Will the PS3 Kill Sony?

[Morbid Angel]

Sony Makes Layoffs, Cites PS3
Author: CHRIS TRIBBEY
ctribbey@questex.com

As many as 100 employees in Sony Corp.’s U.S. gaming division were laid off June 6 and 7, The Associated Press reported today. The job cuts took place at the Foster City-based Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. division, the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal reported.

No job cuts were expected in Sony’s Japan offices, according to the AP report.

“In an effort to accurately align the company to meet the changing needs of our consumers and of our industry, Sony Computer Entertainment America has found it necessary to analyze our current business and to restructure the company as necessary to continue our standing as a market leader,” SCEA spokesman Dave Karraker told the gaming Web site Kotaku in a statement.

“These restructuring efforts are currently underway and do include the streamlining of our operations and other initiatives to further strengthen the business, reduce costs and increase operational efficiency,” Karraker said.

The cuts come just weeks after Sony Corp.’s earnings report for the fiscal year, (ending March 31) showed a nearly $2 billion loss in the company’s gaming division. The earnings report, released May 16, attributed the losses to “the sale of (PlayStation 3) at strategic price points lower than its production costs during the introductory period, as well as the recording of other charges in association with preparation for the launch of the PS3 platform.”

The PS3 launched in November and competes with Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo Co.’s Wii gaming systems.

[MysteryMan]

The PS3 is a powerful machine. The problem with Sony is that they expected people to pay the $599 for their machine and think, "Blue Ray is the best option." Blue Ray/HD-DVD's, much like the old Beta/VHS battles in the '80's, show more customers prefer HD versus Blue Ray. Sony hasn't taken that hint.

While the machine is powerful, game exclusives? Where are they? There are none? GTA 4 is coming, it's not Sony's own anymore. They get a recycled Ninja Guiden from the Xbox with some new "snazzy" graphics and expect people to go, "Oooohhh....ahhhhh." Not me.

[brantheman]

I've never cared much for the Playstation franchise. Granted, I owned a PS2 for a while, but lately it seems the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii are overshadowing the PS3 - and with good reason. What's so special about it? It's got amazing graphics!! So does the 360. It has motion sensing!!! Oh wait, so does the Wii...only more finely tuned.

It just doesn't stand out to me. It's a big clunk of a machine with no real duties other than "hey, guess what I spent most of my paycheck on!".

[DraconianSM]

The PS3 is a powerful machine. The problem with Sony is that they expected people to pay the $599 for their machine and think, "Blue Ray is the best option." Blue Ray/HD-DVD's, much like the old Beta/VHS battles in the '80's, show more customers prefer HD versus Blue Ray. Sony hasn't taken that hint.

While the machine is powerful, game exclusives? Where are they? There are none? GTA 4 is coming, it's not Sony's own anymore. They get a recycled Ninja Guiden from the Xbox with some new "snazzy" graphics and expect people to go, "Oooohhh....ahhhhh." Not me.

You cite PS3's pricepoint as if it is any different than Xbox 360's. $400 plus $200 gets you the HD-DVD drive. Except with Microsoft you have to pay for Xbox Live, so plan on paying more for your 360 choice.

I don't know where you came up with that information because Blu-Ray is outselling HD-DVD by far. The Pirates of the Caribbean blu-rays should be top sellers.

And as far as exclusives go, don't expect to play any of these on your 360 or your Wii: Metal Gear, Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy, PS3 HOME just to name a few.

Everyone seems to want a Wii, and the people seem to really enjoy Wii Sports and maybe Zelda. But the gimmick wears off soon when they start to realize how weak the graphics are on the Wii. At least the PS3 and XBox360 have next-gen graphics.

HD-DVD and Blu-Ray both suffer from their high price points. It's like the failed UMDs for the PSP. Who wants to pay $30 for a movie? $20 is much more reasonable and people would buy more. High-Def's target audience is one that has money to burn. The everyday Wal-Mart shopper isn't gonna spend a few K on a plasma TV and $600 on a gaming console to play $60 games. The economy is in rough shape right now and people are concerned about their future.

[DraconianSM]

TVPredictions.com Forum



Blu-ray's Pirates Beats HD DVD's Matrix
Friday, June 1, 2007, 05:31 AM
Blu-ray's Pirates Trounces HD DVD's Matrix
Sony-backed format wins early battle of high-profile releases.
By Phillip Swann

Washington, D.C. (June 1, 2007) -- On May 22, Disney released a Blu-ray high-def DVD of the first two Pirates of the Caribbean. On the same day, Warner introduced a HD DVD collection of the box office smash, The Matrix.

