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Aug 21 / Ozymandias

PS3 Slim Thoughts

Few folks have wondered why I haven’t posted anything on the recently announced PS3 Slim. Honestly, it’s mostly because there’s not all that much to say. For one, it’s been pretty much a certain thing for many months and indeed, when finally announced, there weren’t really any surprises. And second, I don’t think it really changes the overall scheme of things all that much.

On the positive side the slim is less expensive at $299, and is a great Blu-Ray player. There are finally some interesting games coming out this holiday (Uncharted 2 being highest on my list). And it’ll definitely sell more than it would have at previous price points.

All that said, it’s still the most expensive console out there in a recession. The brand has taken a beating and I just don’t know how much pent up demand there really is – especially with limited, interesting exclusive titles. (I think Tycho put it well today over on Penny Arcade: “It can’t be seen as anything but a concession to a market that has consistently chosen their competitor’s products – an act of contrition, the purest evidence possible that this brand is no longer sufficient to sway consumers.”)

Online features continue to chase LIVE, and key features like cross-game chat and invites simply don’t exist. Home continues to be ignored by anyone who actually wants to play a game (and I doubt the promised game-launch functionality will be sufficient to draw people in). Even the new 3.0 XMB update is disappointing – you know you’ve got problems when rabid fan forums such as NeoGAF focus on the clock fix as being of the most interest.

Those are the facts as I see it. I purposely didn’t talk about visual styling because that’s much more subjective and frankly, pretty irrelevant to the discussion. We’ll certainly see a sales spike, but it’ll taper off in a couple of months. Next big inflection point might be their version of motion controls – we shall see!

Related posts:

  1. Thoughts on PS3 Launch Quantities Being Cut
  2. U.S. Video Game Console Online Shopping Demand
  3. PS3 Launch Thoughts (and Humor!)
  4. Some Hands-on Thoughts about the Playstation 3
  5. Potential for Wii to Reinvigorate Adventure Games?

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  • Anirask

    Err, the PS3 at 299 is less expensive than the currently official price of the elite and the sale price as the 20GB pro.

    That also doesn’t include the 50$ for a year of gold and the 100$ wifi if one requires such a thing.

    Now I don’t own a PS3 yet and I live my 360(it’s THE media center on my household, I use Windows 7 as my PVR), however if you’re looking at the blow by blow on the features, the PS3 just became the better value this week. (And the Arcade argument isn’t a valid one in my mind simply because adding a 120GB HDD to that after the fact is more expensive than the elite bundle.)

    As an aside, nice to see you blogging more regularly =)

  • Anirask

    3rd paragraph was supposed to read "..love my 360."

  • http://www.section9studios.com Jason

    Technically I agree, that on paper tha PS3 does seem like the better deal. However, there seems to be a deal currently underway (albiet a bit secret) where one could order the 360 Arcade unit for 180 and the 120 GB drive for 120, clocking in at 300 with the only exception being the missing wifi adapter and hdmi cable. I dont think the new slim comes with HDMI – so the only bonus really is the wifi adapter. MY biggest issue/concern is getting over the initial shock of the price drop and the "OMG i want one now" – because after I sat down with myself and thought about it, i AGAIN realized theres no reason for me to own a PS3 as well as my 360. I guess the biggest concern for MS will be "new next-gen" consumers, that might pick the PS3 over the 360 based purely on bullet points and dollars, unfortunately.

  • Trent

    I love my 360, but I can hear the ps3 calling me. 95% because of blu-ray. The other 5% because of the games. I think everyone can agree it does have a lot of hardware. Now would I get the slim…NO. I would however like to get the B/C one though.

  • http://www.section9studios.com Jason

    I may be speaking only my personal opinion, but it seems to me that more and more people are uninterested in "restarting" their movie collections. I havent actually rented a movie in along time as I now pretty much always rent them onDemand. I cant remember the last time i rented an actual disc. I would also gladly trade in my entire dvd collection for a digital version (even if not HD). I just really dread the idea of my collection (of nearing 250 dvds) being somehow "outdated". They look fine to me. I know HD looks really hot, but again the idea is just daunting and depressing.

