Dante Posted June 23, 2008 Posted June 23, 2008 Pricing the PlayStation 3 below its production cost caused Sony to lose $2.16 billion in 2007 and $1.16 billion in 2008, the company revealed today. Sony's fiscal 2008 annual report delineated potential risk factors to its investors, outlining that "the large-scale investment required during the development and introductory period of a new gaming platform may not be fully recovered." The loss figures were provided as an example of the "significant negative impact" introducing a new platform can cause at first. "In the past, large-scale investment relating to capital expenditures and research and development for the manufacture of key components, including semiconductors supplied for [PlayStation 3] was also recorded within the Electronics segment," the company said. In order to stay competitive, said Sony, it had to invest large amounts of money in research and development to introduce the PlayStation 3 into the market, and these sorts of expenditures don't always get recouped, especially if a platform "fail to achieve such favorable market penetration... resulting in a significant negative impact on Sony's profitability." Even if it can recoup its investment, Sony said, it's still possible to have lost large amounts of money on the platform's introductory period, and even a successful PS3 might take a while to replace what it cost to produce. These possible outcomes are currently a risk for the company, Sony said. kotaku.com
Pit-Jr Posted June 24, 2008 Posted June 24, 2008 Yeah Sony really put themselves in a predicament with the PS3. Keeping the AAA games flowing, evolving the PSN, and getting those BD prices down will go a long way towards turning the situation around though.
flameboy Posted June 24, 2008 Posted June 24, 2008 It's hardly a surprise and a similar situation was the case in the PS2 early days. There is however a problem though with with Bluray, whereas with PS2 DVD was a growing market and the only real successor to VHS. This is not the case now with Bluray it may have beaten HD-DVD but the digital download world is another matter all together.
Domstercool Posted June 24, 2008 Posted June 24, 2008 Personally I don't think the digital service will take off for a long time yet, HD downloads take too much space up and people aren't gonna wanna delete and reload again later. People love to have physical copies and covers of their movies. Something downloading can never do.
tapedeck Posted June 24, 2008 Posted June 24, 2008 ...HD downloads take too much space up and people aren't gonna wanna delete and reload again later. It's like a fridge see, you take out what you want and replace it with something else. It's a brilliant idea! In all seriousness though, given two to three years the PS3 should be making money. What worries me is the number of units sold currently, with a title such as MGS4 not shifting as many units as thought does the future mean that less numbers will be sitting in people's homes? (I think the PS2 numbers were perhaps a one-off.) What gives me hope for the PS3 is the idea of it nhaving a ten year lifespan. I really hope it does as I can see the 360 going 720 in perhaps 3years from now, hopefully that wont affect the PS3 too much. I'm sure there's a lot more power under the hood and I personally feel that many people won't want to upgrade as fast as in revious generations. (Neive perhaps yet the notion of capturing a massive 'casual' audience makes me wonder if games consoles will have a longer lifespan now.)
Daft Posted June 24, 2008 Posted June 24, 2008 Rumor: Does this image show a PS3 trophy screen? Seriously, we have no idea. This image just landed into our tips box with a short message stating that it is a leaked picture of 2.40's trophy support. Whether that's true or not is up for discussion. The tipster calls himself "The Patriots," so there's a chance that this is just the beginning of a new S3 Project which will end with us being transformed into some kind of sneaky government super soldiers. Here's hoping. Things that make this image seem legit include a lack of blur (seriously, why does every "leaked" image or video have to be super blurry and hard to make out?), not to mention that this is clearly photographed from a monitor. We've checked and that Clank avatar is a real PS3 avatar. Not exactly conclusive evidence, but enough to keep us speculating, for now. And speculating is all we can do, at this point. If the image is real, does it show a PS3 Gamercard? You'll notice that the trophy page is only one of three, so what's on the others? No doubt we'll see and hear more of this over the next few weeks in the run up to 2.40's release. Unless the image is fake, in which case we probably won't be hearing anymore about it for a long time. If ever. [uPDATE] Take a look after the jump for more images, details on how trophies will work and some information on in-game XMB. [Thanks, The Patriots] Another tipster, calling himself "Gassy Snake," claims that he is a game developer who can vouch for The Patriots. He claims that the above image is real and, to prove it, proceeded to send us a picture of one of the other pages. These pages are called "gamer card" and "compare," though these are not the official titles. As you can see below, your gamer card/box/profile (whatever you want to call it) will feature a trophy total and a "level." There also seems to be some room for extra information of some kind. Gassy Snake also tells us that each trophy type will be worth a different number of points, so there are limits to how many of each trophy are in a single game. In order to progress through levels you will need to gain a certain number of trophy points. This number will increase with each level, making it more difficult to reach higher levels. Also, with regards to in-game XMB, we've been told that "you can do most things" in-game, including comparing trophies. Some things will require you to leave the game, however. Pressing the PS button once will bring up the XMB in-game, and holding the button down will show you the same menu you see pre-2.40. That means that no features are being removed. Tasty. All this info? One pretty huge rumor. There are no facts in this article -- or, at least, none that we're certain about. Both of our tipsters might be pulling our leg. We'd like to think not, but there's always that chance. Make what you will of the info contained in this post, but don't come crying to us if it's wrong. We'll be busy crying to our new pals The Patriots and Gassy Snake. Enjoy speculation responsibly and in moderation. Looks like a more developed version of achievements, with ranking. I'm very intrigued.
