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[TERPaholic]

Read this: Very Interesting

1. No hard disk. Microsoft made Sony's job easier by ditching the requirement for an HDD in Xbox 360 games. So now Sony can say "why do you need it? Nobody else requires one for games, even Microsoft dropped requiring it for games!"

2. Large flash drive built-in to take the place of HDD. My crystal ball shows me 1 GB of flash memory for use in storing saves and downloadable content, which will cost them pennies to include. Memory cards will be in Sony's annoying proprietary Memory Stick Duo format, starting at 512 MB. This will hold people over until Sony finds a way to introduce an HDD at a reasonable cost.

3. Blu Ray out of the gate. Sony's going to just have to eat the costs if they want market penetration, and they sure as hell don't want to lose any market share by sticking with DVD when they are betting the farm on Blu Ray.

4. Launch games that barely take advantage of the cell and RSX chips. Maybe one or two first party games will be stunners, but other than that, it's just like the 360 and original PS2 launches. A few "Wow!" games, but mostly some big yawns.

5. Better online support. It costs next to nothing to integrate ethernet into a motherboard now, so they'll have it in there. Will be standard 10/100 connection, not gigabit ethernet, since the 360 didn't utilize gigabit and there's just no need for it in the next several years unless gamers start getting fibre optic lines dripped into their homes.

6. One year after launch, we'll see a truly unified (albeit a bit slapdash) online service. They can't directly copy Xbox Live, so they'll keep PlayStation Online running the way it currently is (crap-tacular) but a year after launch, there's going to be something along the lines of Nintendo WiFi. Pretty basic, but gets the job done.

They've already built a grid using Butterfly's distributed networking grid, so they just need a software service to overlay on it. It'll be something that mixes their iTunes competitor site (Connect) with an online game service. Multiple Sony products will be integrated. It'll be a subscription service, like Yahoo! Music or Real Rhapsody - but include gaming support. So for $x per year, you'll be able to play online and download full versions of movies and music. Sony's got the libarary, they just need to leverage it. Through the service, you'll be able to fill up your PSP with audio/video, likewise your PS3. But once you cancel, everything deletes itself. It's a perfect way to counter iTunes and Xbox Live in one swoop - if done properly.

7. Reduced # of USB and firewire ports. The PS3 will have four USB controller ports and two spares. All firewire except save one port will be dropped. USB 2.0 is faster anyhow and a lot of DV cameras are moving to USB 2.0. The firewire support depends on how much of Sony's camcorder line moves to USB 2.0. If they drop firewire in their digital video products, then it's dead on the PS3.

8. Backwards compatibility with PS2 but not PSOne. C'mon, we've all stopped playing our PSOne games ages ago. Except for me, because damnit, I like the original Wipeout and Syphon Filter.

9. PSP integration - download videos, trailers, full movies, etc. via the PS3 online service (again, it'll be integrated with their current online consumer offerings) and dump 'em to your PSP. Tired of paying $20 for UMD movies? Don't worry, you can download a whole movie to your PS3 for $5 and it'll last a month, then it deletes itself. Or, download and drop it onto the PSP to take it with you.

10. Sony steals away some Xbox Live staff, because frankly, that's the best part of the Xbox "experience." Some staffers, tired of Microsoft taking the Xbox from "cool" to "corporate" and disgusted with the whole MTV'ing of their product will defect to Sony in hopes of "just building a damned good game system." These people team up with Ed Fries (who's been consulting to Sony on a few small jobs) to create a Sony Redmond office which will suffer from being too free-spirited for Sony's liking, but will show Sony how to properly fight the battle for the hearts of online gamers by producing a decent service. A service that, as I've said, will ship a year after PS3, when Sony finally integrates all their media products.

And a bonus #11...the price...$300 US. They're willing to eat big costs to make sure nobody distrupts their licensing income, which is where the fat money is at. Maybe at launch it'll be higher, since they can get early adopters to pay just about anyting to be "first", but it won't stay that way long. Anything they can do to get Microsoft to hemmorage money on Xbox, theyll do, knowing full well, at some point - Microsoft investors will push for horrifying cost cuts ( = low produc quality), a change in product direction, or just kill the product entirely. I admit, killing the Xbox line entirely is something that probably would never happen, but who's to say they won't just license the tech out to someone else, like 3DO was trying to do, and get out of the game entirely. Or, maybe they'll license the console to someone else, then just build more first party games, instead of the direction they are in now, which is building consoles and making only a few games.

So there you have it, 10 (actually 11) predictions for the PS3. We'll see how right I am when the PS3 actually ships, which I'm guessing is going to be late November '06 in the US (so that makes it 12 predictions.)

-Calico

[Legatus]

Well first off I'm glad to hear that my prediction was right about Nov/Dec 06 launch! I can't believe that people still think its coming out this summer! It makes me laugh.

10. Sony steals away some Xbox Live staff, because frankly, that's the best part of the Xbox "experience." Some staffers, tired of Microsoft taking the Xbox from "cool" to "corporate" and disgusted with the whole MTV'ing of their product will defect to Sony in hopes of "just building a damned good game system." These people team up with Ed Fries (who's been consulting to Sony on a few small jobs) to create a Sony Redmond office which will suffer from being too free-spirited for Sony's liking, but will show Sony how to properly fight the battle for the hearts of online gamers by producing a decent service. A service that, as I've said, will ship a year after PS3, when Sony finally integrates all their media products.

-Couldnt agree with him More~

And 300 dollars, not a fat chance! I think they will price it at 400 or maybe something less. Maybe after 4-6 months they will mark it down to 300, but the thing I like most is this.

Sony had a concern with the PSP dying out with the launch of the PS3. So having it be a portable PS3 where you can transfer content is great and genious.

Also, No Microsoft is not going to let sony walk behind them and stab 'em in the back. No sir ree, we have a many many many multi billion dollar company vs. a somewhat billion dollar company. Sony beats MS in experience though!

[TERPaholic]

I have also heard of specualtion that the PSP could be used as another controller on the PS3.

[Legatus]

Cant and wont happen.

[TERPaholic]

I don't see why it couldn't be. Afterall the PS3 and the PSP collaborating together is a very big part for the next-gen sony console.

[Legatus]

yes but not functining as a controller.

[TERPaholic]

Then what would it possibly function as? Since you can get on the internet from your PSP, you will be able to bring up a browser on your PSP and transfer songs and pictures, etc.