Industry observers said the battle of high-profile titles could give some indication as to who's winning the high-def DVD format war.

Well, the Blu-ray Pirates sold roughly 47,000 units in the first week compared to 13,900 units for The Matrix, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

HD DVD backers will note that The Matrix is more expensive at $99 for the three collection set while each Pirate Blu-ray disc is just $25.

[DraconianSM]

The two Hollywood studios in HD-DVD’s camp are Universal and The Weinstein Company.

Blu-ray has five studios backing it: Columbia Pictures, MGM, Disney, Lionsgate, and 20th Century Fox.


Four major studios have committed to releasing their films on both formats: Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema.

[MysteryMan]

I don't care about the whole Blue Ray/HD issues, many mags and customer websites look at HD as the winner. Owning both, I prefer HD. In regards to the PS3, some don't want the Blue Ray option, which is one of the reasons the system is expensive. Maybe they can cut costs down by offering a PS3 w/o the Blue Ray reader. I own a PS2/Wii, my brother owns a 360. Until Sony can land more exclusives, I'm not ready to fork over my money.

To make your view more clearer, here's who's supporting what, as you're a bit inaccurate:

Studios (movie and game) listed as supporting members

Blu-Ray
20th Century Fox
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Electronic Arts
MGM Studios
Paramount Pictures
Sony Pictures Entertainment
The Walt Disney Company
Vivendi Universal Games
Warner Bros.

HD
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
New Line Cinema
Paramount Pictures
The Walt Disney Company
Universal Studios
Warner Bros.

While Blu-Ray has more supporters, the other studios will also release movies as well to HD.

[Antithesys]

I'm all for Blu-ray but that's a pretty misleading article. It sounds as if the 47,000 is both Pirates movies together; since they're sold separately it's really 23,500 each. They're much cheaper (even if bought together) than a $100 Matrix box set, and they're much more popular right now. A much better test would track a single blockbuster title released simultaneously on both formats (e.g. Shrek 3).

The HDD version of Planet Earth is in the Amazon top 10; however, that's the only HDD title in the top 100, as opposed to three Blu-ray titles (including the apparently less popular Blu-ray Planet Earth).

I've resisted the new technology but now that I have an HDTV I wouldn't mind a new player. Since I also want GTA4 I'll be waiting til the holidays; with any luck the correct choice will be clearer by then (and hopefully it will still be Blu-ray), and with lots more luck the system I opt for will be cheaper. I'm not paying $600.

[DraconianSM]

I don't care about the whole Blue Ray/HD issues, many mags and customer websites look at HD as the winner. Owning both, I prefer HD. In regards to the PS3, some don't want the Blue Ray option, which is one of the reasons the system is expensive. Maybe they can cut costs down by offering a PS3 w/o the Blue Ray reader. I own a PS2/Wii, my brother owns a 360. Until Sony can land more exclusives, I'm not ready to fork over my money.

First, it's Blu-Ray, not Blue Ray.

Second, not a bad idea to make a cheaper PS3 for the masses if not for 2 points: 1)PS3 games will be programming games on the blu-ray discs to take advantage of storage capacity.
2)The XBox360 "Core" version was a disaster. Take away the Hard Drive and Wireless controller to cut $100 off. End up spending $100 for the hard drive you realize you need to play backward-compatible games.....er the small list that are backward compatible.

Third, you say you own both, yet you won't buy a Sony until they land more exclusives. I'm a bit confused by that. Btw, here is the list of exclusives:

PlayStation 3 Exclusive Titles:

