Official PS3 thread (Part Deux)

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 12:23 am

Sony VP Jack Tretton, responding to Wired's Chris Kohler's question: "Do you have a response for people experiencing backwards compatibility issues and/or television upscaling problems?"

I would like my car to fly and make me breakfast, but that's an unrealistic expectation. We've reported problems on only 200 of the 8000 PlayStation 1 and 2 games. I would challenge the average consumer to say that there are significant problems with any of the games in their library.

If you look at our competitors, one machine has zero backwards compatibility and one only has it with a third of their games.

Besides coming off as a total dick, he also managed to be completely incorrect about the competition.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 12:28 am

Well yeah...and 200 is quite a bit less than 1/3 of 8000. What a dumbass.

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:08 am

My understanding is that Wii is 100% backwards compatible with the GameCube.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:13 am

Naples39 wrote:My understanding is that Wii is 100% backwards compatible with the GameCube.

It certainly should be...it IS a GameCube for the most part.

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 11:53 am

So Jack Tretton actually thinks the Wii has no backward compatibility? Dear oh dear.

And he didn't even address the 480p/1080i question which I think is a much more annoying problem than a few hundred PS2 games not working on the PS3 right away.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 12:23 pm

Another doozy from Tretton:

>>>>>

Jack Tretton, executive vice president at Sony Computer Entertainment America, said retailers will be receiving new PlayStations daily _ expedited by plane rather than ships.

"At some point we want to get to some degree of normalcy, but that remains to be seen," Tretton told The Associated Press, adding that seeing all the people camped out and lined up for the console "kind of makes all the effort worth it."

<<<<<

"Kind of" worth it? Aren't your customers the reason why you build the console?

What a f*ck. Man, this d*uchebag makes former 989 megalomaniac Kelly Flock look like a diplomat.

Is there anyone in Sony PR who is willing to stand up to this guy and teach him a few things? Apparently not.

Take care,
PK

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 12:34 pm

pk500 wrote:Another doozy from Tretton:

>>>>>

Jack Tretton, executive vice president at Sony Computer Entertainment America, said retailers will be receiving new PlayStations daily _ expedited by plane rather than ships.

Take care,
PK

Their cost of shipping just increased five to tenfold. When you are losing +/- $200+ to $300+ on each machine, what is another $20-$30 per machine in shipping costs.....

I admire the move to get systems here quicker, but the flow of red ink just increased on an already bleak fiscal outlook. But hey, when you are expecting to lose $ 1 billion + in the next fiscal quarter, what's another few hundred thousand thrown in for good measure? Pretty sure the Sony Board of Directors is sitting on pins and needles and will be at least through the New Year.....

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 12:43 pm

Air freighting is pretty common these days.

If you order an iPod from Apple's site and then track the shipment, you see it coming from China by air.

Probably just-in-time manufacturing and low labor costs more than make up for the air freight costs.

That and time to market is a big consideration. If you don't have product to sell, you may be losing potential sales.

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 12:47 pm

wco81 wrote:Air freighting is pretty common these days.

That might be, but it is extremely expensive compared to sea freight. I am sure Sony will only do this until the supply chain evens itself out, but it makes their already expensive launch even more costly.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 12:54 pm

Yeah but I bet these companies have financial analysts modeling the difference in freight costs versus the number of days gained by using air. Then they account for the difference in days and how it would impact sales.

Anyways, how much money Sony makes or loses doesn't matter to me since I don't own Sony stock (unless it's in some mutual funds in my 401k).

They may lose a lot of money but ultimately, it doesn't matter to the consumer unless it threatens to shut down the company and cut off support for the products.

Highly doubtful there's any danger of that.

seanmac31 · Post by **seanmac31** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:01 pm

How much money is Sony losing? A lot.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=70090

Throw in the poor ratio of software to hardware sales and you are talking about a very bitter pill for Sony to swallow in order to gain market penetration.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:08 pm

seanmac31 wrote:How much money is Sony losing? A lot.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=70090

Throw in the poor ratio of software to hardware sales and you are talking about a very bitter pill for Sony to swallow in order to gain market penetration.

The only penetration Sony's going to feel is not a comfortable one like taking it up the you know what.

