Kutaragi, hast thou forsaken the gamer?
by Nick Doerr 
{ Jul 21st 2006 at 1:30PM }
Normally, rumors should be treated just as rumors and taken with a couple dozen grains of salt, but every once in a while one comes along that is, at the very least, fun to debate. According to Kotaku.com, a reputable source recounted an off-the-record conversation with Ken Kutaragi regarding his motives. He is said to be interested "only in consoles and technology. He does not care about the market." There's internal strife at Sony, since many disagree with Kutaragi in that respect. Not to mention twin-K's stance on the PS3 being for a "specific customer" and not a machine for all people (a la Wii's angle).Another point of noticeable dischord is an inability to agree on what the PS3 actually is. Some say a game machine, some say a movie player. But no one is saying it's akin to a PC? Hmm. I thought that was a Sony angle, but apparently it wasn't even mentioned. The split in what the PS3 is causes a rupture in the market as well. People wanting a game machine will be put off by the Blu-Ray inclusion and people wanting a movie player aren't interested in a game machine.
Development costs were also mentioned. The source claimed that "many small and medium-sized developers are not making PS3 games, because costs are astronomical. Instead, they are switching to the Wii, the DS and the Xbox 360." More or less, but the last statement from the source claiming everyone thinks the PS3 is a risk is a bit off, since we've mentioned quite a few supporters now and then. Again, grain of salt. What does everyone think?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Fan @ Jul 21st 2006 2:18PM
"People wanting a game machine will be put off by the Blu-Ray inclusion"
Why would a gamer be put off by the inclusion of blu-ray? Apart from the cost there is no downside to it. Its just a regular disc drive with more capacity. With blu-ray looking to be a success on the desktop I think that this complaining is from people who just prefer other consoles and are looking for something to whine about.
Again blu-ray is just a high capacity disc drive. If you do not want blu-ray movies then dont buy them, I know I wont.
Then there are the benefits of blu-ray, more space. Wich again mean single disc games and thats a selling point for me. Also blu-ray uses Durabis coating wich means they are alot more scratch resistant than DVD's, again a selling point.
I personally do not get what all the fuss is about. There are lots of benefits to high capacity disc drives and there is only one downside.
SuicideNinja @ Jul 21st 2006 2:24PM
I think the PS3 would have been better off if Kutaragi was banned from saying anything to the media about it.
Speculation is much safer than rampant ridiculousness.
SuicideNinja @ Jul 21st 2006 2:46PM
Fan, there's plenty of problems with Bluray.
That protective layer they brag about is in place because it HAS to be. BD discs are very touchy because the data layer is so damn close to the surface as opposed to DVD or HD-DVD. Dust and smudges will likely have a more negative effect as a result.
Another problem is BD+. It's not a good thing; more copy protections result in attacking the honest consumer (who has a right to backup copies). BD+ is only used on Bluray (as if AACS and HDCP weren't enough). It's just more crap we have deal with in the future as consumers.
Even more: Sony is inappopropriately still using MPEG2 encoding in order to make a few more bucks in exchange for lesser quality and wasting more space. It's not that Bluray cannot support the other codecs, the people in charge are just avoiding it.
Another potential problem with Bluray is backwards compatibility. Can the manufacturers make BD-DVD embedded hybrid discs? Yes. But they have little motivation to, since that would force them to pay DVD royalties to Toshiba. In the future, what is the motivation to KEEP backwards compatibility if they have to pay their competitor for it?
If Bluray doesn't survive, we will STILL have to eat the cost of Bluray in the PS3. Sony will stick with the format no matter what, just like they do with UMDs.
Not that I like HD-DVD either. I personally don't want to deal with either format, because they are middle of the road and not truly necessary at this point.
big n @ Jul 21st 2006 3:56PM
Its just too damn expensive
Gumper3 @ Jul 21st 2006 4:12PM
Question SuicideNinja,
Regarding your comment:
Another potential problem with Bluray is backwards compatibility. Can the manufacturers make BD-DVD embedded hybrid discs?
Since the PS3 is fully PS2 Backwards compatible, this would mean it would automatically be DVD compatible. Thus eliminating the need to make back-compat DVD discs. Also, regarding the argument that copy protection hurts the consumer, this is a bogus argument PIRACY hurts the consumer which is really the only reason anyone would want to copy DVDs or Games.
I have never taken such poor care of my Media that it would warrant having a spare around just in case, and I have 2 children under 2.
matjet @ Jul 21st 2006 9:54PM
"suicide", your annoying me with your devotion to microsoft.
please stop.
blu ray and hd dvd use the same compression codecs. all blu ray players have to be capable of MPEG-4 video. mpeg-2 has a higher quality and les compression loss.
"fan" is right is that the durabis protects the blu-ray discs better than conventional plastic protects hd-dvd.
special hd-dvd discs are compatible with dvd by inserting them in the drive upside down. similarly blu ray discs are compatible, just that you insert it normal way up.
