PlayStation 3
Sony Computer Entertainment was also under
serious attack during Christmas 2005, as Microsoft hadn’t missed the launch
window for its second Xbox format and had beat the PS3 to market, with Sony
struggling so much to get the machine out that Nintendo even managed to release
the Wii in the UK before Sony’s console made an appearance. The PS2 had been
delayed by months, due in part to SCE having to wait for certain technologies
(DVD being one) coming down in cost. Similarly, the extremely high
specifications originally meant for the PS3 resulted in delays. The original
specifications included more memory than the final units and the originally
shown two HDMI ports and three Ethernet RJ-45 ports had become one of each,
while the original six USB ports (four front and two back) were reduced to just
four up front, at least on the 60GB model. It hit the Japanese market nearly
two years behind the original roadmap, which forced the UK release back to
March 2007. This delay soon proved to be a huge mistake.
PlayStation
3
Unlike other territories, the UK and Europe
only had one PS3 model at launch, and it was a second-generation console in
comparison to what launched in Japan originally. Unlike the initial NTSC-J
machines, the full PS2 chipset (including the Emotion Engine CPU) had been cut
down to just the PS2 graphics synthesizer on the UK PS3 motherboard with
software emulation making up the shortfall. One major point of contention was
the launch price of $638 compared with the $450 launch price for the original PlayStation
and PS2.
However, the amount of technology that had
been packed into the PS3 was outstanding for 2007. The Cell CPU had a main
Power5 derived (PowerPC) core and six available limited cores (or ‘Synergistic
Processing Elements’ aka SPEs) available, with a seventh reserved for OS
functions. An eighth SPE is left inactive to improve chip yields. A Blu-ray
reader is, of course, a standard feature of the machine, and has primarily been
a massive advantage both for the PS3 platform and the Blu-ray video format,
though developers’ over-reliance on the PS3 hard drive and the slow access time
of optical media in customer perception has caused concern. All UK machines
also had wireless adapters built in as standard.
The
extremely high specifications originally meant for the PS3 resulted in delays
The machine’s much derided $638 price did
hold back its adoption by customers, even though an Xbox 360 + wireless adapter
+ external HD-DVD drive to bring the specifications roughly in line cost a damn
sight more, and in some cases the PS3 had more expensive hardware choices (e.g.
Bluetooth connections for controllers rather than standard 2.4GHz wireless).
PlayStation Network did come of age with
the Ps3, although the outage following Anoynmous’s hacking of the network
damaged consumer confidence, after the theft of customer data. Even though its
seems everything was encrypted, so the data, especially credit card details,
ended up being the equivalent of reams of Gobbledegook, this didn’t stop the
British Information Commissioner’s office fining Sony $375,000.
In the end, the PS3 did its job Trojan
horsing the Blu-ray format into many more homes, and it’s quite clearly the
best piece of hardware in its generation. However, delays, the price, the
insistence on being the most technologically advanced machine, and the early
muted first-party software support have managed to put it behind the Xbox 360
and Wii in terms of hardware units sold.
PlayStation Vita
PlayStation
Vita
With the PSP having been a success from a
business perspective (even if, worldwide, it seemed a little in the shadow of
the DS), the development of a PSP2 was almost certain. When the new handheld,
codenamed the Next Generation Portable, was announced, it was shown along with
an eye-watering target specification list that made most people think that a
launch price of $600 was likely.
As with the PS3, Sony’s aspirations for
what later became known as the PS Vita were far ahead of what technology could
be delivered at a sensible price, even with a reasonable loss per unit to get
them into gamers’ hands. Even with the final screen resolution being reduced
along with the video RAM, the technology in the machine was far ahead of
anything on the market at launch, and way ahead of the Nintendo 3DS. However, once
again Sony had aimed to be the best in the market at the expense of price and
commercial appeal.
Fortunately, the British Sony studios had a
great deal of input into the final form of the Vita (especially Wipeout
developer Studio Liverpool). As a result, important inclusions, such as the
second analogue stick, were insisted upon by the software developers. It turned
out that going with the 720p resolution screen at the physical size of the OLED
(Organic Light Emitting Diode) panel to be used would have been overkill,
because at the distance the console should be from the eye, humans would not
see the difference. As a result, the 5” touchscreen is ‘only’ 960 by 544
pixels, and video RAM was reduced to save further money.
However the basic Wi-Fi version of machine
launched at the same near-fatal price that the 3DS did, which Nintendo was
forced to drastically reduce before the machine took off. Then there was the 3G
version at $420 - $75 more than the Wi-Fi only version, which allowed internet
access over 3G, but crucially 3G is not up to online gaming, making it a bit
pointless on a handheld games console.
On
paper, the Vita should be a massive success, because even at its high price it
is good value considering all it can do
Sony had managed to get the best launch
line-up of any handheld in history, including Vita-exclusive entries in the Uncharted,
Wipeout, and Super Stardust franchises. The range included
many third-party titles, with over 25 Vita games available at launch both on
Vita cards and via downloads (with fewer than ten being download only). The
biggest problem in the UK was finding a retailer carrying all of them.
Following launch, though, the releases dried up and they have been few and far
between, with Sony only realizing there was a problem late on. The thing is
that there are hundreds of downloadable games available for the Vita not only
from the PSP but also the (PSP) Minis, and PSOne games, and more recently those
designed for the PlayStation Mobile platform, which is attracting a number of
independent developers.
On paper, the Vita should be a massive
success, because even at its high price it is good value considering all
it can do. The problem is that no one has the money for the console. And then
you have to buy a memory card… The problem there is that they’re proprietary
(when a high class micro-SD would have been fine), just because Sony is Sony,
and with so much downloadable content, it’s the 32GB card you’ll want, until
the $105 price smacks you square in the jaw.
So at the moment, with the machine’s
relatively high price and ridiculous memory card costs, it’s difficult to
warrant, even though it’s a fantastic piece of kit, and there’s not the room
here to go into the details of the great build quality or the wonders of the
rear touch panel. However, if Sony could just get off its high horse a little
and allow it to run Android and be used as a tablet too, things about be very
different.
