Sony rips off Nintendo, consumers in general

by Ken Weeks { May 8th 2006 at 11:00PM }

Assuming you followed Joystiq's heartstopping liveblog coverage of Sony's E3 keynote, you're already aware that the PS3 will sell for $499 (20g HD) or $599 (60g HD). That means European gamers will have to pay a minimum of $633 for Kutaragi's credit card-maxing machine. All that money won't get you graphics that blow away your year-old Xbox 360, but it will get you a half-assed rip-off of Nintendo's motion-sensing controller that has Wii-tards banging their mushroom-shaped heads against the wall.

If Microsoft drops their price by $100 as expected, they will clean up come Christmas.

Tags: e3, keynote, ps3

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Ejab @ May 8th 2006 11:21PM

I love this blog:)

Jared @ May 8th 2006 11:23PM

half-a*sed? it actually looked great.. prolly the future of gaming if you think about it. everyone will be implementing it into their gaming systems eventually.

Alijah Green @ May 8th 2006 11:25PM

they ripped of microsoft and logitech check out the link http://www.gamespot.com/e3/e3blog.html?topic_id=24600407

jon @ May 8th 2006 11:34PM

Wow $500-$600. That's a hell of allot. Who in the crap would buy the $600 version. Seems pointless. With the 360 entry level at $299 thats quite a difference.

Now lets hope that MS prices the HD-DVD drive at no more than $150. I'm hoping for a $99 price tag which could be the nail in the coffin of Blu-Ray adoption.

Geek @ May 8th 2006 11:35PM

It's funny how truly bad that press conference went, the funny thing is they are walking right into the Microsoft press conference, Halo 3 and all the other great things MS are cooking up. What a joke Sony have become.

Corey @ May 8th 2006 11:37PM

Not to mention that we won't be feeling any vibes from the PS3's controller, nor that the 20gb version doesn't support all of the memory cards, 802.11 b/g, nor an HDMI output.

Geoff @ May 8th 2006 11:56PM

Yeah, it is strange, but Sony just made me like the Wii more. I mean, apparently Nintendo is on to something with this crazy controller thing if Sony was willing to delay/invest even more into the PS3 to add this motion stuff. But $600 for the nice one, wow.

So, I could get a PS3 deluxe for $600

OR

I could get a 360 and Wii for maybe $550 to $650.

I really think the 360+Wii as a package deal beats the PS3.

The 360 has comparable real world graphics to the PS3.
The Wii has a much better motion controller than the PS3 knockoff.
The 360 will have the main game titles and franchises.
The Wii will have the virtual console and the crazy Nintendo titles.
The 360 has xBox Live.
The Wii has..... a diminutive size? So, it can easily sit next to a 360 in the space a PS3 would need.

Yeah, I was up in the air about this but it seems that a 360+Wii set up would be really nice and give me the best of both worlds. I could even call it a 3-6-Wii set up.

Some people are saying the 360 is in trouble now because it doesn't have motion sensitive controllers. I think the 360 just became a very desirable next gen console because it costs way more than a Wii less than the PS3.

Geoff @ May 8th 2006 11:59PM

Yeah, it is strange, but Sony just made me like the Wii more. I mean,
apparently Nintendo is on to something with this crazy controller
thing if Sony was willing to delay/invest even more into the PS3 to
add this motion stuff. But $600 for the nice one, wow.

So, I could get a PS3 deluxe for $600

OR

I could get a 360
and Wii for maybe $550 to $650.

I really think the 360+Wii as a package deal beats the PS3.

The 360 has comparable real world graphics to the PS3.
The Wii has a much better motion controller than the PS3 knockoff.
The 360 will have the main game titles and franchises.
The Wii will have the virtual console and the crazy Nintendo titles.
The 360 has xBox Live.
The Wii has..... a diminutive size? So, it can easily sit next to a 360 in
the space a PS3 would need.

Yeah, I was up in the air about this but it seems that a 360+Wii set up would be really nice and give me the best of both worlds. I could even call it a 3-6-Wii set up.

Some people are saying the 360 is in trouble now because it doesn't have motion sensitive controllers. I think the 360 just became a very desirable next gen console because it costs way more than a Wii less than the PS3.

Guillermo @ May 9th 2006 12:11AM

I was shocked to read this on the Gaming Age site:

" Sony also has announced pricing packages as follows: US $499 (20GB HDD) and US $599 (60GB HDD), Canada: CAN $549 (20GB HDD) and CAN $659 (60GB HDD). The $499 package contains a slightly different console design (see photo below), is missing the MemoryStick/SD/CompactFlash slots, the built-in WiFi and the HDMI port."

