At E3, Sony Stumbles By Chris Kohler Wired News
12:00 PM May, 10, 2006 http://www.wired.com/news/technology/1,70867-0.html LOS ANGELES -- Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo put their cards on the table here this week in the high stakes contest for control of the next generation video-game console market. And, while all bets are still off, the challengers' hands look stronger than ever. Much of the momentum comes courtesy of Sony, the current market leader, which suddenly seemed more vulnerable following a pricing bombshell of $600 for a fully functional version of its still pending PlayStation 3 console. "I think that (Microsoft) have their heads on straightÂ….They've made a much truer gaming system than Sony has. They're not trying to define the next generation of media content. That's Sony's aim -- again," said Jerry Holkins of the gaming website Penny Arcade. "I think it's a very different person who is going to spend five or six hundred dollars on a console right now." For Sony, which unveiled the full release details of its PlayStation 3 hardware on Monday, the future is Blu-ray, the high-definition DVD format that promises vastly more storage for games (25 GBs versus the nine gigs on an Xbox 360 disc) as well as true HD movie playback at resolutions up to 1080p. Sony has stuck to its guns with Blu-ray even though the expensive new technology has jacked up the PS3's price. Two configurations of the console will launch in the United States on Nov. 17, and to get the full experience, players will have to pony up $600. That's for a PS3 with a 60-GB hard drive and all the trimmings. A $500 package will also be available, but in addition to a smaller 20-gig hard drive, the cheaper unit won't support 802.11 wireless communication, Memory Stick media or HDMI output -- meaning that Blu-ray movies won't play in high definition. Still, the pull of PlayStation-exclusive franchises like Final Fantasy and Gran Turismo, next-gen versions of which were shown at the Monday conference, mean that a critical mass of players are bound to buy the PS3 at any price. There's no denying, however, that the announcement makes the similarly equipped $400 Xbox 360 package, which launched in the United States last November, look like a steal. And while Sony showed many PS3 game demos that were in an obviously early state, Microsoft's press conference highlighted plenty of second-generation Xbox 360 games, like the third-person shooter Gears of War, that were polished and looked close to done. And Microsoft, too, is aware of the high-def movie revolution, although it has thrown its hat in with the competing format. On Tuesday, the company unveiled an external add-on drive that would let the 360 play movies in the competing HD-DVD format. Though it stopped short of revealing a price point for the unit, it called the device a "bargain." Nintendo announced well over a year ago that its new console Wii would not support HD video in any form. It instead set to work making a small, quiet, unobtrusive console with a unique controller, which senses motion, position and location. Although Nintendo shied away from announcing a price for Wii, most in the industry expect the console to retail for between $150 and $200. Nintendo's media briefing was entirely focused on games. Pie charts and sales graphs were in short supply, as on-stage demonstrators whipped the Wii controller around in dramatic motions, slicing a samurai sword or firing a bow and arrow all with realistic gestures. Nintendo continues its relentless pursuit of casual players, non-gamers and former gamers with simple titles like Wii Sports, which combines tennis, baseball and golf, all featuring gestural control that mimics the real-life games. But the majority of games on show were directed at longtime gamers. The Wii controller makes games like Super Mario Galaxy a lot of fun. You use the standard joystick to make Mario run and jump across a universe of tiny planets, but you can use the motion-sensing right-hand part of the controller to directly target onscreen objects and pick them up. You can jump on evil mushrooms, as always, but it's much more fun to wave the Wii controller around wildly, causing him to spin like a tornado and bash into them. Sony's inclusion of motion-sensing functionality in the PlayStation 3 controller had some in the industry wondering why the biggest name in the business was playing follow-the-leader with Nintendo. "Sony is really good at pretending to be innovative by taking things that other companies have done," said Jeff Kalles of Seattle-based mobile games developer Mobliss. Indeed, the Sony controller doesn't even have all the functionality of the Wii remote: It can't sense the position of the controller relative to the television set, which is required if the player wants to pinpoint a certain onscreen location. This limits the functionality that the Sony controller can offer. And only one PS3 demo on the E3 show floor, a futuristic aerial shootout called Warhawk, will use the motion sensing function. Across the hall, however, all 27 of the Wii titles on display in Nintendo's booth will feature gestural control. Gamers crave the high-definition glitz promised by Sony and Microsoft, but Nintendo is hoping they'll pick up the considerably less graphically impressive Wii just because of the unique gameplay. "If it's $150 or less, it's an impulse buy," said Kalles. "But it wouldn't be my primary gaming system." ================================================= George Antunes Voice (713) 743-3923 Associate Professor Fax (713) 743-3927 Political Science Internet: antunes at uh dot edu University of Houston Houston, TX 77204-3011 Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list medianews@twiar.org To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
