Sony faces challenge with new PlayStation

Not when they're waging a war against their customers ("always on" DRM, destroying the second-hand market, ...).

“If Sony wants to win it, they need to show some killer games to get people to go out and spend a lot of money for the core game experience,” Hickey said.

Just as Sony stated at one of the very first E3 conventions: It's The Games.

That truth has not changed. Will sony return to that wisdom? As always, time will tell ...

Fingers crossed!! I would like Sony to get back to its old glory as at present they seem to have been tarnished.

The main problem is they have waged war against the customer base, they need to lighten up, stop treating us all like thieves and pirates and just let the content flow at reasonable prices and customers will flock to it and piracy will naturally drop. Rental models are better than buying content so make us want to rent it (with a monthly cost to get access to all content and not per movie/song)

Sony should have the upper hand over most companies, they own a movie studio, a record label, god knows how many TV show rights, this should all be made available on a subscription model that makes people sit back and think, PS4 or my set top cable/satellite box I think I will choose the PS4. They have the hardware ability I will give them that but they need to get all of this stuck together with software that is innovative and easy to use which is where it always goes wrong in Sony's world.

If they nail this then the next PS will return to where it belongs at the top of the tree, if they don't then I fear that this will be the last Playstation. Not that I mind the Xbox 360, bought it day 1 (unlike the PS3 which I bought a year ago) and the Xbox is brilliant for its video content and user interface but my PS3 has taken over for gaming!

Unfortunately (for Sony), I think the console heydays are over. As the article mentions, people have more devices than ever and if they want to play, they play different things in different devices. If the rumors are true, that Sony is going to integrate "social networking" into PS4 and that is the best thing they can come up with, they are clearly doomed.

I'm surprised there was no mention of 3D. Incorporating 3D into the new console and games would give people a real reason to move up, and it would drive sales of 3D TVs. If the only improvement is that the machine can render a few more triangles per second, that's not going to catch anyone's interest.

Please no, not 3d. I seriously hope sony doesnt add that 3d stuff with glasses. People complaining about quality PS games, PS has a lot of quality games: GTA4, Max Payne3, Heavy Rain, Uncharted etc.

What Sony needs to do is add a LOT more content to their online store and make games a lot cheaper. 8000 yen for a new game? wtf.

Also need to make it easier to play online with people from other countries, all this region restriction bs is not necessary.

oh and last, better online security. How many times did they get hacked?

I agree with you Papigiulio, plus if they really want to sell the next gen they need to find that balance with the software and hardware.

Another thing that I'm sure alot of us will agree on is that it needs PS3 compatibility, seriously alot of people were not happy that you couldn't play PS2 games on the PS3. Granted the first gen PS3s were able to do so but after sony realize it they quickly made it so it can't....those jerks (╯ಠ_ಠ)╯ ︵ ┻━┻

Not when they're waging a war against their customers ("always on" DRM, destroying the second-hand market, ...).

So true. Sony's main problem is they are loath to license any content. And they push DRM way too aggressively. People want to rent movies, buy songs etc., but they don't want to be limited to what they can do with it after they have spent their money. In the US you can buy almost all songs on iTunes Store without DRM. In Japan, there are no DRM free songs on iTunes store. The reason? Sony (and other Japanese firms) refusing to allow their content to be DRM free.

And remember all the variations of the memory stick with DRM protection.

I'm surprised there was no mention of 3D. Incorporating 3D into the new console and games would give people a real reason to move up, and it would drive sales of 3D TVs. If the only improvement is that the machine can render a few more triangles per second, that's not going to catch anyone's interest.

Ummm, the current PS3 already supports 3D. I have played games in 3D and it's quite tiring on your eyes,so I mostly play in 2D. But I still like 3D for short periods of time.

I can name one thing that will stop me from purchasing the next Sony console. Cinavia.