Crowds go mild at PlayStation launch (Aust)

[Azazel]

Asher Moses
March 23, 2007 - 6:46AM\

The launch of Sony's PlayStation 3 games console got off to a feeble start last night with officials, media and security outnumbering customers for most of the evening.

Over 500 retailers around the country threw open their doors as the clock struck 12:00am, expecting the frenzy that accompanied the games console's overseas debuts.

But most stores were virtually deserted, despite the 20,000 pre-orders Sony said it had received.

Even at the official launch event held at Myer's Pitt Street store in Sydney's CBD and attended by Sony's local managing director, Michael Ephraim, media and security outnumbered PS3 fans until at least 11:00pm.

At midnight, about 40 PS3 buyers had arrived to collect their consoles, causing distress for the army of camera crews who turned up expecting to capture launch mayhem.

Desperate producers unashamedly asked the crowd to fake excitement when the cameras were rolling, while a team from 2Day FM let out bogus cheers to convince their radio listeners that a launch extravaganza was underway.

The scene was a stark contrast to the US launch in November last year, where one man was shot by thieves and fights broke out over limited stock.

In Britain, where the PS3 was also launched today, two major Oxford Street stores in London - Game and HMV - cancelled their launch events amid police fears of muggings.

Danny Zarka, 31, was first in line to collect his PS3, which was handed to him personally by Mr Ephraim and Myer CEO Bernie Brookes.

The advertising executive from Pyrmont was shocked because he had arrived after 9pm, yet still found himself at the front of the queue.

"I'm surprised there aren't more people here, I thought the place would be packed," he said.

The PS3 launches with a total of 30 games, each with a recommended retail price of $99.95.

One of those games is Gran Turismo: HD, which Sony is offering free - as a download from the Playstation Network - to all PS3 buyers.

And Sony said the first 20,000 people to register their PS3 online would receive a free copy of the latest James Bond movie Casino Royale on Blu-ray disc.

From today, Sony will launch into its $6 million marketing campaign, which it hopes will convince the public that the PS3 is not just a games machine but an all-in-one home entertainment system.

The campaign will stress the inclusion of a high-definition Blu-ray disc player, sleek design, 60GB hard drive, web browser and, most importantly, the PS3's ability to act as a multimedia hub for organising photos, music and movies.

This is crucial if Sony is to convince consumers that the PS3's $999 price tag is justified, in the face of the $650 Xbox 360 and $399 Nintendo Wii.

A Sony spokeswoman said: "The marketing tag line for PlayStation 3 is 'This is Living' and you'll see this develop with time to include broader messaging beyond gaming enthusiasts; after launch we will begin our approach to communicate with entertainment enthusiasts and beyond."

Travis Johnson, a veteran advertising executive at Universal McCann, was partly responsible for the Xbox 360's launch marketing campaign. He described Sony's $6 million budget as "sizeable", and said the Xbox 360 only launched with a $1 million marketing spend.

The PS3 was originally slated for release locally on November 17, but this date was pushed back to today due to production delays.

It has meant the Wii and Xbox 360 have a significant head-start in the next-generation console wars - the Wii has been on sale since early December, while the Xbox 360 has its first birthday next week.

Another potential stumbling block for Sony is the fact that it has priced the PS3 higher in Australia than it has overseas. The console sells for just ¥60,000 ($630) in Japan and $US599 ($740) in the US.

Mr Ephraim said in an interview last month the higher price was justified because factors such as Australia's currency exchange rate and small population size when compared with the US led to a higher cost of doing business.

Owners of the previous PlayStation, the PS2, should also bear in mind that PS2 games will not necessarily be compatible with the PS3.

A full list of compatible games can be found here - 1782 PS2 titles are listed, which represent the majority of the 2308 PS2 games that Sony shipped to Australia.


photo taken from the board which linked to The Age article:

[Triforcer]

When it is finally announced that the Wii won this gen's console market share war, I am going to try to get the entire article in my avatar image. 

[stray]

You talk as if the Wii is even part of this "gen" or something.

I might as well declare that the PS2 has won "this gen's console market share war" too.

Better yet, I hereby declare that Loreal Lipstick (in Raisen Rapture) will win "this gen's console market share war". That's how fucking relevant the Wii is.




Anyways, the Euro launch ended up doing well -- It just didn't garner big crowds at midnight.

It's already sold close as many in 3 days as NA did in a month (around 600k). Record console launch numbers for several areas as well (UK, Belgium, Finland off the top of my head).

[Strazos]

It's only not of this gen if your only criteria is processing power.

This is such a stupid fucking argument.

[Paelos]

It's only not of this gen if your only criteria is processing power.

This is such a stupid fucking argument.

Agreed. At this point there are too many iterations of platforms to argue for a personal robot Jesus that will smite your enemies. Not to mention holy early in the process things are right now. Can we all just agree that the Gamecube sucked ass and move along?

[Strazos]

I never owned a Gamecube, but I liked the handful of games I played on it.

