march 14, 2006
Is it Spring 2006 or is it Holidays 2006? There is a lot of confusion about when the PS3 is going to be launched. Of course, that is not all the confusion there is. What is the price going to be? What kind of (realistic) power are we going to see from this machine? Online play, will there be a centralized hub for gaming? 1up.com is running an excellent article on Sony and the PS3. They theorize it is one of two things that is causing all this confusion from Sony: Confidence (bordering arrogance) or madness.
Having worked there, I'd like to throw in one other option: Chaos. I think the PS3 is one hell of mess. Sony let loose the hype machine way too quick, most likely a miscommunication between engineering and marketing -- or even more likely, a scared attempt to generate hype before/during/after the Xbox 360 launch. Now that Sony has opened the Pandora's box of hype, they cannot seem to control the resulting mess.
Yes, there is some arrogance behind it -- come on, this is Sony! Sony is arrogant enough to think that it can push proprietary formats like MemoryStick, MiniDisc, UMD, and Blu-ray. They are surely just as arrogant to think that they can keep waving a vapor carrot in front of the gaming community.
But, my feeling is that this is mostly chaos, mismanagement, and bad marketing. They spoke too soon, they don't have a working product, and they think that silence and vague rumors will keep the public interested in the PS3. That will work for a certain amount of time, but I think people are running out of patience at this point. Speak up about the PS3. Tell us the good or bad news, but just don't keep in the dark.
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