Has Ken Kutaragi, father of the Playstation, gone insane? Reading that article, it seriously makes me wonder. Kutaragi, who was recently passed over for the Sony CEO position (by an American no less!), seems to be spinning the hype for the PS3 in an odd position. He says that the PS3 will be more expensive than a typical “household” console, which brings to mind a price range of $500+ and horrible memories of the 3DO.
Is Sony ahead of its time with this new console? All signs point to yes it seems. Admittedly, the hardware is ambitious, and the fact that Kutaragi wants this system to last for around 10 years (more than twice the lifespan of the typical console) makes me think that they’re going to try and throw as much high-end hardware into the system as they can. This is a different route than Microsoft, who recently announced that the XBOX 360 will not ship with an HD-DVD drive, something they will later offer as an upgrade. Historically console upgrades have not been good news, but in Microsoft’s case it’s understandable. Remember, they want to get the 360 out this year whereas Sony isn’t launching the PS3 until the holiday season of next year, and the DVD format should be perfectly acceptable until the move to HD-DVD.
Back to Sony, I find it interesting that they have come to terms with the fact that the PS3 may be out of the range of households, but they probably don’t have much to worry about. Hubris aside, the PS3 will sell well even if it is a few hundred dollars more than the competition. It will be interesting to see how much MS’s yearlong head start will affect Sony’s dominance. The 360 will be cheaper and available earlier, and their list of Japanese developer support is nothing to laugh at. Sony may actually have to fight this time around. Well, atleast they won’t have to worry about Nintendo ;)
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