Apparently the pressure finally got to Sony - the PS3 Slim is real. There have been rumors circling about the gaming community since practically a month after launch, but there was never any solid proof. Making the PS3 Slim itself wasn't entirely necessary, but the price drop was.
Before I get much under way with this post, let me say that, while I still think the PS2 is one of the greatest gaming consoles of all time, the PS3 is possibly my least favorite. I think that the PS3 has fantastic graphical capabilities and a smooth controller. The cause of my dislike for the PS3 is not the system itself, but rather Sony's marketing plan. The exclusive titles currently available for the PS3 are either amazingly epic (MGS4, Little Big Planet) or mediocre at best (Drake's Fortune, Resistance: Fall of Man). There are so few exclusive titles for the PS3, it's really no surprise why many gamers would opt to buy an Xbox 360. That way they can have a plethora of exclusives (or at least games that are only available for 360 and PC) such as Gears of War, Halo 3, and Mass Effect, while having a large library of multi-platform games including Bioshock, Resident Evil 5, and the Orange Box. I'm not saying that all of these titles affected gaming the way that MGS4 did, but there are a lot more titles available for the 360 that are considered "good" as opposed to the PS3's two "superb" games that rise up among a sea of "okays". That mixed with the fact that there are more 360 owners than there are PS3 owners, it's really no surprise why so many developers flock to Microsoft nowadays (Metal Gear Rising, anyone?)
But anyways, back on track. The PS3 slim is supposed to retail for $299, a price to compete with the 360 Pro. This would mean that gamers can play all of their PS3 and PS2 games on a cheaper and smaller system that (hopefully) will have next to zero kinks in the system upon release. If all goes swimmingly and none of the systems decide to severely overheat like some of the first batches of the original PS3, then Sony just might be able to pull themselves back up and be neck-in-neck with Microsoft and Nintendo. And the fact that the system is in fact smaller doesn't hurt either - more shelf space for your games and movies.
However, there are rumors about the 360 receiving a price drop as well. This has yet to be confirmed, but if it is the case, Sony could have their thunder stolen. Honestly, I am more a fan of the 360 than the PS3, but I really hope that this price drop works out for Sony. I do not, however, wish for them to rush out a piece of junk simply because everyone was pressuring them to make a PS3 slim. Nor do I want them to announce the PS4 any time soon. They need to fix what is broken right now, which means releasing some more exclusive games that are good. Where is Kingdom Hearts III? How far along is team ICO on The Last Guardian? Again, I don't want these projects to be rushed, but Sony is really good at teasing gamers with trailers and then not saying anything else for a whole year.
Before I get much under way with this post, let me say that, while I still think the PS2 is one of the greatest gaming consoles of all time, the PS3 is possibly my least favorite. I think that the PS3 has fantastic graphical capabilities and a smooth controller. The cause of my dislike for the PS3 is not the system itself, but rather Sony's marketing plan. The exclusive titles currently available for the PS3 are either amazingly epic (MGS4, Little Big Planet) or mediocre at best (Drake's Fortune, Resistance: Fall of Man). There are so few exclusive titles for the PS3, it's really no surprise why many gamers would opt to buy an Xbox 360. That way they can have a plethora of exclusives (or at least games that are only available for 360 and PC) such as Gears of War, Halo 3, and Mass Effect, while having a large library of multi-platform games including Bioshock, Resident Evil 5, and the Orange Box. I'm not saying that all of these titles affected gaming the way that MGS4 did, but there are a lot more titles available for the 360 that are considered "good" as opposed to the PS3's two "superb" games that rise up among a sea of "okays". That mixed with the fact that there are more 360 owners than there are PS3 owners, it's really no surprise why so many developers flock to Microsoft nowadays (Metal Gear Rising, anyone?)
But anyways, back on track. The PS3 slim is supposed to retail for $299, a price to compete with the 360 Pro. This would mean that gamers can play all of their PS3 and PS2 games on a cheaper and smaller system that (hopefully) will have next to zero kinks in the system upon release. If all goes swimmingly and none of the systems decide to severely overheat like some of the first batches of the original PS3, then Sony just might be able to pull themselves back up and be neck-in-neck with Microsoft and Nintendo. And the fact that the system is in fact smaller doesn't hurt either - more shelf space for your games and movies.
However, there are rumors about the 360 receiving a price drop as well. This has yet to be confirmed, but if it is the case, Sony could have their thunder stolen. Honestly, I am more a fan of the 360 than the PS3, but I really hope that this price drop works out for Sony. I do not, however, wish for them to rush out a piece of junk simply because everyone was pressuring them to make a PS3 slim. Nor do I want them to announce the PS4 any time soon. They need to fix what is broken right now, which means releasing some more exclusive games that are good. Where is Kingdom Hearts III? How far along is team ICO on The Last Guardian? Again, I don't want these projects to be rushed, but Sony is really good at teasing gamers with trailers and then not saying anything else for a whole year.
No comments:
Post a Comment