Will the PlayStation 3 Go the Way of the 3DO?

In this Round of the Video Game Wars, it would seem that Sony had somehow went from 1^st to worst in terms of sales. It dominated the markets with the PlayStation and the PlayStation 2, both very good systems but then the PlayStation 3 came about. The price came out at the initial number at $600, ranking at either #2 or #3 of being the most expensive system that came out in the market. Its item was made to have multiple new features such as Blu Ray for starters. Looking closely at the system, it is perhaps the biggest factor that has the price so high due to it not being a standard just yet. Though at this moment the PS3 is currently selling at $500 for the 60 GB model, the 80 GB model will however return to the $600 range. If it was expected to sell like hot cakes, it didn't even come close as currently the X-Box 360 and the Wii are outselling it by a wide margin.

Go back in time when Sony had just entered the market, there was a system created by Panasonic that was supposed to be dubbed "ahead of its time." It used CDs and was in the middle of the transitional stage between the cartridges and the CD bases. The name of it was the infamous 3DO, which probably has the record for the highest price to come out for a launch of any game console past or present. It had the ability to play Video CDs, used FMV or Full Motion Video, MP3 music, which was a new thing in video game consoles. It failed due to lack of exclusives and of course that price tag. No game console is ever worth such a hefty price tag and it won't sell bottom line. How anyone could see that working out for people to rush out and buy it is just insane. Looking at it and the history behind it, it's pretty obvious why they didn't make another system after that. Due to being a failure, it forced Panasonic to stay out of the console division.

It seems to be a twist of irony that it was Panasonic that got beat by Sony due to the hefty price and yet Sony makes the same mistakes and gets stomped on by Microsoft and Nintendo. Too much of anything can be a bad thing as Sony may find that out the hard way. It will take years before Blu Ray becomes more of a standard due to being a relatively new piece of technology. While it is understandable why the system can't drop in price due to that, it is also something that wasn't necessary to have in it.

Studying and thinking about the history of the video game race, one major mistake can turn out to damage the company's reputation in the long term. For instance, going back further Atari made one major mistake and that was E.T., the symbol of the Video Game Crash of 1983, thus damaging Atari forever on being #1 in the video game market, though at present time Atari does make some games and focuses on remaking classic systems. Sega had made a major mistake in the form of the Add-On 32X and now they are just a game developing company and nothing more. As noted, the 3DO while not a Mainstream system, still felt the effect of the one major failure that costs them a possible reputation. If Sony isn't careful, they will be joining the boat but it will take a major effort for them to even get back into the picture.Hopefully Sony will learn from this mistake and take out what's not needed at this time. Maybe a slim version of the PS3 without the Blu Ray and the 7 Core Processor could be reduced to maybe a 3-5 core Processor could help. If only they would get some more exclusive games because at this moment, some of the games either appear also on the Wii, 360, or even both. It could go the way of the 3DO if Sony decides to quit being so cocky with their system, which has serious potential though. It is up to them to decide their own fate in the gaming division.