I thought Sony said this features will be standard on the PS3. So, if you want a complete system you have to buy the $599 version, that sucks. At least Microsoft offer all the features in both his systems, except the hard drive wich can be easily added to the Core system.

Clayj @ May 9th 2006 12:16AM

I hope I'm not the only one who's had the following thought: Microsoft could EASILY design and sell a motion-sensitive controller for the 360 if the market supported it. Heck, you could build such a controller and put the motion-sensitivity option on a toggle, so it could be on for games that support it and off for others.

I think Sony really blew it today. The changes they've made to the original spec (the controller, the twin-display support, etc.) have a faint whiff of desperation about them.

Nitin @ May 9th 2006 12:27AM

I gotta agree with #9.

No HD in the core isn't as bad no MemoryStick/SD/CompactFlash slots, the built-in WiFi and the HDMI port.

The HD can be added in later but you cant add HDMI in after the console is created. Sony just screwed themselves over big time.

Clayj @ May 9th 2006 12:30AM

#11 (Nitin), exactly. At least with the Xbox 360 Core package, the only thing you really have to add to get to Premium level is the hard drive, and it's external (which means we can upgrade it later on). No one in their right mind will buy the $500 PS3 knowing that it's missing certain features which CANNOT be added later on.

sracer @ May 9th 2006 12:31AM

Well, this site IS xbox360fanboy, so I expect the anti-Sony bias.

I can't believe that I'm going to saying this but...
I think it is too early to tell if the $499/$599 pricepoints are a bad idea. For $599 you get WiFi, card reader slots, 60GB harddrive, and HDMI (for those who are interested). Depending upon what the PS3 dashboard looks like and how open the system is to copying files to/from the harddrive, and ability to stream media from an XP (non-WMCE) system, it could be a downright bargain. If full backward compatibility is reality (and not just a goal), then I can see myself getting rid of my 360 and getting a PS3. What little I saw of their online store looked fantastic and made XBL Marketplace look like a 6th grader's attempt at a shopping interface.

At this point, IMO, the PS3 looks good with the possibility of hitting a home run if they deliver. Considering how much 360s were selling for on eBay and 3rd party sales, a readily available PS3 for $599 is going to sell well... VERY well.

The Guru @ May 9th 2006 12:32AM

Oh man, the title of this article is halarious.

It made me laugh so damn hard....Consumers in general..haha

Daniel D @ May 9th 2006 3:04AM

AHAHAHAHAHHAHhahahhaha oh thats soo funny "the guru"

wait... I don't get it.

Foo @ May 9th 2006 4:31AM

Why does not Blog mention that the 499$ version is crippled, in there headlines? No HDMI? No nothing!

And PS3 Fanboys should start to understand: they've been at CGI most of them time. The graphics just won't be different fromt the 360.
Basta.

Ian Charles @ May 9th 2006 8:00AM

Wii-tards. How very droll.

Phil @ May 9th 2006 9:28AM

Makes me happy i bought a 360

Sinistar @ May 9th 2006 10:39AM

Come on guys, let's try to be a little objective here.

Xbox 360 w/ 20GB drive, no HDMI, and HD optical drive (that can't be used for games): $299 + $99 + $100 = $498

And that's assuming the HD-DVD drive comes in at $100, which would be a miracle.

PS3 w/ 20GB drive, no HDMI, and HD optical drive: $499

Okay, so that's the base configs. Now let's go whole hog.

Xbox 360, 20GB drive, WiFi adapter, no HDMI/no 1080P, HD optical drive: $299 + $99 + $99 + $100 = $597

PS3, 60GB drive, WiFi, HDMI/1080p, HD optical drive: $599

I'm having a tough time seeing how the PS3 is significantly more expensive once you make the platforms equal on features.

ericdrum @ May 9th 2006 10:42AM

Yeah, the $599 version is the only one that I would even consider. For people in my demographic (being people who are over 25 and have some disposable income) the price really doesn't mean too much to me. The difference between $400 and $600 wouldn't affect me at all. But there are tons of people that will be swayed by even a $100 gap. It'll be interesting to see how that shakes out. I can never predict how the consumers are going to react.

I would also like to hear more about 1080p. I had heard previously that many developers just didn't consider 1080p to be a realistic goal. If most/all games on the PS3 delivered this, it would definitely make the PS3 my primary console. Unfortunately for Sony, I can well remember the tons of promises that they have made and not ever delivered on. So as with all consoles, especially those from Sony, I will wait and see what they really deliver. I will wait and see if they can tear my wireless 360 controller from my hands. I love my 360 to death, but if something more fun and better looking came along, I'd get it. Deep down when I check my gut, I think we are getting a lot of smoke and mirrors from Sony. We didn't even get any solid info on the online capabilities. I think Sony has to deliver a lot of BS this E3 to convince those sitting on the fence not to purchase a 360 in the next 7 months.

