From the original PlayStation to now, Sony’s been bringing the fun and innovation. They’ve been in this industry for over fifteen years, and while there, have literally lead the pack; forcing the others to follow. Often criticized but never cast aside, many times ridiculed but in the end, always having the last laugh, the company from the land of the rising sun has stood its ground.
Undeterred, Sony allowed nothing or no one to sway its resolve. Not analysts like Michael Pachter, or journalists with contrary motives. Nothing. No one.
At this year’s Gamescom, Sony once again brought the big guns. The announcements were so awesome and so many, that all I can say right now is Amen, Sony.
Last year, the hardware queen ruled the day by unveiling the PS3 Slim at the show, sending sales of the console through the roof causing shortages across the US and the world. Later, Uncharted 2 landed on the scene and overtime became the PS3′s fastest selling first party game. But it didn’t stop there.
2010 came and the momentum continued, sales remained high, exclusive titles were still being released and barriers were being destroyed as developers got a better understanding of the console.
We’re still in August of 2010, and Sony’s still running the show. I’m sure Microsoft and even Nintendo would love to be in its place now, in terms of exclusives and must have IPs. Think Killzone 3, Uncharted 2, inFamous 2, LittleBigPlanet 2, Gran Turismo 5, Resistance 3, The Last Guardian, God of War III just to name the notables.
Now, one by one, just like karma, Xbox 360 exclusive games are making their way onto the PS3. Bioshock was just the beginning. Mass Effect has jumped ship and you should expect Left 4 Dead and even Splinter Cell to make their debut on the black console.
It seems to me that Sony has followed the same strategy since the original PlayStation. If you take a trip down memory lane, you’ll come to realize that what the hardware giant went through in the early days of the PS3, isn’t unique at all, rather, this has been happening like De Javu over the years.
But like a woman who’s faith is unshakable, Sony held its stance.
Now, Microsoft’s scrambling to find new ways to keep its momentum steaming. In the early days of the Xbox 360′s life, Redmond literally bought exclusives away from Sony to make the 360 more attractive; and it worked for a short time. Five years later, though, the software company is hinging everything on a motion control peripheral, hoping to gain momentum from a market Nintendo has dominated for years. Will the strategy work? Many think it won’t, instead the craze will come and go since people are already familiar with the Wii and there’s talk that Nintendo’s prepping for yet another console release which, we’re sure, will support even a better technology than what’s currently on the market.
The PS3′s only now in its prime. Developers have yet to push the console to its limits and with each passing year, the games get better and better. The install base is rapidly rising, obliterating the big lead Microsoft held for years. And every exclusive title sells millions.
I’ll liken the situation to a Pastor preaching at a Church. At first when he starts to preach, the word coming fourth seems foreign, and the congregation finds it hard to swallow. “Just allow me to finish“. As he continues, the saints begin to see, albeit barely, where he’s taking the sermon. He preaches, sweats blood and even snots as he passionately relays the good news.
Overtime, the congregation realizes that, indeed, “his making sense“! And like a man who’s been accused wrongly and heard the emancipating verdict, altogether they yell “Amen!”
So too, was Sony’s situation. After years of following a path many find unpopular, people are suddenly believers. Just look around gaming’s web for a day, and at the end of it, you’ll notice in forums and comments section everywhere, the same song is sung in unison:
Amen, Sony.
I love the article, it was great. Also, do you do many game reviews? I read through most of the ones on here and I was just wondering how often you do them.
Yes we do game reviews, I tend to do mostly the “big” ones.
However our reviewer, Phil, does any and everything. He’ll be back doing some more soon. But yes, to answer your question, we do many reviews : )
Glad you liked the article.
sonys only in such a good position because the ps2 sold so well they were able to spend a crap load in buying studios!
if M$ put half the money they do in trying to secure timed exclusives into first party studios than they would be the ones swimming in exclusives!
3rd party exclusives are going the way of the dodo because 90% of the time the publisher does not own the IP rights so the developer does not have to stay exclusive.
other 10% of the time they find ways to get out of licensing restrictions like what happened with NGS2.
ninja gaiden 2 was published by M$, so the same game could not come to the ps3, so teamco chopped and changed a few things, gave it a new name and boom home to ps3 baby!
will be interesting to see if EA do the same with ME1, though i doubt they will, since they have already announced a back story for ME2 and EA are lazy.
“if M$ put half the money they do in trying to secure timed exclusives into first party studios than they would be the ones swimming in exclusives!” Couldn’t have said it any better!
But they didn’t, and are suffering today as a result
Yeah the PS3 is just warming up now. I expect great things from this (GT5, LBP2) and in the coming years (KZ3, Infamous 2, etc.; Uncharted 3 plus the other unannounced ones).
True, but I wonder how things will go down once the new Xbox 360 is launched.
Will Sony just ignore them, or will the go head-to-head by release another system, this time, before its time?
it will be interesting to see how this PSJ effects sonys next launch.
up untill this week i would of said sony wont release a new console for quite a few years, even if M$ releases one.
now though im not so sure.
yea, releasing a new system is a dam expensive and risky way to rid piracy, but it looks like the only 100% sure fire solution!
Yeah. But still, overtime some would find a way to break the PS4, too.
of course, but at least that would give sony a guaranteed 2 or so years of pirate free.
i cant see a patch sticking, now they have it cracked its going to be nigh on impossible to seal it up!
it will be like the PSP and 360, sony releases a patch than the hackers patch the patch, than sony releases a new patch ect ect.
the best thing would be to check for the backup manager on PSN access.
im not sure if you can delete the thing if you want to hop onto PSN or not, if you can than thats a big thorn in sonys side.
if you cant, than people would unplug the stick, than go onto PSN but the boot manager is still there.
so all sony need to do is match the MAC address with the list of dev console addresses and boom they would be able to tell if its hacked or not.
but thats of course if you cant delete the boot manager, which i highly doubt they would leave something so important like that.
if your going to do something like this you have to do it properly so id assume they would of covered that.
Yeah, well here we go again. The Industry suffers