-Eight days
-5th Phantom Saga (Confirmation)
-6GUN II
-Afrika
-Angel Rings
-Black Blade
-Blade Storm: Hundred Years War
-Bomberman
-Coded Arms Assault (Confirmation)
-Dark RPG (Working Title)
-Derby Stallion
-Devil May Cry 4 (Confirmation)
-Driver
*Endless Saga (Confirmation)
-EyeDentify
-Fatal Inertia (Confirmation)
-Final Fantasy XIII
-Final Fantasy XIII Versus
-Formula 1
-Full Auto 2 (Confirmation)
-Genji 2
-Gradius
-Grand Turismo 5
-Guan Yu Project (Dynasty Warriors 6)
-Heavenly Sword
-Hot Shots Golf 5
-Iron and the Maiden
-Jack and Dexter
-Killzone 3
-Lair
-Metal Gear Solid 4 (Confirmation)
-MMORPG from Square-Enix (Working Title)
-Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam World
-Monster Hunter 3
-Monster Kingdom
-Motor Storm
-Naughty Dog (Working Title)
-Ni-Oh
-Omikron 2
-Ratchet and Clank 5
-Redwood Falls
-Resistance: Fall of Man
-Ridge Racer 7 (Confirmation)
-Rockstar Old West Title (Working Title)
-Romance of the Three Kingdoms
-Tekken 6
-The Eye of Judgment (Working title)
-The Getaway
*The Wall
*Unreal Tournament 2007 (Confirmation)
-Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom
-Virtual Fighter 5 (Confirmation)
-WarDevil Enigma (Confirmation)
-Warhawk
-Way of the Samurai 3

[DraconianSM]

To make your view more clearer, here's who's supporting what, as you're a bit inaccurate:


......yeah...OK I'll clarify my prior ACCURATE post for you, MM:



The two Hollywood studios in HD-DVD’s camp are Universal and The Weinstein Company.

Blu-ray has five studios backing it: Columbia Pictures, MGM, Disney, Lionsgate, and 20th Century Fox.


Four major studios have committed to releasing their films on both formats: Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema.

2 HD-DVD, 5 BLU-RAY, 4 NEUTRAL= 6 HD-DVD and 9 BLU-RAY STUDIOS.

STILL CONFUSED?

[DraconianSM]

Church Forms Resistance Against Sony
Bishop of Manchester calls for Resistance: Fall of Man to be taken off shelves.
by Rob Burman, IGN UK
UK, June 11, 2007 - Church leaders in England have accused Sony of using Manchester Cathedral as the scene of a shoot-out in alien-based WWII PlayStation 3 FPS Resistance: Fall of Man without proper permission - and have called for it to be withdrawn.

According to the Church of England, Sony didn't ask to use the historic site and officials at the cathedral have called upon Sony to issue an apology. That's alongside demands to withdraw the game (or modify the level to remove the cathedral interior), make a donation from the game's profits to the cathedral and to support groups in Manchester to fight against gun crime.

Right Reverend Nigel McCulloch, The Bishop of Manchester, said: "For a global manufacturer to re-create one of our great cathedrals with photo-realistic quality and then encourage people to have guns battles in the building is beyond belief and highly irresponsible."

However, Sony has denied the claims and is taking the concerns of the bishop and cathedral officials "very seriously". An official statement from the company said: "Whilst we believe that we have sought and received all permissions necessary for the creation of the game, we will be contacting the Cathedral authorities in order to better understand their concerns in more detail."

Sony is due to speak to representatives from the Church of England soon and we'll keep you updated about any more news.

[OzMan]

and to support groups in Manchester to fight against gun crime.

So much for the myth that there's no gun crime in England;)

[Morbid Angel]

You cite PS3's pricepoint as if it is any different than Xbox 360's. $400 plus $200 gets you the HD-DVD drive. Except with Microsoft you have to pay for Xbox Live, so plan on paying more for your 360 choice.

You're comparing apples to oranges here Drac. The HD-DVD drive is an optional add-on, where as Sony is using the POS3 as a trojan horse for Blu-ray and trying to force it on consumers.

I don't know where you came up with that information because Blu-Ray is outselling HD-DVD by far. The Pirates of the Caribbean blu-rays should be top sellers.

Believe it or not, but HD-DVD is now making a major comeback thanks to recent price drops. See link (http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6450990.html). This formart was is far from over...

And as far as exclusives go, don't expect to play any of these on your 360 or your Wii: Metal Gear, Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy, PS3 HOME just to name a few.

Heh. I wouldn't be so sure of that. If the POS3 continues to sell this poorly, you could easily all of those titles move to the other systems. Hell, Sony has already lost a bunch of former "exclusives" and we're only 8 months into it's life cycle.

Everyone seems to want a Wii, and the people seem to really enjoy Wii Sports and maybe Zelda. But the gimmick wears off soon when they start to realize how weak the graphics are on the Wii. At least the PS3 and XBox360 have next-gen graphics.

Oh please don't go there Drac. It's been said time and time again, but pretty graphics do not make a good game. Never have and never will. Gameplay is by far more important and it seems most gamers agree with this judging by the unbelievable number of Wii's Nintendo is selling.

