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Thursday, August 04, 2005
Ken Kutaragi is a Genius - Playstation 3
Ken Kutaragi is a Genius - Playstation 3
By: War Machine28 / Editor: Richard Allen
Ken Kutaragi is a genius and Sony will lead the gaming industry for a third consecutive generation.
How you ask? The answer: Sony's Blu-Ray Disk Drive. Blasphemy you might say, but its true. I'll Explain. The PS3 will be the most expensive console in this next generation console wars, perhaps even the most expensive console to date. Speculation on the Internet has the price tag for the PS3 ranging from $400 to a whopping $1000. The RSX (Reality Synthesizer) GPU designed by Nvidia is expected to match or outpace the performance of the 7800 GTX graphics card. This card alone is the hallmark of graphical prowess and has broken the $499 price ceiling. The new Blu-Ray technology to be used in the PS3 will fetch up to $3,000 for stand-alone models. That price may seem a bit high, but consider how expensive standard DVD players were before they were a household item. As you add features like WiFi (b, g), BlueTooth, numerous USB ports, most major memory card ports, most high-definition standards (480i/p, 720p, 1080i/p) three Ethernet ports (100, 100, 1000) and dual HDMI support, the console's features start to look overkill. This is all justified for the solely because supports Blu-Ray based drive.
The Blu-Ray format was created for High Definition TV, which is poised to become the broadcasting standard by 2007. A single-layer Blu-Ray disc at 25 GB can hold over 2 hours of HD video and audio, while a dual-layer 50 GB disc can hold twice as much. The larger disc capacity can also store up to 13 hours of standard definition video and audio. As many of you know, Toshiba has a competing format called HD-DVD. Although Blu-Ray has a larger disc capacity then HD-DVD (15 GB on a single-layer disc), HD-DVD benefits from lower manufacturing costs since the production cycle is very similar to standard DVDs. With Blu-Ray being an all-new format, the costs rise.
But didn't you just say Blu-Ray disc drives will cost thousands of dollars?
Wouldn't that drive up the price of the console?
And isn't this a big risk for Sony investing in new technology?
How will Sony overcome this and what does it have to do with the PS3?
The answer is simple, and makes Ken Kutaragi look like a marketing genius. With Blu-Ray as PS3’s native disk format, Sony is promoting a new format disc drive to the masses in a package that runs on the coat tails of nearly a decade of success. Sony has shipped over 90 million of the Playstation 2 consoles, leading the industry for the second straight generation. It may seem like Sony is taking a gamble by using the Blu-Ray drive for PS3 and pricing it $400-$1,000, but this in fact is pure GENIUS. Playstation enthusiasts will be picking this up the day its out. To the occasional gamer $400 to $1,000 may be a bit steep. However the average consumer, this will be more cost effective then a stand-alone HD drive.
In actuality this is all déjà vu. Ken Kutaragi and Sony have done this before, CD-ROM for the Playstation and especially with the DVD for the Playstation 2. At one time Playstation 2 was the cheapest DVD player on the market. Sony leads in this industry simply because investing into new technology that will benefit both consumers and gamers.
How you ask? The answer: Sony's Blu-Ray Disk Drive. Blasphemy you might say, but its true. I'll Explain. The PS3 will be the most expensive console in this next generation console wars, perhaps even the most expensive console to date. Speculation on the Internet has the price tag for the PS3 ranging from $400 to a whopping $1000. The RSX (Reality Synthesizer) GPU designed by Nvidia is expected to match or outpace the performance of the 7800 GTX graphics card. This card alone is the hallmark of graphical prowess and has broken the $499 price ceiling. The new Blu-Ray technology to be used in the PS3 will fetch up to $3,000 for stand-alone models. That price may seem a bit high, but consider how expensive standard DVD players were before they were a household item. As you add features like WiFi (b, g), BlueTooth, numerous USB ports, most major memory card ports, most high-definition standards (480i/p, 720p, 1080i/p) three Ethernet ports (100, 100, 1000) and dual HDMI support, the console's features start to look overkill. This is all justified for the solely because supports Blu-Ray based drive.The Blu-Ray format was created for High Definition TV, which is poised to become the broadcasting standard by 2007. A single-layer Blu-Ray disc at 25 GB can hold over 2 hours of HD video and audio, while a dual-layer 50 GB disc can hold twice as much. The larger disc capacity can also store up to 13 hours of standard definition video and audio. As many of you know, Toshiba has a competing format called HD-DVD. Although Blu-Ray has a larger disc capacity then HD-DVD (15 GB on a single-layer disc), HD-DVD benefits from lower manufacturing costs since the production cycle is very similar to standard DVDs. With Blu-Ray being an all-new format, the costs rise.
But didn't you just say Blu-Ray disc drives will cost thousands of dollars?
Wouldn't that drive up the price of the console?
And isn't this a big risk for Sony investing in new technology?
How will Sony overcome this and what does it have to do with the PS3?
The answer is simple, and makes Ken Kutaragi look like a marketing genius. With Blu-Ray as PS3’s native disk format, Sony is promoting a new format disc drive to the masses in a package that runs on the coat tails of nearly a decade of success. Sony has shipped over 90 million of the Playstation 2 consoles, leading the industry for the second straight generation. It may seem like Sony is taking a gamble by using the Blu-Ray drive for PS3 and pricing it $400-$1,000, but this in fact is pure GENIUS. Playstation enthusiasts will be picking this up the day its out. To the occasional gamer $400 to $1,000 may be a bit steep. However the average consumer, this will be more cost effective then a stand-alone HD drive.
In actuality this is all déjà vu. Ken Kutaragi and Sony have done this before, CD-ROM for the Playstation and especially with the DVD for the Playstation 2. At one time Playstation 2 was the cheapest DVD player on the market. Sony leads in this industry simply because investing into new technology that will benefit both consumers and gamers.
¶
D.Vader // 8/04/2005 07:16:00 AM //
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You're kidding, right? Sony has lost so many format wars it's ridiculous. From Beta to ATRAC-3, they have consistently been big, big losers.
Blu-Ray seek times will be slower than 12X DVD players, meaning that all that content is going to load slower. Devs specifically want faster seek times.
Strike one against Sony.
The PS3 is going to be insanely expensive, with many analysts saying it's going to retail for $500. That's going to send customers to Nintendo and Microsoft in droves.
Strike two against Sony.
They've got one more shot at bat, and unfortunately I think they're going to strike out. They may retain good market-share in Japan, but the era of Sony dominance is over, and Nintendo and Microsoft WILL take advantage of their blunders.
D.Vader
How do you figure BR seek times will be slower? The Blu-Ray drive uses a blue laser with a higher bandwith, which means it has better resolution (and detail) meaning seek times go up since there aerial density of the disc is higher then a standard DVD.
