Ever since its launch, Sony’s PlayStation 3 was criticized
for the lack of quality and exclusive games. Nevertheless, this summer it seems
like the Japanese company has decided to overcome this problem.
This month saw the release of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of
the Patriots, a PS3 exclusive and the seventh in the successful Metal Gear
series, which is credited with kicking off the sales of PS2 and the original
PlayStation.
Sony expects that MGS 4 will boost the sales of PlayStation 3
in the same way that Halo 3 has done it last year for Xbox 360.
The Japanese company already announced the availability of
the PS3 bundle, which will include an 80GB PS3, along with Metal Gear Solid 4:
Guns of the Patriots and the DualShock 3 wireless controller, all for $499.99.
The developer of the games, Konami, claims that Metal Gear
Solid 4 offers a totally new concept and situation, resulting in the toughest
Metal Gear infiltration mission ever devised.
The game is set after the events of MGS 2 and players will
reprise the role of top secret agent Solid Snake with appearances by characters
throughout the MGS series. It will also be the last game centered on the
adventures of Solid Snake.
It seems like Sony has all the arguments to hope that MGS 4
will boost the sales of its gaming console. Of course, it is hard to believe
that PS3 will manage to match the Wii sales, but at least Sony’s gaming console
will surpass Microsoft’s Xbox 360.
In fact, from the beginning of this year, PS3 outsold Xbox
360, almost constantly. Of course, the difference was small. For
example, last month Sony sold 208,000 PlayStation 3s compared to 187,000 Xbox
360s, while in April Xbox 360 sold only 188.000 units and PS3 followed in close
with 187.000 units.
Despite the predictions, GTA IV has failed to make any
changes in the battle of the gaming consoles, but, still, the Xbox 360 version
has sold better than the one for PS 3.
Of course, there is also a possibility that MSG 4 will not
influence the sales of PS3, but so far historically the exclusive games always
managed to bring a boost to hardware sales.
However, it will be interesting to see the sales of MSG 4.
Let’s hope that Sony will release some details after the first week of
availability.
