In the latest auction data, Wii increased four percent in the last two weeks to remain the most popular video game system on Ebay. The motion-sensitive console carried an average sale price of $360.36, a strong margin from its $250 retail price.
The Xbox 360 held the No. 2 position in the top-selling video game products, however, sales remained neutral with a zero percent increase in sales. The console carried an average sale price of $342.73. LOL
The PS3 ranked third among new home consoles, however, it held an increase in sales by four percent in the same period. The PS3 carried an average sale price of $529.43.
LINK
http://news.punchjump.com/article.php?id=4163
Thursday, May 10, 2007
PS3 Dominating Germany In Game Sales
"Deutschland: ca. 7,3 Mio. Euro Umsatz mit PS3-Software
10.05.07 - media control gibt bekannt, dass mit Spielen für die PlayStation3 seit der Markteinführung in Deutschland Umsätze von rund Euro 7,3 Mio. erzielt wurden. Das derzeit beliebteste Spiel ist das RPG The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion.
Der Umsatz entspricht annähernd dem Wert, den Nintendos Wii (4,3 Mio. Euro) und Microsofts Xbox 360 (3,4 Mio. Euro) im gleichen Zeitraum gemeinsam erzielten. Besonders gefragt waren die Angebote für die PS3 in den Wochen nach Markteinführung. Vergangene Woche bewegten sich die Zahlen der drei Konkurrenten auf ähnlichem Niveau.
Die neuen media control Charts der PS3 sehen derzeit wie folgt aus:
1. The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion (Ubisoft)
2. F.E.A.R. (Vivendi)
3. Resistance – Fall Of Man (Sony)
4. Motorstorm (Sony)
(...)
10. Need For Speed Carbon (EA)"Link: http://gamefront.de/
10.05.07 - media control gibt bekannt, dass mit Spielen für die PlayStation3 seit der Markteinführung in Deutschland Umsätze von rund Euro 7,3 Mio. erzielt wurden. Das derzeit beliebteste Spiel ist das RPG The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion.
Der Umsatz entspricht annähernd dem Wert, den Nintendos Wii (4,3 Mio. Euro) und Microsofts Xbox 360 (3,4 Mio. Euro) im gleichen Zeitraum gemeinsam erzielten. Besonders gefragt waren die Angebote für die PS3 in den Wochen nach Markteinführung. Vergangene Woche bewegten sich die Zahlen der drei Konkurrenten auf ähnlichem Niveau.
Die neuen media control Charts der PS3 sehen derzeit wie folgt aus:
1. The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion (Ubisoft)
2. F.E.A.R. (Vivendi)
3. Resistance – Fall Of Man (Sony)
4. Motorstorm (Sony)
(...)
10. Need For Speed Carbon (EA)"Link: http://gamefront.de/
Link: http://gamefront.de/
It is basically said that the PS3 software-sales since the console´s launch are twice as good than those of the competition in the same time.
To sum it up:
- a 7,3 million euro profit for PS3 software since launch
- a 3,4 million euro profit for Other Console 36+ software in its launch weeks
- a 4,3 million euro profit for Other Console Wi+ software in its launch weeks
The PS3 seems to be a hot system here in Germany.
It is basically said that the PS3 software-sales since the console´s launch are twice as good than those of the competition in the same time.
To sum it up:
- a 7,3 million euro profit for PS3 software since launch
- a 3,4 million euro profit for Other Console 36+ software in its launch weeks
- a 4,3 million euro profit for Other Console Wi+ software in its launch weeks
The PS3 seems to be a hot system here in Germany.
Condemned 2: Bloodshot
May 10, 2007 - The follow up to the well received Condemned: Criminal Origins has finally been officially announced by SEGA. Condemned 2: Bloodshot continues the first-person, hand-to-hand combat horror experience in early 2008 Playstation 3 Once again, Monolith will be responsible for developing the title, ensuring that the same level of creepiness will make it into the sequel.
Condemned 2: Bloodshot puts players in the identity of Ethan Thomas, a former Serial Crimes Unit investigator. His former partner has gone missing, forcing him to be called back to duty. Ethan's disturbing past has left him a shell of his former self, described by SEGA as a "desperate burnout" who is forced to fight inner demons throughout his investigation.
The sequel will feature an new fighting system that adds defensive and offensive combos along with grapples and holds to the already present arsenal of firearms and blunt tools. New forensic tools are also being promised that allow murders to be solved in a number of different ways.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the announcement is that Condemned 2: Bloodshot will include several online multiplayer modes, including a deathmatch variant. Get your arms ready to swing pipes online.
PSN Store Update Today
Calling All Cars Arriving at the PLAYSTATION Store
Play cops ‘n’ robbers on your PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) system this Thursday as Sony Computer Entertainment America will offer the much-anticipated PS3 exclusive, Calling All Cars, on the PLAYSTATION Store. Developed by Incognito Entertainment and overseen by the Spike TV Video Game Awards – 2005 Designer of the Year, David Jaffe, Calling All Cars was built specifically to take advantage of PS3 hardware, running at 1080p High Definition at 60 frames per second for both offline and online gameplay, in either single-player or four-player split-screen.
Other new additions to the PLAYSTATION Store this week include the arcade classic, Rampart, which is downloadable in its entirety, a video for the PS3-exclusive Warhawk, and a trailer for Burnout Paradise.
Below are the details of these exciting new offerings:
Calling All Cars Full Game ($9.99): Calling All Cars is a high-octane, fast-action game of cops ‘n' robbers from the creative director of the Twisted Metal® franchise and the original God of War®, David Jaffe. Take on the role of a bounty hunter careening around a stylish cartoon world on the hunt for criminals on the loose. With more than 10 vehicles and four different levels to choose from, Calling All Cars combines demolition derby style action, crazy weapon pickups, humor, and a throwback to classic arcade games.
Rampart Full Game ($4.99): Defeat enemy ships while preventing your opponent from damaging castle walls! In this classic arcade title, strategy is the key to victory as you prepare for battle, build and repair your territories, and fire away at enemies.
Warhawk Video (free): Learn about air combat and preview your arsenal of weapons in the latest video from Warhawk, the first multiplayer, fully immersive online-only game available this summer exclusively for the PS3 system.
Burnout Paradise Trailer (free): Get a sneak peak at EA’s gorgeous racing title with this new trailer.
Rampage Video (free): Prepare to re-live all of the incredible monster mashing mayhem in this Rampage World Tour video!
Q&A: Pearce On SOE's Game
During Sony Online Entertainment’s first Gamer’s Day, SOE demoed a new e-distribution service that allows gamers to digitally download MMOs published by Sony Online Entertainment. At first glance, the Station Launcher sounds like Sony Online Entertainment’s take on Steam, but it does more than let people download a trial version of the Matrix Online.
In fact, Sony Online Entertainment is pulling their brands together, enabling cross game chat and starting a movie download service. Gamasutra spoke to Nathan Pearce, creative director for Sony Online Entertainment, about the new service.
Tell us how the Station Launcher fits into the total Sony Online strategy?
Nathan Pearce: We have a big brand called the Station [including] Station.com, a Station Launcher, Station Pass, Station Access and lots of Station properties. The latest one is Station Launcher, an e-distribution client that you use to log into, purchase and download just about every Sony Online PC MMO.
How many gigabytes of data do you download in Vanguard for instance?
NP: Gosh. I don’t know off the top of my head, but I think it’s four DVDs worth. It’s a lot of data.
Do you think people are ready to download twenty gigabytes of data?
NP: Overnight I think they could, pretty easily. People do that now surreptitiously (laughs), illegally, they are certainly willing to go through the pain of downloading that much data. If you really want to buy a game, it takes less time to buy it over the Station Launcher and let it download overnight and install than it would if you were to go to BestBuy.com, for instance, and buy it from them and have it shipped to you. It takes several days in that case and it’s going to take overnight in our case.
It sounds like one new feature the Station Launcher is adding is that you can communicate with friends from different games, using the launcher itself?
NP: Yeah, it goes even a step further than that. It pulls all your character’s friends lists into one big friends list, all together. Also it tells you where those old friends are now and which games they are playing now.
If you have an old friend in an old game and he’s now playing a new game we tell you what new game he is playing, but we keep his new name secret from you because you won’t recognize him right?
For instance, he was Gandalf in Everquest and now he plays Han Solo in Star Wars. Well if we told you Han Solo was playing Star Wars, you wouldn’t know who that was because the guy you made friends with was named Gandalf way back in the day. It shows you all of your old friend’s names, but only shows you what new game they are playing now.
What if you knew a Gandalf and a Han Solo in both of those games?
NP: He is going to show up twice.
I remember you saying you can communicate with people through AIM and ICQ with the Station Launcher, too - is that still planned?
NP: That is a future feature. It’s not going be for launch later this summer, it’s going to be after that in a phase two launch. We have already talked to AIM and by that we also get ICQ integration. We also talked to Yahoo! and got their permission and gotten XFire's permission to integrate them as well.
If you’re in Everquest, you can send IMs straight through?
NP: Yes and it’s not any kind of overlay system either. It’s going to be straight from the chat system inside Everquest. Now it will be a little easier for you to ALT+TAB out and use the Station Launcher to talk to that person, but there will be a way for you to go straight from the chat window in Everquest out to the Station Launcher through to somebody in XFire for instance.
Let’s say I’m playing Star Wars Galaxies and I want to use the [actually now removed] /pizza command in Everquest 2 -- can that carry over as well?
