more ecstatic if Netflix was on it.
I hardly use my 360 as a gaming platform. But i use the Netflix and DVD player a lot. Having a PS3 with Netflix would add BluRay functionality witch would be appreciated.
But then again, I believe there are bluRay players that have Netflix integration already
The biggest difference between XBox 360 and PS3 is one of price, and features.
You can get an XBox 360 with a 20GB hard drive for $149 – http://www.tvlampsnbulbs.com/2009/08/microsoft-xbox-360-arcard-with-hdmi-20gb-hdd-149/
Also, with the XBox 360 you can stream netflix. It’s true that you don’t get to keep the movies and Blu-ray looks better but if you want to watch all you can without spending a bunch of money you can invest $108 ($8.99 plan x 12 months) and get netflix for a year.
I’m still trying to decide myself because I got a Bravia just to play Blu-ray movies but the prices need to come down (a lot) first.
I just have to echo the sentiments that this post, while information, is a disgrace to the English language. Good day.
*informational – maybe I should shut my fat mouth.
@bettereditor – HAHA!! I think that’s called “instant karma”. BTW, you have to change your handle now — you kinda invalidated the “better” part when you made that grammatical error…
Forget about the grammar and misspellings. Challenge the guy to a duel where the winner gets his job at TechCrunch if it matters that much to you. Or offer to get hired to proofread all of their articles if the recession torpedoed your career. Or (better yet), start your OWN perpetually grammatically correct technology blog. Whatever you guys choose to do, add some value to the conversation with an informed opinion about the TOPIC instead of the GRAMMAR. Sheesh…
That said, I think the PS3 price reduction is a great move from PlayStation. The point of making the hardware accessible to the market isn’t to sell more hardware — it’s to sell more software. Increasingly, that’s going to be online through the PSN and middleware services like MediaGo for the PSP (Look, Ma! No UMD drive!). Because the hardware is more versatile and integrates more technological standards that the average consumer doesn’t understand yet, PlayStation has positioned themselves upmarket and set the foundation for future growth of the software platform (see earlier notes about the updated SDK). Comments about the new form factor aside, PlayStation is showing waaaay more business sense than they did with the PS3 Fat.
Since when are blogs held to the same standard as traditional news publications? You guys are missing the point – TC is a blog (like TMZ) written by tech geeks and not a news site, in the traditional sense, with content contributed by journalists. Typos are expected. If the grammar bothers you, go read today’s tech news tomorrow or the day after in the New York Times.
im sick of reading how xbox live is better then playstation network.. the bottom line is they both do the same god damn thing. one is free and one isnt. why would one that u pay for be better then one that is free.. Xbox is obviously the loser in the new ps3 slim because ps3 once u buy it u dont need to add anything to it. if u have a bluetooth booom it connects to ps3. like ps3 has no additional fees after buying it. as opposed to xbox which has a internet fee which is really stupid since u have to pay for an internet provider at home. wtf is xbox thinking. only think xbox has is halo which is highly overrated.
This is (unfortunately) really not true at all.
PS3 games on PSN cannot send cross title invites. So, if I’m playing Killzone 2 and my friend is playing Burnout – I can’t send an invite from Killzone to him.
PS3 games on PSN cannot have cross title chat. On Xbox, it doesn’t matter what I’m doing (watching a movie, playing a game, etc) – I can *always* talk to my friends. Not so on PS3’s PSN.
PSN has a much smaller userbase, so finding quality MP games is much harder on PSN. Being that there are so many more Xbox users out there with Xbox
There are also plenty of smaller polish items 360’s got over PSN which make it undeniably better.
The real problem, though, is just that the 360’s a better gaming console. It’s got more games, better games (higher rated), better game community, better features (achievements/chat/voice/player custom music/rich presence/etc) across ALL games, better scaling (480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p across all games, due to the hardware scaler) which makes games look better on whatever resolution your HDTV happens to be, etc… and contrary to popular belief, the 360’s actually more powerful with regards to anything on the graphical side. It’s GPU’s better, it’s got more memory for games, etc… and the PS3 just can’t compete.
