UK Playstation boss Ray Maguire has admitted what we already knew, namely that the PS3's slow start was due to the high RRP.
"The gamble that Ken Kutaragi took with the PlayStation 3 was to put in a high level of technology, so it has been a bit slow to market in some respects, but we're now seeing how people are starting to understand how the technology works. Historically, the installed base of any hardware platform has been proportional to its great gameplay, but also very attached to the RRP. That was the second part of Kutaragi-san's gamble, as that hardware made the machine more expensive. But now we're in the second part of the PS3's cycle, and since the price came down, there has clearly been an uplift."
Clearly there has been a sales uplift but are people really "starting to understand how the technology works"? And more importantly do they actually care? Does your average Wii owner feel they are missing out not having Blu-ray? I doubt it.
You can't knock the PS3 as a piece of a kit - it still works fine for me while I'm on my fourth 360 now - but you have to wonder if features like Remote Play - fiddly to setup, geekily impressive when it works - are symptomatic of a console that almost tries to do too much. In light of the relatively low-tech Wii's huge success has Kutaragi's gamble on high tech failed? Or is it just too early to tell?
