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Sony's PSX A Hit In Japan, PS2 Launches In China
Thanks to Reuters for their story revealing Sony's PSX 'media center' has been a major hit in Japan, after the PlayStation 2, DVD recorder and DVR combo "went on sale on December 13 in Japan amid a flurry of media attention." According to Sony boss Ken Kutaragi: "We sold 100,000 PSXs in the first week. It sells for almost 100,000 yen ($941) and it still sold out. There are no products out there that can say that." CNET News are also reporting that the PlayStation 2 has finally launched in China, after "the company... shelved plans for its December launch but failed to provide a full explanation for the change." The PS2 roll-out seems very low-key indeed, though, as "the electronics giant cut down its distribution to two cities from the original five."
I walked through Yodobashi this afternoon and the PSXs were all sitting quietly next to the Digas and Pioneer sets.
None of it was moving very fast.
They may be selling quickly, but you'd never know it by the amount of stock still in the store. Perhaps someone in the article was exaggerating?
I have been pwned because my
Will the Linux pack for PS2 be the China Red Flag Linux version?
42 + 1 = 42
...but what happens when Sony get sued by TiVo for including a PVR?
Beep beep.
You could buy all the different players seperate and still come out ahead, sheesh.
The thought of shelling out ~$1000 for a box that does so much fills me with slight dread, especially since (IME) Sony kit has of late not been totally reliable.
:D
When it breaks at best you lose a lot of stuff while it is repaired under warranty - which still costs you mony (time, shipping) - at least if it was just your PS2 or your DVR that broke you could entertain yourself in the meantime. Not to mention the fact that as seperate parts it would probably be cheaper...
Of course this principle is why I went one step further and use PCs for my DVR and games machine as those I can always move onto another box if something breaks, and as far as repairs go it's usually a component that can be switched out cheaply
(It would be a lot easier to pick seperated over an integrated unit if there was a decent interface (like scart, but more so) for a/v units that you could gaurentee always worked and could switch multiple components seamlessly without blocking.)
Beep beep.
In the US such a roll-out might be marked by long queues and frantic buyers worried about the store running out of stock. Not so here in Japan.
When I was in Akihabara last week they had huge banners in front of AsoBitCity (and other stores) under which there were several salesmen holding PSX units, running raffles, and demoing systems to crowds of people. However, there were plenty of units in stock and everyone around me was pretty calm.
I think the media center concept is a great one for Japan because space is at such a premium here. So having one unit that combines console gaming with DVD is huge since it reduces the number of items clogging up your precious shelf space.
Also note that most unmarried adults in their late 20's live at home with their parents, and like to have their own TVs and whatnot in their small bedrooms, so again, this device saves a lot of space... that's why it's so attractive to buyers here, whereas in the USA, where your living room is huge by comparison, there is no need to worry about space as much, so you have have multiple components sitting around being redundant.
------- "One of the joys of travel is visiting new towns and meeting new people." -- G. KHAN
Isn't that what the original Playstation was called? Rather odd choice of name.
Dame and I just got my Ps2 last week, I guess the only good thing is the MOD CHIP and the 2 Usd a game DVD's from the local market her in Phnom Penh,
Any New of MOD Chips for the PSX ?
I just hate bit SPAM, (www.netnoise.com.kh)
Will PlayStation Linux run on it? I heard Sony released a distro of linux for their playstation, will thay also release one OR update it for the PSX?
I do hope so!
cies.
An overpriced consolidation of products the company is not good at creating. Reminds me of an all-in-one office device, except that those are normally more approriately priced.
vampirical
not in the traditional retailing, but in reservation. Huge number of interested customers reserved it on internet well before its release, and quietly received it on the release, withtout making rows in front of shops. Apparently SONY (not SCE) learned from PS2 launch. SONY doesn't need hype, unlike SCE.
PSX has very reasonable price compared to other DVD recorders, and if you are not gamer it's good shopping and you have gaming feature just as unexpected bonus. It's opposite to PS2, with which DVD playback was bonus. Moreover, easy navigation with Emotion Engine / Graphics Synthesizer gives PSX good advantage to other consumer products.
It's interesting that Sony is working on a series of "convergence" devices like the "multipurpose" PSX. That would be the caused by the many sales of xboxes related to people wanting to use it as a multifunction entertainment device.
Of course, people who use the xbox as a multifunction device tend to hack it and use linux or whatever to drive it. Not Microsoft's intention I'm sure!
The consumer electronics industry has pushed "convergence" for a long time, and the market has continued to support the modularity of separate devices over all-in-one machines.
Of course, that doesn't mean that some multifunctionality isn't desired. Personally, I love the fact that my game consoles (minus the Cube) play DVD movies. That sort of convergence wasn't forced, but was just a natural choice, given the fact that Sony and Microsoft opted to use the DVD format for their game discs. Now, adding DVD to a console that doesn't use DVD for the game functionality would be a different story.
