Ji@nBing Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 State of the Platform2007 marked the first full year of the PlayStation 3's existence, and it was full of ups and downs. The system's high price point for the first half of the year made entry into the platform a pretty big barrier for most gamers, especially considering its main competition, the Xbox 360, had a year head-start and a larger library of titles ready for playing. Sony worked to fix this problem by offering a number of price drops which coincided with the release of a myriad of SKUs for the system. Though gamers may have been (and still are) confused as to which version to pick up (20GB, 40GB, 60GB or 80GB?), the PlayStation 3's eventual entry point of $399 made the price much easier to swallow, and sales are really starting to pick up. The software lineup was strong, but again, it wasn't without its problems. Sony-published games like Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction showed what the system is truly capable of and were commercial and critical successes. However, third-party support was rather hit-or-miss with some ports not living up to the quality that you'd find on the Xbox 360. EA titles were especially guilty of this, with many games running or looking worse than they did on Microsoft's system. Still, the PlayStation 3 saw a number of third-party exclusives that kept the library fresh all year. Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden Sigma was a great take on the Xbox classic, Sony gamers got their hands on Virtua Fighter 5 long before 360 owners and Unreal Tournament III has seen a successful launch late in the year. Things seem to be looking up in the cross-platform department with the PlayStation 3 versions of titles getting stronger and stronger. Titles like Call of Duty 4 and Assassin's Creed were practically identical across the systems, showing that Sony's platform is just as capable as anything else on the market, if not more so. Sony made great strides with its PlayStation Network this year, bolstering the amount of content on the PlayStation Store by offering up new content almost every single week of the year. Downloadable games like Super Stardust HD, Calling All Cars! and Tekken: Dark Resurrection strengthened the system's library. The announcement of PlayStation Home at this year's GDC was important as it showed that Sony aims to take its online presence beyond anything the competition has to offer. Though it was delayed into 2008 at some point, anticipation for the service was rampant all year and gamers are excited to see what Sony and its partners can do in that space. Though the second half of 2007 turned out to be a reasonably strong year for the system, just as was the case post-launch last year, much of the PlayStation 3's success relies on the future. Titles like Metal Gear Solid 4, LittleBigPlanet, Gran Turismo 5, Killzone 2 and many, many more will make or break the platform for Sony in 2008. The system currently sits in third place in console sales and Sony has a lot of catching up to do to get back to the top, but there's still a long, long way to go before this generation is over. Continued... PS3 is going to have to have a much better year next year if it doesn't want to be stuck in 3rd for this gen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sn00pie Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 Definitely a good year for the PS3, I remember when the X360 originally came out it had significant drawbacks and struggles aswell, look at it now. 2008 is the year we will really see whether the PS3 will be king or not. It won't fail, duh. I think if the slight bit of momentum that we have on our side continues, it could get VERY interesting. :D Great sig/avatar btw ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookie Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 Definitely a good year for the PS3, I remember when the X360 originally came out it had significant drawbacks and struggles aswell, look at it now. 2008 is the year we will really see whether the PS3 will be king or not. It won't fail, duh. I have to disagree it was ****ing awful. The games have been few and far between and the multiplatform have been hastily thrown together. While games like Drakes & Ratchet (ok I may have opened my days PS3 a few days early) are stunning and are a good rival to many of the 360's exclusives. They are few and far between. I hope they have better luck next year to bring them in line with the 360. I doubt anyone will be catching up with the Wiis momentum to fly off the shelves. Or at least not till very late in the year. Not till the release of the huge hitters. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted December 21, 2007 Subscriber² Share Posted December 21, 2007 Sketchy year, but im happy enough (Y) Next year will make up for the problems this year IMO. One thing done correctly this year though was firmware updates. The PS3 has added a ton of new stuff in its first year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obsolete_power Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 Definitely a good year for the PS3, I remember when the X360 originally came out it had significant drawbacks and struggles aswell, look at it now. 2008 is the year we will really see whether the PS3 will be king or not. It won't fail, duh. I think if the slight bit of momentum that we have on our side continues, it could get VERY interesting. :D Great sig/avatar btw ;) The X360 is still struggling because the console is more unreliable than a Ford vehicle. The games out for the X360 though are what are holding this console on the map. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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