PS3 expectations are "unrealistic" says Sony

SCEA president Jack Tretton says that the phenomenal success of the PS2 has given gamers "unrealistic" expectations for its next-gen console, in an interview with EGM.

"Because we're in that leadership position, there are a lot of expectations thrust upon us and some of them are a little unrealistic," Tretton says in the interview.

"If we were a distant third in the platform race, people would have a warm spot in their hearts for the good old days of PlayStation and they'd actually root for us to get back on top," he continues. "But I don't know if we want to pay the price to get that kind of [love]"

But regardless of the pressure pilled on by Microsoft's head-start to the market, Tretton is confident that Sony will remain the market leader in the forthcoming console battle. "I think we've got a better machine," he says. "I think we've got a better business model, and I think we're going to win in the long term."

PlayStation 3 is out in Europe on March 23.

via cvg

Its true that the competition is different this time... think about it

Last time Sony had to deal with Sega (which should have done better then it actually did) Microsoft, who was somewhat new to the video game console market, and the GC which turned up too late and didnt seem to get the 3rd party support it needed.

This time around MS not only has experiance in the VG console world, but also has been out for a much longer time. Nintendo has done brilliant job with the Wii in its advertising, and the low price makes it tempting. Sony, this time around, has a much larger competition. the PS3 made a somewhat disappointingly low impact at E3. It is the most expensive console by a few hundred. It also has sort of mediocre launch titles in comparison to what the Wii had (not that the wii's launch titles were all killer apps) and the xbox360 had a year to get some good hits out.

Its true that expectations are unrealistic, but with the success of the ps2 that is to be expected. Give us something good!

I have to say Sony did the right thing by packaging blue-ray in the PS3. They may not have more consoles sold, but for every blue-ray movie the sell they are making money. That gap is just going to narrow untill they start turning major profit. Who knows what is going to happen.

The Wii I think, is going to lose almost all 3rd party support due to the recent flood of modchips. So, Nintendo will probably not even going to be a player in this race.

The 360 is a great system, and cheaper too. True it does end up costing the same as a PS3, if you buy the HD-DVD add on. But when used strictly for games, it is much better choice unless you are an RPG fiend, in this case you need a PS3 so you can worship the new Final Fantasy (a.k.a. random ass RPG with chocobos and FINAL FANTASY name).