[Yegolev]

/slapforehead

[Ironwood]

That picture paints a thousand words.   What an effort.

[stray]

That picture doesn't mean anything. It ended up selling around 20k -- Which is only 6k less than the PS2 in the same timeframe, but at a quarter more the price. Seems par for the course to me (OMFG Sony am doomed!!!).

The same goes for the French launch event, which didn't have anyone showing up either. A lot of dumbasses wanted to spin that too, but what the picture didn't say there was that it was cold, wet, and past midnight. In the end, it ended up selling over 70k (which was good).

[Roac]

Stray's right; most accounts I've been reading are saying that the PS3 has done reasonably well in Europe.  They have done poorly in NA/Japan so far, so a lot of the gloom thrown on the Euro launch is "me-too"isms from bloggers wanting to get digs in.

[bhodi]

Maybe that's just because there's a game or two worth playing on the ps3 now, and blu-ray has hit sales milestones like 100,000k copies of casino royale sold.

[Sky]

Maybe people in parts of the world not spelled USA or Japan have the fucking sense to wait and buy a game console when you don't have to stand in line overnight like a junkie.

[Kageru]

... Especially when there is no expectation they'll actually sell out.

[Velorath]

Stray's right; most accounts I've been reading are saying that the PS3 has done reasonably well in Europe.  They have done poorly in NA/Japan so far, so a lot of the gloom thrown on the Euro launch is "me-too"isms from bloggers wanting to get digs in.

The European launch wasn't the disaster that some people wanted it to be.  The U.S. and to a lesser extent Japan had good sales numbers for the first couple of months too though.  They need to be able to sustain a good level of sales.  The Dreamcast and the Gamecube had good launch too, but if you can't keep selling hardware week after week it doesn't matter how good your launch was.  Not saying the PS3 will end up like either of those, I'm just saying that hardware sales from a three day launch period don't really tell you much one way or the other.

[Trippy]

Europe had better marketing too:

[Miasma]

I guess everyone at the Virgin Megastore got a free 46" bravia HDTV too, that would have been a hell of a bonus.

[schild]

The Wii still has the chance to go the way of the Cube.

The PS3 on the other hand, is pretty much guaranteed a certain amount of success. This isn't about history or anything. It simply looks as though Blu-Ray is going to win, God of War 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII are going to be made, and Home looks fucking awesome.

Nintendo has nothing on those features or games. Simply by looking at the release calendar, you can tell developers were caught with their thumbs up their asses. Ironically, the one generation Nintendo NEEDED and probably COULD HAVE GOTTEN tons of third party support, is the one where people weren't given enough advanced notice to actually provide it. Though I imagine lots of studios looked at it and said "Hey, you fuckers made the Gamecube. Putting new exhaust and a spoiler on it doesn't make it a better system." Then they saw the controller and went, oh well, too late, making games for the 360 and PS3.

[Azazel]

While I'm not exactly a fan of Sony's latest iteration, I found the article more amusing in a "fuck the hype, you arsefaces" sense than a "ZOMG SONY DIES NOW" sense. I've said many times, I'll get one eventually, even if that works out to be 2 or 3 years from now.


And Stray, the Wii bashing is a bit retarded. It came out now, it's part of "this gen", even if it's technically got the least horsepower. Schild is quite right that it's still got plenty of potential to go the way of the Cube though - I haven't seen anything that's piqued my interest since Monkey Ball 3 months ago, and am probably only interested in Mario Party and maybe something like Cooking Mama/Trauma Centre if they are ever released here/I can scrape up a cheap PAL copy via eBay, etc. It doesn't even have Factor 5 working on a sweet Star Wars game.

I guess I'll eventually get the inevitable releases of Mario Golf/Mario Tennis/Mario Bowling/Mario Punchout and the next 5 versions of Mario Party. This coming Christmas is (IMO) when we'll see if the third parties make it a real contender, or if it goes the way of the Cube with a dozen or so worthwhile games. The other risk the Wii has is that even if it gets some third-party support, by pushing the Wiimote too hard, it'll once again be a depository of shitty ports, only this time with unplayable retarded, tacked-on controls.

Go Marvel Ultimate Alliance!

[stray]

"Fuck the hype"?

I'd say there's barely any hype for the PS3. More like the complete opposite for the past year or two. As if not having Sony around in the games industry is actually a good thing to some people. In fact, that's the only reason why I've been such a gibbering fanboi. If there was hype, then I'd keep my peace.


...

Not only does the Wii technically have the least horsepower, but it's further than one generation behind. It goes beyond just merely having the "least horsepower". It's basically an overclocked PPC750 and a Radeon 8500. Like a G3 Mac Laptop. Or an Athlon one. I mean really -- there are ghetto PC's that are better than that. If it's "this gen" just because it was released during this time period, then almost anything else should go too (like those gimmick card game consoles I see in toy stores -- they were just released too). But it shouldn't work like that.

Sony and MS, otoh, have not only provided hardware on par with current PC's -- but in some ways, have gone beyond them as well. And if you were to get a PC that did what they did, you'd be paying out the ass.

