( Alternate Header: The PS3 Effect Part3 )- see prises 3 & 6.

It's a wonder to scrutinize how Sony fares nowadays, especially the PS3's adoption as you can guess. There are two distinct strategies involved around the console's specific marketing, standing differently next to the competion. We, gamers, and some others like me HD enthusiasts, are quite the guinea pigs of a two pronged campaign for two medium in one by the mogul corporation: the Blu Ray format and next( this...) gen games.

Some observers are even accusing the big S to deliberately postpone the release of great 1080p games to a later 2008-2009 wave for an emphasis of Blu ray movies, and I almost concur with them. Furthermore, the lack of stellar games ( read correctly, I'm not saying there aren't good games yet, but the biggies to astonish us are to be seen at a much longer term ), seems to be calculated enough at enticing them gamers to wait for said greater games and, yes, buying some HD movies in the meantime. I must admit I followed the pattern. Sony got me there but hey, the PS3 is an excellent Blu ray player. Why not ? I'm willing to give the developers the time to make third-fourth waves of PS3 games even better, albeit postponing Final Fantasy XIII and Metal gear Solid 4 to a 2008 slate can still be debated as a strategic move or not. Only a handful of professionally made but generic games are sparingly marketed and released so far in 2007 on the Blu platform, which admittedly should give European addicts the time to adjust their wallets accordingly. Here again, Sony seems to market right on spot with a resolute attitude for WANTING to deliver good games, and CLAIMING victory over the HD DVD camp at the same time. ''105 Blu Ray disc games and about 40 PlayStation Network games by March'' -- Sony claimed on US PS3 releases, as stated on the front page here on GS......hmmmmm, not convincing enough for the gaming part because even though their representatives claim a stronger early sell for the PS3 than the initial PS1 & 2 the year of their respective releases, the Nintendo Wii clearly outsells the PS3 in Japan, and X360 stellar games are outrageously dominating the US sells of console games. Of course, the PS3 can't really outmatch both regions hardware wise and software wise if its price tag remains so high and.....yes, without the slew of exceptional games abundantly found on the Wii & X360. The stakes are very high now for Sony; that's why it still lose some, at sacrificing early gaming development to the profit of the Blu ray format marketing.

On the other hand, disgruntled gamers like me purchasing HD movies are contributing to switch ( temporarily? ) the balance in favor of Blu over the competitor HD DVD by a margin of 2:1 to 3:1 when writing this. Why? Simply because there are only 100 000 HD DVD players + 155 000 X360 add-on sold by mid 2007, along only around 100 000 standalone Blu ray players within the same period in the US, all that compared to......millions of PS3 worldwide. And the PS3 remains an excellent movie player, upgraded to v1.80. Here, Sony wins some....in the movie market, by successfully ensnaring more Hollywood studios than the HD DVD group.The scenario stands against any prediction made years ago, when the PS2 barely boosted the DVD market. Bear in mind that the Hollywood studios supporting both formats won't do so for many years at any rate; too costly in the long term although some may think both can coexist like three gaming platforms. Only one movie disc format will eventually prevail; yet though Blu Ray has an undeniable advantage, it will all depends on how long shall TOSHIBA + Universal ( HD DVD proponents ) put tons of cash to compete. Let me guess: you find this war futile, if not stupid. Yes it is; and for disc enthusiasts wanting the maximum bandwidth capability, the longer this debacle endures, better are the chances that NO physical format at all replaces the aging DVDs at a planetary level. Concurrently, Video On Demand & Internet providers could just satisfy the average joe by then. However, there's a good thing for the consumer about the actual format battle : the hardware prices are dropping significantly below the 500 $ mark, merely one+ year after the inception. Below the PS3 price tag. That's quite faster than the early Betas & VHS in the 80s, along the early DVD players from 1997 to around 2000.

Is there any point to this? No point. But for the first time in the history of electronic mediums, PS3 gamers are indeed strongly influencing the new HD movie formats incepted recently. Both the gaming and the HD movie compounds are now closely entangled for some time to come in a very strange manner unseen before. Sony has still a lot of work to do in order to push its Cheval de Troie, the Blu Ray format, to a financial success. Right now, the cash flow in the negatives to support it - just like competitor Toshiba do. Evidently, Sony has more bags to lose without great games AND a victorious HD format. Exciting times, confusing times.....

Again, this niche debacle which I'm so inclined to be victim of, could also favor an interest of old school gaming for an increasing number of average & confused gamers, and by old school gaming it could mean as close as the CounterStrike era. The famed late 90s treasures are still vastly played by our unwealthy friends from colleges on their low end PCs, just like some others will party a Genesis game on a big HDTV just for the fun of it.

Now, we will analyze what Sony announce at its E3 press conference, hopefully without any preposterous statements.