Sony PS3DO?

By Steven L. Kent

It is way, way too early to start writing obituaries for PlayStation 3, but the rut Sony is digging for its new console could certainly become a grave.
PlayStation 3 is a powerful unit with more bells and whistles than any other console on the market today. No doubt about it. The question is, who wants bells and whistles. The gamers I know are all about games.
When it comes to marketing its PlayStation 3, Sony Computer Entertianment is remarkably similar to 3DO Company--the makers of the 1993 big deal console that did not make Darwin’s cut when the market made its natural selection. 3DO was a great piece of hardware, but it could not compete against PlayStation, Saturn and N64. If Sony does not make changes with PS3… DOH!
Like 3DO, PS3 suffers from the price barrier. 3DO, which launched for $700 back at a time when $700 was a lot of money, had an bigger pricing problem.
The price, however, reflects an even greater problem—executives who have lost their way. The reason 3DO founder (and Electronic Arts founder) Trip Hawkins charged $700 for his machine was because, ‘3DO could do a lot more than Commodore 64.’ During the gold days Commodore 64, people paid $700 for the computer with a diskdrive and a printer.
When it comes to PS3, Sony Execs justify the cost because their system is a server, it has Blu-Ray, its got a bigger hard drive and more memory, and more... Peel away the promises and you don’t hear much about games.
Remember PSP? PSP was a much nicer handheld system than DS, but it cost too much and Sony spent so much time talking about viewing movies, playing MP3s, storing videos,… Yo! Sony! Get with the games.
Nintendo’s system was far less powerful. It came with games, not movies . I fell in love with PSP the first time I played Ridge Racer on it. But PSP was too expensive for a portable game system and I had no need to replace my portable DVD player.
So out comes PS3, and what does Sony say? They say, “Hey, everybody, we have Blu-Ray! We can go online like Xbox 360! We have the best darn hardware you ever saw!”
They probably do… just like PSP was the best darn portable hardware I ever saw. I fell in love with it. I picked it over Nintendo DS. Now, two years later, I have learned my lesson. Sony, have you?
In the spirit of full disclosure, I do not currently have a PS3. I have played with one, but have not been sent a review unit and feel no need to purchase one for myself.