NP: (laughs) No, that won’t work. The pizza command is kind of a game specific... well... no it won’t work. Sorry!
That’s got to be a future feature. I want to be able to order pizza every single game I’m playing!
NP: OK, we probably could.. maybe we can get that to happen. I’ll have to write that down on my suggestion list. That could be a cool use for that. You guys could announce it right? 'Now /Pizza Works From Everywhere,' right? (laughs)
Sony Online's also talked about downloadable content like movies and music from Sony being available through the Launcher, too?
NP: Yeah, that’s the plan not only from Sony, but from other movie studios and music studios as well. The future plan is to offer movies and music through the launcher and attach them to your Station account.
You buy the rights to a movie and it’s attached to your Station account. You can watch it wherever you log into your Station account. It’s not just one device or limited devices, it’s wherever you are you can watch it.
Is the movie going to be streaming from a server or is it going to be stored locally?
NP: It will be stored locally. It will be authenticated against your Station account. You’ll have to log in to view it, but it will be a secured asset on your hard drive.
If I have a movie on my desktop and I want to watch it on my laptop, would I have to download it again?
NP: You would, but you wouldn’t have to pay for it again. That’s the plan.
Do you have any idea about the prices for the downloadable movies yet?
NP: No, that’s a bit too far off into the future for that.
Are there any plans to make this work with Sony’s LocationFree Player?
NP: That is on the long term plans. LocationFree TV, that would be awesome to do that.
It would also be nice if you could download movies on your PC from the Station Launcher and play them on your PSP.
NP: That’s on the short-term plans already. We have a version of Launcher where it recognizes when you plug in your PSP into the PC. You can download a movie straight from the internet through the Launcher straight to your PSP without it ever having touched your PC. There is no version on the PC, if you don’t want it to be. It can download straight to your destination device like your PSP.
Are those movies going to be automatically formatted for the PSP?
NP: That’s right, you’ll be able to download whichever format you want. You want to watch it on PC its one format, if you want to watch it on PSP it’s another format.
But, you’re not going to have to buy the movie twice?
NP: That’s right.
Since you’re going to be able to download movies, what is going to happen to the UMD format?
NP: The movies are big, right? There is a storage capacity limit, so UMDs will still be a good way to watch movies.
Are there any plans to bring over TV shows kind of like the Xbox Live Video Marketplace?
NP: Yeah, Sony has a lot of TV shows that it can pump over this network. We own a lot of IPs in the TV area, including Seinfeld.
What is the time frame for the Station Launcher?
NP: The time frame for what I demonstrated over here, which is just games and friends, is late summer. Movies and music is sometime after that. It is going to be a pretty big endeavor, so I don’t have a release date for it, but it is going to be a good time after summer.
Are there any future plans to integrate the Station Launcher on to the Playstation 3?
NP: It’s not going to stop at the PC.
In fact, Sony Online Entertainment is pulling their brands together, enabling cross game chat and starting a movie download service. Gamasutra spoke to Nathan Pearce, creative director for Sony Online Entertainment, about the new service.
Tell us how the Station Launcher fits into the total Sony Online strategy?
Nathan Pearce: We have a big brand called the Station [including] Station.com, a Station Launcher, Station Pass, Station Access and lots of Station properties. The latest one is Station Launcher, an e-distribution client that you use to log into, purchase and download just about every Sony Online PC MMO.
How many gigabytes of data do you download in Vanguard for instance?
NP: Gosh. I don’t know off the top of my head, but I think it’s four DVDs worth. It’s a lot of data.
Do you think people are ready to download twenty gigabytes of data?
NP: Overnight I think they could, pretty easily. People do that now surreptitiously (laughs), illegally, they are certainly willing to go through the pain of downloading that much data. If you really want to buy a game, it takes less time to buy it over the Station Launcher and let it download overnight and install than it would if you were to go to BestBuy.com, for instance, and buy it from them and have it shipped to you. It takes several days in that case and it’s going to take overnight in our case.
It sounds like one new feature the Station Launcher is adding is that you can communicate with friends from different games, using the launcher itself?
NP: Yeah, it goes even a step further than that. It pulls all your character’s friends lists into one big friends list, all together. Also it tells you where those old friends are now and which games they are playing now.
If you have an old friend in an old game and he’s now playing a new game we tell you what new game he is playing, but we keep his new name secret from you because you won’t recognize him right?
For instance, he was Gandalf in Everquest and now he plays Han Solo in Star Wars. Well if we told you Han Solo was playing Star Wars, you wouldn’t know who that was because the guy you made friends with was named Gandalf way back in the day. It shows you all of your old friend’s names, but only shows you what new game they are playing now.
What if you knew a Gandalf and a Han Solo in both of those games?
NP: He is going to show up twice.
I remember you saying you can communicate with people through AIM and ICQ with the Station Launcher, too - is that still planned?
NP: That is a future feature. It’s not going be for launch later this summer, it’s going to be after that in a phase two launch. We have already talked to AIM and by that we also get ICQ integration. We also talked to Yahoo! and got their permission and gotten XFire's permission to integrate them as well.
If you’re in Everquest, you can send IMs straight through?
NP: Yes and it’s not any kind of overlay system either. It’s going to be straight from the chat system inside Everquest. Now it will be a little easier for you to ALT+TAB out and use the Station Launcher to talk to that person, but there will be a way for you to go straight from the chat window in Everquest out to the Station Launcher through to somebody in XFire for instance.
Let’s say I’m playing Star Wars Galaxies and I want to use the [actually now removed] /pizza command in Everquest 2 -- can that carry over as well?
NP: (laughs) No, that won’t work. The pizza command is kind of a game specific... well... no it won’t work. Sorry!
That’s got to be a future feature. I want to be able to order pizza every single game I’m playing!
NP: OK, we probably could.. maybe we can get that to happen. I’ll have to write that down on my suggestion list. That could be a cool use for that. You guys could announce it right? 'Now /Pizza Works From Everywhere,' right? (laughs)
Sony Online's also talked about downloadable content like movies and music from Sony being available through the Launcher, too?
NP: Yeah, that’s the plan not only from Sony, but from other movie studios and music studios as well. The future plan is to offer movies and music through the launcher and attach them to your Station account.
You buy the rights to a movie and it’s attached to your Station account. You can watch it wherever you log into your Station account. It’s not just one device or limited devices, it’s wherever you are you can watch it.
Is the movie going to be streaming from a server or is it going to be stored locally?
NP: It will be stored locally. It will be authenticated against your Station account. You’ll have to log in to view it, but it will be a secured asset on your hard drive.
If I have a movie on my desktop and I want to watch it on my laptop, would I have to download it again?
NP: You would, but you wouldn’t have to pay for it again. That’s the plan.
Do you have any idea about the prices for the downloadable movies yet?
NP: No, that’s a bit too far off into the future for that.
Are there any plans to make this work with Sony’s LocationFree Player?
NP: That is on the long term plans. LocationFree TV, that would be awesome to do that.
It would also be nice if you could download movies on your PC from the Station Launcher and play them on your PSP.
NP: That’s on the short-term plans already. We have a version of Launcher where it recognizes when you plug in your PSP into the PC. You can download a movie straight from the internet through the Launcher straight to your PSP without it ever having touched your PC. There is no version on the PC, if you don’t want it to be. It can download straight to your destination device like your PSP.
Are those movies going to be automatically formatted for the PSP?
NP: That’s right, you’ll be able to download whichever format you want. You want to watch it on PC its one format, if you want to watch it on PSP it’s another format.
But, you’re not going to have to buy the movie twice?
NP: That’s right.
Since you’re going to be able to download movies, what is going to happen to the UMD format?
NP: The movies are big, right? There is a storage capacity limit, so UMDs will still be a good way to watch movies.
Are there any plans to bring over TV shows kind of like the Xbox Live Video Marketplace?
NP: Yeah, Sony has a lot of TV shows that it can pump over this network. We own a lot of IPs in the TV area, including Seinfeld.
What is the time frame for the Station Launcher?
NP: The time frame for what I demonstrated over here, which is just games and friends, is late summer. Movies and music is sometime after that. It is going to be a pretty big endeavor, so I don’t have a release date for it, but it is going to be a good time after summer.
Are there any future plans to integrate the Station Launcher on to the Playstation 3?
NP: It’s not going to stop at the PC.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Killzone site goes live - PS3 info promised
About time we got some info on Killzone 2!! Hope they post it soon.
Source
There are certain upcoming PS3 titles that are always big news, regardless of what that news may be. The next Killzone is one of those games, and we have learned that more information could be right around the corner, thanks to the launch of the official site.
Killzone Unit, an unofficial fansite, reports that GamePlanet "tipped them off" about Killzone.com going live with brand new info. It had been available before now, but apparently, the site has been updated with unlockables for the PSP's Killzone Liberation and several other features. But even more intriguing is the imminent arrival of Killzone PS3 information, as described by Guerilla Games' "motherH" Downie:
"Hi folks, the long-awaited launch of www.killzone.com is finally here. Now it is still work in progress and is not 100% yet, but it should allow you access to your unlockables via PSP or PC as well as exclusive content on the site. Currently the site only contains Killzone 1 (PS2) and Killzone: Liberation (PSP) information, but it will include Killzone 2 (PS3) information in the coming months. We will update the site on a regular basis so expect developer interviews, blogs and new content being rolled out constantly."
Source
Quote:
There are certain upcoming PS3 titles that are always big news, regardless of what that news may be. The next Killzone is one of those games, and we have learned that more information could be right around the corner, thanks to the launch of the official site.
