Ken Kutaragi promises a new $2,500 AV-centric PS3

[8th lutz]

http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/20/ken-kut...av-centric-ps3/

 

Ken has open his mouth again.

 

What is Ken thinking? The problems with ps 3 aren't corrected yet. The ps 3 scaling for games is, but the movies downscale know due to the firmware update along with the ps 2 capatibility problems.

 

What position will Ken be working at in sony if this happens and this becomes a flop?

Edited December 20, 2006 by 8th lutz

[mos6507]

http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/20/ken-kut...av-centric-ps3/

 

Ken has open his trap again.

 

What is Ken thinking? The problems with ps 3 aren't corrected yet. The ps 3 scaling for games is, but the movies downscale know due to the firmware update along with the ps 2 capatibility problems.

 

You'd think the industry would have learned its lesson on pricing with 3d0. He's been riding on his initial success with the PS1 forever and now the emperor is shown to have no clothes. They should ride him out of Sony on a rail.

[jbanes]

I don't get it. What does "AV Centric" means? The article mentions a second HDMI port (presumably for dual screen use), an extra power supply, and some ruggedization. All of which means... what?

 

I guess what I'm asking is, what would this system offer above and beyond the $600 PS3?

[joeybastard]

I don't get it. What does "AV Centric" means? The article mentions a second HDMI port (presumably for dual screen use), an extra power supply, and some ruggedization. All of which means... what?

 

I guess what I'm asking is, what would this system offer above and beyond the $600 PS3?

 

It'll probably be like the media center type PCs you can buy now that act as DVRs, stereos, stream web video, etc etc.

 

Something similar to THIS

[n8littlefield]

Not to sound anti-Sony, but isn't this more or less what the PSX was supposed to be? I mean, didn't they learn from that mess given it never even launched in the US?

[jbanes]

It'll probably be like the media center type PCs you can buy now that act as DVRs, stereos, stream web video, etc etc.

I see. So basically, they'll deck it out with greater storage, better input device, and probably several more plugs on the back? It's not that bad of an idea, but I can't help shake the feeling that Kutargi is promising what the existing PS3 model was supposed to be in the first place. I suppose it could be looked at as the "super high-end" model. *shrug*

[jbanes]

Not to sound anti-Sony, but isn't this more or less what the PSX was supposed to be?

I thought that was the CD-i?

[8th lutz]

Not to sound anti-Sony, but isn't this more or less what the PSX was supposed to be?

I thought that was the CD-i?

It was not the CD-i. The Psx was released in Japan in somewhere in 1999-2001 period. It was multimedia that included a playstation one that cost over a $1,000 at least If I remember right

[jbanes]

It was not the CD-i. The Psx was released in Japan in somewhere in 1999-2001 period. It was multimedia that included a playstation one that cost over a $1,000 at least If I remember right

Ah, you're talking about the "Play Station" (with the space) prototype, right? The one that was pulled from the market due to Nintendo's lawsuit?

[Lost Monkey]

It was not the CD-i. The Psx was released in Japan in somewhere in 1999-2001 period. It was multimedia that included a playstation one that cost over a $1,000 at least If I remember right

Ah, you're talking about the "Play Station" (with the space) prototype, right? The one that was pulled from the market due to Nintendo's lawsuit?

 

no...

 

Multimedia device:

 

http://money.cnn.com/2003/05/28/commentary...aming/index.htm

 

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press_Ar...00310/03-1007E/

[jbanes]

Multimedia device:

 

http://money.cnn.com/2003/05/28/commentary...aming/index.htm

 

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press_Ar...00310/03-1007E/

Sokath, his eyes uncovered!

 

How about that. You learn something new everyday.

 

Actually, I think this makes Kutaragi's case stronger. According to the articles, the PSX was almost a prototype for the PS3's multimedia functionality. So upgrading it to a PS3X doesn't seem all that far fetched.

[Shannon]

That article does not really say much, but sounds like a pipe dream to me.

 

History have shown that jack of all trade devices like these are master of none. I'm sure by the time of it's release there will be far better, cheaper, and more practical solutions.

[mos6507]

I don't buy the argument that devices that try to be jacks of all trades must always be masters of none. There is no reason a PS3 can't be just as good a media player as a game player. It's a matter of corporate initiative and developer competence.

Edited December 21, 2006 by mos6507

[jbanes]

History have shown that jack of all trade devices like these are master of none.

History has shown that devices that buck the economic trends to be the jack of all trades end up the master of none. Devices that evolve toward jack of all trades tend to work exceptionally well in the marketplace.

 

A few examples:

 

Good: DVD player/CD Player/Photo CD/VCD/MP3-CD Player Combo

Bad: CD-i combining Games/Video/Kiosk/Music/Photo CD

 

Good: iPod combining MP3s/iTunes Music Store/Movies/Television/Games/Portable Applications/Photo Album

Bad: Cell Phones combining MP3s/disparate Music Stores/Movies/Television/Games/Portable Applications/Photos

 

Good: Television/VCR combos were convenient and portable

Bad: Television/DVD combinations are unnecessary given the number of DVD equipped digital displays surrounding us today.