And let's not forget that Sony still has to depend on a lot of different suppliers to get these parts manufactured and assembled. It stands to reason that they will go through some of the same growing pains in manufacturing that MS went through. If MS drops the price in the Fall and Sony has supply problems and MS has Premiums on the shelf, MS is going to make a killing this holiday season.

In the end this competition is good for us all. MS really has helped push the rest of the console industry. If it wasn't for MS being around, the PS3 wouldn't come out until 2008.

Steve @ May 9th 2006 10:47AM

Poontang your ass back to the Sony fanyboy sites, Sinistar. You enjoy your fax machine and we'll keep playing our 360's.

DSpot @ May 9th 2006 11:10AM

Sony fans must agree.. this sucks.. 500-600 dollar (dont be fooled by the 1 dollar discount) is a rip off.. you could better invest that money in a super good computer or buy an xbox basic system and a rev and have more fun. And the controller is such a pathetic rip off. If you think the tilt control steeling from the rev is cool, you really suck ant you're stupid period! Besides the rev features more than tilt control, it features 360 degree 100% movement sensoring, while the Ps3 dual shock features like 40% movement sensoring. The Wii controller really can imitate your movements, the Ps3 controller can't do much... Trust me.. The GBA has tilt control in wario ware... it sucks...

Protest against the price and controller rip off... Sony fans.. they don't do you justice!

joe @ May 9th 2006 11:18AM

think about this

first who going to buy the $499 console? not anyone that wants a HD Movie Player, without the HDMI cable you can't connect your PS3 to your TV for 1080p HD, oh wait you can't even connect it for 1080p gaming, so guess the cats out the bag sony yes all your games are going to be in 720p.

lol Sony has the balls to strip the $499 console of all the features.

Ok so you buy your $599 Console if your lucky after waiting 24 hours outside of best buy, if your lucky,
$650.51 retail after tax(in ny)
plus a game $62+ since there on Blue ray Disc(blue ray disc cost to make)
so say $70
then you need HDMI cable even after you get your $599 console becasue sony isnt going to ship it with just component cables. that $50-$80 dont say you can buy it online for $9 becasue people wont becasue people are sheep, and in the store they will just buy whatever they need then.

so ill be nice and say $50
$650+70+50=$770
thats without tax on them

then you want a headset to talk to your friend on there FREE online service...$20 then another controller $50 agian being nice about the cash starved Sony who is bleeding money and need to rape there customer base to get it back.

$20+$70+$770= $860 agian with out tax on those items

then you need your HDtv
there no VGA wire for this bitch...

then you get home power up your PS3 unwrap its plasticly case and controller. plug it in power it up, it welcomes you.

you look at whatever preloaded crap they put on there to reduce the cost of there crappy console.
after 10 minutes of flumbling around the clunkly interface and deleting that crap you know spiderman 3 trailer and im sure some other crappy music.

you get to the online sign up section, wait whats this they want a credit card.....???

mom....!!!
junior asks for moms credit card but what for son???

while there messaging and crappy xbox live wannabe basic service is free you can bet your ass you'll have to pay for every movie, wallpaper, music file, and anything else on there only Sony exchange rate isnt as good as billy gates is. expect $99 cent downloads of MP3 and $4.99-$19 for DVD movies that your going to have to buy over agian any for your 2x Blue Ray player.

Sonys should change there name to money sucking vampire DRM'ed up and down 4th Dimensional Station

MSVDRMUP4DS

Sony's goose is cook MS will be eating it for dinner, it kind of sucks though, becasue now MS has no competion which will only lead to MS getting lazy and not adding things and improving there product.

let hope they see this not as a sign of them wining but as a opportunity to go for the jugular and take out sony and buy out SCEA, and then they could remarket all PS1/PS2 games on there 360 in emulation via live that would sell units in Japan.

*hint *hint

Steve @ May 9th 2006 1:35PM

That's pretty ambitious. I would just be happy if $ony was the number 3 company.

SuicideNinja @ May 9th 2006 2:28PM

"At this point, IMO, the PS3 looks good with the possibility of hitting a home run if they deliver. Considering how much 360s were selling for on eBay and 3rd party sales, a readily available PS3 for $599 is going to sell well... VERY well."

I don't think the PS3 will deliver. The PS2 certainly did not (think of all the features that didn't work out or happen at all). The game developers went through the headache of saving the PS2. We'll see similar results with the PS3, even if they have better programming tools this time around.