I sometimes feel bad for Sony, because the PS3’s a great machine, it’s just not the best game machine out there… the 360 is… and being that it cost MORE for a PS3, it’s really a lose/lose for consumers.
I thought I smelled failure….uh I mean fanboy.
Sorry Jack, that reply was meant for matthew.
thing*
I think you all forget one important point. You can play ripped games on the 360, you can’t do that on PS3. Sure, that’s not legal, but does the hardcore gamer really care about that ? I have no idea how much a game cost in the US, still in Europe, it costs between 50 and 70 euros (70 and 100$ USD), and it’s, IMO, a huge choice factor.
Second hand games and platinium are way enought
Dynomite.
The problem is, when it comes to being a game machine – the 360’s just a better system on every level.
141 of the 156 cross platform titles are as good-or-better on the 360… and in all 156 cases, the online is better.
360’s got far better cross title features, like talking to your friends regardless of what games you’re playing, cross title invites, etc, etc – stuff the PS3 just doesn’t have.
Not to mention, the 360’s library of games doubles the PS3’s, and 360’s got far more games that are rated 90% or higher on metacritic.
360’s controller is higher rated, all games can be dynamically scaled to fit your HDTV’s best resolution, etc, etc, etc… there’s just no way around it – the 360’s a better game console.
The only advantage PS3 has going for it is Blu-ray playback, but you can get a Blu-ray player for just over $100 now, and come this holiday – I’m sure you’ll find some amazing deals… so if Blu-ray is your thing, you can still get a seperate player for cheap when you get a 360 and then you get the best of both worlds… but if you get a PS3, you’re covered on the Blu-ray front, but you get an inferior game console with fewer games, worse games, smaller online community, worse global features, etc… so you’re really missing out on the games front if you go with a PS3.
It’s too bad for Sony… they really made a mistake with the PS3 this gen, and have fallen way behind… and the PS3 slim won’t fix that… it just makes it a bit cheaper and a bit smaller.
I got my PS3 for $200 on eBay….I was looking for a full-featured BD player and after seeing all that’s out there….the PS3 is a way better BD player…with the plus of the games….and for $200…..great deal
$200 is a great deal…
Do you already have a 360?
Only new victims without PS3 will get this. I have a PS3 first version (4 usb’s, memory slots galore, 80 GB(!), backward compatibility chip (yes, I can play PS2 games without issues)….
Why would I want to “slim down”? Fatty is better….just look at Britney Spears….all that junky-fatty blabby sillouette waving around the stage….or the beach….she’s backward compatible….PS3 and Britney….yeah!
More Funnel Cake for the Blonde, please!!!!!
Just had to step in real quickly to ROFL at “she’s backward compatible”. Well done, sir.
@myrridin
I may just get one. I haven’t purchased a blu-ray player yet for giant TV, and having it be able to play some games would be great as well.
On second though, I’ll wait for the PS3Tivo. I need another one of those too, and then I could kill two spiders with one shoe.
I own a 80 Gb PS3 and am quite happy that there coming out with a new slim model and i might purchase it so i can play online with my brother. As well the price cut will be a huge incentive for people to buy into the Sony brand, Expanding their market. But i do agree the $599 price originally was way to much and we should have seen a price cut earlier on in the ps3’s infancy.
All you need now is Netflix and Social Network in PS3 then that will change the market.
Well, let’s just think about this:
XBOX 360 w/ HDD = $299
Wii (same setup as Nov. ‘06) = $249
PS3 w/ HDD & Bluray Player (+ Free PSN) = $299
The only bad deal I see in the bunch is the overpriced, glorified-Gamecube known as the Wii. (That sucker should be no more than $179 by now!) Even the 360 could stand to lose $50 off the price since it lacks a Bluray player.
Blu-ray aside, the 360’s just the better game console though.
