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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
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.
Sony licensed tivo technology, so its highly unlikely that they will be getting sued for this anytime soon.
their cocoon video server (which sucks, but thats besides the point), runs software almost identical to U.S. tivo series.
There is little doubt that similar technology is inside this box as well.
-Copyright law #69:Whenever Mickey Mouse is about to enter the public domain,copyrights get extended by 25 years.
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.
You can buy/order the Dreambox, a Linux-powered DVB satellite receiver with a LAN adapter and an optional HDD. Not really useful if you don't have a parabol antenna, but otherwise really sweet.
:) Problem, though, is that more and more programmes are scrambled in SECA2, which hasn't been hacked yet...
Positive side-effect: you can upgrade programme keys via the Internet & watch all those nice channels for adult entertainment
-- Power corrupts, but PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.
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?