Mike Antonucci: Sony bloviation deserves snub of PlayStation2 by consumers
BY MIKE ANTONUCCI
Mercury News
Don't buy a PlayStation 2.
Every now and then, consumers get an exquisite opportunity to fight back against being taken for granted. And the upcoming launch of the PlayStation 2 video-game console from Sony Corp. is exactly that.
What Sony has been telling the public for months is that the PlayStation 2 is something more wonderful than having super powers and that people should make sure they get one under whatever terms Sony wants to dictate.
Are those the words Sony used? No.
Is that the reality? Absolutely.
Let's briefly recap: The retail debut of the PlayStation 2 is scheduled for Oct. 26 in North America at a quantity of 500,000 consoles. That's down from the 1 million Sony projected it could make available when it announced the release date at a massive news conference in May -- an event basically dedicated to the assertion that the PlayStation 2 will ``redefine'' America's entertainment lifestyle.
Even at 1 million, Sony probably wouldn't have been able to satisfy demand. It's anybody's guess what immediate sales could have been if Sony had enough inventory. Two million? Three million?
The upshot is that there will be a surplus of only one thing: consumer howling. Lots of folks are going to be frustrated and angry that Sony flamboyantly hyped a holiday-season product that is so elusive.
Moreover, you can count on the standard ripple effects that set people's teeth on edge. Insiders at various points in the distribution chain will divert consoles to friends and family. Online auction prices will reach silly levels, far above the $300 retail price at stores. You can expect an upscale, teenage-and-adult oriented, Tickle-Me-Elmo shortage atmosphere, provoking a steady stream of bile all the way through Christmas.
Sony says it will catch up to its initial supply projections by following the launch with shipments of 100,000 more consoles per week through the end of the year.
But don't count on it. There's a lot of wishing, hoping and public-relations spin in that pronouncement. It's about as reliable as that original forecast of 1 million machines for the launch.
Sony's attitude reeks of arrogance.
Forget the fact that the company is stoking demand that it can't satisfy. A huge advertising campaign is on the way. As crass as that seems in light of the tight supply, there are some justifications, such as establishing a long-term impact among Americans with notoriously short attention spans.
The bigger sin is all the Sony boasting about how revolutionary, how technologically inspired, the PlayStation 2 is -- boasting that ought to come with many more specifics than the company has offered so far. There's a huge range of issues on which Sony is essentially silent, including what the company has in mind for the high-speed online connections that will be available at some later date.
Yes, the console also will serve as a DVD player, but Sony keeps alluding to much more, such as entertainment innovations that are going to be inspired by, or unique to, the machine's particular combination of features. Like what, you ask? Nothing that Sony either can or will describe.
From Sony's standpoint -- and let's face it, from the standpoint of many experienced gamers who decided for themselves that the PlayStation 2 is a must-have item -- the skeptics can't see the forest for the trees.
At a recent promotional event in San Francisco, Kazuo Hirai, president of Sony Computer Entertainment America, said the vagueness about the console's ultimate impact was part and parcel of its uniqueness.
``The only limitation is in the imagination of the people who create content.''
Throw in the fact that Sony's production efforts are complicated by a worldwide components shortfall, and, well, you could make the argument that we're lucky such a cutting-edge machine will launch at a number as big as 500,000.
I see it differently, obviously. To me, it boils down to this:
Sony is selling the PlayStation 2 on buzz and promises -- as something with more potential than can be immediately checklisted -- as well as the machine's out-of-the-box capabilities. It's supposed to be too cool to pass up, even if the privilege of ownership comes with a nasty ration of customer abuse.
In other words, buy it at Sony's convenience or be the don't-have bozo in a must-have world.
That's the Sony perspective, anyway.
My advice is to resist. Don't buy a PlayStation 2. It's an entertainment device. It's not food, it's not medicine. If you can't control yourself, at least wait a few months. Show at least a granule of consumer moxie.
Sure, one of the prevailing philosophies of Silicon Valley life is that there's very little reason to deprive yourself of anything you really want.
You don't like paying $9 to see a movie, do you? But not paying it means you can't see the trendiest film on its first night in theaters. If you're itching to see that flick, it's usually no contest, right? The money is spent.
Also gone, however: your consumer leverage.
Don't let the decision play out like that with the PlayStation 2. Even if your resistance doesn't seem significant right away -- those first 500,000 consoles are already sold, really -- it could make a big difference down the road.
Next-generation game machines from Microsoft and Nintendo are coming in 2001. Sony wants to be the winner over the long haul, not just in the early going. So take advantage of your choices, long term and short term.
After all, we're talking video games. It's not as if there aren't alternatives to the PlayStation 2. OK, not perfect substitutes, not technological equals. But fun stuff, and not necessarily stone age. Here are three ways to redirect your PlayStation 2 funds:
Sega's Dreamcast console offers a terrific gaming experience. You don't need to worry about available games -- there are plenty, well varied in type -- and the potential for online play may or may not be a bonus attraction. The machine is its own selling point.
The extraordinary ``Zelda'' game series from Nintendo is back on -- well, what do you know? -- Oct. 26. You can buy the new game, ``The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask,'' and the N64 console to play it on, yet still spend considerably less than you would have on the PlayStation 2. If the extra cash burns a hole in your pocket, Nintendo is releasing Banjo-Tooie, the sequel to Banjo-Kazooie, in late November.
Well, this does have a stone-age factor: Buy an ancient system -- Atari 2600, perhaps? -- and some games for it in an online auction. Maybe the nostalgia appeals to you. Or the historical value. Either way, the auction process may heighten the fun. Bid smart. Let me know what you get. |