The following is 100% factual:
- 360 has more games.360’s got more than double the number of games the PS3 has.
- 360 has higher rated (better) games.
- 360 has way more standard features across all games, including global voice chat, achievements, user music, etc…
- 360 has a larger user base, and a much larger online community.
- 360 supports any HDTV out there at its optimal resolution for all games. PS3 does not.
- 360’s GPU is superior to PS3’s, allow 360 to render more geometry, display higher-resolution textures, and include fill-rate-heavy effects the PS3’s not capable of.
Then, there are the other non-gaming features that PS3 just can’t touch:
- 360 has fully integrated Netflix app
- 360 has MSN chat integration across all games
(as of this holiday)
- 360 will have a fully integrated Facebook app
- 360 will have a fully integrated Twitter app
- 360 will have a fully integrated LAST.FM app
…the list goes on. 360’s the better game machine by nearly all metrics available… so while the Blu-ray player in PS3 is a fair advantage, it’s really the ONLY advantage… and to get it, you’re sacrificing your gaming experience on countless levels… is it worth it? Well, that’s up to you…
umm yeah.. just factor in the fact that it dies…
making 2 or 3 360s equivalent to 1 ps3 unit. How does that add up in price?
News Flash, the PS3 has issues too, and no, that does not factor into the price at all, its a pretty silly attempt to grasp at straws with a “LOLZ RROD!!!” reply.
Just a quick two cents. I love my PS3, and I love my 360. Both were worthwhile investments. It all comes down to preference, but here are my personal feelings on the winners.
In-box Hardware value: PS3 (wifi, rechargeable controllers, usb interface, etc. are all winners. Including composite cables, however, is an embarrassment.)
Home networking/media box functionality: PS3
Interface: 360
Online Gaming: 360 (You can argue this all you want, but XBox Live more than proves the old adage “you get what you pay for.” Everyone I know with both systems agrees here.)
General Gaming: 360 (it’s close, mind you, but between the quality of exclusives, most multi-console releases, and XBLA games, 360 takes it for me)
I gotta say, I prefer the 360 controller, too, although the DualShock3 is no slouch.
Must say, though, LOVE both systems, and I hope this price drop increases the PS3 userbase appropriately.
Incidentally, as someone who has both Netflix on 360 and a PS3, I watch a hell of a lot more Netflix than I do Blu-rays. It really is a fantastic service, and the quality has really surprised me. Still, the versatility of the PS3 in regard to playing various formats and networking cannot be ignored.
It does NOT support Linux anymore!
Do not want!
If I ever get to buy a PS3 (I own a Wii, and 2 Xbox 360’s), it will be a fat one with Linux support.
For that to happen, the price will have to drop at least for 50 more € . (BTW: its hilarious that it’s price is 299$ and 299€. Damn Dollar is/was less worth than the euro for years)
What if the new slim ps3 has issues like the xbox and burns out after 6 months of use? Wouldn’t it be better to wait a while before getting it?
The fanboys are raving. If the PS3 Slim dies within 6 months of purchase then they’ll be able to admit that the PS3 and 360 are equals :D
Well, I guess if there’s ever an exclusive game for the ps3, I may buy one.
But for now, I’m sticking with my 360, and no, its not of any particular love of MS, but just because I got it first because it had way more bang for the buck.
And no, Blueray is of no consequence.
METAL GEAR SOLID 4 = System Seller.
GOD OF WAR 3 = System Seller.
God of War isn’t out.
MGS4 was great, but 360’s getting a Metal Gear Solid game too… and if all the cross platform titles are any indication, the 360 version will probably be better. :-)
…and with the PS3, you miss out on:
Halo
Gears of War
Fable
Project Natal
etc…
Not to mention the slew of cross platform titles that are better on 360, and the significantly more advanced cross-title features found only on 360.