How fortunes turn in this business. For 5 years MS lost billions of dollars and now they are making $75 on every Xbox 360 sold and when they use the newer CPU early next year they'll save even more cause they'll get double the yields per wafer they are currently getting.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:11 pm

Where are the impressions? When the 360 launched, at least there was a pretty good percentage of people who actually opened the box and played some games.

Kazuya · Post by **Kazuya** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:12 pm

Rodster wrote:
seanmac31 wrote:How much money is Sony losing? A lot.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=70090

Throw in the poor ratio of software to hardware sales and you are talking about a very bitter pill for Sony to swallow in order to gain market penetration.
The only penetration Sony's going to feel is not a comfortable one like taking it up the you know what.

How fortunes turn in this business. For 5 years MS lost billions of dollars and now they are making $75 on every Xbox 360 sold and when they use the newer CPU early next year they'll save even more cause they'll get double the yields per wafer they are currently getting.

Good old Microsoft... the "underdog" of business. Couldn't have happened to a better company. I actually dream of a day where they will rule the game industry alone at the top. They can be trusted to keep the consumer's rights in mind. Down with Sony!

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:23 pm

sportdan30 wrote:Where are the impressions? When the 360 launched, at least there was a pretty good percentage of people who actually opened the box and played some games.

This is not a launch. This is a publicity stunt.

Kazuya · Post by **Kazuya** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:27 pm

Here are a few eBay statistics concerning the PS3:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/?p=1325

Kazuya · Post by **Kazuya** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:32 pm

A favorable review of the PS3, but as a Blu-Ray player, not a game console:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,12789 ... ticle.html

seanmac31 · Post by **seanmac31** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:34 pm

Kazuya wrote:
Rodster wrote:
seanmac31 wrote:How much money is Sony losing? A lot.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=70090

Throw in the poor ratio of software to hardware sales and you are talking about a very bitter pill for Sony to swallow in order to gain market penetration.
The only penetration Sony's going to feel is not a comfortable one like taking it up the you know what.

How fortunes turn in this business. For 5 years MS lost billions of dollars and now they are making $75 on every Xbox 360 sold and when they use the newer CPU early next year they'll save even more cause they'll get double the yields per wafer they are currently getting.
Good old Microsoft... the "underdog" of business. Couldn't have happened to a better company. I actually dream of a day where they will rule the game industry alone at the top. They can be trusted to keep the consumer's rights in mind. Down with Sony!

Well, judging from early reviews, they can at least be trusted to deliver a comparably performing system one year earlier and for less money. Beyond that...

Kazuya · Post by **Kazuya** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:41 pm

seanmac31 wrote:
Kazuya wrote:
Rodster wrote: The only penetration Sony's going to feel is not a comfortable one like taking it up the you know what.

How fortunes turn in this business. For 5 years MS lost billions of dollars and now they are making $75 on every Xbox 360 sold and when they use the newer CPU early next year they'll save even more cause they'll get double the yields per wafer they are currently getting.
Good old Microsoft... the "underdog" of business. Couldn't have happened to a better company. I actually dream of a day where they will rule the game industry alone at the top. They can be trusted to keep the consumer's rights in mind. Down with Sony!
Well, judging from early reviews, they can at least be trusted to deliver a comparably performing system one year earlier and for less money. Beyond that...

They can also be trusted to release a bug-filled system that for all intents and purposes had a recall for units made in 2005, have a launch with not enough units, shitty, less than promised backwards compatibility, and promised resolutions not working on a large number of TVs. Sound familiar?

And that's just in gaming.... do you want the abridged or unabridged version of all the other "good fortunes" that judges have decided they imparted to the consumers as a software company?

seanmac31 · Post by **seanmac31** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:52 pm

Kazuya wrote:
seanmac31 wrote:
Kazuya wrote: Good old Microsoft... the "underdog" of business. Couldn't have happened to a better company. I actually dream of a day where they will rule the game industry alone at the top. They can be trusted to keep the consumer's rights in mind. Down with Sony!
Well, judging from early reviews, they can at least be trusted to deliver a comparably performing system one year earlier and for less money. Beyond that...
They can also be trusted to release a bug-filled system that for all intents and purposes had a recall for units made in 2005, have a launch with not enough units, shitty, less than promised backwards compatibility, and promised resolutions not working on a large number of TVs. Sound familiar?

