Forbes Anti-PS3 Fallacies Smacked Down Again by SmashPad

Anthony Perez of SmashPad rips into Forbes' latest article "PS3 Slim: Too Little Too Late." He writes:

"We've had quite a history with Forbes here at Gamer 2.0 and SmashPad. Once again Forbes is claiming the PS3 has done too little too late with the PS3 Slim in an article written by Brian Caulfie…Brian Caulfied?

Wait, Brian Caulfield? Why does that sound so familiar?

Oh, that's right, because I've smacked that fool down twice already!

But you know what, now he's back at it with these sensationalist PS3 Doomsday articles (and we've discussed how we feel about those. See Attention Doomsayers: PS3 Is Not Dying ) This is the worst mainstream article I've ever seen on the gaming industry. Caulfield doesn't even cite any actual numbers and even has a typo in his main, and only, point..."

Read on for more.

[morganfell]

Looking at the skyrocketing sales, I would say that writer is feeling real uncomfortable right now.

When the NPD figures hit, with only a few days of exposure for the Slim and only at selected outlets it will be funny to see even more public whippings for this idiot.

[gamesR4fun]

prob rollin in bags of ms cash lol

[Rifle-Man]

I went to a Best Buy here in small-town Canada last night and there were only two PS3s left in a display built to hold at least 12.

When did that price drop again? Oh right, it was 11 a.m. yesterday.

[meepmoopmeep]

as said to me...

you'd think someone would like... wait a bit before making such claims, eh?
(not exactly as quoted to me)

[edgeofblade]

This whole PS3 Slim situation has brought out the WORST in the community, on both sides. For the record... there are plenty of good games on all three systems to justify a purchase, and the least of those IMHO is the Wii.

A price drop for the PS3 means that more gamers can now be console agnostic and own them all. Every price drop is a victory for EVERY gamer. There is now even less of a reason to support one and only one console.

This is great news for everyone... yet another reason you can get over your collective selves.

[randomwiz]

no he's right. the ps3 is going to pass lifetime sales of the original xbox soon(might already have). Obviously its a failure console and its just too late for Sony

/sarcasm

[evrfighter]

Just look at this way. Whoever buys a ps3 now won't be feeling the buyers remorse the fanboys here are feelin now.

[NotSoSilentBob]

Morgan Everytime I see you have posted I can't help but give you Bubbles cause you speak the truth and don't spin anything.

[FamilyGuy]

Many 360 enthusiast claim that PS3 supporters are being "hypocrites" for siting sales, but it's not exactly like that. Sales DON'T matter, not to the gamer who is simply happy to have games he/she likes on the system that they own. The sales claim that is brought up is a counter attack, as in, you just lost THAT chip, or you're going to.

You guys will still have attach ratio, and those extra Live - gold subscriber perks. (chips)

Just think of this in line with the older argument: "Ps3 has no games". Well that changed so it's brought up, and selling more systems as apposed to selling less (duh) is the same type of argument.

We aren't saying "are system is better because it's selling more/sold more" as many of you seem to have been. No, we are saying "ha, the system we think is best (for it games, features/whatever) is finally (/hopefully?) going to get the sales it deserves for being so great".

That was clear right?

[Consoldtobots]

lmao @ a certain 360 fanboy talking like a gamer, where was your sense of fairplay BEFORE the price drop? It's kinda like the guy that acts tough and then wants to be friends when he gets an idea of just how hard you hit. It's very transparent.

[edgeofblade]

I assume you're talking about me.

I can call out the faulty logic and mindless faith of the raving PS3 fanboys and still enjoy my PS3 for what it does right. You're the one picking a fight here. You're the one looking like the partisan dipshit.

[rockleex]

"I can call out the faulty logic and mindless faith of the raving PS3 fanboys"

Because obviously, you're not a 360 fanboy. And obviously, faulty logiv and mindless faith are exclusive to PS3 fanboys and not applicable to 360 fanboys for some weird reason.