Fan @ Jul 21st 2006 10:55PM
"That protective layer they brag about is in place because it HAS to be. BD discs are very touchy because the data layer is so damn close to the surface as opposed to DVD or HD-DVD. Dust and smudges will likely have a more negative effect as a result."
Yes the data layer is closer to the surface but that wont matter as there is the Durabis layer in place. So there is nothing negative about this except that it adds to the cost of the disc but you get that back because they last longer. Its a great feature and nothing at all to complain about.
More about Durabis here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durabis
"Another problem is BD+. It's not a good thing; more copy protections result in attacking the honest consumer (who has a right to backup copies). BD+ is only used on Bluray (as if AACS and HDCP weren't enough). It's just more crap we have deal with in the future as consumers."
I understand the need to copyprotect content and therefore im not against DRM. As you say BD+ is implemented on blu-ray. But BD+, which is a feature demanded by FOX studios, will only be used by movie studios. So BD+ is a DRM mechanism that theoretically lets movie studios remove mandatory managed copy from AAC. Also HDCP is used by movie studios and it has been confirmed that no one will use it until 2011.
You are constantly complaining about the movie bit on blu-ray. I see no arguments from you that convice me that blu-ray is bad for gaming. Its a fully backwards compatible high capacity disc drive wich IMHO is a great thing to have in a gaming system.
I keep having troubles understanding the whole price complaining. Maybe because im mostly a PC gamer and im used to letting hardware makers rape my wallet in a much harder and unspeakable manner. Also, because I know hardware I know im getting alot of tech for my money. Get the 500$ PS, buy a 200 gig 2,5" HDD from Toshiba and get a casing for it. Now you can bring your big media collection with you anywere. Great for me. I just wish they would let us install games on the HDD.
CE7 @ Jul 23rd 2006 12:19PM
Apart from the cost, there aren't many downsides. But how many people are going to get past the cost? Developing a PS3 game will cost developers tens of millions of dollars and us $70 - $100 each. And with the 360 well established (and a price drop on the way) and few PS exclusives left, most PS3 games are going to be multiplatform, meaning that even if the 20 extra GB are used, they'll be on superficial content. In fact, I doubt any PS3 games will take up a 30GB disc, much less 50 or 100. Why would developers spend $100,000,000 to develop a game for a $600 console when they could spend $50,000,000 to develop it for a $600 console and a $400 console? (Or a couple thousand for a $200 console)
Fan @ Jul 23rd 2006 5:02PM
"And with the 360 well established (and a price drop on the way)"
Im sorry but there is no 360 price drop on the way according to Microsoft. Check this link:
http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=69248
"and few PS exclusives left, most PS3 games are going to be multiplatform"
What are you basing this assumtion on? There are lots of PS3 exclusive games on the way, like: Motorstorm, MGS4, Final Fantasy, The new game from the guys behind SOTC and ICO and Heavensly Sword to name a few. Also Rockstar is making a custom version of GTA4 for the PS3 making use of both BD and the capability of the Cell.
I dont know what games will cost but I expect them to be in the same price range as 360 games. We will just ahave to see.
So please stop this you are just making yourself look ignorant about the subject when you make so many wrong and baseless assumptions.
Error 74 @ Jul 24th 2006 2:26AM
I do recall people spending thousands for Xbox 360's on eBay... anyways, I do love my 360, even though I'm on my 3rd one in 3 months... hmm, as I was saying, I love my 360. I love all 3 games I have for my 360, Oblivion, Halo 2 and Final Fantasy XI... ok 1 game. Sorry to get off the subject, I've become a fan of the growing "HD Industry" as I like call it. BD sounds great to me. Umm.. yes, the PS3 will be pricey, but, thanks to Sony's well known quality in it's broad brand, heh heh, anyone who's anyone will want one. Personally, when I see the word "Playstation" I don't think "movie player" I think game console, regardless what Ken K. thinks or says. I really like the points that both Fan & Suicide brought up. The truth is, and I'm going to type it regardless that we all already know this, no one knows anything about the PS3, period. Seriously, not even Sony knows. I'm gonna close out with Piracy sucks, I think UMD's were made specifically made for the PSP, and a current gen game coming out in Oct. will be remembered as one of the greatest games of all time, believe it!
Cage @ Jul 24th 2006 12:35PM
Fan...
The PS3 is 4 months away and we STILL need these answers:
1. Online play. Is there a marketplace competitor? This time last year we knew what marketplace was and how things would work.
2. Games at launch. The lineup you keep throwing out is not going to get people to "need" a PS3.
jc @ Jul 24th 2006 2:49PM
The blue ray and hd dvd is useless to me as a consumer. I could easily see the ups of having a dvd player over a vhs. The big reason of all of having a dvd over a vhs was simple. I don't have to rewind or fast foward this thing I can just pick a chapter. My point is picture and sound were better then a vhs but they didn't sell me on it. I don't see the big change in picture with blue ray compared to dvd. The same goes for hd dvd. I don't give a shit about it because I don't see any reason to upgrade yet. Sony and Microsft need to stick to video games with consoles and leave media hubs to computers.