And that's just in gaming.... do you want the abridged or unabridged version of all the other "good fortunes" that judges have decided they imparted to the consumers as a software company?

Color me profoundly uninterested. The bottom line is that I've already spent months playing the same games that I'd now have to line up in the cold for days and then drop six bills to play. Wake me up when Sony delivers a gaming experience that I haven't already had. (And that's without even bringing GOW into the discussion.)

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:56 pm

How could the 360 have less than promised bc when they never really promised anything in that department? The only thing Microsoft said was they were working on bc and would try and get all the top selling games to work. I'll give you less than hoped for but less than promised is total bs. It's only a console Kaz.

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 2:19 pm

Kazuya wrote: They can also be trusted to release a bug-filled system that for all intents and purposes had a recall for units made in 2005, have a launch with not enough units, shitty, less than promised backwards compatibility, and promised resolutions not working on a large number of TVs. Sound familiar?

Lets get some facts straight, shall we?

1. "They can also be trusted to release a bug-filled system"? If you are talking about manufacturing "bugs", I buy that, but there has been NO recall as you state. MS simply stated that they would extend the repair period to one year for any 360 manufactured prior to 2006. On top of that, they have stated they will reimburse anyone who has paid for a repair or replacement with a check in full for the amount of the repair. I am on my third 360...how many have you replaced? Yeah, I can see how MS gave everyone the shaft here....

2. "Have a launch with not enough units"? Compared to the XBox, PS2 and any other prior console launch, I could not agree more. However, compared to your beloved Sony, MS FLOODED the market on launch day compared to the disaster that the PS3 launch day has become. If you are going to make comparisons, at least make them apples to apples, generation to generation....

3. "Shitty, less than promised backwards compatibility"? Yep. Agreed. Since MS had NO experience with BC, they shot their mouth off before they realized how challenging it would be to pull of BC when making drastic changes to rendering hardware. I got no issues with the criticism.

That being said, Sony claimed they would be 100% BC AT LAUNCH when they were running their mouths in overdrive at E3. I poo-pooed that claim from the minute I heard it for the VERY SAME REASONS that MS was not able to pull off their BC claims. Even with PS1/PS2 hardware IN THE PS3, they still can't pull it off. According to most hardware analysts, Sony won't make much of a dent in the games that don't work right (at least one of them is the latest Gran Turismo for PS2). So as badly as MS fubared their BC claims, Sony is just as culpable because they put a number to their claim and did not make it. The way I see this is a tie...both companies failed, MS moreso than Sony, IMHO but it is still a failure.

4. "Promised resolutions not working on a large number of TVs"? And those resolutions would be? You might want to expand somewhat on this one as this is the first I have heard of any such issue with the 360's. However the issue with the PS3's are well documented, so no need to elaborate there.

Before your inevitable response, please leave your personal issues with me out of your reply so this thread has a chance to stay open unlike so many others have before it....

RallyMonkey · Post by **RallyMonkey** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 2:36 pm

1:30EST and still not a single impression here or at OS. (Not saying they are the end all be all, but they are two that are pretty quick on at least SOME impressions of new games/systems/etc) Sony must be so proud they produced a product that is getting more press for it's lack of availability than for it's actual features.

Sad thing is, had they just decided to produce more and afforded Mr. and Mrs. Working Parent the opportunity to walk into their local gaming store in May and pre-order a unit for little Johnny or Suzie they probably would have some pretty happy consumers out there. Instead they have angry non-owners who will have to shell out a month's salary to find one and actual owners who have no interest in playing this thing. Hell of a strategy there Sony, HELL of a strategy.

EZSnappin · Post by **EZSnappin** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 2:55 pm

Rodster wrote:The only penetration Sony's going to feel is not a comfortable one like taking it up the you know what.

RIIIIIIIMMMM RACER!!!!

pigpen81 · Post by **pigpen81** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 2:56 pm

No one wants a PS3 to play the games...they want one to flip. Absolutely brilliant.

My 8th graders laughed today about the PS3....they were hyped for GOW.