Killzone Unit, an unofficial fansite, reports that GamePlanet "tipped them off" about Killzone.com going live with brand new info. It had been available before now, but apparently, the site has been updated with unlockables for the PSP's Killzone Liberation and several other features. But even more intriguing is the imminent arrival of Killzone PS3 information, as described by Guerilla Games' "motherH" Downie:
"Hi folks, the long-awaited launch of www.killzone.com is finally here. Now it is still work in progress and is not 100% yet, but it should allow you access to your unlockables via PSP or PC as well as exclusive content on the site. Currently the site only contains Killzone 1 (PS2) and Killzone: Liberation (PSP) information, but it will include Killzone 2 (PS3) information in the coming months. We will update the site on a regular basis so expect developer interviews, blogs and new content being rolled out constantly."
HD DVD getting Killed...
- Week of May 08th
- Week of May 01st
- Week of Apr. 24th
- Week of Apr. 17th
- Week of Apr. 10th
- Week of Apr. 03rd
- Week of Mar. 27th
- Week of Mar. 20th
- 40.00%
- 41.58%
- 42.82%
- 34.02%
- 50.66%
- 44.70%
- 26.89%
- 26.13%
- View All HD DVDs
- 60.00%
- 58.42%
- 57.18%
- 65.98%
- 49.34%
- 55.30%
- 73.11%
- 73.87%
- View All Blu Ray
http://www.dvdempire.com/Content/Features/hidef_wars.asp?view=1
Killzone.com- Killzone ‘2′ Info In The Coming Months
Just yesterday GamePlanet Store NZ tipped us off about Killzone.com going live. This morning, Killzone.com has finally re-launched with unlockables for Killzone Liberation for the PSP, as well as other cool goodies.
Guerrilla Games’ Seb “motherH” Downie explains the update and hints about the arrival of new Killzone PS3 info.
Hi folks, the long-awaited launch of www.killzone.com is finally here. Now it is still work in progress and is not 100% yet, but it should allow you access to your unlockables via PSP or PC as well as exclusive content on the site. Currently the site only contains Killzone 1 (PS2) and Killzone: Liberation (PSP) information, but it will include Killzone 2 (PS3) information in the coming months.
We will update the site on a regular basis so expect developer interviews, blogs and new content being rolled out constantly.I hope to see you guys there soon and I will try to answer any questions about it.
*Phew*
Inside Look at Ps3...Guts...
Chips and Bits
The PlayStation 3 is by far the most complex consoles to date, and a look at the inside reveals that the thermal design is even more complex than that of notebooks and desktops today. On the motherboard of the PlayStation 3, there are a few key elements on the motherboard that immediately attract the eye: the two most prominent being the Cell processor and RSX graphics engine.
More than five years in the making, the Cell Processor was developed jointly by Sony, Toshiba and IBM. The processor's name originated from the idea for a chip that operated in a similar fashion of a complex organism. Multiple 'cells' capable of general tasks, but all devoted to achieving a greater goal.
The Cell is a multicore chip capable of multi-threaded, massive floating point calculation. It comprises of a 64-bit PowerPC-based Power Processing Element (PPE) and eight identical Synergistic Processor Elements (SPE) running at 3.2GHz. The Cell consists of 234 million transistors and is manufactured on a 90nm silicon-on-insulator process.
The PPE is a dual issue, multi-threaded, in-order processor. It features a 64KB L1 cache, a 512KB L2 cache and shares many design cues with other PowerPC processors (this also gives it VMA/Altivec-like features). Most modern processors are of the out-of-order type, Cell forgoes this in favor of power savings and excessive transistor count. Being confined to its in-order architecture leads to decreased performance in applications with multiple branches, though clever programming, elegant compilers and the sheer speed of Cell may be able to minimize the downside. In essence, the Cell follows much of the RISC processor philosophy.
Each SPE is an independent, single precision, vector processor with 128 128-bit registers and four single precision floating point units. Each SPE is able to take a single instruction and perform multiple operations, just like how Intel used MMX or SSE technology to add SIMD (single instruction multiple data) to its Pentium CPUs. SIMD processor technology is ideally suited towards media applications such as games, movies and other forms of digital content.
The first six SPE's are dedicated to intense computational tasks. The seventh SPE is dedicated to OS security, and an eighth is included to help improve production yields by following the "baker's dozen" rationale (i.e., only seven out of eight cores need to be functional in order to be a approved for use in PS3). It is optimized for computational intensive workloads and media applications, such as games, movies and other forms of digital content.
Unlike the PPE and most modern day processors, the SPEs do not contain any cache whatsoever. Instead of cache, each SPE unit has 256KB allocated for local stores. While cache operates independent from programmer control, anything placed into an SPE's local memory must be explicitly planned by the programmer. The advantage of this is that it takes the unpredictability of cache out of the equation, which leaves room for greater performance. The disadvantage of this, of course, is that it takes the complexity away from the processor and puts it squarely on the shoulders of software programmers. This is one of the reasons that developers are commenting on the challenges of working on PlayStation 3. But with smart programming, storing to local memory will yield faster performance than using a general cache.
At this time, very little information about the NVIDIA RSX (Reality Synthesizer) processor is known, however we can pick some information out from the assembly. The RSX is a 550MHz graphics engine based on the G70 architecture, the same architecture family responsible for the GeForce 7800 series GPU. However, several reports indicate that the RSX is actually running at 500MHz core.
Four 512Mbit GDDR3 DRAM modules are integrated onto the RSX package, providing a total of 256MB of on-GPU memory. The chips in our console are Samsung modules rated at 700MHz (at least, according to the chip labels) which is essentially in-line with what reports claimed earlier this year. Like the original Xbox, the PlayStation 3 incorporates a memory controller on the graphics engine. According to documents leaked earlier this year, developers are supposed to use the RSX to access the main XDR memory or the GDDR3 memory found on the RSX chip.
256MB of Samsung XDR DRAM composes of the system's main memory. The memory on our console is listed at 400MHz, or 3.2Gbps. Also found on the console is a single 128MB Samsung NAND, signifying that the PlayStation 3 utilizes flash memory in some way.
Like the Xbox 360, the serial connections between the processor and GPU are easily visible, although the complexity on the PlayStation 3 is also apparent. Whereas the Xbox 360 essentially had two main controllers, the PlayStation 3 also adds two additional chips: the PlayStation 2 Emotion Engine and IO bridge (CXD2973GB). However, the Emotion Engine featured on the PlayStation 3 is more than just a die-shrink of the chip found on the previous generation console since the entire PlayStation 2 Graphics Synthesizer is also present on this chip; a feature present since the V9 PlayStation 2. What was an entire console in 1999 is now a single, passively cooled chip. A pair of Rambus DRAM chips is configured close to the EE/GS chip, similar to how they were found in the PlayStation 2.
Outside of Sony and NVIDIA, the company with the most chips in the PlayStation 3 is undoubtedly Marvell. Marvell has been a long time ally with Sony -- virtually all of the PSP networking and storage is provided by Marvell. The traces from the Ethernet port to the Marvell chip are also easily visible.
Thermals
The PS3 is cooled by a single heatsink that covers a large majority of the motherboard. Under this heatsink, four more heatspreaders are revealed. Two of these heatspreaders house the Cell processor and the RSX.
Heatpipes dissipate heat from the Cell and the RSX along the system heatsink. This heatsink is cooled by a single 160mm fan with an exhaust along the back and sides of the console. The Cell processor is clearly the largest source of heat for the console, and it is situated directly underneath the 160mm fan. The Emotion Engine and
The entire power supply is built into the PlayStation 3. The Xbox 360 requires an external "brick" that can be swapped out depending on the local regulations for electronic devices. The
Additionally, the AC to DC step does not have any specific cooling on the PlayStation 3. Virtually all of the active cooling is handled by the single heatsink and fan on the other side of the backplate that houses the motherboard. It does not seem as though this upper half of the PlayStation 3 is hermetically-sealed, there appears to be very little airflow to the rest of the console here.
PlayStation 3 Coming to Korea Next Month
Sony’s PlayStation 3 video game console is expected to hit shelves in Korea next month. According to game industry insiders on Wednesday, Sony Computer Entertainment Korea asked its head office in Japan to finalize the release date of the PS3 in Korea, which is likely to be June.
SCEK is currently working out sales details with the head office, including pricing and models that will be available. Once the Japanese headquarters gives the go ahead, SCEK will launch an aggressive marketing campaign in Korea. The industry is predicting that Sony will release in Korea a deluxe model of the PS3 with a wireless LAN adapter and a 60GB hard disk priced between W500,000 and W600,000 (US$1=W923).
The PS3 was launched in Japan and North America last November and in Europe in March. The game machine has been struggling against the Nintendo Wii and the Microsoft's Xbox 360 because of its high price and supply limitations.
Over 100,000 Xbox 360s have been sold in Korea since it was released in February 2006.
More Sales Awsome...
SCEK is currently working out sales details with the head office, including pricing and models that will be available. Once the Japanese headquarters gives the go ahead, SCEK will launch an aggressive marketing campaign in Korea. The industry is predicting that Sony will release in Korea a deluxe model of the PS3 with a wireless LAN adapter and a 60GB hard disk priced between W500,000 and W600,000 (US$1=W923).
The PS3 was launched in Japan and North America last November and in Europe in March. The game machine has been struggling against the Nintendo Wii and the Microsoft's Xbox 360 because of its high price and supply limitations.
Over 100,000 Xbox 360s have been sold in Korea since it was released in February 2006.
