Posted Nov 16, 2007 at 10:00PM by Glen D. Listed in: News Tags: Microsoft, Sony, PS2, eBay, Gundam, Drew
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Happy birthday, Sony PlayStation 3! - Image 1 


November is the "spawning season" of big game-related items, so to speak with top-caliber games, game consoles and big services making their debuts in and around this month every year to cash in on the season of giving. Just the other day, the gaming industry celebrated the second birthday of Microsoft's Xbox Live with "Live is 5ive." Today, we're having another bash with the Sony PlayStation 3's first birthday!

Sony first unveiled a non-functional version of the Sony PS3 in May 16, 2005 during the E3 press conference, effectively sending shockwaves across the gaming world. Even though a demonstration of just what the new console can do was not readily available at the time, fans were riled up knowing that Sony would once again deliver the goods after dominating two consecutive game generations with the Sony PSX and the Sony PS2.

Later that year, the Tokyo Game Show would herald the introduction of projected specifications for the Sony PlayStation 3, wowing the industry with hardware chops that included a Blu-ray drive, a Cell Processor, WI-fi connectivity and HDMI support. Devkits and comparable PC hardware also showed people trailers of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and and video footage of a new MS Gundam title.

The excitement for Sony's PS3 would hit fever pitch as November 17, 2006 drew closer. The high-end console had sold over 81,000 units on its first day in Japan months earlier, and the same was expected to happen in the United States. On launch date, stores sold out their stocks quickly as the Sony faithful camped to be the first to own what they believe is the gaming rig to rule all others. Business was similarly good in eBay, where even overpriced units found willing takers.

The relatively successful launch, however, did not go without a hitch. Reports of violence related to the console were noted:  A shot customer, campers held at gunpoint and buyers facing off in skirmishes were documented, marring what should have been a happy and historic day in gaming history.

The PS3 launched with a dozen titles readily available, with Insomniac's Resistance: Fall of Man and Revolution Studios' Motorstorm being the most prominent. Both offerings enjoyed warm critical and commercial reception, effectively keeping fans happy for a time. This however, may be thought of as the calm before a storm of criticisms to come.

A few months after the Sony PS3's launch, pundits and fans alike started a clamor for more releases and big exclusives for the platform. The perceived lack of compelling titles and the high price point of the PS3 was believed to be causing slow sales, leaving it to lag behind rivals Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii in monthly statistics.

The issue came to a head when game magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly  published an issue with a main story called "Battlestation." The article highlighted criticisms towards the Sony PS3 from the perspectives of analysts, gamers and developers. In response, Sony Computer Entertainment boss Jack Tretton said some were just "waiting for (the PS3) to slip up, and we haven't, so people try to create stories that aren't there."

"If you can find a PS3 anywhere in North America that's been on shelves for more than five minutes, I'll give you 1,200 bucks for it," declared Tretton in a quote that would echo across the Internet for weeks.

Amidst all the bad publicity surrounding the PS3, one positive fact remains: The console's sales have stabilized and risen notably in the past few months, closing in on monthly leader Nintendo Wii in Japan with sales ratios hitting the two to one benchmark as of last month from a high of 6.5 to one in June. Big games such as Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Heavenly Sword, and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune have also come out to keep fans busy while awaiting more reinforcements. Cross-platform sensations Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare are also adding more firepower to a console thought of to be starved of worthy buys.

Recent price drops and the growing familiarity towards the PS3's architecture have made the console friendlier to both consumers and developers lately. The introduction of the new 80GB and 40GB PS3 SKUs are making a stronger bid to find their ways to homes worldwide, and the reduction of component costs have dramatically dropped
production costs, enabling Sony to save up and put a lid on ballooning losses. Tretton said previously over press wire:

When we designed PS3 our goal was to introduce a system so technically advanced that it could stand the test of time and could take the industry in a whole new direction, which for PS3 was high-definition entertainment.


While we're excited by the progress we've made this first year, we know that like our other platforms,the best is still yet to come, especially given our new hardware and software line-up, and that PS3 will continue to take the industry to new heights for years to come.


Judging by the way things are going, Tretton just may be right. The year 2008 marks the projected release dates of a lot of big titles and with further price cuts still very possible, we just might see the PS3's coming of age. Cheers to your first year, PS3, and may you give us more great games to come!


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12 Comments


Sort by:
   by platon - 2007-11-16
 » a lot of changes on one year, lol

The 20g model + 60g model, then only 60, then 60 + 80, then 80 + 40 with biggest price drop ever. lol. And all that in a year, I suppose sony had a really bad start, but I hope they'll regain their fanbase. I just bought my ps3 80g last month and I'm happy with it anyway. :D

   by Shatterdome - 2007-11-17
 » uhhh...

who cares....

Maybe we can celebrate in 2010....but I doubt it, since PS3 lacks decent pixel shaders....which amount to 80% of the life like details in games (lighting and normal mapping)....

Therefore they can slap all the polygons they want in a game....but without realistic lighting, it's all moot and will always not look right...

Keep at 'er sony...


   Re: CHUCKINGROCKSATSPACESHIPS - 2007-11-17
 » Your Full Of It

Yeah some games may not go all out but many do. You can talk SHlT allyou want but the PS3 has no harder a time with shaders than your crapbox. I have seen plenty of 360 games that look SHlTTY too. Go back to playing that joke of a game halo.