  • Nathan

    I think it always has been and always will be about games. The PS3 simply does not have any games that I want to play that I can’t already play on the 360, not vice versa. Song will have to procure and capitalize on big name title ownership that solely accomodates the PS3 community, but until that happens Microsoft will be winning the console wars.

  • Roland

    @Jason: why would you "restart" your movie collection? Your DVDs will keep working when you drop them in a blu-ray player. Plus, over half the stuff coming out on blu-ray right now isn’t even worth buying on blu-ray as it’s not HD material!

    André: unless Microsoft upgrades the "Elite" so it has at least a 250GB HDD at the new price, there’s no way people will pick a 360 over a PS3.

    In fact, Microsoft is shooting themselves in the foot by not getting rid of the Arcade, letting the Pro/Premium take the place (and price!) of the Arcade and having the Elite at $299 with a much bigger HDD.

    Then again, Microsoft isn’t the best party when it comes to pricing. We’ve seen it in the past with HDD prices, Xbox Originals and now Games on Demand (€29.99 for BF:BC in Holland vs. $19.99 in the US!) so I’m not getting my hopes up.

  • tag: Kudos J

    The ‘PS3 Slim’ was disappointing in that it doesn’t improve the PS3 in anyway, in fact it’s a slower Blu-ray player. Okay less power usuage but really that’s it.

    On the other hand my 3rd 360, an Elite died yesterday, E74. To say it’s bloody annoying is an HUGE understatement, simply put the 360′s hardware design is crap.The extended warranty isn’t a good will gesture it’s a protection measure so MS doesnt get a class-act against itself.

    So what does this all mean now and the future? Well Nintendo wins this generation purely on profit, Microsoft develop LIVE for online storage and user base and Sony limp over the line for next 2 years.

    The future? Well I guess we’ll see a launch in Nov 2011. Possibly Nintendo launching first even. Microsoft will struggle intially whilst users wait to see if the 720 is reiable and PS4 well can Sony get it together? It’s the question people are asking now let alone the future.

  • tag: Kudos J

    Correction to my previous post, lower power usuage isn’t the only improvement with the ‘PS3 Slim’.Other improvements are:-

    1. PS3 Slim supports BraviaLink

    2. Slim will bitstream DOLBY TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio

  • tag: Kudos J
  • T

    "PS3 Slim supports BraviaLink"

    Only relevant if you own an overpriced, undersupported Sony TV.

  • tag: Kudos J

    IT wrote on September 4, 2009 2:47 PM

    "PS3 Slim supports BraviaLink"

    Only relevant if you own an overpriced, undersupported Sony TV.

    I’d have to disagree, personally and review-wise Sony’s LCD’s are the best on the market.

    Ozy any news when 360 owner’s can save their music to their xbox in lossless format? I would have the 360 would compare to a DAC unit if this was done?!

    Plus music library layout needs work, it’s chunky and not very user friendly.

    Lastly wouldnt it be great if you could setup your 360 pages the way you like it? Saved in profile maybe? I dont like NXE.

  • http://csdprojects.co.uk/ Alex Atkin UK

    I would just like to say I am seriously considering getting a standalone Blu-ray player despite owning a PS3.

    The PS3 uses a LOT more power than a standalone player and also one of the firmware updates made Blu-ray playback drop frames every now and then. It has improved in the last update but I still do not find it as smooth as when I first bought the PS3.

    You cannot beat the smooth, quiet playback of a standalone player. Now they are finally dropping in price a PS3 is no longer the better option for Blu-ray playback. Just like the 360 was never THAT good at HD-DVD, it was just the most affordable option.

  • Timothy

    If you want a bluray player, buy a bluray player. It’s cheaper and they are smaller and actually have something called a remote that you can use.