/sarcasm

[ultimolu]

Yep, bubbles for this man. Always speaks the truth.

You guys wouldn't believe this but somebody PM'd me and tried to force me to buy a 360, claiming it'll make me more like a human being. I have never laughed so hard in my entire life.

Sony was waiting for the right time to pull off the right moves. The time is now.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

The guy the wrote this does alot of whining and makes alot of claim about Forbes which is a well respected mag.

[mastiffchild]

Jason360-I trust you read the original article in Forbes? If you didn't what you say is understandable but if you read it and didn't notice how it came over as a simple hare story with nothing in the way of facts or, indeed, figures to back up it's enpty conjecture then I really have to wonder if our eyes work the same way.

Forbes may be respected but that doesn't mean that they're a real authority on every subject they cover and this article is evidence of it. The fact the writer has a history of ignoring and mopulding the truth just makes it worse as it shows the editorial staff aren't doing their jobs properly and as a result weak stories like this will slowly erode their credibility. The fact it's getting attacked is good for everyone, imo, it was total BS and it didn't take a detective to figure it out either.

Forbes would do well to look into My Caulfield if this is indicative of his level of writing. Feeble.

[The Lazy One]

...

that's all that really needs to be said about that. . . . . .

Why would someone who just bought a pro buy a new hard drive? that's absolutely stupid.

[Crystallis]

True dat Morgan..Bubbles up.

[Christopher]

But I believe that his delivery and so called 'smack down' fails to help serve his point except for online fanboys who look for this sort of method of communication over sensible debate on a topic.

[table]

Forbes ignored the facts, the biggest of which being is that the ps3 has been selling neck and neck with the 360 at a higher price point and has actually sold more consoles in the same time frame. I can't possibly comprehend how a price cut and a slim is too little too late when there is atleast another 7 years left in the ps3. The only people who are not sensible are the journalists at Forbes.

[Christopher]

Yeah, but Forbes was delivering his own opinion on whether or not this would leap Sony up to a status as being able to compete with the 360 and Wii. His opinion is his, and ours is ours.

In the original news article I posted the exact same thing you did @Knightslayer, who posted and wrote the article. But, regardless, it's ignorant to think that there's little to no chance that Microsoft won't be able to combat this in one form or another.

The 'smack down' article really didn't provide any new information and pretty much just used the data from a third site to show up one element of his argument. He could have done a much better job, and even then it wouldn't have been a 'smack down' since both opinions are of equal value.

[techwizz]

It was a nonsense article by Forbes. They really cited no facts, there was a typo, it was ridiculous. Smashpad's right on point in this part:

"What pisses me off most about Forbes article is that supposedly they’re a mainstream publication full of real journalists. And what garbage do the publish? A 202-word brain fart void of a single citation or quotation. Meanwhile, game bloggers such as I are held to much less esteem. At least political bloggers write about something considered important, we write about a form of entertainment which still has problems legitimizing itself with film critics.

But hey, even if I’m not making big bucks like Brian Caulfield (especially from those tiny Google Ads at the bottom of this post), at least I’m not writing articles like him."

[AnthonyPerez]

"To show up one element of his argument"

What argument did the Forbes guy have? He only cited current price points, so I sourced a handy table rather than writing it out in a less comprehensible prose style.

There isn't really much I could have replied to his "argument" with because he didn't have anything. The point of my "smackdown" was to point out how poorly written of an article it was for a publication with the esteem of Forbes and to continue a storyline between SmashPad and Forbes for our readers.

EDIT: Also, his "opinion" wasn't based on anything rather than a shallow understanding of the price points. You may say "well, he's right because the average consumer doesn't know about the difference the add-ons make," which is true, BUT, if MS' marketing department is full of at least high school graduates, they'll run an ad campaign targeting at that difference.

[Christopher]

I gotta apologize here. There were two articles with the "Too Little Too Late" title and I was arguing for the wrong one.

Go me and my idiot moment. Sorry to Anthony for the confusion on my part. You are correct, the Forbes article of the same name, that I got confused with, isn't much of an article at all.