 

Good: Seaplanes combine the needs of air, land, and sea transport of humans and cargo.

Bad: Space Shuttle combines the needs of human space transport with cargo space transport making both more expensive

 

It's not like anything on this list is a bad idea, but the ones that evolved with the market were more successful than the ones that attempted to be disruptive combinations.

 

P.S. Can't resist:

 

Good: PS2/DVD Player combo made for an inexpensive player "free" with a popular game system.

Bad: PS3/Bluray combo makes for an overpriced game machine and an unpopular Bluray movie player

 

[n8littlefield]

Multimedia device:

 

http://money.cnn.com/2003/05/28/commentary...aming/index.htm

 

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press_Ar...00310/03-1007E/

Sokath, his eyes uncovered!

 

How about that. You learn something new everyday.

 

Actually, I think this makes Kutaragi's case stronger. According to the articles, the PSX was almost a prototype for the PS3's multimedia functionality. So upgrading it to a PS3X doesn't seem all that far fetched.

Not too far fetched, but certainly not too successful either. There's a reason the PSX didn't hit the US shores. They kept removing features and raising the price prior to launch. It sold like crap over there, and they knew it wasn't worth bringing over here. Sony needs to get back to their core gaming audience that bought the PS1 and PS2 (me, for example) and do some serious damage control to get us back. A quadruple priced high end system certainly continues to send the wrong message.

[Shannon]

I don't buy the argument that devices that try to be jacks of all trades must always be masters of none. There is no reason a PS3 can't be just as good a media player as a game player. It's a matter of corporate initiative and developer competence.

I never said that they must ALWAYS be master of none, but the odds sure are low enough that I'm confident it wont be.

 

Just look at the PSP. Sure it can play MP3's but in a limited fashion compared to say something like an IPOD. It can play movies if one wants to be bothered re-compressing it in a proper format. UMD's have movies on them but NONE of the advanced extra's that one typically expects from DVD's.

 

Internet browsing on the PSP? Sure you can do it but you get nowhere near the functionality of a PC. Where's the keyboard? JAVA support? Can it play back videos not in flash format? Supposedly there are some other limitations related to flash space availability but I've never used it long enough to run into them. Alot of the functionality in it now was not even available when it came out.

 

I'm thinking mostly from a software technological point of view and not hardware. When you slap a VCR unit (seperate hardware) and a DVD player (seperate hardware) into one unit. Chances are your gonna get something decent. As far as a DVD player playing CD's, that's a given. But it's my experience, feature wise, that MP3 playback leaves ALOT to be desired and barely qualifies as functional.

 

My LCD TV can play back slideshows with mp3 music in the background off of a memstick but it doesn't do much more than that.

 

PS2 is a very poor example. It is know to have compatibility issues with several DVD's. Something a standalone player is less prone too. Certain features that you expect in a DVD player are not present as well.

 

In the above listed examples the ipod is the only one that even comes close to doing a decent job. But then it still doesn't match the capabilities of a full fledged application dedicated to a particular function. Sure it can do something like play games but there is only so much you can do with it's touch sensitive controls.

 

Even the xbox 360 has some limitations. The Yakk said that mickeysoft limited some of the things he could do with his visualizer cause there were "hard" limits on how much memory the interface (sorry forgot the name of it) can use. With hard limitations like that it is easy to see that it's never gonna be come a full fledged media device. The PSP is limited (nand space) and I'm sure the PS3 will be limited as well.

 

Unfortunately since the article says absolutely nothing about what this supposed "box" is supposed to do it's hard to speculate. I suppose if they were willing to dump enough money into paying the software creators it could happen. But I'd be surprised to see that happen.

 

Assuming that most of these features could be done via PS3 "update", then why not do it that way? What exactly is this thing supposed to do that the PS3 could not do thru updates?

Edited December 21, 2006 by Shannon

[mos6507]

The evolution of computers/electronics has been a matter of packing more logic into a smaller, integrated space. This eventually leads to feature convergence.

 

The PC has the capability to replace a lot of consumer electronics by itself. The only thing that holds it back is the quality of the software.

 

The PC has been able to (if you wanted) replace your DVD player, TV, VCR, stereo system, telephone, fax machine, music studio, synthesizer, video editing sytem, and on and on.

 

Portable devices are a different story. Form-factor will always put limits on how well a device will operate (think screen size, pros and cons). Plus you have battery life and pricepoint. Look how difficult it's been for Microsoft to find anyone to bring a UMPC to market for $500, for instance.

[Shannon]

Hence a console that is "jack of all trades" is unlikely to occur. It will be able to do a few things extremely well, some things very well, most things not very well.

 

If you look at alot of "multimedia" devices over the year or even software products most companies (I'm thinking you Sony and Microsoft) spend more time creating their own proprietary format then they do making a halfway decent interface.

 

That is why you will never see something like XBMC from microsoft, sony, or nintendo.

Edited December 21, 2006 by Shannon

[Brad2600]

 

 

What position will Ken be working at in sony if this happens and this becomes a flop?

 

Jizz Mopper.