PlayStation 3 Launch In Hindsight

When Sony launched the PlayStation 3 - they got a lot of criticism. And by a lot, I mean every corner of the mainstream and most every online outlet on the planet had something to say about it, mostly negative - some of it reasonable ... some of it not.

Engadget HD looks back at the now finished format war and declares the PlayStation 3 was probably the deciding factor. It was a good quality Blu-Ray player at a reasonable cost (despite what one might think of the cost historically as a game console) and put the format into a lot of alpha tech buyers who then proceeded to buy enough titles to help push studios into Sony's corner.

So the launch which was described by some in the blogosphere as "suicidal" has now put Sony (actually, the Blu-ray Disc Association) into a front row seat for the high definition generation. Microsoft, on the other hand, has already had to reverse course on several design decisions for the 360 - including resolution and HDMI connections.

That optional hard drive and add-on high def player probably isn't far along. Unless, of course, Redmond changes tactics completely and goes the Nintendo route. If they make it "all about the games" and try and make the 360 simply the simplest, cheapest console they can ...

... oh c'mon ...this is Microsoft we're talking about and they could never be satisfied with limiting Xbox Live with such things. While they hem and haw over what to do next, market analyst predict the format decision will up PS3 about 10%. Honestly that seems pretty pessimistic to me. We are now less than a year away from the digital TV conversion and high def sets have found pretty acceptable price points for many consumers. This is going to be a big Christmas for HD and the PS3 will be sitting right there in the front row.

Here's CNet saying much the same thing.