[Azazel]

The hype as in the manufactured hype. Midnight launch fever FTL ba-beh.

Desperate producers unashamedly asked the crowd to fake excitement when the cameras were rolling, while a team from 2Day FM let out bogus cheers to convince their radio listeners that a launch extravaganza was underway.

That sort of thing.


As for the Wii.. you know what? I'm not going to bother arguing with you. If you want to consider a major home console released last year as akin to a gimmick console, or one of those joysticks with an old arcade game iinside, then more power to you. Though you'll want to keep in mind that when others discuss the current-gen of consoles they'll usually be using different criteria to your own personal ones and (incorrectly, of course) including the Wii in their discussions. 


And console Fanboi-ism is retarded, you know that. I suspect even Schild knows that, intellectually, at least. It should be left back in the dim dark days of SNES vs MegaDrive/Genesis or even Atari ST va Amiga. They all have good points and bad ones.

[stray]

Well, I'm not a fanboi to that extent. Fanboi in a defensive sense, but not in a preemptive sense. Heh. Also, I do own a Wii too, y'know? 

[Azazel]

Yes, I know that. You've mentioned it in earlier threads. But while I'm far from a Nintendo fanboi myself and still only have 3 games for the thing, (PS2 is still my fav of the consoles) I don't have a problem calling it "current gen".

[Triforcer]

I've never had a ton of games on any Nintendo system.  Smash Brothers Brawl, Metroid, and Mario Galaxy will be all I need.  Although I am going to be SUPER PISSED SMASH RAAR if Brawl doesn't have online functionality.  The whole evolution of goddamn fighting games is pointed at online functionality. 

[WindupAtheist]

Sony barged into the room and screamed "BOW DOWN TO US, PEONS!  THE PS3 HAS A 580953809 GIGAHERTZ PROCESSOR DEDICATED SOLELY TO RENDERING EVEN MORE REALISTIC SWEATDROPS AND ONLY COSTS ONE MILLION DOLLARS!  SUCK OUR PENIS FOR THE RIGHT TO BUY ONE!" and since then everyone has pretty much been rooting for it to fail.

Meanwhile the Wii has a neat control and sells a lot of units, but I'll be damned if I can think of anything I really want to play on it.

My brother bought a 360 recently, and anymore I'm thinking he made the right choice.

[Ironwood]

"Fuck the hype"?

I'd say there's barely any hype for the PS3. More like the complete opposite for the past year or two. As if not having Sony around in the games industry is actually a good thing to some people. In fact, that's the only reason why I've been such a gibbering fanboi. If there was hype, then I'd keep my peace.

It's weird that you say the picture means nothing and then say the exact words the picture is saying to me.

The Marketing is either not effective or not there.  Both cases are interesting.  To me.

[Azazel]

Sony barged into the room and screamed "BOW DOWN TO US, PEONS!  THE PS3 HAS A 580953809 GIGAHERTZ PROCESSOR DEDICATED SOLELY TO RENDERING EVEN MORE REALISTIC SWEATDROPS AND ONLY COSTS ONE MILLION DOLLARS!  SUCK OUR PENIS FOR THE RIGHT TO BUY ONE!" and since then everyone has pretty much been rooting for it to fail.

Meanwhile the Wii has a neat control and sells a lot of units, but I'll be damned if I can think of anything I really want to play on it.

My brother bought a 360 recently, and anymore I'm thinking he made the right choice.

The Wii is nicely priced for that impulse purchase. (Assuming you live in a place where you can get the things.) Which is how mine came about. It wasn't planned. If I were deliberately to go after a new shiny it'd be the 360, but to me it's overpriced for what it is at the moment, which is a shinier PS2.

[Roac]

If I were deliberately to go after a new shiny it'd be the 360, but to me it's overpriced for what it is at the moment, which is a shinier PS2.

The PS2 is still doing remarkably well, and anyone would do well to copy its ongoing success.  Which is to say, at this point the public cares more about cheap, fun games than they do sweat with 1000 polygon models  at 2x the price, as WUN pointed out. 

[stray]

"Fuck the hype"?

I'd say there's barely any hype for the PS3. More like the complete opposite for the past year or two. As if not having Sony around in the games industry is actually a good thing to some people. In fact, that's the only reason why I've been such a gibbering fanboi. If there was hype, then I'd keep my peace.

It's weird that you say the picture means nothing and then say the exact words the picture is saying to me.

The Marketing is either not effective or not there.  Both cases are interesting.  To me.

Barely any hype in the press. It gets slammed quite a bit.

But people are buying it, nonetheless. That's all I'm saying.

[edit] As for the picture, just because no shows up at some launch extravaganza doesn't mean they dislike it. One can make a mountain out of a molehole with such things. Using myself as an example, I'm a fan, but I don't go to those events (nor did I purchase a PS3 close to launch).

[Strazos]

Although I am going to be SUPER PISSED SMASH RAAR if Brawl doesn't have online functionality.

I thought it was already announced that it does have online functions.