More Sales Awsome...
Largest HD-DVD studio, Universal, going neutral
Heise Online, a German IT website, is reporting that during a press conference, representatives from Pioneer announced that Universal will break their exclusivity agreement with HD DVD. This would allow Universal, the only large studio exclusively supporting HD DVD, to freely distribute their movies on Blu-ray. It is important to note that this announcement has not yet been confirmed by Universal.
It has long been speculated that Universal was receiving monetary compensation for being an exclusive HD DVD studio. This announcement would signal that they have decided to forgo the compensation in order to release titles on Blu-ray. Most would agree that this move would effectively end the war, and no matter what side you support, a single HD format is the best long term solution.
It has long been speculated that Universal was receiving monetary compensation for being an exclusive HD DVD studio. This announcement would signal that they have decided to forgo the compensation in order to release titles on Blu-ray. Most would agree that this move would effectively end the war, and no matter what side you support, a single HD format is the best long term solution.
Analyst predicts 15% growth in software sales for Sony
The PlayStation 3's production cost has been a hot subject this week, and for good reason considering the fact that many analysts have believe it is one of the console's biggest hurdles to market domination. Months after launch, analysts are still criticising the console's high production cost, and the latest firm to throw in its two cents is Lazard Capital Markets: “We continue to believe that a significant pre-holiday ramp in PS3 unit sales is unlikely without a more robust title line-up and/or a hardware price cut,” said the company's analyst, Colin Sebastian.
Just last week, iSuppli estimated that Sony loses about USD240 for each unit sold, although Sony is already taking steps to decrease production costs. With mass production to aid the Japanese giant, the cost of producing components such as the infamous blu-ray diode is expected to fall soon.
In his report, Sebastian also predicted strong software sales for Sony in North America, a 15% increase in fact. "We believe videogame sales remain generally healthy year-to-date despite tougher year-over-year comps for the remainder of 2007. We continue to expect solid 15 per cent plus growth in software sales in North America this year," he told investors.
Just last week, iSuppli estimated that Sony loses about USD240 for each unit sold, although Sony is already taking steps to decrease production costs. With mass production to aid the Japanese giant, the cost of producing components such as the infamous blu-ray diode is expected to fall soon.
In his report, Sebastian also predicted strong software sales for Sony in North America, a 15% increase in fact. "We believe videogame sales remain generally healthy year-to-date despite tougher year-over-year comps for the remainder of 2007. We continue to expect solid 15 per cent plus growth in software sales in North America this year," he told investors.
"PS3 is starting to reveal its power" says Buzz developer -
In the latest issue of Develop, Relentless talk about their transition from previous generation to the latest PS3 hardware. Initially it felt slightly erratic developing games for the PS3 but now with everything avalible at their disposal they declare that the "PS3 is starting to reveal its power to us.". Relentless also concedes that the PS3 is a complex machine to create games on but with the new PlayStation Edge they have been impressed with their effort.
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Quote:
| Brighton-based UK studio Relentless, co-creator of the Buzz series of quiz games, has been discussing yesterday's announced move towards PlayStation 3 development in the latest issue of Develop. Echoing the culture shock many studios have encountered in moving from previous gen to new hardware, development director and co-founder Andrew Eades described the venture onto PS3 for an unannounced title as "a strange journey". : "We were really comfortable making PS2 games, but when it comes to PS3 we found it harder than we thought it would be," said Eades. "We didn't think it would be a walk in the park, but we found it harder than we should have. We had some missteps in the art style, and that slowed us down - we were a bit worried at first but now it looks like a true next-gen game. Now we've got in place everything we need - with the right technical people and art people – and PS3 is starting to reveal its power to us." Added Eades: "When we're walking around the studio we're starting to see things on people's screens that really make you stop in your tracks to look at. It has taken us longer than we would have liked, but we're really happy with what we're seeing for PS3." Creative director and co-founder David Amor also had plenty of praise for the support Sony is offering with it's new PlayStation Edge technology suite, a collection of tools put together by SCE studios that worked on the first wave of games for the PS3. "PS3 is quite a complicated machine to write for," said Amor. "But PlayStation Edge is a great help. I remember when I spoke to the Media Molecule guys, one of them said to me 'the Insomniac guys, they've cracked the SPUs, they got it.' So now those tools are available for third-party studios, it's good news for all of us." |
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
PS3 Thief forced to settle for 360
According to a report filed today, a robber recently burst into a London area branch of Blockbuster Video in the greater London suburb of Thornton Heath. He made off with £500 ($996.30) worth of goods--but what he really wanted was a PlayStation 3.
The site This is London Local reports that the perpetrator brandished a handgun at two terrified female employees and demanded that they give him a PlayStation 3 Problem was, the store apparently didn't have any PS3s, so the disappointed thief asked for an Xbox 360 instead.
After taking the console, he helped himself to £60 ($119) from the till and a selection of games from the shelf on his way out. Nobody was hurt in the incident, although there was a delay in the investigation as police ended up in the wrong store due to a "mix-up."
Though it was made public today, the robbery actually took place at around 7 p.m. on April 14. Any witnesses in the area are asked to contact Crimestoppers anonymously at 0800 555111.
Report: GTAIV designer 'limited' by HDD-less 360s
Report: GTAIV designer 'limited' by HDD-less 360s
At the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Microsoft announced that Grand Theft Auto IV would arrive on the Xbox 360 on the same day as the PS3. Since then, console partisans have exchanged potshots over which version would be superior.
After last month's Game Informer revealed that the GTAIV shown during the teaser was for the 360 version, fans of Microsoft's console were visibly gloating. However, now it looks like the PlayStation 3 side may be getting some of its own ammo, courtesy of a recent interview in the UK version of Official PlayStation Magazine republished by its online collaborator, Computer & Video Games.
According to C&VG, the OPM UK interview was with none other than Dan Houser, founder and chief creative officer of Rockstar North, GTAIV's developer. When asked if the fact that, along with the greater storage capacity of the PS3's Blu-ray discs, the Xbox 360's lack of a built-in hard drive--which is absent from the basic $299 Core model--presented limitations to the studio's design team, Houser reportedly gave a blunt one-word answer: "Yep."
Houser's response sparked a firestorm in games forums, as it was often represented as a blanket attack on the 360. However, the famed designer's monosyllabic response was just part of a series of remarks he made vaguely outlining each platform's high and low points. "Both have their own particular pleasures and pains...[and] both have enormous challenges," Houser told the magazine. "To be honest with you, we haven't solved all those riddles yet." As of press time, Rockstar reps had not commented on requests to comment on Houser's comments.
Luckily, Houser still has a fair amount of time to solve those riddles: Grand Theft Auto IV is due out in North America on October 16, with a UK and European release to follow three days later.
Rampart This Week For PSN
Tomorrow morning, the folks at Sony Online Entertainment will announce that its HD remake of Midway's classic tactical actioner, Rampart, will be available on the PlayStation Store on May 10. The game's release makes this the second week in row in which SOE has unveiled a new downloadable PS3 product for the PlayStation Store.
For the unfamiliar, Rampart was originally released in the arcades in 1990 and charged its players with the task of building a castle with various pieces to protect their own territory. Strategically placing cannons and blasting their opponent's competing stronghold apart is what victory was all about.
For the unfamiliar, Rampart was originally released in the arcades in 1990 and charged its players with the task of building a castle with various pieces to protect their own territory. Strategically placing cannons and blasting their opponent's competing stronghold apart is what victory was all about.
Expect to see it for sale on the PlayStation Store the afternoon of the 10th for a retail price of $4.99 (US).
Playstation Network Update May 8th 2007(UPDATE)
http://community.eu.playstation.com/showthread.php?t=85566
PLAYSTATION®Network upgrade: Tuesday 08 May
Over the next few weeks, some new and exciting changes will take place in the PLAYSTATION®Store. In preparation for this, both PLAYSTATION®Network and PLAYSTATION®Store need to be taken offline for a short while to allow us to carry out the upgrade and maintenance work.
This is scheduled to take place between 16:00 and 19:00 BST (17:00-20:00 CEST) on Tuesday 8th May 2007.
If you are already logged into an online game during this time, you will most likely find that you can continue playing as normal, but you will not be able to log in or start a new game until full service has been restored. You will also not be able to access the Store during this maintenance window.
We are hoping to complete this work in as short a time as possible and apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. But remember that these enhancements are paving the way for new and exciting content that we have planned for the Store!
Over the next few weeks, some new and exciting changes will take place in the PLAYSTATION®Store. In preparation for this, both PLAYSTATION®Network and PLAYSTATION®Store need to be taken offline for a short while to allow us to carry out the upgrade and maintenance work.
This is scheduled to take place between 16:00 and 19:00 BST (17:00-20:00 CEST) on Tuesday 8th May 2007.
If you are already logged into an online game during this time, you will most likely find that you can continue playing as normal, but you will not be able to log in or start a new game until full service has been restored. You will also not be able to access the Store during this maintenance window.
We are hoping to complete this work in as short a time as possible and apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. But remember that these enhancements are paving the way for new and exciting content that we have planned for the Store!
(UPDATE)Playstation Network Update May 8th 2007
"Awaited by the owners of PlayStation 3 all the evening, the famous update of PlayStation Store European was in fact a maintenance and the shop does not contain anything more than the new trailer card of Gran Turismo HD devoted to Nissan Xanavi Nismo Z. Yes, it is well little, especially when one with the good idea to create an American account to see what there is beautiful on other side of the Atlantic… We await the true new innovations in the days to come!"
