In his E3 2008 opening speech Sony Computer Entertainment America’s (SCEA) president Jack Trenton announced that 2008 would be the year of the PS3. Now I’ve been thinking about this recently, and I have to disagree with him.

Now its certainly true that the PS3 has been doing much much better so far this year compared to last in both software and hardware sales. The amount of features , online capabilities and software library have all greatly increased too, making it a much more robust console/ home entertainment hub. But it just because it is not longer selling worse than its predecessor is hardly a reason to break out the Champaign.

Many of the reasons why the PS3 isn’t doing as well commercially or critically is due to the high barrier of price. While it is certainly much cheaper than at launch, the PS3 is still $700 AUD and no matter how much “value” they pack into the device. That is a lot of money for people to pay. Until Sony can get the big black behemoth under the $500 AUD mark. The price of the system will still be a massive financial and psychological barrier that people must overcome.

Some of the problems surrounding the PS3 are due to the stiff competition in the form of the Wii and the Xbox 360. Something which Sony has not had to worry about in a long time. Both systems are cheaper than the PS3 and in the case of the 360 offer a similar experience or in the case of the Wii have waggled their way into the harts and homes of children and gaming mums alike.

In the case of the 360 it seems that Microsoft is trying everything it can to take away things from Sony and the PS3. The E3 shocker that the once PS3 exclusive Final Fantasy XIII is now coming to the 360 is a prime example of Microsoft’s aggressive courting game publishers and developers alike. This has seemingly paid off for Microsoft with its gaming division turning a profit for the first time last year.

The kid friendly Wii on the other hand is taking a polar opposite approach. Nintendo have decided to drop out of the console graphics arms race and instead have directly aimed their consoles’ at the casual audience. With Nintendo gobbling up much of the audience that was weaned on the PS2’s singstar, Buzz or Guitar Hero games. They have gained a much larger user base than either want or can afford a PS3.

If Not The Year Of The PS3, What Then?

I think 2008 will be remembered for 3 things

The year of multiplatform games:


With the PS3 and the 360 being very similar devices in terms of targeted demographics and power, It only makes sense that if you want to sell more games put them on both systems. With the exception of 1st party games and Metal Gear Solid 4, almost every major hi-def release is coming to both platforms with negligible differences.

The year of the Wii:


You think 2007 was good to Nintendo? Well 2008 is set to be even better for them. Just when we thought they couldn’t print any more money Wii Fit, Smash bros brawl and Mario kart Wii come along to prove us wrong. If Nintendo can manage to keep this momentum going they may just out sell the PS2.

User generated content:


With both little big planet and spore offering quick, easy and intuitive ways to create your own content and share it with your friends and the world at large. 2008 will mark when content created by end users will hit the big time.

Well to put it bluntly no, while 2008 may not be the year of the PS3 it is certainly the year were the struggling console found its feet. With higher hardware sales in all territories and some great software sales from MGS4 and GTA IV to boot. 2008 has been much kinder on the PS3 than its 07. Where the PS3 really starts to shine is looking forward. With a plethora of huge games coming out for the system in 2009, including God of war 3, Final Fantasy XIII, Killzone 2, Heavy Rain and inFamous, plus many more games yet to be announced. Also the online virtual world HOME will be out for all to see and use. Which will hopefully give the PS3 a much tighter feeling online community.

So while Jack Trenton may have been bit presumptuous in his E3 speech. It may turn out that he was only a year off. As it looks like 2009 might really be the year of the PS3.

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