Man, Sony really wants Wii to do well this holiday season. In an interview with Gamespot, SCEA president Kaz Hirai stated that Sony hasn’t even started manufacturing the PS3 yet and that shortages are inevitable. Remember the shortages Sony had after the Playstation 2 launched? Apparently, Sony doesn’t. In comparison, reports of Nintendo manufacturing Wii units started back in June.
A significant shortage of the PS3 means a lot of gamers will pick up a Wii instead. And think about all the parents hoping to buy a PS3 to put under the Christmas tree for their kids. Once they find out they can’t get one until well after Christmas, what are most of them likely to do? They’ll buy another system. “Hey, this dirt cheap Wii sounds like a good deal.”
Do you think this is just bad planning on Sony’s part? Is Sony unable to think clearly due to its enormous ego that’s growing larger with each PS2 sale? Or is it the simple fact that despite any stupid moves, Sony will succeed simply because it’s Sony? This holiday will reveal a lot about the future of both Nintendo and Sony. Here’s hoping Sony will continue to make decisions like this that makes it a much easier battle for Nintendo.
Ah, the old "create lots of media because there are queues everywhere and it's as rare as hen's teeth" trick mmmm?
I'm totally gonna buy as many PS3's as I can, then hawk them on Ebay so I can buy more Wii and DS games. 🙂 I heart Sony.
They are just making Microsoft and Nintendo lay their defense down so they can hit them hard. Nintendo sounds is ready for whatever happens…
Other than the certainly low yields on the Cell, having a very limited supply of PS3's is just to make it look like it's just that exclusive and the people that got them are really cool. If anything it's a business decision, if their going to lose money on the system they don't want to pump out a shitload of them all at once and lose a ton of money. Doing a limited number and irioning out all the problems and then ramping up production in a few months makes beter sense to their wallets.
Cell processor is a dumb gimmick. Sony is a major electronics manufacturing conglomerate corporation, not a video game company, that makes it highest profits off of batteries (which apparently only cause fires and mass destruction amongst laptops not unlike the one I'm typing this with). To Hell with Sony and Hail to Nintendo. Microsoft needs to just go home. 360 sucks. NOt one good game on it that you can't get for all the other systems….no flagship title. The original XBox was way better….Man I can't wait for the Wii!!!
While I will never understand the logic in buying a PS3 (or any Sony product, for that matter); I'm going to be dead honest:I have a feeling that the Wii is going to be HUGE. I honestly see what's happening with the DS — happening with Wii. I think Nintendo has played damn near EVERY card right so far.I don't understand how anyone can still predict the PS3 or 360 to do better than Wii after this year's E3. It simply doesn't make sense. Obviously, E3 doesn't reflect the ENTIRE population of people who are considering getting one of the next-gen gaming consoles… but EVERYWHERE I go, Wii is being talked about.Seriously!You've got your rabid, loyal Nintendo fans buying it.You've got your "Oh! That looks interesting AND it's inexpensive!" people buying it.You've got your "You know what, I'm fed up with M$/Sony and this thing looks awesome" people buying it.You've got your "older crowd" buying it (the same crowd that's buying Brain Age for the DS).You've got your "parents who look for the cheapest product" buying it.I mean, I'm TELLING you, with no bias, when this thing hits the shelves, it's SERIOUSLY going to fly off the shelves like mad.I don't care how well MS/Sony do, Nintendo is going to SERIOUSLY dominate over the next few years: there has NEVER been as much excitement for a next-gen console as the Wii is getting right now. If that, along with Zelda, Metroid, WiiSports, Red Steel (and more) ALL at launch… IN ADDITION to tons of Nintendo AND Sega CLASSICSFree online playALL for what I'm guessing at $200?It SERIOUSLY is over.Hail Nintendo.
Nothing is set in stone. It'll still be a while before we really know how this will all go down.A big part will be how fast can Sony get the price down. If Blu-Ray fails, as I think it will. That's gonna hurt them big time.As for me, I will own all three in time. There's games I want to play on all the platforms.
I don't believe Sony having launch shortages (or Microsoft or Nintendo, for that matter) is a strategy: they really are having problems getting all the parts together, as it happens with all new cutting-edge technology. Like MS, Sony is going to put out there whatever consoles they have ready just to meet the holiday marketing demand, even though they only get a few thousand units out there.It is REALLY going to hurt them: by the time they ramp up production, the other two consoles will have a much larger game library, plus an evolved online service. From this point on, Sony will be playing catch-on…
Nice piece, but I think youre thinking in short terms. the holiday. Sure shortages could mess it all up for certain companies, but in the long run, who knows..-Fank