A PS3 murders a Xbox 360, [Think Chuck Norris] $67 million lawsuit to follow
Originally Posted by John Davison
My PS3 just killed my 360 http://farm1.static.flickr.com/179/4...49f627.jpg?v=0
I keep my PS3 and my Xbox 360 in an entertainment unit in the living room. It's a big wooden thing with glass doors, and while it looks cool, I guess it's not exactly what I'd cool well ventilated.
Anyway, this morning at some ungodly hour, both my kids got up and wanted to play videogames. My older son wanted to play Cars while my little guy wanted to watch, and fiddle with another controller while pretending to play. The pretend option turned out to be the Sixaxis (this is relevant, I'll come back to it.)
Now, the 360 on it's own doesn't run so hot that it can't handle being in the entertainment unit with the door shut. I've had it on for hours and hours and hours before, and it never gets so hot that the fan goes into turbo bas*tard mode. The PS3, on the other hand, is another story. If I keep that sucker in a confined space for too long, I fear for the safety of my family. Hence, whenever we play PS3 games...the door to the unit stays open.
So (back to the narrative) while pretending to play along with his brother, my little guy hits the PS button, and the PS3 springs to life, inside the closed entertainment unit, unbeknown to Mrs. D and myself.
Needless to say, temperatures rise, fans kick in, then more fans kick in, then some new, untold level of nuclear reactor-grade cooling kicks in deep within the bowels of the PS3, and the first thing I know of this is when a little voice cries, "Dad, something's wrong with my game."
Conditions in the confined space had become so super-heated that the 360 red-ringed out, big time.
So. Bottom line, my PS3 killed my 360. I have learned a very valuable lesson from this
I keep my PS3 and my Xbox 360 in an entertainment unit in the living room. It's a big wooden thing with glass doors, and while it looks cool, I guess it's not exactly what I'd cool well ventilated.
Anyway, this morning at some ungodly hour, both my kids got up and wanted to play videogames. My older son wanted to play Cars while my little guy wanted to watch, and fiddle with another controller while pretending to play. The pretend option turned out to be the Sixaxis (this is relevant, I'll come back to it.)
Now, the 360 on it's own doesn't run so hot that it can't handle being in the entertainment unit with the door shut. I've had it on for hours and hours and hours before, and it never gets so hot that the fan goes into turbo bas*tard mode. The PS3, on the other hand, is another story. If I keep that sucker in a confined space for too long, I fear for the safety of my family. Hence, whenever we play PS3 games...the door to the unit stays open.
So (back to the narrative) while pretending to play along with his brother, my little guy hits the PS button, and the PS3 springs to life, inside the closed entertainment unit, unbeknown to Mrs. D and myself.
Needless to say, temperatures rise, fans kick in, then more fans kick in, then some new, untold level of nuclear reactor-grade cooling kicks in deep within the bowels of the PS3, and the first thing I know of this is when a little voice cries, "Dad, something's wrong with my game."
Conditions in the confined space had become so super-heated that the 360 red-ringed out, big time.
So. Bottom line, my PS3 killed my 360. I have learned a very valuable lesson from this
IBM makes CELL more effienceint with a breakthrough in inovation
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070504/...sembling_chips
http://www.ibm.com/news/us/en/2007/05/2007_05_03.html
Some more great news for CELL and technology in general. Basically IBM puts a bunch of microscopic holes into the CELL chip that makes it run 35% faster and cooler! The idea actually derived from sea shells and snow flakes. It's awesome that they look to nature to evolve technology.
http://www.ibm.com/news/us/en/2007/05/2007_05_03.html
Some more great news for CELL and technology in general. Basically IBM puts a bunch of microscopic holes into the CELL chip that makes it run 35% faster and cooler! The idea actually derived from sea shells and snow flakes. It's awesome that they look to nature to evolve technology.
Quote:
| By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Thu May 3, 11:46 PM ET NEW YORK - Chips with minuscule holes in them can run faster or use less energy, IBM Corp. said in announcing Thursday a novel way to create them — potentially one of the most significant advances in chip manufacturing in years. ADVERTISEMENT To create these tiny holes, the computer company has harnessed a plastic-like material that spontaneously forms into a sieve-like structure. The holes have a width of 20 nanometers, or billionths of a meter, placing the method in the much-vaunted field of nanotechnology. "To our knowledge, this is the first time anyone has used nanoscale self-assembled materials to build things that machines aren't capable of doing," said John Kelly, IBM's vice president of development. Kelly said molecules in the material fall into a defined pattern similar to how snowflakes form into symmetrical six-sided shapes. IBM said the technology could be added to existing manufacturing lines and applied to current chips, boosting performance by 35 percent or cutting power consumption by the same percentage. It expects to start using the technique in 2009, first on chips used in IBM's servers and later to chips it makes for other companies, including possibly the Cell processor used in Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news).'s PlayStation 3. "It's a tremendous breakthrough," said Richard Doherty, research director at Envisioneering Group, an analysis firm. "It's likely to save energy and increase chip speeds more than any other single advance in the last few years." The holes alleviate a problem that has loomed for the semiconductor industry: As chips have shrunk in size, boosting their speed and efficiency, they've increasingly become susceptible to electricity leaking between their closely spaced wires through the intervening insulator, usually glass. The most advanced chip technology in large-scale commercial use, which uses circuits 65 nanometers apart, loses almost half of its power to leakage, Doherty said. The leakage not only wastes power but also slows down the processor. Ideally, the glass would be replaced with vacuum, a better insulator, but removing the glass away in the right places hasn't been possible with current techniques. If the glass was simply etched away, the resulting "ditches" running along the wires would simply be filled in by the next layer of insulating glass applied, according to IBM Fellow Dan Edelstein, chief scientist on the project. IBM's polymer technique sidesteps that problem. First, the self-assembling material is applied on top of the glass, forming the tiny holes. The chip is then exposed to a gas that seeps through the material as if it were a stencil, etching away the underlying glass to form small holes in the top surface, and larger, continuous gaps between the wires. Another layer of glass is applied in a vacuum chamber. Because the holes in the topmost existing glass layer are small, the newly applied layer of glass doesn't seep into the underlying cavities. Instead, it seals them off, with a vacuum inside. The technique was invented at IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., and the T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown, N.Y. It was adapted for commercial use by the University at Albany and IBM's Semiconductor Research and Development Center in East Fishkill, N.Y. |
Make Long-Distance Phone Calls On Your PS3 for free
What more do you want to do with your PS3? How about place long-distance phone calls? JAJAH, the new web-based phone company, is bringing its service to the PS3, according to a news posting at N4G. It will let users initiate free or "ultra-low" cost global phone calls directly from Sony's new console.
If you'd like to check it out, go ahead and register at play.jajah.com, and then you'll be allowed to talk to other people on their regular phones. JAJAH only launched a year ago, and yet, it's already got more than 2 million registered users in 55 countries. No, really.
"JAJAH's vision is to bring free and ultra low cost calls to people everywhere," said Roman Scharf, JAJAH co-founder. "Introducing JAJAH to gamers is another way of bringing that vision to life."
It's an interesting concept. If you wanted to do this, you'd first enter play.jajah.com through the PS3's Internet broswer. Then you'd just enter your own phone number as well as the number you're calling. Click "call," and JAJAH makes the call. Within a few seconds, your own phone will ring; you'll pick up, and the person your calling will also pick up, 'cuz their phone was ringing as well. Get it?
It's basically the same on the PS3 as it is on the web through a PC, so if you already have a JAJAH account, logging into play.jajah.com on the PS3 will show your address book and account information.
"JAJAH now brings free or cheap calling into the living room and away from computers," said Scharf. "Initiating a call with JAJAH can now be done while lounging in front of the TV with no need to fire up the computer. This means that the whole family, regardless of interests or technological skills, can make cheap or even free calls from their normal home phone."
How much does it cost? Nothing. A call with JAJAH is free, provided both users are registered with the service. And in the countries where it isn't free, it's supposedly an "ultra-low" cost. So for those of you looking for the best way to make long-distance phone calls - and want to make a lot of them - you might want to check this out.
If you'd like to check it out, go ahead and register at play.jajah.com, and then you'll be allowed to talk to other people on their regular phones. JAJAH only launched a year ago, and yet, it's already got more than 2 million registered users in 55 countries. No, really.
"JAJAH's vision is to bring free and ultra low cost calls to people everywhere," said Roman Scharf, JAJAH co-founder. "Introducing JAJAH to gamers is another way of bringing that vision to life."
It's an interesting concept. If you wanted to do this, you'd first enter play.jajah.com through the PS3's Internet broswer. Then you'd just enter your own phone number as well as the number you're calling. Click "call," and JAJAH makes the call. Within a few seconds, your own phone will ring; you'll pick up, and the person your calling will also pick up, 'cuz their phone was ringing as well. Get it?
It's basically the same on the PS3 as it is on the web through a PC, so if you already have a JAJAH account, logging into play.jajah.com on the PS3 will show your address book and account information.
"JAJAH now brings free or cheap calling into the living room and away from computers," said Scharf. "Initiating a call with JAJAH can now be done while lounging in front of the TV with no need to fire up the computer. This means that the whole family, regardless of interests or technological skills, can make cheap or even free calls from their normal home phone."
How much does it cost? Nothing. A call with JAJAH is free, provided both users are registered with the service. And in the countries where it isn't free, it's supposedly an "ultra-low" cost. So for those of you looking for the best way to make long-distance phone calls - and want to make a lot of them - you might want to check this out.