Don’t Forget Ratchet & Clank series (I love those games.) Oh, and Valkryie Chronicles, not to mention 360 owners will wait forever and a day for FFXIII after its released on ps3 (from what I read.) Personally I think Project Natal and the motion capture tech for the ps3 are both gimmicky BS that the respective companies are exploiting to dip into Wii’s market share. Little Big Planet also looks like lots of fun imho. I should note that I presently do not own either console and play games solely on my pc…so I’m pretty impartial.
The PS3 Slim doesn’t change anything for me. I’ve got an 360. There aren’t enough exclusive PS3 games to make me want it. Uncharted and LBP are the only two I’m really interested in.
I’m also unconvinced about blu-ray. Sure it’s pretty but digital distribution is more convenient and good enough quality wise.
Good enough for who? The same people that think BOSE is high quality audio?
No thanks. I’ll stick to Blu-Ray until 1080P streaming is available at the same bitrate.
Good enough for me obviously. Or else I’d be on the blu-ray train.
Defiantly sony was way to late on the pricing. I was in the marked for a gaming console a year ago and was looking at the xBox and the PS3. I wanted to get the xBox 360 Elite, but it was 400 dollars. I’m not a big gammer so that is a lot of money, compared to as I’m a computer person I’ll spend 2500 dollars on a computer. I was leaning into the PS3 more then the xBox just because it had more functionally and played those plus blu-ray discs for my HD television. In the end I got a Wii. I get exercise which is an added bonus and I have a lot of fun with those cartoon characters.
Did you just start off an article complimenting yourself because your own sentiment was ’spot on?’ Wow.
Watching the news come in yesterday about the PS3 Slim, I said to myself, “Man, this is great for Sony, especially if we’re still in 2006.” Harsh, perhaps, but the sentiment is spot-on: had Sony released the PS3, Slim or otherwise, at $299 back in the autumn of 2006, we could well have seen an effortless transition between the PS2 and PS3.
When I read your post, I thought “You can’t just state your opinion and then assert that it is correct. It sounds silly.” Harsh, perhaps but I’m obviously correct about this: If you had just taken out the the part after the quote and before the colon, it would have read more smoothly.
I don’t find “too little, too late for the PS3″ to be a particularly well-informed opinion. It suggests that some conclusion should have been determined by now, and that is just not the case; the Wii and continued strong PS2 sales long into the “HD gaming” era really blurred the line of this generation (except where the original X-Box was concerned), and we are still a long, long way from the end of it.
People who still haven’t moved on from their PS2, a prevalence of multi-console households, increasing Blu-ray awareness, and increasing HD television penetration all bode well for Sony.
Every gamer I know expects to *eventually* own a PS3 (in most cases, right alongside their 360 and/or Wii); given recent and upcoming exclusives, a price drop was the biggest thing keeping them from pulling the trigger. For some, $299 will do the trick. Others will wait another year or more for the next drop.
Is it too late for Sony? Hardly.
I don’t find your opinion particularly well-informed.
This generation of consoles has its winner (wii), its second place console (360), and its loser (the PS3).
It’s too late for Sony. The Wii has hit incredible saturation, the 360’s got a perceived $100 price advantage over Sony (even with the price drop), and next year – Microsoft is treating NATAL like a full fledged console release… even if Sony gets a bit of marketshare back this holiday, next Holiday will be owned by Microsoft… and Microsoft has proven (thi generation) that once they get momentum, they hang onto it… Sony can’t seem to get much momentum at all, and when they get it, Microsoft counters.
MS is just miles ahead with online and cross title features… not to mention community/social features… Sony can’t catch up.
Stick a fork in it… PS3’s done. Maybe next gen Sony can fight back…
Current sales totals and trends are exactly that. The market cycle doesn’t run on your schedule, nor Microsoft’s, nor Sony’s, nor Nintendo’s. It’s not over just because someone says it is; it’s over when people stop buying.
