With all the criticism about Sony's use of Blu-ray in the PlayStation3, delaying it a couple of months and having a high price tag, Nvidia's CEO Jen-Hsun Huang has a very different view in that Sony has chosen the right horse by taking on Blu-ray technology for its upcoming PS3. According to Huang, as the PS1 used CD technology and the PS2 used DVD technology, it would not make sense for the PS3 to continue using DVD technology, especially if it is to last for the next 10 years.
At the moment, Blu-ray seems like overkill for the PS3, but this along with its other advanced components will potentially outlast its competitors, such as the Xbox 360 which still uses the more constrained DVD technology. While its launch price may seem rather high, the Playstation 2 launched for around $399 seven years ago, which turns out close to the planned PS3 pricing if inflation over the years is taken into account. He went on to say how he would only go for a console that lasts 10 years and cannot imagine the Xbox 360 lasting such a long time with its current DVD technology.
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Takahashi asked if Nvidia 'chose the right horse in the videogame war" this time around (Nvidia supplied the GPU for the original Xbox, while rival ATI supplies the GPU for the Xbox 360 and the upcoming Nintendo Wii). Huang responded, '…I don't think that working with Sony is wrong. There is no way that is going to be wrong. There are many wonderful things that Sony did. I'm excited that they made Blu-ray high-definition storage as a standard part of the PlayStation 3 platform. The first PlayStation had a CD-ROM drive. The PlayStation 2 had DVD. It makes no sense for the PlayStation 3 to use DVDs. ..." |
It looks like that if Sony has designed its PS3 to last for up to 10 years instead of focusing more on current technology to keep the price down, from what I can see, if the PS3 has a slow start, there is a good chance that sales will start rapidly increasing as the components used in the PS3 become cheaper and more common, resulting in pricing competitive to other consoles on the market.
However, if the PS3 starts off slow and consumers see this as a failure for the console, this may actually put off consumers from the format once the price does become affordable to those on a tighter budget. For example, HD DVD players are currently leading with its earlier launch time and cheaper player pricing, however if Blu-ray player sales do not pick up quick enough, the penetration of HD DVD players could reach a point where other consumers follow the more popular format, even though Blu-ray may be technically superior and currently backed by more studios.
Source: Next Generation