I do still stand by my statement in regards to your delivery in general. But, that's just my position on the necessity of professionalism when writing about games and wanting to be respected for your writing rather than sourced for unnecessary points of interest by fanboys in order to fuel the flamewars.

[AnthonyPerez]

It's no problem. My delivery in this one was for stylistic reasons and to call out Forbes for their terribly unprofessional article. I choose my voice depending on the kind of article I'm writing. I'm much more casual in blog posts, generally. I've actually freelanced for GameSpot in the past.

If you want a sense of my more professional tone, I'd suggest these two article that I think you'd probably enjoy.

Sony, Not Nintendo, Should Be Very Afraid of the iPhone (note that this was written right after the iPhone 3G was announced and games were shown):
http://www.gamer20.com/feat...

And also, check out this feature about a new game developer:

Birth of a Game Studio: A Look at Prophecy Games:
http://www.gamer20.com/feat...

[StanLee]

Okay seriously which is it? Is the XBox 360 more expensive or less expensive than the PS3? Because fanboys can't seem to make up their minds.

[AnthonyPerez]

It's okay, I'm used to it after years of this stuff.

[cmrbe]

When will you understand the difference between value and price?.

[edgeofblade]

Bullshit.

You can't claim the PS3 sold more consoles over the same time since launch and expect to have a shred of statistical validity. I've destroyed that argument more times than I care to say, but I'll boil it down to the one point you need to know...

Only a lunatic fanboy would care about a token metric that no one other than lunatic fanboys cares about. A company deciding to make a game doesn't delay their game for a year for validity just to assess the performance of their game on the two consoles. They make the game in the current market environment, not some statistical fairy land where PS3 and 360 launched at the same time.

Please, put that argument to rest already. It's like choosing a winner in the console race by tracking how many calories Bill Gates and Howard Stringer ate at lunch...

[table]

uuuhh, were you born retarded edge of blade? By your logic the ps2 failed before it was even released. Hypothetically speaking, if Apple released a console now you'd argue that it has already failed even if it had a better launch than the wii. A really foolish comment worthy of a fanboy like yourself.

[cmrbe]

@Edge. The console that wins is the console that in the end sells the most units. The PS3 despite being 1 year late is selling at a faster rate than the x360. This is fact and an important one. Its important because if the yearly rate is the same for both conosle then that means the gap in unit sold is not widening or closing.

It is also a fact that the PS3 launched at 600 and now after alomst 3 years is now at the same price at the PS2 launch price. This is something the Forbes author forgot. The PS3 problem right from the begining was that it was unaffordable to most people and i am not surprise considering that people also complained about the PS2 launched price of 299 which was 100 more than the dreamcast back then. Now the PS3 is not only affordable but the most value in terms of hardware which is a fact and arguably software as well.

[The Lazy One]

Anybody who isn't an idiot will spend less money on a 360.

If you're an idiot, you might spend more money on a 360.

[DonCorneo]

are not that uncommon.. just watch FOX..those guys are more of a PR rep than unbiased journalists..

or may be Caulfield is just an xbot fanboy.. LMAO!!!!

good job, Anthony Perez, for laying the smackdown on that f0ol. but the damage has been done. ordinary people now has the perception that the ps3 is a lost cause even with the price cut.

[AnthonyPerez]

Thanks, like I said, I've responded to a few of his articles in the past. In past articles, he's at least cited statistics (usually outdated, but statistics nonetheless). I was appalled by how void his article was of ANY justification. It sounded like a blog post written by an MS drone.

And that's coming from a 360 owner who doesn't even have a PS3 (yet, I'm liking the price drop even if the Slim is ugly)

[InfectedDK]

Great to see someone shooting theese fools down

[eagle21]

PS3 Slim #1 worldwide as we chat!

[blueleopard]

That table is pretty shocking. I used to see similar things between the PS3 and 360 prices showing that "oh yea, well with the 360 addons you're paying basically as much as the PS3 out of the box" and now it's "damn man, look how much more expensive the 360 comes out to in the end!"