Nope sorry, just like the way i hate apply fan base is the same way i hate the ps3. Not after all those fights i had with my friends about this system not having games when it was first coming out & now its 2 years later & they still don’t have any good games.
look how the xbox 360 has evolve over the last 2 years with their online content. From Gears of War 2 to Halo & even Fallout 3 look better on the 360.
PS3 gets updates way later then the xbox does.
Yes U get blue Ray but my computer that i just build has that & i still don’t use it due the price of a blue Ray CD, so like i said before na im good. :)
I’for one, would like the PS2 support, but see why Sony nixed it. My old PS3 (gen1) has PS2 support, and for games that require less graphic love, like the Guitar Hero stuff, and “Buzz”, I buy the PS2 version that is half the price. Why is “GH Smash Hits” $29 on PS2 but $59 on PS3? Same game, same developers. A Blu-Ray disk costs a few cents more, but that’s it. It shouldn’t be a $20-$30 difference.
That’s why Sony did it. To make more $$ off games.
no PS2 game support is a joke.
no netflix
no social media
how’s streaming media to it going. lots of codec support? gotta love sony
Extra HD with a the slimmer design, I’m sold! Although, I agree with Jeff; no PS2 support is a joke (especially as I have a stack of PS2 games still!)… Good that it will supports other O.S though!
Umm.. no, the PS3 Slim will NOT have the option to install another OS
there’s no way the PS3 was going to be affordable when it came out in 2006. The Blu-ray playback ensured that. Not to mention they’re making consumers pay for years to come the hundreds of millions of $$’s they spent bribing the movie studios to exclusively use the format.
They had to literally create an all new version of the PS3 with cheaper to manufacture components in order to reduced the price.
The main problem for the PS3 was that when the 360 came out before it and sold several million and counting. Game makers weren’t going to snub all those potential customers. thus they made their games for both consoles and since the 360 was the lesser in “power” they’d make it graphically to it’s capability and the PS3 would get a ported over version. And exclusive titles that are supposed to show the PS3 off like GT5 have taken over 2 years when such a game should have ready in 2006 as a bundle.
Bottom line is that Sony made some stupid & arrogant decisions and they paid for it by having many not paying for their product.
Funny, but the PS3 is the best system out right now. Being slashed in price and size you can now expreince what many of us have in the past 3 years with the PS3, is the next big step in game consoles.
PS. everyone here commenting that they hate a PS3 was bashing the Nintendo Gamecube and the originaly Xbox a few years back. WHERE IS THE LOYALTY!!!!
Best is highly subjective.
There shouldn’t be loyalties. The best console for each person should be what they buy. Whether it’s a Wii, 360, or Atari.
Loyalty is stupid, that’s just opening yourself to getting reamed by sticking to a brand name.
The companies making this stuff don’t know who I am, they don’t even know I exist, and they sure as hell do NOT care about me, so why should I be loyal to them? I gain nothing but delusion. This isn’t a person or something, who WOULD care about you and know you exist, its a damn company!
By the way
“but the PS3 is the best system out right now.”
Prove It
And no, listing the prices of the PS3 vs 360 and their hardware is not proof, everybody with half a brain knows that hardware means jack when it comes to what makes a good gaming console.
Xbox live people helloooooo!
I hate microsoft and their crappy ass products but this is the one thing they have done right!
PS3 lost me as a fan long time ago, even though I had 2 xbox’s crap out on me, I’m already hooked on the experience you get with the xbox!
I have an Xbox didnt play it much. Got a PS3 play it all the time. The graphics are just way better.
Wish I had never even wasted my time w/ the Xbox
“Considering that Sony’s own research indicated that very few people were buying the PS3 with the intention of playing PS2 games.”
So let me get this straight, their research shows that people who have a PS3 buy Ps3 games for it?
Ignoring people who already have a PS2 with a large library, or people who are FORCED to buy Ps3 games because they have a non-BC PS3?
Lets apply that Sony logic to other such scenarios: Studies show that people who watch movies on their 360 mostly watch DVDs, so there is no need for Blu-Ray because not a single 360 owner uses it.