Forum - View topicINTEREST: Sony Stops Making PlayStation 2 Consoles Worldwide
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14767 |
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Mainly in more impoverished nations, for less than $100, that couldn't afford PS3s and 360s as well. To the tune of 5-6 million PS2 units per year - that's not much less than the 13 million PS3s per year.
Heck, who knows how backwards compatible the PS4 would be. Sony has been in the red the last 4 years, so unlike with the PS3, they don't have much money to develop their own stuff for the PS4, like the Cell processor. So they're giving up their old architecture, and instead they'd be using regular PC components such as an AMD CPU and Radeon graphics card. Like the Xbox, they'd be closer to the PC architecture. There's even speculation the next-gen consoles may not even have disk drives anymore since many people already have Blu-ray players (or could get them for cheaps), and Blu-ray itself may be on the decline for the whole 5-7 year life-cycle of the console, so it may not be worth it. Rather, they maybe just use downloads and flash-based media - less moving parts that could wear down. |
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Polycell
 Posts: 4623 |
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I don't think you could get away with downloads with current internet speeds and flash media with the capacity of a BD is still horribly expensive. They'd be foolish to give up disc-based content delivery at this point in time.
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enurtsol
Posts: 14767 |
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Maybe at the start more like resembling Steam. And flash memory cards are dropping prices all the time. Even 32gb SD cards are below $20 MSRP now and dropping, and reusable. (Not sure how that compares with disc mastering and pressing costs, though card readers are dirt chip compared to Blu-ray drives, yet a lot smaller and more durable too.) |
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faintsmile1992
 Posts: 295 Location: England |
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The PS1 sucked but the PS2 was damned great.
The PS3 is no good for console exclusives that interest me, so an import 360 was ironically a better choice to play hardcore Japanese games. Of course for anyone without a PS2, a backward compatible PS3 would remedy that problem, but they've stopped making those ages back... because people were using 'em to play PS2 games... |
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Apollo-kun
 Posts: 1213 Location: City 7, Macross 7 |
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In my opinion (and I know it's crazy to express an opinion on the internet), the PS3 is the best console on the market. With the exception of a few 360 exclusives ("Halo", "Gears of War"... erm.... yeah), it does everything Microsoft does, and does it with free online multiplayer and the ability to buy classic PSone games, as well as games that can be played both on it and the (failure of a system) PS Vita. Yeah, Sony should definitely pull out of the console market. Not to be rude, but this isn't a place for people to shove console superiority down others' throats. It's cool if you think the Xbox is better, and it's cool if I think the PS3 is better. These are both opinions that could be validly backed up. But saying that a company whose console is still selling very well "screwed up" is a straight-up uninformed statement. |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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The PS3 did actually just recently surpass the XBox 360 in worldwide sales though, so while it definitely had a real rough start of it, things did eventually pick up. It even has a few exclusives now that are making me consider buying it when I finally move out and need a Bluray player.
As for moving away from discs completely, I don't think that's going to happen with the 8th gen. I think there are still enough people who don't have the internet capabilities to download a large game; I know right now I definitely don't and getting rid of the discs would effectively eliminate me as a potential consumer. And I'd rather they never go that route because I like physical media, but I wouldn't be surprised if we eventually get there. |
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formerroadie1
 Posts: 126 Location: Fort Worth, TX |
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The second they decide that they are going download only or blocking used media is the second I leave gaming consoles behind. Give me a disc so they can't take my game away anytime they want. Sorry, but no thanks.
I love my PS3. I have a backward compatible version that is still going strong! 
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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There is a certain purity to a gaming system that can be enjoyed to its fullest capacity without the need for an additional hard drive, a centrally controlled internet service or a wealth of downloadable content. Because the industry employs the aforementioned means of generating revenue with increasing alacrity, I fear that the decline of this console's generation will be seen as the twilight of a halcyon period in this genre of entertainment.
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Polycell
Posts: 4623 |
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guildmaster
 Posts: 355 Location: Hot & Humid FL |
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I never liked sony, still don't.
Whatever happened to the Colecovision? 
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Deadwing
 Posts: 174 Location: North Augusta, SC |
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That's a nearly 13-year track record, one of the best runs for a system in history. I think only the NES and possibly the Atari 2600 had a longer production runs, though the SNES had a production run similar to the PS2's. The NES had a 10-year production run in America (1985-1995), though the Famicom continued to be produced in Japan until 2003, giving it a 20-year production run there. The SNES wasn't discontinued until 1999, 8 years after its NA debut, and like the Famicom the Super Famicom was discontinued in 2003, giving it a 13-year production. The Atari 2600 apparently wasn't officially discontinued until 1992, over 14 years after it debuted, but, despite having a revised model released in 1984, it was technically "dead" with the Crash of 1983, so it may or may not count.
This. Fully a third of all U.S. households lack broadband internet access. Interestingly, a similar fraction of Xbox 360 owners don't have Xbox Live (either the paid Gold or free Silver), which indicates that console-owning households are just average households, many of which don't have internet. Given that many millions of potential customers would be shut out by an online-only, download-only console, I doubt such a machine will not exist for quite some time. Any console manufacturer would be shooting themselves in the foot releasing a console that doesn't utilize physical media at a point in time before reliable, high-speed broadband is completely universal. And that's just feasibility issues keeping such a console from coming about. |
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TOO BAD! Regrettable considering the PS1 and the KING OF KINGS:PS2. 
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