Day Ninety-Eight: Drop It Like It's Hot
So three days to go and we're winding down here. In that case, let me pick up on two sensationalist stories I've just had a peep at by way of everyone's favourite embargo-breaking aggregate videogames new site, Kotaku. The first has Howard Stringer, chief of Sony, apparently acknowledging the phenomenal success of the Wii and hinting at a combative PS3 price cut. The second rumours that Beautiful Katamari, the next-gen sequel to the ball-rolling insano-thon, will be a 360 exclusive, i.e. not appearing on Sony's console.
If both stories turn out to be substantial, that's interesting news as it appears that Sony are prepared to do a bit of humbling. Looking back at the early days of this blog, I can see that I predicted that they would steadfastly refuse to drop the PS3's price so soon since this would imply that the console is losing out to the 360. After all Sony's hype, they wouldn't want that. I might have been wrong, but it is in my interest to point out that the story fails to mention Microsoft's machine. No, it's just the Wii Stringer compares the PS3 too, somewhat suggesting that while they see Nintendo as a sales competitor, they don't feel that their rivals are superior in all aspects - they still want to proudly stand out as a unique next-gen hi-tech experience, and that's something that they wouldn't want to do by comparing the PS3 with the sales figures of 360.
As for Beautiful Katamari,
that's an odd one if it's going 360 exclusive. I don't know how crazy
gamers in Japan go for it, but it strikes me as a game that would
achieve some moderate success. If this is some clever herding on
Microsoft's part, perhaps we're looking at their effort to make the 360
more attractive to Japan. After all, it needs all the help it can get
over there, apparently. Blue Dragon shown that it can be done, that (a
few) Japanese can buy a console based on a game appealing to their
character. On a wider scale, any game that expands the market beyond
the 360's guns, cars, and sports is a good thing. Clearly, they need
the kind of eclectic market of niche titles that the PS2 had in
abundance for both greater success and respectability, and currently
that's rather thin on the ground.
If BK's exclusivity is a result of faith being lost in the PS3, then that's rather surprising. I'd have thought it'd be a no-brainer to stick with it. Of course, that's dependent on the drought disappearing soon and the price dropping, but we know both those things are an inevitability some time. Only in the short-term would jumping ship make sense. I honestly don't think PS3 will do a Dreamcast or a Saturn. If that depends on Sony eating some humble pie, I don't know. We just have to remember that the 360 was, lack of decent games-wise, at this exact same point in its life. It'll be exciting to see what happens once things kick off at Christmas and the floodgates open.
As for the price cut. In the UK, £350 would be the sweet
spot for the optimistic me. And rumble back in, please. And redesign
the PSP. Oh, and sort out that backwards compatibility thing while you're at it.
