The PSX did indeed flop. As Sony always does, they hyped up the specs a LOT, and when the thing finally came out (late), it wasn't half the machine Sony had promised. I may be wrong on this, but I believe Sony failed to mention some of the features were taken out until the very last moment. People who shelled out their entire savings were pissed, but Sony laughed their evil laugh and went back to Hell where they plot with Satan about how they can destroy video games as we know them....
Okay, so I went a little overboard there (hint: That wasn't all serious.), but the point still remains. Sony always hypes up their hardware far beyond what it can actually do, and they charge exhorbitant prices for it. Oh well. As much as I would love to see Sony fall, I dunno if it will happen just yet. The differences between PS3 and the 3DO, Halcyon, etc. are huge. First, both of these systems cost much more than PS3's projected price. Let's review.
RDI Halcyon: $2,500 in 1985 (in 2005 dollars, this is: $4436.65)
Panasonic 3DO: $700 in 1993 (in 2005 dollars, this is: $920.37)
Philips CD-i: $400 in 1991 (in 2005 dollars, this is: $564.45)
Amiga CD32: $400 in 1994 (in 2005 dollars, this is: $510.61)
Go here:
http://www.westegg.com/inflation/Not ONE of the above systems had major first or third party support. The Halcyon had a whopping TWO titles, which also retailed for something like $150 or $200 (1985 money, remember) - I can't remember the exact price offhand. The 3DO wasn't even a first-party system. Trip Hawkins just sold the technology and made millions for a system with few games and fewer sales. CD-i? Pffff. That thing was a "mutimedia machine." Few games came out for it at all, aand fewer in the first few years after its release. While Sony calls the PS3 something similar to a CD-i, nobody actually thinks of it that way. It is a gaming machine, no matter what kind of "supercomputer" Sony likes to call it. CD32? Half of the people at this site don't even know what one of those is without looking it up, and we're all video game geeks. I skipped the CDTV completely because it was hardly even released in the U.S.
Sony may be putting a stupidly high price on this thing, especially considering the loss they are also taking on the hardware. But they have third party support out the ass. If people will buy iPods for ridiculously high prices, which break often and have shitty non-replaceable batteries, people will buy PS3's.
I still hope it fails though. It sounds like a piece of garbage to me, and every time Ken Kutaragi opens his mouth, I hate him more and more. My favorite part of the article was when Kutaragi went into used car salesman mode and verbally made gamers everywhere know that they are his bitch:
Ken Kutaragi, who avoided revealing the PS3's price but hinted that it would not be marked down excessively. "Whether consumers think a product is expensive or cheap all depends on the balance between its appeal and price," he said. "Our ideal [for the PS3] is for consumers to think to themselves, 'OK, I'll work more hours and buy it.' We want people to feel that they want it, no matter what."
Hey asshole, I'm not going to work extra hours for your overpriced "supercomputer." I think instead I'll take my earnings and buy a Gakken TV Boy. You make me sick.
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