Slashdot Mirror
September PS3 Launch, Online Service
Next Generation (which has generally been fairly reliable regarding information of this nature) has a report indicating that the PlayStation 3 may be launching in September of this year. They also have information about the Sony online console service that has been rumoured for the last few weeks. Apparently called HUB, they theorize details about that aspect of the console will be made available in the next few weeks. From the article: "PlayStation HUB is being described to developers as a 'subscriber service' suggesting a monthly charge. We understand the service is being created by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, although this is unconfirmed. Sony boss Howard Stringer is pushing for all media content to be available for distribution over PlayStation HUB, such as music and movies, thus opening up a powerful iTunes-like distribution network for Sony."
Expect the ability to transfer stuff from your PS3 directly to your PSP for portability.
Also expect the ability to transfer music and small videos directly to your Walkman phone.
It will be interesting to see how this service does compared to the new XBOX Live available for the XBOX 360 users. XBOX Live over the past couple years has become the standard for online console gaming with in my opinion great service and the ability to download content for live-enabled games.
The online console era is the new thing for consoles and is now definitely here to stay as it looks like both XBOX 360 and PS3 both are going to be media centers in one form or another. I think HUB is going to have some catching up to do to match the growing success of XBOX Live.
The growing success, put into perspective.
10% of Xbox owners ever got on Live. Microsoft's Xbox sales were 20% of Sony's PS2 sales. Nintendo's sales were also around 20% of Sony's. Doing the math, we can see that Live stormed onto the scene and sucked in a whopping 1.6% of the console gaming market.
Holy cow! How will Sony ever catch up to that???
Which means it'll be out around Spring 2007 in Europe :(
...
So long to wait until the Xbox 360 drops in price
Sony *hasn't* announced anything about the rollout sequence and territories. Just the "Spring 2006" timeframe, that was all. In interviews they even said that various rollout options were being considered in terms of territories, but that they could confirm none. So it's perfectly plausible that it could launch in Japan and the US simultaneously - at least they've said nothing to contradict that.
FY 2004 (ended 31 March 2005)
(millions of dollars, converted from Yen)
Electronics -321
Games 404
Music 82
Pictures 597
Financial Services 519
Other -38
Total 1243
So, games was about 1/3 of Sony's profits for the most recent year. Certainly much more than music over that period.
And, to gauge against XBOX 360 sales, they sold 16.17 million PS2 units between 1 April 2004 and 31 March 2005.
Disclaimer: I worked on the microprocessor in the XBOX 360 and also on the Cell processor expected in PS3. I game on both XBOX 360 and PS2.
Microsoft has claimed publicly that about half of XBOX360 users have joined XBOX live. No word on how many are regular users vs. tried it once. Also, I believe that Xbox live access is required to run old Xbox 1 games on XBOX 360, so some folks may have joined just for that.
Well, there's a couple of problems. First off, Sony already has a music store. The fact that no one seems to mention it tells me that it's not very well known or well-used. Their Japanese online music service might be faring a bit better, I don't know. Both sites reek of "me too"-ism... if Sony is going to let the Media part of their company control the other divisions (as it currently does now, eventhough it's not the most profitable), then HUB might be another bust.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
Don't forget that you have to pay to get patches for Xbox games, which ironically need patches... My PS/2 doesn't crash nearly like my Xbox (as in almost never).. Stupid Xbox thing...
Now if I can just defeat Malak..
And you'll get files in a proprietary format that only works with a specialized Sony player...
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.