1. Sony, Sony, Sony
So we are rapidly approaching yet another jump forward in the gaming console market. I still remember coveting an Atari 2600, which looked like a DVD player that ate a toaster. Sony and Microsoft have almost managed to do the unthinkable and finally kill off Nintendo, which isnt hard when considering the idea that Nintendo has been plugging itself at every turn for almost a decade. However, Sony is in a precarious position, the market is changing rapidly and Sony is in poor long term position. Instead of working to improve their position Sony has decided to make as much money as possible before things become academic. Enter the Playstation 4 (or Gods USB Stick) the latest gaming machine that will do everything, including your homework. At the initial announcement Sony made it clear that the machine did in fact exist, and that it would play games, they even had a few videos and screenshots along with the controller. However when asked about specific hardware specs and to see the console itself, Sony flipped over the table, threw a handful of business cards in the faces of reporters and ran for their lives. Its hard to sell a whole car with just a tire, the steering wheel and a list of features, but Sony started there. Later, because making bad decisions is akin to breaking the moral seal, they then divulged an enormous list of potential developers who were onboard to make games for the system, but somehow they got their signals crossed and added a bunch of European developers to the list who were surprised to see that they were making games for Sony, a company with a checkered past when it comes to working with Devs. Sony, who takes some heat for making a powerful system designed to play video games and then seems to not give a s#!t about making good video games, cant afford the stigma of providing dev kits that arent user friendly enough. Along with often times unreasonable demands and other generally dickish behavior (what do you really expect from a company that never really wanted to get into the video game business in the first place, another reason to hate Nintendo). They also cant be seen as a company that doesnt have a healthy relationship with the developers since the writing on the wall says that their days are numbered. You have to remember why gaming consoles were invented in the first place, because PCs were too expensive to buy as a kids toy. A console is a one trick pony PC that was once so basic that it didnt have an accessible operating system. Fast forward 30+ years and an Xbox 360 has Internet Explorer, USB ports, online connectivity, multimedia expansion, and the ability to increase memory. Add a keyboard and mouse, and were a Microsoft Works program away from what? A PC! Uh, what does PC stand for again? Oh yeah it stands for Microsoft. Its been fun Sony, there will always be Plasma TVs and portable music devices oh wait. Oh quit your crying for Sony, this is the same company that got a slap on the wrist for attempting to use their overall market leverage to force retailers to stop selling their competitors gaming systems. Yeah, theyve been a-holes a long time. Shock Value: Unbelievable! How, in this era can a company call the media to announce that they arent really ready to make an announcement? Not once, but twice? The biggest facepalm inducing aspect is the fact that SEGA essentially made the same mistake, they saw Sony coming and rushed to launch before they were ready and sealed their fate. How do you not learn from this? Sony should have been getting ready to become a major player in the PC market ten years ago. They have the Viao, but it runs Windows! Microsoft doesnt have to make PCs if PCs cant be made without Microsoft (realistically speaking of course) they will be in prime position to dictate the entire market indefinitely, forcing Sony to play by their rules if they want to keep playing. Sony is in a lose-lose situation no matter what they do, so as is par for the course, theyve decided to basically rob you.
Dante R Maddox
Contributor
Dante R Maddox got started in writing about pop culture in 2007. He developed his conversational style majoring in English and minoring in speech communication, his desire to write as if he were speaking to the reader face to face was the bane of many professors. An odd blend of geek cred and regular fella chic', you're just as likely to end up talking about baseball or politics as you are about comic books and movies (just don't mention Tucker Carlson, you are addressing the man who will go to jail for assault in the future after all). He wrote a book called The Lineage of Durge that's available on Amazon for a small amount of money, he's writing a second while acting as Editor-in-Stuff over at Saga Online Press, there is a graphic novel expansion of his book series also in the works as well as continued development of his cheesecannon, one day Canada...one day (Seriously, a piece of ham, you slice it up and now it's bacon?!?!? I say thee nay!!!)
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