European PS3 success is assured, despite Wii and Xbox 360 success

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Thursday, 04 January 2007 15:00

Opinion and Analysis

By Christmas, but probably not before thanks to the high cost of manufacturing the PS3, we should see a price drop as Sony push the PS3 as never before with a lineup of new games that really start tapping into the PS3’s power, especially so to compete with the no doubt incredible games lineups that Microsoft and Nintendo have planned for us all. Perhaps we’ll even see a slimmer PS3 will appear by next Christmas – Sony have pulled that rabbit out of the hat before with the slimmer PS2, with great success, while the Wii has DVD and HD rumors of its own to contend with.

We’ll also see more cross platform titles than ever. The Lego Star Wars II is available on almost every console, including the PSP and the older Nintendo GameCube, although it isn’t available on the Nintendo DS. There’s no reason to limit one’s income to one group of users, especially if a title readily lends itself to being shipped for multiple platforms as the Lego Star Wars II game so clearly is.

And as for next-generation DVDs, while a dual Blu-ray and HD DVD deck will come out soon and is set to be launched at next week’s CES show at last, thanks to LG, Blu-ray still has the most movie studios behind it, so in the short term at least, should end up with the most titles, unless something radical happens in the HD DVD world and the other studios sign up.

LG have not released any prices as yet, and as a version one unit, it’s unlikely to be cheap, making the PS3 the cheapest next-gen DVD player – all you need is an HD television, and chances are, if you’re buying a PS3, you either already have an HDTV or are planning to very shortly get one.

So, I don’t think Sony needs to worry about having any stock languishing in warehouses this time next year. All three games console manufacturers are set for the most amazing year that they, you, me, everyday consumers and hardcore gamers have ever seen.