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Microsoft pulls no punches in pointing out PS3 mistakes

Console wars are the sweet fuel to all fanboy discussions, and whenever a representative of a particular games company says something particularly scathing about the competition, explosions are sure to follow.

Xbox product manager Aaron Greenberg recently spoke out in an interview with Destructoid regarding all the apparent shortcomings of Sony’s current PlayStation execution. “We have been fighting Sony’s promises from the day we entered the market and if you remember at that time it was all about PS2 being an online cybercity with partner announcements from the likes of RealNetworks and AOL,” he said.

Greenberg’s comments were in response to a question regarding whether or not Microsoft would be able to stand up against what will likely be PlayStation 3’s best year yet with games such as Metal Gear Solid 4, LittleBigPlanet, among others. But Greenberg isn’t completely taken with Sony’s software promises, saying, “Then three years ago at E3 they showed what PS3 games would supposedly look like with the Killzone 2 video, that we are now learning will ship four years later. That means that we will have shipped Gears of War and Gears of War 2 before they can even get Killzone out the door.”

PlayStation Home was announced at the Game Developers Conference in March 2007, and is more than a year behind schedule, although Greenberg figured it as two years. “Think back to GDC 2007 when Sony promised to leap ahead in online with the Sony Home unveil. Here we are two years later and multiple delays for a product that has appears to have little to no buzz.”

Greenberg then opened the floodgates with a barrage of critical questions: “Where are the achievements? The friends list integration across all games? Where is the long-promised video store? Where are all the other products using and networking with their CELL chip? How come Blu-ray did not result in better games? What happened with Sixaxis and rumble? Where is the complete 1080p game library we were promised? If Blu-ray as they said would be such a catalyst to PS3 console sales, then why have PS3 sales over the past couple months not seen any lift since the format victory?”

With all that said, Greenberg returned to preaching the strengths of the Xbox 360. “The reality is that Xbox 360 is leading this generation with a larger installed base, more than 2xs the games library, the most exclusives along with the leading online service and community. While we have not yet announced all of our plans for the full year, I am confident that we will extend our lead over the PS3 in 2008,” he said.

While the best of 2008 has yet to arrive (with the exception of Grand Theft Auto IV), the fight for second place is far from over. The first place, of course, appears to be firmly in the grasp of Nintendo with its Wii.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter predicted that even with the release of Rockstar’s latest open-world hit, the Wii would be the top selling console of April by a huge margin. Pachter estimated that the Wii outsold the PS3 and Xbox 360 combined, though he also figured that Sony’s machine sold more than Microsoft’s console. NPD Group findings will be available this Friday.

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Pot kettle black
By DigitalFreak on 5/13/2008 9:25:27 AM , Rating: 4
People in glass houses...

I'd rather have Sony's "poor execution" on the PS3 than the technical disaster that is the RROD...




RE: Pot kettle black
By JasonMick (blog) on 5/13/2008 9:31:45 AM , Rating: 5
While Sony and Microsoft both have good products, they both fall into the unfortunate position where they must compete with each other to win, which is essential due to their respective massive hardware investments.

The true genius of Nintendo's business strategy is that they positioned themselves outside this competition. Most serious gamers I know own a PS3 or Xbox 360 AND a Wii. And many casual gamers only want the Wii.

It's not surprising that Microsoft and Sony snipe each other -- they have to. It's a tough lot for them.


RE: Pot kettle black
By JAB on 5/13/08, Rating: -1
RE: Pot kettle black
By FITCamaro on 5/13/2008 9:51:12 AM , Rating: 3
Untrue. Good marketing will always allow a product that is inferior or equal to outsell the other one.

Heck look at Macs. They're more expensive, often less capable hardware wise than PCs, and in reality OSX isn't any better than Vista(or vice versa). But Apple's marketing is top notch so they sell.


RE: Pot kettle black
By psychobriggsy on 5/13/2008 10:01:03 AM , Rating: 5
We really don't need ANOTHER flame war to emerge in this discussion, so quit trying to bait even more people, eh?


RE: Pot kettle black
By Ryanman on 5/13/08, Rating: -1
RE: Pot kettle black
By aos007 on 5/13/08, Rating: -1
RE: Pot kettle black
By 4wardtristan on 5/13/2008 8:56:00 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Good marketing will always allow a product that is inferior or equal to outsell the other one


netburst.


RE: Pot kettle black
By Arribajuan on 5/13/2008 9:59:35 AM , Rating: 1
Yes,

bringing a better product will naturally be better than rely on marketing.

I do not think they are holding out of a better product, they just cannot do it yet...

having a $50 360 that never fails and includes br will be so much better and it will eliminate competition. Not even the wii can manage to do that at this point.


RE: Pot kettle black
By B3an on 5/13/2008 10:35:41 AM , Rating: 3
No it's all about marketing. Look at Apple. Then look at PS2 vs Dreamcast, the DC was a great console with better games at the time, but everyone waited for PS2 and it's "movie like" graphics because of the Sony hype machine.

Same with PS3, how many people fell for basically the same thing, that fake computer rendered Killzone vid amongst others? I know some people who actually thought game-play graphics were going to look like that, i still mock them about it today.

I'm sure history will repeat with PS4.


RE: Pot kettle black
By AlphaVirus on 5/13/08, Rating: -1
RE: Pot kettle black
By robinthakur on 5/13/2008 11:32:51 AM , Rating: 5
The buzz surrounding the Wii is not all media driven its spread by word of mouth and experientially which is always the best kind.