"Xbox 360 w/ 20GB drive, no HDMI, and HD optical drive (that can't be used for games): $299 + $99 + $100 = $498"

They could adapt the current A/V out to an HDMI cable. There's just no reason to right now. HDMI is the vessel for copy-protection headaches.

If we're smart, we will dismiss both Bluray and HD-DVD. They are a total sham. The difference between an SD movie and HD movie is over-rated (you can essentially see this on a PC or with an upscaling DVD player). HD is only good for games.

And everyone is still under the assumption that PS3 games are suddenly going to start using 25GB. They have to use 8.5GB first. How many games have needed more than 4.5? Less than 5%.

B33 @ May 9th 2006 4:55PM

It's getting very annoying having to listen to sensless ramblings about Sony ripping off the Wii.
Nintendo did not come up with the idea of motion sensors. Also, we could say Microsoft stole the analog stick idea from Nintendo and Sony. Or Sony and Microsoft stole Sega's idea for online gaming. Companies take ideas from other companies and make them better. That is the way the industry works.
I doubt the 360 will drop a $100. It ain't happening. Maybe $20... And that's stretching it... I would have believed Microsoft... But I have a hard time trusting them after my Xbox broke (after only about 7 months of use) and Microsoft basically wanted me to pay $100 for them to fix it, the Xbox 360 having serious issues, Bill Gates claiming Halo 3 will come out in Spring of 06, MS leading many fans to believe Halo 3 will be out in winter of 06 when it has already been stated that Halo 3 has been delayed into 2007, and that you have to pay $60 a year to play online... Sorry, but I think Microsoft is strictly for finatic fan boys who are in denial about everything. I have no problem with Nintendo or Sony, but Microsoft has officially lost my support and trust.

Fenman @ May 9th 2006 6:24PM

Hmmm. Two different models and the better spec version comes with metallic trim. I bet Microsoft wish they'd thought of that first!

Shiro @ May 9th 2006 7:27PM

I saw someone mentioning in the comparison that the Xbox 360 has Xbox Live. So I figured I'd note that the Wii will have a similar service for connecting online games and such. Just thought I'd point out that common ground.

(I think Nintendo's service is called "Wii Connect 24)

Shiro @ May 9th 2006 7:31PM

"I'm having a tough time seeing how the PS3 is significantly more expensive once you make the platforms equal on features."

I'm pretty sure it's entirely th Blu-Ray format. Well... okay, not entirely, but mostly.

Daniel @ May 10th 2006 10:31AM

LOOK AT THE NAME OF YOU'RE SITE. SHOULD I EXPECT YOU TO SAY GOOD THINGS ABOUT IT?

Aram @ May 10th 2006 11:27AM

#19: if you compare feature-to-feature, both PS3 and X360 come out to similar prices... but the initial sticker shock is quite different. Just because X360 doesn't come with HD-DVD, wi-fi or bigger harddrive at $399 doesn't mean the console won't do what it's supposed to do: play games. When I bought my X360 I also ended up getting a sticker shock because, after a 2nd controller, 1 game, 2 year warranty and taxes, it came out to about $650...

Now with the PS3, starting at $599 (since they made such a big deal about 1080p being the "true hi-def", I feel compelled to get the unit with HDMI output... their cheaper version feels PS2.5) I'm not looking forward to adding the price of 2nd controller, 1 game, warranty and taxes!

When average consumers buy a console, they won't compare the specs of each consoles and get the same features... they'll just look at 4 boxes, then their wallets, and decide what's a better deal. So far X360 is the better deal because it starts a lot cheaper than PS3, available now (in many places) and, frankly, looks better too!

matt @ May 10th 2006 5:50PM

I thought the PS3 was a game console.

Sony is forcing hardware that most Americans cannot use. I own an HDTV. Almost everyone I know does not. Of the people I know who own an HDTV they are not gamers. So why does everyone need Blu-Ray? Oh so Sony can say their are xx number of players in the market.

I also use wires for my cable internet. Wi-Fi just isn't important to me because it is still not as good as wired. 360 it is an option. A small percentage of people will want it and most devices not 360 work just fine (for people who already own the hardware.)

The PS3 controller is a joke. The dude playing Warhawk was struggling his ass off to control where he wanted to go. He couldn't hit the side of a barn with his bullets. He was the developer for for crying out loud. How will this feature play out in FPS, Action, RPG type games. Those types of games definately used the Rumble Packs.

The 360 is the way to go. You can get into gaming for $399 with everything you need to game. Great games will be available when the PS3 launches. Wait a year or two and get the PS3. Why pay for crappier games and the initial developmental Sony costs.

Pick up a Wii if you hate MS that bad.