And don't think for a second the Wii isn't capable of beautiful graphics. They might not be photo realistic, but they'll still blow away the average gamer. Just wait until Metroid Prime 3 comes out.

[DraconianSM]

You're comparing apples to oranges here Drac. The HD-DVD drive is an optional add-on, where as Sony is using the POS3 as a trojan horse for Blu-ray and trying to force it on consumers.

I would argue that consumers purchase the PS3 because of the blu-ray, with the gaming console being a nice extra. Remember, the blu-ray drive gives programmers the ability to put games on a blu-ray disc that holds approx. 50 times the data of a CDROM.

It's not apples and oranges when you are comparing the price of an XBox360 and a PS3. Everyone is in an uproar about how expensive the PS3 is, when if you break it down you get more for your money. The 60G drive on the PS3 has 3 times the storage capacity of the 20G premium XBox360. I would agree that BOTH PS3 and the 360 are expensive.



Believe it or not, but HD-DVD is now making a major comeback thanks to recent price drops. See link (http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6450990.html). This formart was is far from over...

I don't even see HD-DVD OR Blu-Ray winning any kind of "war". Many people are still upset that their VHS players have become obsolete. DVD won a war against VHS, but most people will not be going "hi-def".




Oh please don't go there Drac. It's been said time and time again, but pretty graphics do not make a good game. Never have and never will. Gameplay is by far more important and it seems most gamers agree with this judging by the unbelievable number of Wii's Nintendo is selling.

And don't think for a second the Wii isn't capable of beautiful graphics. They might not be photo realistic, but they'll still blow away the average gamer. Just wait until Metroid Prime 3 comes out.

Hopefully the programers will utilize the graphics capabilities to make games that couldn't be done with the lower resolution graphics. The lack of originality in the current crop of games is something the Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 are all guilty of. In the right hands, a higher graphics machine will take gaming to new heights.

Your statement had more truth during the launch of the Wii and Ps3. Now, after the dust has settled a bit..many of my Wii customers are unsatisfied with the Wii library. Ps3, too. Be honest, is there anything on the Wii that has lived up to the fun you had when you first hooked it up? Do you find that some games would be better suited to be played with a conventional controller? Are you really satisfied with the Virtual Console selection and prices?

In theory the Wii is revolutionary. The execution is a letdown. Why can't the Wii marry the PS3 and have an innovative control system with 1080p resolution next-gen graphics? The answer is price. To do what the PS3 does the Wii would cost much much more.

[Lomithrandel]

we havent gotten any new ps3 games in about 2 months now :D

[Aphrodite]

So much for the myth that there's no gun crime in England;)

Manchester has always had gangs.

[Antithesys]

Be honest, is there anything on the Wii that has lived up to the fun you had when you first hooked it up? Do you find that some games would be better suited to be played with a conventional controller? Are you really satisfied with the Virtual Console selection and prices?

In theory the Wii is revolutionary. The execution is a letdown.I bought Zelda (along with Sports) at launch. Later I bought Play. And that's it. I do use the VC but I get buyer's remorse after downloading a lot of the games which I could have emulated for free and end up playing once or twice (why exactly did we like Excitebike, anyway?). I've rented a few games and played them a couple of times each. I hate the selection. It's all kids stuff, just like the last couple of generations of Nintendo...they can't stay with that strategy if adults are gobbling up Wiis.

However, I still see the system as new, and there's still plenty of time to release engaging games that fully exploit the innovation. And the same can be said for PS3. As for the PS3, it's a Blu-ray player first and a game machine second. If Wii released an HD reader I wouldn't bother with a PS3 at all (though I would certainly miss GTA4).

[ClutztomerControl]

Each week our X360 and Wii sections grow larger and full of fun games.... and
The PS3 selection stays piss poor.... nothing worth blowing $600 bucks on.
When Sony drops the price and gets some worth playing games... I might buy one. Until then, I'll be swinging my Wii remote and stomping some online ass with my 360.

Who cares about Blu-Ray?

[orbitdvd]

I don't even see HD-DVD OR Blu-Ray winning any kind of "war". Many people are still upset that their VHS players have become obsolete. DVD won a war against VHS, but most people will not be going "hi-def".



I just bought a dvd player with the 1080i upgrade, and to be honest with the right dvds, it looks fantastic on hdtv. I can't imagine the American public mass adopting hd like the dvd.


marc