Gamers on Twitter: Advice for Sony and the PS3

I do not think Sony will go down. They are going to drop the price more, and people will buy more PS3 if even just for the Blu-ray. I wonder if there is an attachment to let the Wii play Blu-ray..hmmmm that would be cool.

Sony should embrace developers like Nintendo and Xbox have (even Apple), and get rid of that ridiculous 10K dev kit fee. Sony will win if we look at past history. They say, '10 year console' which is good long-term thinking. Even the PS2 still sells and titles are still made. Price is fine, you can drop over time. It's not an issue of TODAY they should worry about.

Oh and maximize next-gen stuff like camera games, and get rid of that lame browser and bring on Firefox. Or even CHROME (since there is an obvious love of Google present with the PS3).

I wasn't aware of the 10K developers kit! They should be enticing developers to make games for the PS3. That's something they can easily fix. Fabulous observation!

Could you tell us more about your thoughts on camera games?

I'd like to see a real browser like Firefox or Chrome on the PS3 too. They aren't in the web development business. Sony should just focus on the delivering the best platform and game titles to consumers.

Few years ago, it used to be 20K. 1/2 OFF!

We are at an early crossroads with how we interact with machines, although it's a bit understated. Take a look at multitouch screens on iPhones/Clones, motion-sensing (wiimote and SIXAXIS), and the light use of cameras. Those PSEye games are fun and affordable and gently introduce the world of augmented reality to a consumer public in a way that's not scary.

Even on the Xbox 360, Viva Pinata allows you to hold up a trading card to the camera and the character jumps into the game. Eye of Judgement is the first major title on the PS3 I can think of-- now imagine if Nintendo had a camera and the ability to 'see' every Pokemon card. EOJ might be silly, Pokemon (not to armies of kids) is not.

The PS2 had a fair amount of camera games (which you could probably clean out the inventory at GameStop for under 20 bucks), that satisfy our Minority Report UI hunger. The only thing on the horizon for the PS3 that is nothing short of amazing is EyePet (google it for the vid), rumored for a late 2009 release.

Going back to the browser (it's relevant here re: cameras), even though there is Flash 9 available, and that opens the doors to a load of web-based games, we the users are unable to connect to any site that uses cameras. Seesmic, Utterli, even Youtube-- to record and post video. Maybe that's a driver issue of the camera, maybe it's the browser, I'm not sure.

What I *am* sure about is how game-changing it would be to see Papervision+FLARToolkit projects show up (google this as well). 3D spaces in Flash, with the layer of visual recognition by way of augmented reality on top of it. Why develop a Big Serious Hardcore 3D Game when you can score points with a casual game instead?

The Wii uses Opera, Microsoft uses, uh, well, yeah okay so there's not IE for Xbox, lol. PS3 uses Netfront. The potential is there, even though the official lines from the various companies seem bullish on internet use.

However I trust Sony in different ways. Maybe because when I open the browser, I see Sony's playstation page with prominent links to Twitter, Flickr, Youtube, et al. The freedom to do what I want with the box in ways I'd never think Sony would let us (Sony is a big company, combined with awesome and root-kit evil--depends on the department).

We might not be able to paint or fly with our hands and faces at -this point- in the game, but as an avid gamer (with kids no less), the potential is huge that can be snatched away by the ever-present Wii and perhaps even the sloth that is Microsoft. Sony just has to let us in.

My apologies for my blog post in your comments :)

By the way BukolaE your hot!

Blu Ray has won the media war and no ones making games on that media, so they no longer need it in the PS3. Remove that, add some more memory (256Mb is a joke) and reduce the price to around $250 then I'll buy one. If they wait too long I'll just save my money for an Xbox 720.

I'm confident your recommendation could lead to more sales for Sony. Gamers want an affordable yet powerful machine. But I'm sure that many of us don't value Blu Ray enough to pay a premium for it. It might be holding them back if it's driving up the price of the console.

The PS3 has to find a way to get more games on the platform. The more developers see that they can't make a profit on the system the more they are going to leave. Southpeak just announced "Section 8" would no longer be coming to the system. Sony may need to find a way to bring more Indie developers over to PSN. That way they boost up their library of game content, and push digital distribution on the platform. This will also allow for a variety in game content. Remember the size of games that can be made out paces what Microsoft offers on Xbox Live Arcade game development. So this is an area Sony can grow, and get sales.

Great point. Adding more opportunities for indie developers would increase their digital library and likely increase sales.