Five Key Strategies to Help Improve the PS3

Ever since the debut of the PS3, Sony has had many unsuccessful strategies in selling that superior powerful machine thus having two models at launch and even offering a price drop to one hundred dollar off the 60 GB PS3 model didn't help improve sales profits. Then Sony had to take out their most precious Cell Processor which takes away PS2 backward compatibility in their later models to reduce price and selling it at a lower $499.99. To Sony, the price tag might be the only thing that consumers try to avoid getting but on the developer's side, the PS3 is damn hard to develop for despite the powerful processor it contains. If Sony continues to sell the PS3 at the high cost, it would really mean doom for the electronic giant at least in the gaming side of thing. To me, I think Sony could still add some miracle to its console in the case if they are smart enough to use them before 2008. Here are my five good strategies for Sony that could really help them benefit their console from being in third place.

First - Know the Market: The PlayStation 3 is a videogame console, people want to see it as a videogame console and people want to play it as a videogame console. Sony should leave the Cell Processor as it originally was and dropped the Blu-Ray player. They should know that the reason their strategies are failing is not because their PS3 flopped, it's because they turn it into something that is beyond videogaming, consumer look at it as more of a high super computer or entertainment device and not a videogame console. No matter how many times Sony dropped the price, I believe it would not sell unless they get rid of the Blu-Ray, I mean what's good about Blu-Ray anyways (other then fighting the format wars against HD DVD). Gamers would rather play the complete lines of classic PS1 and PS2 library as well as upcoming PS3 titles all in one console than having to waste their time swapping Blu-Ray movies.

Second - Add Innovations: The PlayStation 3 is a next generation console and as so they should create a gameplay that thoroughly prove that. Gamers don't want to see a Second-Life clone, they don't want to play the same Dual Shock with minor upgrades and they don't want to see the same last generation visuals with few improvements. If Sony really want more consoles to sell, they should take the time to focus and create something fresh like a Dual Shock gun, a PS3 steering wheel, or maybe a game franchise that use the full function of both the rumble vibrations and the Sixaxis features intact.

Third - Create Superior Download Service: Having demos to download and offering gamers the chance to play a few arcade hits from the 90s as well as some few PS1 games for play on PSP are a beginning for Sony and the PS3 but how about grabbing more hits into their download service. Now downloading classic PS1 games is a great idea; however, the requirement of having to transfer them and playing them only on the PSP is not quite smart. If Sony want to keep gamers coming, they should at least let gamers play their downloaded PS1 games on the console as well, I mean there's nothing wrong playing them on the PSP but what if the console owner doesn't have a PSP, would that be a waste. Also Sony needs to sign in more publishers for their virtual service. I know Midway had jumped in on their bandwagon with Mortal Kombat II and Capcom is offering Super Street Fighter II: Turbo HD but how about more from the likes of SNK, Sega, Square Enix, Namco or even Konami. It's not the end of the world yet and the PS3 is still going strong to be alive today. If they don't want it to go the way of Dreamcast I suggest they start their next plan as soon as 2008 otherwise it will mean doom for the PS3.

Fourth - Add Bundle Games: The reason why not many customers buy PS3 is because it came as a stand-alone console with no game bundle and even if it does came as a bundle, it only bundle with a Blu-Ray movie and not a game. Sony did sell the 80 GB PS3 SKU with Motor Storm as a bundle so why not continue that trend. Also puzzle game had being tremendously helpful as a launch game, I see Lumine as an example of a successful puzzle title for the PSP and I can also see it as a great hit for PS3 too; though, Sony never bundle it with any of the console or portable. If they are smart they may have to rework their strategy and start packing in every great title they can on their PS3 (Yes, even Resistance: Fall of Men is a great pack-in game) because customers don't want to buy a console and came home to find no game to play.

Fifth - Make the Price Tag Affordable and the PS3 More Comfortable: If Sony is smart enough to use the four above strategies, then they will find that they had no trouble dropping the PS3 price tag to a more affordable status like say $249 or $299. Without Blu-Ray, the expensive part will be out of the picture, also redesigning the console of the PS3 to be of a more smaller unit could be a breeze of fresh air as well. Customers don't like heavy stuff and the PS3 is anything but heavy, if Sony can redesign the console like they did with their PS2 (or the portable PSP Slim) before it, they could very well take back their leading position in the videogame war again.

So with all these in the pipe line, will Sony make improvement or will they continue carry on relying on Blu-Ray, only time will tell. There are a lot that Sony needs to do to help improve their console and these above strategies might be keys to their success; however, not all company could agree on such foretold argument so let's hope them the best in 2008 and in case if they did succeed, then maybe it won't be as bad as we thought otherwise this could very well be the end of the PS3.