GTA’s Dan Houser on Disk Storage[a.k.a dvd is a technical limitation]*new*
| Dan Houser, the creative VP at Rockstar Games and senior writer and producer of almost all of the GTA games, recently did an interview with UK’s OPM. All the regular news sites are citing him as saying that the 360’s DVD format and the possible lack of a hard drive as limitations for GTA 4 when compared to the PS3’s Blu-Ray format and guaranteed hard drive. Actually, if you read the interview (link below), his actual comments are extremely mild and I wouldn’t count them for much. Most developers try to keep things professional and avoid picking sides and making inflammatory statements. However, the same Dan Houser was extremely clear on the subject of disc storage during an interview in 2004. Remember that that was long before the specs for the PS3 or the 360 were even announced: One area that I’m really involved in is creating the audio assets – I think we’ll have well over 400 speaking parts, which is insanity. The amount of studio time we’re having to get through and the amount of writing that’s involved, we’re more worried about getting it on the disc. That’s our initial challenge. We’re having to go to dual layer DVD because we’ve already filled up a full DVD. He sums it up: The danger is currently the storage medium (DVD), and one we thing we’re all praying for in the next round of hardware is that they don’t just go, ‘It’s DVD again’. If he made such a comment now, it would seem like an intentionally partisan comment. But from 2004, that quote actually seems like a genuine technical issue. |
Sony aims on providing familyfriendly material
PS3 manager Kim Nguyen prompts in a recent report that Sony is destined to bring family friendly material, by incorporating a new marketing campaign.
According to Kim there area numerous amount of people out there that thinks the games are all about violence and gore etcetera. However, he later concedes that there actually are "friendly games". Games such as LittleBigPlanet, SingStar, and MLB 07 are crucial titles for Sony in an attempt to lead their marketing campaign.
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According to Kim there area numerous amount of people out there that thinks the games are all about violence and gore etcetera. However, he later concedes that there actually are "friendly games". Games such as LittleBigPlanet, SingStar, and MLB 07 are crucial titles for Sony in an attempt to lead their marketing campaign.
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| Sony Preps Family-Oriented MarketingSony has launched a marketing campaign to target all demographics, especially family-oriented households. Some people believe Sony is just a console filled with blood and gore, and this just isn’t true according to Kim Nguyen. |
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“Our goal is to definitely widen our target base and not be so niche,” said Kim Nguyen, PS3 manager. “We are not all about shoot ’em-up bloody games. There are friendly games.” For a long time Nintendo has aimed their campaign at children and their families. Sony wants a piece of that pie as well. “This is high-def entertainment messaging, where we have our exclusive software titles, and we are delivering a very powerful machine. On the movie side, you have beautiful movies that you can watch on the PS3. We are going for that larger audience.” Sony will use games such as LittleBigPlanet, SingStar, and MLB 07: The Show to lead their marketing campaign. Sony is targeting a number of events to help push the PlayStation brand, and that includes the PlayStation AM JAM tour, which features professional skateboarders across 8 U.S. cities. PlayStation Patrol trucks continue to roam the country, and the company has even buddied up with the San Francisco Giants to help promote MLB 07: The Show. Before the Giants come up to bat, clips of the game will run on the team's brand new high-definition video screen in the outfield. I can only say that this is step in the right direction for Sony. Proper marketing strategy is what put Sony at the top of the industry in the last 10 years. They had to let people go at certain departments in Sony, for what people ask? My guess would be to get in the people who can do the job Sony needs in this new generation of gaming. |
Wedbush Morgan: PS3 to 'Win' the Next Gen Battle
New Wedbush Morgan report forecasts that while console sales are often driven by the quality and content available for each system, the next generation console wars could be decided by the motion picture studios. Michael Pachter expects Sony and Blu-ray to emerge as narrow victors.
In the report, analyst Michael Pachter predicts that Sony's PS3 will command the greatest market share of next generation consoles. However, he also states that this console cycle will essentially be "a dead heat, and each manufacturer will have sufficient market share to generate significant profits."
He said, “Notwithstanding the efforts of the three console manufacturers to deliver compelling exclusive content, we expect the ultimate outcome of the console wars to be decided by the motion picture studios,” Pachter said.
“Should the studios embrace Sony’s Blu-ray standard for high-definition DVDs, we think Sony will gain an insurmountable advantage over Microsoft; should the studios embrace Sony rival Toshiba’s HD-DVD format, we think that Microsoft can maintain its first mover advantage and will dominate software sales for years to come.”
“We expect the dominant console at the end of the next cycle to be Sony PlayStation 3, primarily due to our assessment that Sony will win the high definition DVD format war. Ultimately, we see Sony winning the console war with 36% of the market, with Nintendo capturing second place at 34% and Microsoft finishing third at 30%. These estimates do not include market shares in Japan, which we expect to be dominated by Nintendo (51% through 2011) and Sony (44%).”
Pachter also said, ““We believe that a wildcard for next generation console sales will be the hardware manufacturers’ ability either to develop content internally or to secure third-party commitments for software designed exclusively for a single platform.
In this respect Pachter cites Nintendo’s catalog of exclusive properties weighing heavily in the Japanese firm’s favor. He notes that Sony and Microsoft will be on a more even keel exclusivity wise than during the previous console cycle when the PS2 had far more exclusive titles than the Xbox.
He said, "The similarity between the two platforms will likely serve to lower the costs of porting software from one platform to the other, and we anticipate that virtually every third-party title produced for one will be produced for the other."
Following overall growth of 6% in 2006, the report also forecasts unprecedented growth in next generation software sales over the coming years as the game industry booms.
"We now expect the market for interactive entertainment to grow at a mid-teen rate through 2009. Beyond 2009, we expect revenues from non-traditional sources (online games, casual games, downloadable content, and in-game advertising) to grow to a meaningful level, offsetting inevitable declines in packaged goods software goods."
Webush Morgan also expect next generation consoles to appeal to a wider audience than their predecessors, hence its prediction that the number of households owning at least one console will rise from "52% during the 128-bit cycle to 60% during the next cycle." However, "our growth forecast assumes that the number of consoles owned by each household will hold relatively steady, decreasing slightly from 1.40 to 1.38 during the next cycle."
In the report, analyst Michael Pachter predicts that Sony's PS3 will command the greatest market share of next generation consoles. However, he also states that this console cycle will essentially be "a dead heat, and each manufacturer will have sufficient market share to generate significant profits."
He said, “Notwithstanding the efforts of the three console manufacturers to deliver compelling exclusive content, we expect the ultimate outcome of the console wars to be decided by the motion picture studios,” Pachter said.
“Should the studios embrace Sony’s Blu-ray standard for high-definition DVDs, we think Sony will gain an insurmountable advantage over Microsoft; should the studios embrace Sony rival Toshiba’s HD-DVD format, we think that Microsoft can maintain its first mover advantage and will dominate software sales for years to come.”
“We expect the dominant console at the end of the next cycle to be Sony PlayStation 3, primarily due to our assessment that Sony will win the high definition DVD format war. Ultimately, we see Sony winning the console war with 36% of the market, with Nintendo capturing second place at 34% and Microsoft finishing third at 30%. These estimates do not include market shares in Japan, which we expect to be dominated by Nintendo (51% through 2011) and Sony (44%).”
Pachter also said, ““We believe that a wildcard for next generation console sales will be the hardware manufacturers’ ability either to develop content internally or to secure third-party commitments for software designed exclusively for a single platform.
In this respect Pachter cites Nintendo’s catalog of exclusive properties weighing heavily in the Japanese firm’s favor. He notes that Sony and Microsoft will be on a more even keel exclusivity wise than during the previous console cycle when the PS2 had far more exclusive titles than the Xbox.
He said, "The similarity between the two platforms will likely serve to lower the costs of porting software from one platform to the other, and we anticipate that virtually every third-party title produced for one will be produced for the other."
Following overall growth of 6% in 2006, the report also forecasts unprecedented growth in next generation software sales over the coming years as the game industry booms.
"We now expect the market for interactive entertainment to grow at a mid-teen rate through 2009. Beyond 2009, we expect revenues from non-traditional sources (online games, casual games, downloadable content, and in-game advertising) to grow to a meaningful level, offsetting inevitable declines in packaged goods software goods."
Webush Morgan also expect next generation consoles to appeal to a wider audience than their predecessors, hence its prediction that the number of households owning at least one console will rise from "52% during the 128-bit cycle to 60% during the next cycle." However, "our growth forecast assumes that the number of consoles owned by each household will hold relatively steady, decreasing slightly from 1.40 to 1.38 during the next cycle."
Sony widens PlayStation 3 marketing
MAY 4 Sony is reaching out to Mom, Dad and the kids in a bid to widen the appeal of its PlayStation 3.
Facing stiff competition from Nintendo’s family-friendly Wii, Sony will be heavily campaigning around the upcoming release of several all-ages games, most notably karaoke title SingStar and community building title LittleBigPlanet, streeting this fall and early 2008, respectively. Both are exclusive to the PlayStation platform, with earlier SingStar titles already available for the PS2.
Also, Sony is preparing to hype the PS3 as the most comprehensive Blu-ray Disc player available on the market. Currently, PS3 is the only device that features a Web-enabled Blu-ray player, although no studio has released a Blu-ray title boasting Web-based content.
“Our goal is to definitely widen our target base and not be so niche,” said Kim Nguyen, PS3 manager. “We are not all about shoot ’em-up bloody games. There are friendly games.”