At this point, though, I don't see shoving TiVO-like capabilities into game machines. In the future, when the standard hard drives are much larger, maybe it will be just a natural feature to add in. But I think it is ill-advised to add features that require equipment above and beyond what you're using for the device's primary functionality.
-Copyright law #69:Whenever Mickey Mouse is about to enter the public domain,copyrights get extended by 25 years.
Sounds like an interesting product, however, not to rain on anyones parade but the media is still too expensive and worse still, there is yet to be a format set down which all market people can conform to. Imagine recording something then taking it to a friends house only to find that he has one from Fujisu and that it is incompatible.
What I would find interesting, however, is if they allowed users to hook up external hard drives and the media is saved in regular MPEG4 format thus allowing to watch it on the computer, possibly edit out the ads at a later date or, if the price continues to drop, have a dedicated hard drive for certain programmes you may want to archive
1984 was never meant to be a how-to guide.
This message is encrypted with Quad ROT-13 to protect the author's copyright under the DMCA.
Hmm, praps Sony IS sold out, but all these boxen rot in the stores.
So Sony sayes the truth: THEY are sold out. If any of these boxes has ever reached any customer is another story (this is, btw. an often-used marketing trick, e.g. M$ used it with WinME and esp. XP).
Maresi
The checkbox said "Requires Windows 98, NT, or better. And so I installed Linux
Of course you could - split your video signal - one to the TV - one to the DVR. I do it all the time with my iMac to make educational videos - a playstation would be no different. I used to do it to show my brother how to get past a level in Fester's Quest on the Nintendo (except to a VCR)
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
The PS2 roll-out [in China] seems very low-key indeed
Many Chinese (including those under 30) are still quite upset at the Japanese over the Sino-Japan War atrocities they committed, and would never consider buying a legit PS2 from Sony when they could easily get a black market, pre-modded one for a fraction of the price.
Aw crap, ninjas!
"[High Price] ...It sells for almost 100,000 yen ($941) and it still sold out. There are no products out there that can say that."
Apple says that about the iPod all the time. They sold 740K of a high priced product (vs the competition) and usually upon ANY introduction it makes (PowerBook, iBook, G5) it sells the first two shipments in the channel in a matter of days.
Anybody that makes a cool a product (regardless of price) will sell out.
If Sony releases that iPod/Playstation/VideoPod cell phone, all in one - they'll sell it out within a matter of hours for several months straight.
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
No I was talking about actually recording buttsex on the PSX while you're playing. Like play a PS2 game and record that on the PSX while playing without extra hardware.
I live in Denmark. We have yet to see the first Tivo like appliance in the stores for average consumers (the closest we come is a Kiss Tech DVD player with HDD, but no TV tuner.. stupid). I wonder why? If there's a good market where people are willing to pay the price, why not sell to that market?
What about the other countries in Europe? Any of you get these sexy TV appliances?
Unable to read configuration file '/bigassraid/htdig//conf/14229.conf'
Geocrawler error message.
Nice freakin' job Slashdot! How about some links to pictures of the product and sony's page on it!!!
I live near Nagoya (Japan's 3rd largest city) and just like the Tokyoites are saying, PSXs all over the place.
Not only that, remember when PS2s were hard to find and they were going for ridiculous prices on eBay? Well, I checked out Yahoo Japan Auctions and PSXs are going for about 10000 yen (~$100 US) LESS than retail. Obviously, not a lot of demand.
The Japanses will buy ANYTHING with "SONY" stamped on it.
They butchered the original specs of this thing and it still sells.
Ugh, doesn't every home over there own like 3 or 4 ps2's now? Or have they replaced broken ones?!?!
Ubuntu- Linux for human beings.
I remember someone in my department getting one
first day this way. Unclear if it was via Sony,
or Yodobashi or another retailer.
Well the PSX is shaping up to be a much less powerful/feature packed machine than was originally promised. Honestly, (I am officially waving bye-bye to Karma), for all the things that the PSX is trying to be, the XBOX did at launch or shortly thereafter, so Sony is late to a game they will have a hard time winning. If anyone can pull it off, it is Sony. The first thing they need to do (and will not do) is standardize the online portion of their service a la XBOX live. For instance, you go on XBOX live playing Crimson Skies, and someone can send you a message to play Rainbow Six. If you are on your PS2 playing Tony Hawk 4, no one can message you to say "Hey, come play SOCOM with us". That is a huge difference. Yes I am praising a Microsoft product. While the XBOX may be the size of a house, and the controller almost comically-sized for our American gorilla hands, they did get the online portion of their console spot on. My current favorite Japanese export? Ichi The Killer.
I hate sigs.
Let's see if the PSX follows console pricing or electronic gadget pricing. I.e. Game consoles intro at whatever the manufacturer feels like then drop to $199, -> $150, -> then $99 for it's last 2 years of viability. After that it drops into the bargain bins.
Personally I'll buy a PSX as soon as it get's cheep.
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
Anyone know if this is as noisy as the PS2?
