Roundtable Revisited
I don't know which of the PS3 editors was featured in the roundtable discussion your site recently posted, but the comment that the Wii will end up selling the most units is pure stupidity. Unlike the rest of you guys, I was not a fan of the roundtable -- everyone gave straightforward typical responses, refused to stir up controversy, and when they tried (as with the Wii comment) it was just pure stupidity.

If you go on eBay now the Wii is selling for 500, or double what it will retail for, whereas the PS3 is selling for 3 times what it is going to retail for ($1800). Not only is that, but the simple brand name of the PlayStation so powerful that Nintendo and Microsoft will have no chance. I am sick and tired of reading articles that say, "Oh wow! Microsoft had such a great head start," or "Oh wow! Wii is so cheap Sony better watch out!" Sony will produce a huge amount of units just like they did with the PS2 and PS1.

Sure, I'm a large fan and supporter of the Sony brand, because they consistently deliver -- but how can someone honestly say, someone who has enormous experience in the industry, that the Wii will sell the most consoles? Also as for your roundtables, you guys need to be more controversial -- give us some statements that the viewer might disagree with. Matt from the Wii channel tried to stir up some interesting statements but ultimately fell flat.

--Kevin

The "pure stupidity" from the PS3 editor in that roundtable was my doing, but I was basing my opinion off the facts presented to me, not an agenda or wishful thinking. But if we could back up for a moment, I think you misunderstood the question. It wasn't "Which system would sell the most units ever," but "Which system will sell the most units this Holiday season." The answer to that is simple math my friend: PlayStation 3 will ship roughly 1-2 million units worldwide by the end of December, whereas the Wii is looking to ship roughly 4 million. Even if Nintendo was short by a mission units, that's still more systems on the shelves at a lower price. How could I not think that the Wii would sell the most during the Holidays with numbers like that?

As for your other point, I couldn't disagree more. Our job is to cover the games industry, not say controversial things just to make our conversations more interesting. That's irresponsible, and it's the job of marketing machines and public relations teams, not journalists.

--Jeremy

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When is the Time Right?
In your latest mailbag you responded to a reader's letter with this:

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, 'defending' the PS3 isn't in the best interest of our readers. Taking an honest, realistic approach is how I can serve them best, and defending the system just to do it doesn't help anyone"

Oh yes, we certainly can't "defend" the PS3 but we sure as hell can attack it can't we? There doesn't seem to be any kind moral or ethical approach to your journalism (and in this I mean "IGN" and not you personally), when you like to slam Sony and scrutinize every decision, rumor and news when as far as the PS3 is concerned. Where are the negative and cynical remarks and articles when MS or Nintendo is being discussed? "Defending" like a Fanboy of course not, but putting criticisms into perspective and make sure ALL of the platforms get the equal amount of treatment YES.

--Raponi

All's fair in Launch and War.

On this channel, we try to remain as objective and even-handed as possible. If we have something negative to say it's for good reason, and if we have something positive to say, we abide by that same rule. Just remember this: negative articles seem to carry more weight with message boards, thereby increasing their likelihood to be talked about compared to positive stories -- especially in our Fanboy-heavy Internet culture. So just because our story about a developer criticizing Sony may appear on the site and get people excited, it doesn't mean that we're going to ignore positive fan reaction towards the PS3. The only thing I can promise you and our other readers is that we'll report on what happens -- good, bad, or ugly. How you decide to take it is on you.

On a similar note, and to address your comment specifically about "All of IGN," I agree that some editors have their preferences and make it known to all who will listen. But as far as I can tell, they leave those comments to their own editorials, mailbags, and blogs (and don't interject them into news stories). If, however, you can send me specific examples of a personal preference being interjected into a news article to paint one system in a positive light (or a negative one) simply because that editor doesn't like it, then send it along. I'd be happy to call them out along with you.

--Jeremy

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Remember to Go Backwards
In comparison to the PS2, the PS3 has gotten very little coverage in terms of the backwards-compatibility question. I'm sure it's available, but with the PS3 touting its HD and convincing lots of future owners to upgrade to HDTVs, does it take into account some serious issues with low-def outputs over high-def cables to high-def displays?

Let me give you an example. We just picked up a Viewsonic 37" HDTV. I hooked up component cables, and the TV cannot display any PS1 games (or something like Mega Man X Collection, for example). The output works, of course, with the standard cable or S-video cable to the TV.

Here's the question: will we be able to play PS1 games (or even PS2, depending on the nature of this problem) over the latest-greatest HDMI cables? Or will we have to swap out our regular cables for backwards-compatible play?

In addition, any word on texture filtering or AA for PS1 and PS2 games? Even some of the latest-greatest games for the PS2 are almost unbearable to look at on this TV. At least with a standard-def TV, it hid the low-res of even the PS2 (in comparison to PC outputs), but now we see it in all its ugly glory. Any help there would be hot. Thanks!

--Jared

That's a very good question, and thus far, none of our contacts at Sony know the answer to it. The reason? Backwards-compatibility isn't available in the firmware that editors and PR contacts have been messing around with, so there's no way to test it just yet.

In theory, they should work just fine -- Touting the ability to play every PlayStation game on the market without actually letting you play them would be a terrible, terrible move. We'll give you an update on this as soon as we know for sure.

--Jeremy

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HD for Free?
Will there be HD component cables available for the PS3 at launch?

--Klauser

If you want to see games like Fight Night in HD, you'll have to pay extra for the cables.

Yes, component cables will be available but they won't be packed into the box itself (which is crazy, and I have no idea why they wouldn't be included). Instead, only composite cords ship as the default hook-ups.

If you want to run out and grab PlayStation 2 component cables right now, however, you might as well. They are they exact same cables that Sony will be using for the PlayStation 3 (they're what I use now, and the signal is top notch).

--Jeremy

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Customer Service Goes a Long Way
I'm a huge frequenter of IGN and rely on the site's judgment for a lot of things, as I'm sure a lot of people do. On the main page, nearly every title that's cross platform between the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 links to the 360 version, leaving little love for Sony's poor next gen console.

On the lust list, all the games are Wii and Xbox 360, and a few of the games listed simply as "360" are cross platform PS3 games (Assassin's creed, Rainbow Six Vegas), Why the hate IGN?

--Jesse

We've gotten quite a few letters about this, and I promise you there's no conspiracy. Our popularity charts known as the "Lust List" (ugh, I don't like that title at all), is based on user wishlist interest and reader traffic -- we don't determine it ourselves. This means that if you see a cross-platform game appear in that article for a particular system, it's because that specific version is popular with our frequenters.

As for the main IGN.com links, those have an easy explanation too. Most third party cross-platform games are being shown to press via 360 right now -- the PS3 versions have been kept on much tighter leashes. So, as you can imagine, Xbox 360 coverage of those titles is more prominent.

--Jeremy

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Farewell For Now
I'm going to keep this short and to the point as I'm up to my ears in review and feature writing right now. That said, be on the lookout for our official IGN PS3 Launch Guide, which debuts next week (probably Monday), and check the PS2 page later this evening for my Final Fantasy XII review. It's the best RPG I've played all year, and best of all, you can play it on your PlayStation 3 in just a couple of weeks.

See you next time.

Jeremy Dunham
Editor in Chief, IGN PlayStation Team
(Click here to check out my blog or to setup one of your own)