She added, “This is high-def entertainment messaging, where we have our exclusive software titles, and we are delivering a very powerful machine. On the movie side, you have beautiful movies that you can watch on the PS3. We are going for that larger audience.”
During the U.S. PS3 bow last fall, Sony mainly emphasized the product’s superior gaming technology. Nintendo instead talked up the Wii’s ease of use. Wii ads featured various family members enjoying the system’s unique wireless controllers.
With PS3’s SingStar, players sing popular songs via a microphone attachment and are scored based on their similarity to the track’s original performer. On LittleBigPlanet, players create their own customized, virtual world and can collaborate with other PS3 users.
Nguyen said a TV, print and online blitz will push these various talking points during the back half of the year, leading toward the fourth quarter. She declined to give a specific launch date.
Wii has sold 5.84 million systems worldwide through March, Nintendo officials said last month. Launched near the same time last year, PS3 has sold 3 million units worldwide, Sony confirmed.
Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities, thinks marketing should boost PS3. He agrees that PS3 can improve upon how it singles out its Blu-ray functionality.
“What they want to do is position the consumer to start wanting the PS3 in time for Christmas,” said Pachter, figuring advertising might start as early as June. Plus, Sony “needs to educate consumers on why they need a Blu-ray player.”
Nguyen said PS3 supply has increased at retail and noted that between February and March of this year, PS3 was the only next-generation console to show a sales gain.
“The Wii was down 22%, and the Xbox 360 was down 12%, and we were up 2%,” said Nguyen, citing U.S. statistics from NPD Funworld.
However, PS3 still lagged in March sales, moving 130,000 units, compared to Wii’s 260,000 units sold and Xbox 360’s 200,000 units sold.
“The timing is definitely right [for renewed PS3 promotion], as the manufacturing issues have been ironed out,” Nguyen said. “Retailers are getting an influx of supply, so it makes sense to ramp up marketing to coincide with that.”
Through this summer, PlayStation will continue to sponsor various events designed to spread the word about PS3. In mid-March through May 5, the PlayStation AM JAM tour, starring various professional skate boarders, spread across eight U.S. cities.
PlayStation Patrol trucks, created specifically last year for people to sample the PS3, continue to tour the U.S through the year.
Also, Sony has partnered with the San Francisco Giants to promote the baseball PS3 title MLB ’07 The Show. Prior to Giants taking turns at bat, clips of the videogame will run on the team’s new high-definition scoreboard.
Facing stiff competition from Nintendo’s family-friendly Wii, Sony will be heavily campaigning around the upcoming release of several all-ages games, most notably karaoke title SingStar and community building title LittleBigPlanet, streeting this fall and early 2008, respectively. Both are exclusive to the PlayStation platform, with earlier SingStar titles already available for the PS2.
Also, Sony is preparing to hype the PS3 as the most comprehensive Blu-ray Disc player available on the market. Currently, PS3 is the only device that features a Web-enabled Blu-ray player, although no studio has released a Blu-ray title boasting Web-based content.
“Our goal is to definitely widen our target base and not be so niche,” said Kim Nguyen, PS3 manager. “We are not all about shoot ’em-up bloody games. There are friendly games.”
She added, “This is high-def entertainment messaging, where we have our exclusive software titles, and we are delivering a very powerful machine. On the movie side, you have beautiful movies that you can watch on the PS3. We are going for that larger audience.”
During the U.S. PS3 bow last fall, Sony mainly emphasized the product’s superior gaming technology. Nintendo instead talked up the Wii’s ease of use. Wii ads featured various family members enjoying the system’s unique wireless controllers.
With PS3’s SingStar, players sing popular songs via a microphone attachment and are scored based on their similarity to the track’s original performer. On LittleBigPlanet, players create their own customized, virtual world and can collaborate with other PS3 users.
Nguyen said a TV, print and online blitz will push these various talking points during the back half of the year, leading toward the fourth quarter. She declined to give a specific launch date.
Wii has sold 5.84 million systems worldwide through March, Nintendo officials said last month. Launched near the same time last year, PS3 has sold 3 million units worldwide, Sony confirmed.
Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities, thinks marketing should boost PS3. He agrees that PS3 can improve upon how it singles out its Blu-ray functionality.
“What they want to do is position the consumer to start wanting the PS3 in time for Christmas,” said Pachter, figuring advertising might start as early as June. Plus, Sony “needs to educate consumers on why they need a Blu-ray player.”
Nguyen said PS3 supply has increased at retail and noted that between February and March of this year, PS3 was the only next-generation console to show a sales gain.
“The Wii was down 22%, and the Xbox 360 was down 12%, and we were up 2%,” said Nguyen, citing U.S. statistics from NPD Funworld.
However, PS3 still lagged in March sales, moving 130,000 units, compared to Wii’s 260,000 units sold and Xbox 360’s 200,000 units sold.
“The timing is definitely right [for renewed PS3 promotion], as the manufacturing issues have been ironed out,” Nguyen said. “Retailers are getting an influx of supply, so it makes sense to ramp up marketing to coincide with that.”
Through this summer, PlayStation will continue to sponsor various events designed to spread the word about PS3. In mid-March through May 5, the PlayStation AM JAM tour, starring various professional skate boarders, spread across eight U.S. cities.
PlayStation Patrol trucks, created specifically last year for people to sample the PS3, continue to tour the U.S through the year.
Also, Sony has partnered with the San Francisco Giants to promote the baseball PS3 title MLB ’07 The Show. Prior to Giants taking turns at bat, clips of the videogame will run on the team’s new high-definition scoreboard.
Ruh Roh Shaggy: another developer calls BLuray a "problem solver"
Days to Vegas has been floating just beneath the press radar and the devs have purposely been tight-lipped regarding the game. According to Loo, this was done to keep "creative control". They even refused to look for a publisher until they get the game completely finished. So inevitably, the storyline and content were kept under lock and key - which was apparently easy considering Steel Monkey only has a small population (5
.
The story centers on the main character, Vinny, who has to travel from New York to Vegas in two days - hence the title (we could smell a fun road trip brewing here). Vinny's objectives are yet to be specified but Loo promises that the game would be as immersive as (or far more immersive than) GTA. Wait, we could already hear gamers' protests. The comparison is a given, says Loo, as 2 Days to Vegas also has open ended sets.
Anyway, 2 Days to Vegas is a third person shooter reportedly inspired by movies' impact on people. Think of how you feel after you leave the movie theater, though that depends entirely on the movie you watched. The road trip will take players to a virtual trip across America as the locations and cities are of stunning detail (check out the screen of the Brooklyn Bridge).
An in-house game engine was used and would feature global lighting and HDR lighting. They also included a "garbage generator" to simulate the clutter on the city streets. Talk about attention to detail. Loo comments on the Blu-Ray as a distribution media, "Blu-Ray solves a lot of our problems." With that much detail and content on their hands, they might just have trouble fitting it to one disk.
Anyway, 2 Days to Vegas is set to hit on 2008. You can check out how it's shaping up via the screens, and we'll keep you posted on further developments.
.The story centers on the main character, Vinny, who has to travel from New York to Vegas in two days - hence the title (we could smell a fun road trip brewing here). Vinny's objectives are yet to be specified but Loo promises that the game would be as immersive as (or far more immersive than) GTA. Wait, we could already hear gamers' protests. The comparison is a given, says Loo, as 2 Days to Vegas also has open ended sets.
Anyway, 2 Days to Vegas is a third person shooter reportedly inspired by movies' impact on people. Think of how you feel after you leave the movie theater, though that depends entirely on the movie you watched. The road trip will take players to a virtual trip across America as the locations and cities are of stunning detail (check out the screen of the Brooklyn Bridge).
An in-house game engine was used and would feature global lighting and HDR lighting. They also included a "garbage generator" to simulate the clutter on the city streets. Talk about attention to detail. Loo comments on the Blu-Ray as a distribution media, "Blu-Ray solves a lot of our problems." With that much detail and content on their hands, they might just have trouble fitting it to one disk.
Anyway, 2 Days to Vegas is set to hit on 2008. You can check out how it's shaping up via the screens, and we'll keep you posted on further developments.
Ps3 and Wii sales neck and neck in Australia
Unit sales of the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 (PS3) were neck and neck in Australia in the quarter ending 31 March 2007.
Nintendo’s Wii console sold 28,000 units, while the PS3 sold 27,000 units, according to recently released figures from market research company Gfk Australia. By comparison, 20,000 Xbox 360s were sold.
The best-selling console games console by units sales was Sony’s elderly PlayStation 2, which sold an 48,000 units. The PS2 was followed closely by the Nintendo DS, which sold 47,000 units.
In terms of revenue, the AUS$999 PS3 was the stand out winner, generating AUS$27 million of sales revenue, compared to the AUS$399 Wii, which generated just $11 million of sales. The AUS$650 Xbox 360 generated $13 million of sales.
Interestingly, despite the higher price tags of the PS3 and Xbox360, Nintendo is the only company that actually makes money from selling its console. Both Sony and Nintendo loose money on each console they sell.
What should also be taken into account is that PS3 was not available for the full three months; it was launched in Australia on March 23. And it should also be noted that the Wii sold 33,000 units on its launch weekend in December.
However, all things considered, the good news for Sony is that despite the steep price tag of the PS3 relative to the Wii, Australian consumers are evidently impressed with what the PS3 has to offer.
As I’ve said on numerous occasions, it’s far too early to write off the PS3 - despite what some of the critics say.
