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Quote (Hamedo @ 24th July 2006 10:18)

I still don't see how any legitimate legal issue could arise out of this, should Sony actually have the balls to go through with it. If you don't like the console's way of branding it's games to your hardrive, you have other consoles to choose from. Buying one that you know doesn't fulfill your needs, then suing?

The suit probably wouldn't come from a consumer. It would probably come from Blockbuster. If a game would be inscribed to play on only one machine, the rental business would immediately be cut by whatever market share the PS3 could muster. This could construe an unfair business practice, which by all means would be illegal in a civil sense. Of course, all the customers would probably be pretty livid too, but it would take more time for a similar civil class-action suit to arise.

Beyond that, it's really stupid business practice. I know you're looking forward to Sony tanking in this round of console wars (), but no company would be legitimately dumb enough to remove what is still a huge revenue source for them.

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That's what gets me, though. Why is this even a floating rumor? Why would Sony even be pursuing technology that would make this possibility a reality? It would be a lose-lose for everyone... the game companies, the consumers, and for Sony. All in the name of preventing piracy, I suppose.

And concerning Sony and their inevitable fall.... it's not them personally. I'd be just as happy seeing Microsoft or Nintendo taking a plunge, were it one of them on top in Sony's stead. It's the idea of the mighty mega-corporation.... that has stagnated creatively, and believes that they will remain on top no matter what.... falling down a few pegs. That's what intrigues me about Sony and the slippery slope that they seem to be on.



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Slippery Slope? You can't say Sony is on a slippery slope because of a high price point and an analyst says that the price point will 'doom' thier console. You'll remember several months ago just as many or more analysts were saying that PS3 would be likely to give XBOX360 a run for it's money, and take the lead once again. Sony hasn't given a lot of hype, and after the price point came out, analysts were still saying they expected PS3 to do better than both Wii and XBOX360. Only now when the hype has died down are analysts that have tried to say Sony would fail before are saying it again, and again. It's easy to 'hate on' whoever's on top, people always will. I'm not saying $600 isn't a lot of money, but if people want it, they'll come up with the money. PS2 itself still grosses more money in profits than the XBOX and XBOX360 combined - Sony has a better than excellent track record in console gaming, and is more than likely going to continue having a great track record. It's easy to say that Consoles are 'more like PCs' now, because hardware wise - they are. XBOX360 runs an ATI GPU, and PS3 an NVIDIA...sounds like a PC to me! But that doesn't necessarily indicate a regime change.

As for Hamedo's comments on wanting to see 'Sony taken down a few pegs and 'stagnating creativity''. In spite of XBOX360 having it's own language, PS3's capabilities - regarding both the system capabilities and the format capabilities ofBlu-Ray make it an easier console to develop for, with capabilities that won't so easily be disregarded. Also, Sony supplies the disks to manufacture the games for it's consoles - neither Microsoft nor Nintendo does this, and some developers still don't trust Nintendo because of the exbortitant license and manufacturing fees that existed for N64. Sony is one of the best platforms for smaller developers to develop for, and SCEA has done things recently and continues to do things that hardly stink of 'stagnating creatively.'

I wouldn't discount PS3 just because it runs at a high price point and has a lot of 'bells and whistles', before long, some XBOX360 owners might be eyeing HD-DVD capability for thier system. Software developers are still strong behind Sony, and SCEA itself has some excellent products coming. Microsoft's hold on the Industry at this point is weak, despite XBOX360's hurried release - that in it's own right doesn't seem to be helping Microsoft get the 'lead' on the next generation, while the current gen console PS2 - continues to gross more revenues than both of the Microsoft Consoles.

And regarding 'why is this even a floating rumor?'. I believe you answered your own question - you very obviously dislike Sony simply because they're a large corporation. People will always be happy to say nasty things about the megacorporations, and some of those things they say don't even have to be true. The technology to 'etch' disks, technically existed as far back as the original Playstation and CD-Rs, Sony doesn't even have to pursue the technology - it's already there!

Last - maybe they do believe they will remain on top, and quite frankly, I've found them to be more than a little arrogant lately. But it also warrants saying that Microsoft has been saying XBOX360 will eat PS3 alive for awhile, and that Bill Gates jokingly said they'd hold the release of Halo 3 till PS3's release - though now it looks like it won't make that date anyhow. Posturing is a large part of business, you have to impress your investors. But I will agree that Sony has been a whee excessively arrogant lately.

That was a very impressive first post, and I say that with all seriousness Zalen.

Moderator Edit

Be that as it may, wouldn't a PM be better for such congratulations? -R51

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 25th July 2006 16:41

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

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