[Ravage27]

i never really understood what Sony did to deserve such hatred from the media.

Before GamesCon everyone was blasting Sony for not having a price cut. Yet within a few hours after a price cut was announced, some retard has to come up with an article that says it's already too late...wtf?

[Syronicus]

That everybody wants to see Sony not succeed this gen. In the end, the consumer will make their decision based on their experience. It may be today, it may be next year. But one thing stands solid and that is Sony's quality and commintment to great games. In the end, Sony will be a winner.

[StanLee]

It's a common syndrome. When the perennial favorite stumbles the vultures hover around the carcass waiting for his demise.

[ZOMBIEMAN1]

but Sony never fell to begin with the brought a new system with a blank slate just like PS2 when it launched and PSOne when it launched i think these baised media and fanboys expected Sony to sell over 50 million in it's first year because PS2 was around 150 million i'm sure if we looked back at PS2 we'd see PS2 didn't do the huge numbers it has now in 2, 3 years so Sony never fell they just started a new system like every new system every gen

[ultimolu]

When you stumble, that's what happens. The media was just waiting for Sony to actually screw up on something before they descended like vultures.

It serves them right because now karma's biting them in the ass.

[Atomic]

he will look like a fool when the PS3 outsells the competition 2 to 1 next month

[JD_Shadow]

THIS isn't lame NOR spam.

In fact, it says the truth behind the lies of the lame spam.

[djfullshred]

Seems a lot of people going out of their way these days to keep the PS3 as the best kept secret in gaming. Too bad, because it shouldn't be a secret that it is a better piece of hardware for the money, has all the options built in & included in the base price, has more overall entertainment system value with blu ray, and they made it so owners can swap out harddrives with standard sata laptiop drives - without any worry they are going to wreck their box or void the warranty. Not to mention the "not enough good games" argument is no longer valid.

[kaz-hirai]

Looks like this guy is responding to a jelous Xbot ;-D !!

Very nice article maybe all chatboxes will stop spreading BS ! ;-}

[Neo604]

ps3 is skyrocketing sales on amazon.

[Sergeant Forge]

Oh my god. You are sooo right.

Amazon had over 50 million PS3's in stock and now they have all sold out. PS3 is number one and it took only 17 minutes to outsell the Wii.

LOL

[monkey nuts]

So much for sarcasm being a sign of intelligence.

[monkey nuts]

Go me \o/

[ultimolu]

Hey Sergeant, you sound a little wounded there. Need a tissue?

[TheTruth89]

hahaahaha and again.....

OWNED.

[NMC2007]

Who or what the hell is a SmashPad? What's next?

"Roger Ebert's anti BloodRayne 3 Fallacies Smacked Down Again By Shoebush.com"

Who cares besides the PS3 fans who agree with anyone on their side?

PS3 Fan 1: YEAH!! You tell em SmashPad!! *claps* *leans over to PS3 fan 2* What's SmashPad?

PS3 Fan 2: I dunno, just keep praising them, they are on our side this time. YEAH!! SmashPad!!! *claps*

PS3 Fan 1: *claps* Yeah!!! SmashPad OWNED Forbes HARD!!! YEAH!!!

Meanwhile....

Forbes Guy 1: Hey, what's a SmashPad?
Forbes Guy 2: Isn't that that one company that makes XXX mouse pads?
Forbes Guy 1: Oh yeah!!

*blank stare at monitor*

[AnthonyPerez]

SmashPad is a side project of mine and extension of its mother site Gamer 2.0, which has been around since 2007. I'm an 8-year game journalism veteran whose written for publications such as GameSpot.

The article is mostly sarcastic as I've actually had pleasant e-mail exchanges with this Brian before (as I mentioned in the post.) But seriously, if you're a writer for Forbes and you post an article saying that what Sony has done with the PS3 Slim is "Too Little, Too Late," you gotta add some more meat to your argument.