Decline in Xbox 360 Sales Dampens Good Microsoft Quarter
In its quarterly report to analysts for its third fiscal quarter of 2007, Microsoft executives repeatedly stated much lower than expected Xbox 360 sales for the quarter. After selling as much as 1.8 million consoles per quarter last summer, the company sold only 500,000 consoles in the previous quarter to retailers.
Revenue for the Entertainment Division in the fiscal third quarter was down a staggering 21.5% annually, to $929 million; and the division posted a $315 million loss, though that's less of a loss than the $402 million posted during the same quarter last year. Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell told analysts to expect revenue for the Entertainment and Devices division for the fiscal fourth quarter to fall as much as 11%.
Just after the closing bell on the New York exchanges, Microsoft released a preliminary note on its performance for the first calendar quarter: It reported $14.3 billion in revenue, a gain of 32% over the same quarter a year ago, and net profit of $4.93 billion. That's a 65.5% annual gain, which sounds pretty astonishing, and trumpets will certainly blare today and tomorrow.
But as the company warned three months ago, it is deferring revenue from the previous quarter attributable to initial sales of Windows Vista to business customers. Exactly how much of that $4.93 billion number is deferred revenue won't be known until later tonight, though that's not stopping financial news sites from trumpeting the deferred gains as a milestone anyway.
One possible clue: The company declared $4.5 billion in unearned revenue for the quarter as cash flow from operations, and charged $6.1 billion as the cost of recognizing that unearned revenue. Hopefully we'll get the full story of that intriguing pair of line items.
5:42 pm ET April 26, 2007 - Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell gave the deferral number up front, in the interest of full transparency: $1.7 billion of that revenue number was deferred (pretty much the difference between the two figures about), meaning without the deferral, Microsoft's revenue growth was still 17%.
PS2/PS3 Article Comparison by Sam of 1UP!
Don't Buy That PlayStation
So my buddy Jason pointed out this story titled "Don't Buy That PlayStation" to me this morning and I figured I'd pass it along.
Whether or not Sony was sincere in its claim that a supply crisis led it to cut its initial shipments of the PS3 to just 500,000 units, there's little question that the corporation was successful in the arena of hype marketing. Lines of obsessed PlayStation fans were a news staple. But is the so-called superconsole really worth staying up all night for?
No. The PS3 is not the revolutionary device that Sony's marketing department would have you believe. Don't get me wrong; it's definitely the most powerful video-game machine on the planet right now. But that's not enough.
The PS3's stats are certainly impressive; it's got hardware power to burn. But so what? There's just not much software available that can take advantage of it. The games that are being released at the same time as the system don't rise much, if at all, above games available for Microsoft's rival (and cheaper) Xbox 360 video-game system.
And don't expect a huge number of quality games anytime soon. Sony has reversed positions with Microsoft and stupidly released a system that is in many ways a game developer's nightmare. Microsoft, learning from the Xbox, went out of its way to make the 360 easy to develop games for. But Sony, intoxicated with success from the first PlayStation, forgot the first rule of the video-game industry: Software sells systems. If you make it hard for developers to produce good games then there's no reason for people to buy the system. This oversight has already cost Sony some goodwill -- developers are howling about how hard it is to create games for the system. In an interview with Time magazine, John Carmack, one of the developers behind such massively popular games as Doom and Quake, said that the "PS3 is definitely more powerful than Xbox 360. But it's less convenient to extract performance from it."
Sony is also under the mistaken impression that including the ability to play Blu-ray movies is a huge selling point. But true technophiles and hardcore gamers probably already have Blu-ray drives. I'm a good case in point. I already own a Sony Blu-ray player, so I could not care less if the $599 PS3 can play movies. I'd rather pay less and get a machine that just plays games instead.
Sure, most of this isn't all that surprising to read; it's a pretty common rant for any message board these days. OK, so here's the thing, though: I may have taken a few liberties and replaced a few words here and there. Here's the original story:
Whether or not Sony was sincere in its claim that a supply crisis led it to cut its initial shipments of the PlayStation2 to just 500,000 units, there's little question that the corporation was successful in the arena of hype marketing. Lines of obsessed PlayStation fans were a news staple Wednesday. But is the so-called superconsole really worth staying up all night for?
No. The PS2 is not the revolutionary device that Sony's marketing department would have you believe. Don't get me wrong; it's definitely the most powerful video-game machine on the planet right now. But that's not enough.
The PS2's stats are certainly impressive; it's got hardware power to burn. But so what? There's just not much software available that can take advantage of it. The games that are being released at the same time as the system don't rise much, if at all, above games available for Sega's rival (and cheaper) Dreamcast video-game system.
And don't expect a huge number of quality games anytime soon. Sony has reversed positions with Sega and stupidly released a system that is in many ways a game developer's nightmare. Sega, learning from its Saturn debacle, went out of its way to make the Dreamcast easy to develop games for. But Sony, intoxicated with success from the first PlayStation, forgot the first rule of the video-game industry: Software sells systems. If you make it hard for developers to produce good games then there's no reason for people to buy the system. This oversight has already cost Sony some goodwill -- developers are howling about how hard it is to create games for the system. In an interview with Time magazine, John Carmack, one of the developers behind such massively popular games as Doom and Quake, said that the "PS2 is definitely more powerful than Dreamcast. But it's less convenient to extract performance from it."
Sony is also under the mistaken impression that including the ability to play DVD movies is a huge selling point. But true technophiles and hardcore gamers probably already have DVD drives. I'm a good case in point. I already own a Sony DVD player, so I could not care less if the $299 PS2 can play movies. I'd rather pay less and get a machine that just plays games instead.
Now, this is in no way meant to draw comparisons to the current console war (a LOT has changed in the console landscape), it's just funny how some of the arguments never really change.
So my buddy Jason pointed out this story titled "Don't Buy That PlayStation" to me this morning and I figured I'd pass it along.
Whether or not Sony was sincere in its claim that a supply crisis led it to cut its initial shipments of the PS3 to just 500,000 units, there's little question that the corporation was successful in the arena of hype marketing. Lines of obsessed PlayStation fans were a news staple. But is the so-called superconsole really worth staying up all night for?
No. The PS3 is not the revolutionary device that Sony's marketing department would have you believe. Don't get me wrong; it's definitely the most powerful video-game machine on the planet right now. But that's not enough.
The PS3's stats are certainly impressive; it's got hardware power to burn. But so what? There's just not much software available that can take advantage of it. The games that are being released at the same time as the system don't rise much, if at all, above games available for Microsoft's rival (and cheaper) Xbox 360 video-game system.
And don't expect a huge number of quality games anytime soon. Sony has reversed positions with Microsoft and stupidly released a system that is in many ways a game developer's nightmare. Microsoft, learning from the Xbox, went out of its way to make the 360 easy to develop games for. But Sony, intoxicated with success from the first PlayStation, forgot the first rule of the video-game industry: Software sells systems. If you make it hard for developers to produce good games then there's no reason for people to buy the system. This oversight has already cost Sony some goodwill -- developers are howling about how hard it is to create games for the system. In an interview with Time magazine, John Carmack, one of the developers behind such massively popular games as Doom and Quake, said that the "PS3 is definitely more powerful than Xbox 360. But it's less convenient to extract performance from it."
Sony is also under the mistaken impression that including the ability to play Blu-ray movies is a huge selling point. But true technophiles and hardcore gamers probably already have Blu-ray drives. I'm a good case in point. I already own a Sony Blu-ray player, so I could not care less if the $599 PS3 can play movies. I'd rather pay less and get a machine that just plays games instead.
Sure, most of this isn't all that surprising to read; it's a pretty common rant for any message board these days. OK, so here's the thing, though: I may have taken a few liberties and replaced a few words here and there. Here's the original story:
Whether or not Sony was sincere in its claim that a supply crisis led it to cut its initial shipments of the PlayStation2 to just 500,000 units, there's little question that the corporation was successful in the arena of hype marketing. Lines of obsessed PlayStation fans were a news staple Wednesday. But is the so-called superconsole really worth staying up all night for?
No. The PS2 is not the revolutionary device that Sony's marketing department would have you believe. Don't get me wrong; it's definitely the most powerful video-game machine on the planet right now. But that's not enough.
The PS2's stats are certainly impressive; it's got hardware power to burn. But so what? There's just not much software available that can take advantage of it. The games that are being released at the same time as the system don't rise much, if at all, above games available for Sega's rival (and cheaper) Dreamcast video-game system.
And don't expect a huge number of quality games anytime soon. Sony has reversed positions with Sega and stupidly released a system that is in many ways a game developer's nightmare. Sega, learning from its Saturn debacle, went out of its way to make the Dreamcast easy to develop games for. But Sony, intoxicated with success from the first PlayStation, forgot the first rule of the video-game industry: Software sells systems. If you make it hard for developers to produce good games then there's no reason for people to buy the system. This oversight has already cost Sony some goodwill -- developers are howling about how hard it is to create games for the system. In an interview with Time magazine, John Carmack, one of the developers behind such massively popular games as Doom and Quake, said that the "PS2 is definitely more powerful than Dreamcast. But it's less convenient to extract performance from it."
Sony is also under the mistaken impression that including the ability to play DVD movies is a huge selling point. But true technophiles and hardcore gamers probably already have DVD drives. I'm a good case in point. I already own a Sony DVD player, so I could not care less if the $299 PS2 can play movies. I'd rather pay less and get a machine that just plays games instead.
Now, this is in no way meant to draw comparisons to the current console war (a LOT has changed in the console landscape), it's just funny how some of the arguments never really change.
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