Domstercool Posted June 24, 2008 Posted June 24, 2008 It's like a fridge see, you take out what you want and replace it with something else. It's a brilliant idea! It doesn't just work like that though, this isn't food, this is massive size files that take a while to download. And alot of people would rather not delete what they own, they would rather have it in a cupboard, knowing where it is, ready and waiting to be watched again. I don't know you but I certainly watch films/tvshows and whatever more than once, you don't eat that food more than once unless you have some sort of food disorder. Dunno if you was taking the piss out of Nintendo or just saying that as a meaningful post
Dante Posted June 24, 2008 Posted June 24, 2008 Digital download world wont work here because of download speed and alot of people dont have broadband.
Guest Jordan Posted June 24, 2008 Posted June 24, 2008 Digital download world wont work here because of download speed and alot of people dont have broadband. First point = true Second = not true. Broadband penetration is around 65% in the UK and expected to rise further.
Domstercool Posted June 24, 2008 Posted June 24, 2008 Anything could work in the future, so it's not really a valid excuse at this point in time. Won't be for a long while by the way things are going right now.
Daft Posted June 24, 2008 Posted June 24, 2008 Killzone 2 screenshots...from the PS Day demo. I know its got that all grey thing going but it looks damn good.
Guest Jordan Posted June 24, 2008 Posted June 24, 2008 The future is either grey or brown, didn't you hear?
Esequiel Posted June 24, 2008 Posted June 24, 2008 I thought the future was bright? That the future was orange?
flameboy Posted June 24, 2008 Posted June 24, 2008 well despite the somewhat predictable colour palette Killzone 2 does look awesome. In a way I am glad it has been put back to next year help give it that extra spit and polish.
That Guy Posted June 24, 2008 Posted June 24, 2008 I thought the future was bright? That the future was orange? Thats what I heard. Killzone is looking good, Hopefully the game ends up being good. Question: Is the DS3 really that much of an upgrade from the 6 axis? Having recently complained about the 6 axis I'm wondering if I'd get on more with a DS3.
flameboy Posted June 24, 2008 Posted June 24, 2008 Thats what I heard. Killzone is looking good, Hopefully the game ends up being good. Question: Is the DS3 really that much of an upgrade from the 6 axis? Having recently complained about the 6 axis I'm wondering if I'd get on more with a DS3. Well having just got one this week and would say yes. As a comparison point I started MGS4 before it turned up and now having played it with one I can the game is simply not the same without, from the little nudges during cutscenes to the heavy thudding when under gunfire. I also hear GTA and Uncharted use it well... Does anyone else feel the rumble in the DS3 is also different, I'd say more organic/subtle, it feels like it rumbles in different parts of the hand and at varying speeds, which is why I use organic to try and describe the sensation.
Daft Posted June 24, 2008 Posted June 24, 2008 I've always thought Dual Sock controllers have had the best rumble. Maybe not the strongest but it has the most variation. As for the DS3 and MGS4, MGS4 has its own "Rumble Director" and MGS has always been phenomenal with its use of rumble.
Domstercool Posted June 24, 2008 Posted June 24, 2008 I hope Killzone still has that artistic look to it, just like it had on the PS2. It was a really cool look with the colours, even though grey was still featured alot in it, other stuff like cherry blossoms and windy deserts and the like just made it really nice.
Caris Posted June 24, 2008 Posted June 24, 2008 PS3 is beating the 360 by 30,000 consoles in Europe despite launching a year later. http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/16835/Report-PS3-Tops-Xbox-360-in-Europe/
Daft Posted June 24, 2008 Posted June 24, 2008 PS3 is beating the 360 by 30,000 consoles in Europe despite launching a year later. http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/16835/Report-PS3-Tops-Xbox-360-in-Europe/ The comments on that news article are really painful to read. But also a lot of fun.
flameboy Posted June 25, 2008 Posted June 25, 2008 I've always thought Dual Sock controllers have had the best rumble. Maybe not the strongest but it has the most variation. As for the DS3 and MGS4, MGS4 has its own "Rumble Director" and MGS has always been phenomenal with its use of rumble. Dual Socks?! EDIT; http://www.gamepro.com/sony/ps3/games/features/127068.shtml anyway is this guide accurate with regards to how easy it is to change hard drives? I am thinking of doing it in the future when more games hit later on this year...
Dante Posted June 25, 2008 Posted June 25, 2008 Square Enix has announced in this month's Dengeki Playstation due out on Friday that they are committing to releasing their classics on Japan's PSN. The following titles are: Xenogears (Square) Einhander (Square) Astronoka (Enix) Rakugaki Showtime (Enix) Raystorm (Taito) Fighters Impact (Taito)
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