As I mentioned in an earlier response, he only cited current price points and nothing else (not even current sales figures), so I sourced a handy table rather than writing it out in a less comprehensible prose style.

There isn't really much I could have replied to his "argument" with because he didn't have anything. The point of my "smackdown" was to point out how poorly written of an article it was for a publication with the esteem of Forbes and to continue the storyline between SmashPad and Forbes for our readers, which surprisingly do exist.

If he would have brought numbers to the table (as he has before), I would have responded to the article much differently, like I did in response to his article "Why Apple Could Kill the Nintendo DS," then I would have responded to it the way I did in "Sony, Not Nintendo, Should Be Very Afraid of the iPhone," which you can read here for comparison: http://www.gamer20.com/feat...

[monkey nuts]

That was fairly entertaining, were you the script writer for lost by any chance? :)

[AnthonyPerez]

Nah, apparently some guy named JJ Abrams does that. I'm just giving you guys some background on who I am and what SmashPad is for those who ask.

I'm speaking for other "little blog" guys who have spent years in the industry, have something to say, but are dismissed by people who haven't put in that work.

Google my name along with "Gamer 2.0" or "SmashPad" to see other articles I've written and if you enjoy, then great. If not, no sweat off my back, but there are a lot of bloggers out there many of you haven't heard of but have valid opinions usually steeped in fact. I try to make sure most of my articles have lots of statistics and references, which sometimes are refuted by commenters, which is great since it ignites debate.

[jack who]

so whats gona happen when ps3 still cant out sell the 360?

[thebudgetgamer]

well since some of us here are gamers, i guess we will keep playing games. what if it does outsell the 360. would you cry like a little biznitch?

:) http://www.health-in-action...

[rob6021]

This is the most sorry thing, because they got this article out earliest as well as cnet (big surprise here), major news outlets like 'the washington post' are using his headline as the news story. Go to google news you'll see CNET's lovely 'Skip the PS3 Slim and get one of these Blu-ray laptops' http://news.cnet.com/8301-1... article as the main story representing the PS3 slim announcement.

It is obvious that these guys are in the pocket of Microsoft, or are big time 360 fanboys; with the first option being the most likely scenario.

[Blacksand1]

Like i said when the PS3 came down everyone was going to jump on it.

It will be more PS2,Xbox and Wii people will buy the PS3 before they

buy a Xbox at $299 with nothing is free on it, who want to buy a

fishing RROD to fish beside the lake when you can but a boat that is

reliable and with a low break down rate to fish off for the big fish,

what a dream to have a PS3 with everything is free.

[AnthonyPerez]

The Xbox has done a lot to shake off the RROD issues they've had and still has really compelling services including Netflix. A lot of people I know who haven't picked up a console yet find that as a big feature, while some consider the PS3's Blu-Ray as a big selling point.

There are still a lot of people who haven't made the leap to this generation as evidenced by PS2 software sales. Traditionally, a very large percentage of lifetime sales for a console come after 2 or 3 year as prices come down, so there's still a lot of sales left out there for all 3 competitors.

[t-dizzle]

And I am pretty sure his small rant will have much more influence than your little gamer blog. That is except for within the community of N4G.

[djtek184]

Brian Caulfield needs to get his head out of his @ss.

[FernandoMartinez]

Let's not care so much. Who reads Forbes anyway.

[GrandDragon]

So let me clarify

PS3 Slim

- 120 GB OR 80GB (Bundles)
- Wifi
- SIXAXIS
- 1 GB Ethernet
- HDMI 1.3a
- Buleray AND DVD
- Free Online
- Bluetooth

Xbox 360

- 120GB
- EXTRA $100
- NO SIXAXIS
- ONLY 100mb
- HDMI ONLY 1.2
- ONLY DVD
- EXTRA $50
- Wireless HD costs MORE

[InfectedDK]

You forgot:

x 3

[mirroredderorrim]

Exactly. There are even less consumers, who buy games, that even bother to read Forbes, let alone care.

I don't even understand the point of the authors trouble.