PlayStation 3 fans were preparing for a sleepless night ahead of Saturday’s launch of Sony’s hotly awaited new console but the hype has been tempered by fears of an over-reliance on recycled hits.
While the PlayStation’s legion of Japanese fans are expected to queue up early to jostle for one of the prized new consoles, some analysts are questioning whether the PS3 has the ‘wow factor’ yet to be a real blockbuster.
”Content-wise, the PS3 doesn’t look that impressive,” said Hiroshi Kamide, a game analyst at KBC Securities.
”The key issue is that software developers weren’t given enough preparation time and are waiting on the sidelines to figure out how the PS3 will fare against its competitors.”
Sony brushes aside such concerns, promising a mix of ultra-fast and realistic versions of existing favourites as well as new titles.
”We have put enormous efforts into developing this new machine and we have put in the latest and the most advanced technologies,” said Yoshiko Furusawa, vice-president of corporate communications at Sony Computer Entertainment.
”But that does not mean that we have been lighter on the software development,” she added.
New titles were important but old favourites such as Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid, Devil May Cry and Final Fantasy were also crucial, she said.
Five games will be available for the PS3 on the launch day including software giant Namco Bandai’s Ridge Racer 7 and Mobile Suit Gundam: Target in Sight of the hugely popular Gundam series.
Sony Computer Entertainment meanwhile will release two games, GENJI and Resistance: Fall of Man.
The five are a mix of updates or spin-offs and brand new titles.
GENJI is a sequel of an earlier version for the PlayStation 2, but brings more samurai action as it takes the gamer back to feudal Japan to fight enemies with mystical weapons.
Resistance: Fall of Man, is a completely new title with a hero saving the world from mutants of Russia’s secret biochemical experiments.
Software makers have had to go back to the drawing board to develop games for the powerful PS3 which has a microprocessor developed in partnership with IBM and Toshiba that is 40 times faster than the chip that runs PlayStation 2.
”With the PS3 we started from zero, on a blank sheet of paper,” said Izumi Wada, spokesperson for Namco Bandai.
Namco is currently experimenting with new formats so ”there are plenty more opportunities to develop new games”, he added.
Wada said the PS3’s interactive feature would allow completely new ways of gaming, with as many as 12 players able to compete together in Ridge Racer 7.
Analysts say Sony’s priority appears to be the hard-core gamers but even so some are betting that the PS3 can pull in non-traditional gamers as it vies with its arch-rival Nintendo which releases its Wii console here in December.
”The PS3 can attract people who love movies, people who are sensitive to the beauty of imagery and graphics, and there will be software for them,” said Hirokazu Hamamura, president of video game researcher Enterbrain.
Afrika for example, developed by Sony Computer Entertainment and due out next year, promises lifelike replications of fauna and flora.
”Absolutely no other console has such advanced graphics,” Hamamura said.
While Nintendo is promising sixteen games at its launch on December 2, he expects the PS3 to catch up by mid-2007 as more games including the latest in the hugely popular Final Fantasy series become available.
”Sony’s PS3 might lose out in the first months against Nintendo’s Wii, but with Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid out next summer, I think a bigger platform [of games for the PS3] than Nintendo’s will come out,” Hamamura said. – Sapa-AFP