Your minority view of the Dreamcast amongst the gaming cogniscenti means that you know not of what you speak and are in fact a charlatan. I enjoyed my time with the DC a billion times more than my time with the PS2. Maybe because that time was cut short of what it should have been. Sony's erm...exaggerated is the kindest way to say it...pre-marketing of the PS2 definitely had a big effect on the DC and ultimately killed it as well as Sega, despite its strong user base of over 10 Million and decent software library. HOTD2, all those great Capcom fighters, Soul Calibre, Power Stone, Shen Mue, Virtua Fighter 3, Seaman, Daytona, Ferrari Challenge, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Samba de Amigo, Space Channel 5, Ikaruga, DOA 2, Virtual On 2, and I could go on for a while. The Dreamcast could definitely compete graphically, and most if not all of the games still look sharp but not jagged today thanks to the AA built in. I remember the first time I saw a PS2 running being initally so excited and then saw the blurry graphics with poor textures on RR5 and Tekken Tag and was very underwhelmed. Don't knock the DC and show some respect, you just highlight your own ignorance if you don't. Of all the failed consoles that didn't quite make it, its fate was the most undeserved.

I saw a 360 commercial yesterday (in the UK) for GTA4 and it just reminded me that I never play the noisy room heater lately. Obviously the marketing must be making me play the Wii and PS3 more at the moment...


RE: Pot kettle black
By StevoLincolnite on 5/13/2008 2:38:48 PM , Rating: 3
I also loved the Dreamcast, it was a console far ahead of it's time, it was released while Nintendo and Sony were playing with the Nintendo 64 and Playstation 1, However it's graphics to me looked superior to the Playstation 2 in terms of color clarity, not to mention the amount of homebrew games, and the ability to overclock the console and turn it into a HTPC of sorts, and even though the console died out many years before hand, there were games STILL being released years after the consoles demise.
The Console used the PowerVR video chipset, I do however wished they used a 3dfx card, as that would have been more valuable to me in this day and age.

And the console could also have it's own modem so people actually caught a glimpse of multi player capability's of the future, The only downside was that allot of webpages that used flash would not work.

The console could even run Quake 3 Arena that rivaled the PC in terms of quality and performance.

Long live the Sega Dreamcast.


RE: Pot kettle black
By BansheeX on 5/13/08, Rating: 0
RE: Pot kettle black
By robinthakur on 5/16/2008 5:29:21 AM , Rating: 3
Well, ignoring your FUD about the sexy DC for the moment, Sony's marketing this time around DID still have an effect in that alot of people held off buying a 360 until they saw the PS3 for what it was. The thing in common with both outings is that Sony see fit to influence the market widely with their rampant marketing of vapourware and over estimation of its abilities. Sure I know its the marketing department's job to a degree, but even the thick buying public will start to realise that alot of the publicity fluff is just that. I'm impressed they even tried it this time round with some off the shelf parts like the "RSX" (aka Geforce 7800GTX) which everybody knows is now ages old. This knowledge helps to manage people's expectations of what it can produce graphically. i.e. not 1080p native games.

Back in the DC's day, people expected PS2 graphics and gameplay to be a world away from the DC, and it just didn't happen that way. Sega died a death by catering to the purist gamers, not doing enough marketing and producing decent arcade conversions and mature fun games which not everybody appreciated. For example only a certain percentage of the population would be willing to play Samba De Amigo or Space Channel 5. Nowadays everyone plays the Wii using similar mechanics without shame and a version of Samba is even coming to it. Therefore in some regards Sega WAS ahead of its time. Nintendo just made all those weird arcade games which depends on peripherals, possible in the home and cheaper. You can see that by how many Sega dreamcast conversions are being released.

Don't diss the DC just because it didn't appeal to you. I don't think your limited experience of it reflect most people's. Mine certainly never made squeeking noises and the controllers were really innovative having the VMU built in to it. I hardly used the standard controller much, as I bought pretty much every single controller released in Japan for it (love the Virtual On Twinsticks still). Sega did alot of things right with the DC but alot of developers stopped developing games for DC once the PS2 was announced.

The market now is VERY different and has been commodotized alot more with people spending huge amounts marketing and producing often mediocre games like 'Halo' which managed to wring 3 games out of a very average debut.

Sega had a long and successful run, or do you not remember the monumentally successful Genesis or the Master System, not to mention their arcade pedigree? Sega has since been but a shadow of its former self with only Virtua Fighter 5 holding my attention and most of their talent seems to have ebbed away. However credit where credit's due and Sega's demise makes me sad. I wasn't actually a Sega fan before I bought a DC. I own both the PS3 and the PS2 (as well as 2 PSP's and several PS1's) but it has brought a certain delight to me to watch Sony struggle as they currently do. I might remind you also that Sony released the PSX, which flopped and was pretty swiftly killed and the original PSP which spectacularly failled against the DS. Truly, this is karma.


RE: Pot kettle black
By sweetsauce on 5/13/2008 11:33:15 AM , Rating: 5
Are you serious? The hype machine on the ps2 was the biggest fraud ever. Emotion chip? 70 million polygons? People have short memories. The dreamcast was better than the ps2 in every way imaginable. If it had any damn support from developers, sega would still be making systems today. Instead we got a bunch of developers being held hostage by sony since the dev kits for the ps2 were "limited" and you had to play ball with sony to get one.


RE: Pot kettle black
By zombiexl on 5/13/2008 11:43:09 AM , Rating: 3
I agree DC crushed the PS2 in gameplay and graphix.

Too bad Sega couldn't get any decent developers (although the sega sports games were the best) to put games out for it.


RE: Pot kettle black
By afkrotch on 5/13/08, Rating: 0