Unable to read configuration file '/bigassraid/htdig//conf/14229.conf'
Geocrawler error message.
I was wondering if someone would beat me to this post. People who haven't lived in Japan just don't seem to grasp just how much space is at a premium. Flatscreen monitors and wallhanging plasma tv's sell in droves not just because they're "cool" but because they allow people to reclaim space.
I think too many people base their ideas of Japanese life on anime. Most of the apartments and houses in those shows are unrealistic. Think "Friends" where a bunch of people with mediocre jobs somehow manage to have apartments in NYC that would cost ridiculous amounts of money in the real world.
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." Col. Jeff Cooper
I want to see a home computer based on PS2 hardware, running Linux and marketed at the mainstream.
I'd love to see a return to the glory days of the 16 bit home computers (Amiga/Atari ST)! It could also come with a basic development kit (but not some crippled Net Yaroze) for "bedroom coders".
Yeah, you've go this nice all in one unit and one third of it becomes obsolete. A all in one pvr DvdR device makes sence, but why put in a gamesystem that will be obsolete in a few years?
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
Many gaming companies use their figures in terms of how many they have shipped. If they've shipped all of their games/consoles/whatever, they've "sold out". The sell-through rate is a less-used figure in gaming.
I think online gaming is going to be somewhat secondary to the ability to record to DVD and utilise TiVo tech for any consumer forking out for this kind of kit. The gaming aspect is almost secondary.
Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Gates M'dna wgah'nagl fhtagn.
like others have said, there's still piles of psx machines at all the big shops: bic/yodobashi/sofmap. a friend who works at sofmap said they reached the maximum number of reservations for psx's but on sale day a large number of people didn't pick them up. i would have bought one (a video recorder with 160GB hdd and 12x dubbing for 79,999yen? that's a damn good price. look at the competition!) but the interface isn't bilingual (like the PS2). plus the dropping of features was not cool. plus it's a sony, so it'll break in 2 years, and sony customer support is terrible, and...why was i going to buy one?
What would motivate a consumer with $1000 to spend to choose a PSX over a PC?
I saw a picture with a keyboard somewhere. Come on Sony, release this kit as a home computer entertainment system!!! It would be cool to be again able to code for a platform other than the PC from our bedrooms, only this time the box will have everything, including special controllers.
I know the PSX will still PVR while gaming games.
You shouldn't have a problem using some splitters to split the PSX's output into a TV, and the PSX inputs.
Wouldn't it help if they released the harddrive here in America before they released the PSX? Or is it out and I am just crazy?
Receiving channel: Ground analog (VHF:1-12ch / UHF:13-62ch / CATV:C13-C35ch),
Are there only 35 cable channels commonly available in Japan? They'd certainly have to bump that up for the North American market (VHF 2-13 and CATV 14-125 or whatever the upper channel is on TV tuners nowadays). Or am I misunderstanding this feature?
Hands in my pocket
It really makes me sick to continuously read in articles about China being a hotbed of video game piracy. The PS2 was JUST released there? You gotta be fuckin kidding me. How long has it been out in the US? Japan? 4-5 years or something? No wonder the Chinese have to pirate all that software because THEY WEREN'T EVEN RELEASING IT to them in the first place. This behaviour is forced onto those who want to play games on a reasaonble timetable with the rest of the modern world, not 5 years later. You leave them no choice but to turn to the bootleggers. This problem is obviously of the industries own making, and to fix it, they bitch and moan and push for all sorts of overreaching IP laws. I say clean up your own spilled milk morons.
"To lead the people, you must walk behind them"
No... actually, as was also mentioned in the other thread, Sony's development materials all used the term PSX.
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
Space constraints in Japan push for high integration. Remember: this is a country where the Xbox struggled because it was too big.
If a US version of the PSX comes out, it won't sell nearly so well.
What about the AV output on the TV set? (Assuming you have it...) Then you can record anything which you can see.
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
SWEET MOTHER OF...$941 for that thing?! What was Sony thinking? Or rather, what were the Japanese thinking? (Obviously, Sony did alright for themslves.) You'd think with all the tech-gadgets on the market in Japan that never even make it to the U.S., the consumers would be a little more discerning...
They just spent $100 mil on a Tivo-Playstation 2-Stereo combo with a few other tacky, nick-nack features...and the thing doesn't even have MP3 support.
Seems kind of pathetic to me.
-----
"Cogito Eggo Sum: I think, therefore, waffle."
I wonder if they will have different versions of the PS3 at launch? one just the system, one with all the goodies, and any number of configurations in between. I wonder if they would sell more PS3X's (to coin a term) if they offer them alongside standard PS3's? I can see the ads now: why buy that, when for a mere $700 more you can have burn movies and cds! pause live television! etc! do it! hurry, for the love of god!
seriously though, a concurrent release of two levels of game system might be an effective strategy (like different levels of video cards dropping the same day to cater to different groups) AFAIK it hasn't been tried with consoles before. Has it?