The PS brand and how I see it (open for debate)

As the father of the PS retires I take a moment to reflect on his "sons" and their success. Kutaragis line of products is: PS, PS2, PSP and PS3 (with all the different variants they got over the years). This line of products have made Sony the #1 brand in the video game industry for the last 10 years.

Now, to me, the PS1 was the real ground breaking console. We all know how the use of CDs and the introduction of mature made this the most important gaming device to this date (GT backs me on this one with their top 10 consoles of all time). There is no dening that the original PS is and will allways be a milestone for videogames.

The PS2, once again in my humble opinion, is (it aint dead yet people) the biggest fluke of all times. How a console with the weakest graphics and horrible loading times became so popular? I dont get it to this date... but what is it that people love about the PS2? The games. The PS2 had what we all want frome a console, a TON of games. Games of all kinds and frome all kind of developers and because of that exact thing I believe the PS2 to be a fluke, it became #1 by the hard work of 3rd party developers... if that aint luck... what is. Still, this is just my humble oppinion. In the end the PS2 is and will be remember as one of the greatest consoles of all time regardless of anything else.

The PSP... the first step down the hill. Is it a failure? No, considering that it had been the only hand held system to survive the Nintendo reign over the last... 20 years?... Is it a success? No, considering that this was supposed to be the last nail on Nintendos coffin. The PSP shows how Sony just didnt understand the hand held market, high price for the hardware, high price for the games, short battery life and loading times... all just plain wrong on for a hand held. No one can blame them, if the PS2 is the best selling console ever, why wouldnt people want it on the go? It has better graphics and a ton of features that the competition doesnt. Why the PSP didnt do as well as the its console counterpart? I believe it has to do with the market and not with the hardware.

Last but not least: The PS3. How the mighty have fallen. Is it a flop? a failure? a DreamCast? No, at least not yet. But really, is this what we were all specting? When I thought about the PS3 I though of a machine that will sell like warm bread all over the world. Everyone, including Sony, had it as a sure bet. 5 months later and its not what it was ment to be. Were the spectetion too high? Is it that bad? Am I exagerating? Who knows, but let me tell you, the fate of the PS3 lays in the hands of Square-Enix (?) for Final Fantasy XIII and in the hand of Kojima with Metal Gear 4. The PS3 just isnt doing what it was supposed to do.

No time to check this now, hopefully fanboys will run when they see all the text... hopefully. Comment as you like, I'll check reacitons later.

Us Sony fans should just do what Sheep did.

Hide during the Nintendo's reign of power. Wait for them to screw it up again and await the return of Sony as the market leader.

It may take 5-10 years but patience is key.

Matter of opinion I suppose. The PS2 was an awesome console to me. I've always owned every major console, and yes, although it was technically inferior... it was the best console when it came to the games. I hardly think this was a fluke though. It wasn't just the 3rd party that made the console shine, Sony has always had some awesome 1st & 2nd party games.

The only thing hurting the PS3 is the price right now. Even still, it's doing just as well as the PS2 or the 360 did in it's first year so I hardly think there's any concern of it failing. Considering the price & the small library, it's actually doing surprisingly well... and the titles left to come out this year look really stellar, both 1st & 3rd party.

I don't have the Wii yet. But as more & more ppl continue buying HD tv's, I'm sure that more & more will agree, the PS3 is eaily the console to be most excited about. It does need to fall into the avg gamer's price range though.

PS2 a fluke ? Nah , it was awesome and Sony did a lot with its games and marketing of said games to make the system great. I could make you a list of what they did if you like.:D 3rd party developers just naturally wanted to develop on that system to align themselves with these games , the brand , and the marketing.

PSP ? Good system with good games and they got their foot in the door in a gameboy dominated space. They made some mistakes with it , but I think it will do well over the next couple of years and Sony will learn from some of their mistakes with the PSP.

PS3 ? I don't even think Sony thought it would sell like hotcakes right out the gate at $600 but it is obvious that this is a longterm endeavor for them so lets look back on it after a couple years. Then we should look back on it every couple of years after that. I wouldn't be surprised if they support it a couple years longer than the ps2 even. :o

The brand doesn't seem as strong as it once was because it was so godly and dominant before. Their success made the other companies get better and take some chances and this in turn will just make the ps3 a better product in the end because they will bust their humps to get more compelling content and work hard to get the prices down. Competition is good. 

Good post, TC.  I read all of it.   But here's how I see it:

PS1 - a fluke.  When Nintendo ditched Sony, Sony thought 'well...we have this mostly developed system here...we might as well just put it out to make up for the money we poured into development.

PS2 -  not a fluke.  Sony did a direct copy of what had made the PS1 successful.  This also included awesome games and reasonable hardware prices.  Success continued.

PSP - being their first handheld, it's quite impressive that it's sold the 20m that it has.  It's NOT a failure.  But it's not a success either.  Sony didn't understand handheld gamers like Nintendo does.  Handheld gamers tend to want simpler, fun games; not a PS2 in their hands.

PS3 - a horrible mistake.  Sony was far too ambitious and lost touch with reality and the consumer market.  GAMES make the system.  Not power.  Also, the price tag is awful.  A difference of $50 or even $100 may not matter, but over $200?  Yes, it matters.  While Sony hyped the power and tech of the mighty PS3, they forgot about the games.  Almost nobody cares about what comes out in 08 or 09.  They want games NOW.  Sony's few top guns they have left arn't due out for years.  The truely tragic thing is that companies like Sony and Microsoft depend on selling dozens and dozens of millions of units to make back their initial investment.  The PS3 is NEVER going to see 100m sold.  Sony is depending on it though, and they're in for a terrible loss.  We can only hope they're strong enough and smart enough to get through this disaster in time to make the PS4 a great GAMING system.

Good post, TC.  I read all of it.   But here's how I see it:

PS1 - a fluke.  When Nintendo ditched Sony, Sony thought 'well...we have this mostly developed system here...we might as well just put it out to make up for the money we poured into development.

PS2 -  not a fluke.  Sony did a direct copy of what had made the PS1 successful.  This also included awesome games and reasonable hardware prices.  Success continued.

PSP - being their first handheld, it's quite impressive that it's sold the 20m that it has.  It's NOT a failure.  But it's not a success either.  Sony didn't understand handheld gamers like Nintendo does.  Handheld gamers tend to want simpler, fun games; not a PS2 in their hands.

PS3 - a horrible mistake.  Sony was far too ambitious and lost touch with reality and the consumer market.  GAMES make the system.  Not power.  Also, the price tag is awful.  A difference of $50 or even $100 may not matter, but over $200?  Yes, it matters.  While Sony hyped the power and tech of the mighty PS3, they forgot about the games.  Almost nobody cares about what comes out in 08 or 09.  They want games NOW.  Sony's few top guns they have left arn't due out for years.  The truely tragic thing is that companies like Sony and Microsoft depend on selling dozens and dozens of millions of units to make back their initial investment.  The PS3 is NEVER going to see 100m sold.  Sony is depending on it though, and they're in for a terrible loss.  We can only hope they're strong enough and smart enough to get through this disaster in time to make the PS4 a great GAMING system.

NocturnalDemon