It amazes me that Sony didn\'t take note of all the past add-on failures. The HD is about guranteed to fail. First off, price wise, there is no way they can sell 40 gigs for $50 dollars, unless they want to take a huge loss in money. Second, they have to make some killer "apps" for it. NO one is going to want it, if there is not a bunch of exclusive games that demand the HD. Otherwise, it is optional, and for most people, if they have to pay for something optional--they won\'t.
As for calling the dual shock an add-on, I don\'t think it really was. STill, if you want to call it one you can. But, it was also cheaper and it was a controller. Now, while it may be an add-on, most people just looked at it as a enhanced controller. IN the general public\'s eye, that is a far cry from an add-on, unlike the HD. MOst of the general public will see it , then remember spending $300 on the PS2 itself, and turn away.
Sony is going to have a hard time proving that the HD is worth having and it fails, like I suspect it will, it will hurt their reputation alot. Personally, I think Sony should drop the idea of the HD all together or just release it in JApan only, like Nintendo did with the 64DD.
The ethernet card should sell though. Everyone with broadband , will want to use it. Problem is, how many users actually have broadband? Broadband is still missing in rural areas, for the most part.
most everyone saying this will fail like the 32x or whatever,are not regular Playstation users / owners / supporters,most were / are persons who are formally Sega / Nintendo followers.
Uh? No company has really pulled off a succesful add-on. How about the Jaguar CD? 3DO\'s vaporware "M2? Nintendo\'s 64DD? I could keep listing them. For the most part, people just don\'t want to pay more money for a game system. And until Sony announces a exclusive game that REQUIRES the HD, there is no actual reason to own one.
All I can say is Sony better have some damn impressive announcements for the HD rather soon, before everyone either (1) forgets it or (2) gets annoyed by the idea of an add-on.