   Re: Stealth! - 2007-11-18
 » uhhh......

Who cares about you and your $hitbox360

The 2 year anniversary but really be hindering your system sales. Oh wait maybe its the failure rate. Or maybe just maybe its the failure of Halo 3. Yes cause while it sold alot on release day the game is no better than halo 2 just with slightly better graphics with more weapons, not to mention the ending sucks as hard as halo 2. Halo 1 is the only real game that made Bungie and MS great, the sequels are as bad as your fanboyish rants.

Just you wait when PS3 get some sick stuff and home it over take your 360 shine.
   by Dr Egg - 2007-11-17
 » MotorStorm

EVOLUTION made MotorStorm, not REVOLUTION. They made the Broken Sword games. You need to edit the article

   by Eclipze_ - 2007-11-17
 » Shatterdome

They cant do the lighting right? Have you seen the video for killzone 2? Killzone 2 alone shows that its possible to make a game with realistic lighting.
Its actually the developers of the game that choose how the game looks, not the PS3. So before you come with all this fanboy 5hit try and think.
80% blah blah blah, your acting like you opened up a PS3 and played doctor with it. You dont know anything about what your talking about.

What the difference between me and you? I go by what I've seen, by facts. You go by your fanboy instincts and assume too much. So go stick some pixel shaders up your as5 and keep your mouth shut.

   by Onimushaclan - 2007-11-17
 » haha

the ps3 is still young, developers still learning it's hardware and functions, of course you'll see the graphics and games as they are now, but in due time things will improve as devs aren't used to the hardware yet. one day we'll see the true nature of this console. heads up

   by Constantinecy - 2007-11-17
 » lol lol

Boys keep it cool now!!!

Nevertheless, I have to aggre on a certain ''extent'' with eclipze...

   by Advertising -
   by Eclipze_ - 2007-11-17
 » lol

pixel shaders..

   by Jimihendrix - 2007-11-17
 » ps3 is better than the 360

The 360 is over-rated. The 360 has does have a hell of alot more games but 90% of them suck. The only good 360 games are Bioshock, Halo 3, and gears of war.
The 360 has been out alot longer than the PS3. No wonder it has more games.

PS3 is alot also more powerfull, it is really hard to hit the PS3's limit. its full graphics capability can't be hit for another 3-4 years because it is hard to make a game with that kind of graphics.

There has been rumors that MGS4 might come to the 360 but it wont. It is impossible to put MGS4 on the 360
it uses way more space than a HD DVD can store thats why blu ray is better. Same thing goes with Uncharted Drake's fortune and Heavenly Sword.

Comparing Time:

Good Games
(List of exclusive games not counting the crappy ones)

PS3
-Coded Arms: Assault
-Driver 5
-Final Fantasy XIII
-Final Fantasy Versus XIII
-God of War 3
-Grand Turismo 5
-Grand Turismo HD
-Heavenly Sword
-Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier
-Killzone 2 (SCE)
-Metal Gear Solid 4
-Motor Storm
-Ratchet & Clank : T.O.D.
-Resistance: Fall of Man
-Resistance 2: Rise of Man
-Ridge Racer 7
-SOCOM 5
-Tekken 6
-The Getaway 3
-Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
-Warhawk
-Wipeout

360
-Bioshock
-Dead or Alive 4
-Dead Rising
-Fable 2
-Gears of War
-Godfather
-Halo 3
-Project Gotham Racing 3
-Project Gotham Racing 4
-Quake 4
-Saints Row

(I may have missed a couple for 360 and PS3)

Specs
PS3
CPU
-3.2 GHz Cell Broadband Engine
-PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz
-1 VMX vector unit per core
-512KB L2 cache
-3.2GHz
-128b 128 SIMD GPRs
-256KB SRAM for SPE

GPU
-550 MHz NVIDIA-SCEI "RSX"
-1.8 TFLOPS
-Full HD (up to 1080p) x 2 channels
-Multi-way programable parallel floating point shader pipelines

Memory
256MB XDR Main RAM 3.2GHz
256MB GDDR3 VRAM 700MHz

360

CPU
-Three cores running at 3.2 GHz each
-six hardware threads two in each
-VMX-128 vector unit per core
-128 VMX-128 registers per hardware thread
-1 MB L2 cache

GPU
-500MHz processor
-10 MB of embedded DRAM
-48-way parallel floating-point

Memory
-512 MB of GDDR3 RAM
-700 MHz of DDR

PS3 owns

   by Eclipze_ - 2007-11-17
 » Jimi

I dont know where in the hell people keep getting this..
Why are people saying Resistance 2: Rise of Man (first of all that would be a really g4y name for the second one.) 2nd theres no proof that its called that, its not like someone from insomniac said it.

Other than that stop being a damn fanboy, saying your console is better wont stop the other from talking 5hit. So you adding to the flame isnt helping.


   Re: Stealth! - 2007-11-18
 » ^^

http://www.ripten.com/2007/11/12/resistance-fall-of-man-sequel-ready-for-pre-alpha-testing/#respond

I think this is your proof....sort of


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