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Sony Promises 1M PS3s This Year
Joystiq reports that Sony is still promising 1 Million PS3 units in North America for this year. This, despite much lower estimates as released yesterday. From the article: "basically, these numbers don't mean anything. Despite what appears to be gross incompetence to much of the gaming press and the hardcore industry watchers (that's you guys), the mainstream gamer is blissfully unaware of reductions in shipping estimates. To him, it will appear that the PS3 is the hottest thing this holiday -- just like the Xbox 360 appeared to be last year and the PlayStation 2 back in '00 -- and may have no problem waiting for the demand and/or price to go down. People are still buying PS2s today, remember? Just a reality check before the hype consumes us all." For more on this, 1up has analyst reaction to the release news, and comments from GTA creator Dave Jones on his reaction to the news.
I won't be buying one.
Thanks for thinking of me though!
-- http://frobnosticate.com
And where are they getting these numbers? It's like they're saying look over here at these magically appearing numbers while over in the corner they sit and hope like hell that we're all entranced by them and we won't remember when no PS3's ship this year. You'd think after all the screw ups in the past they might just try telling the truth for once.
e s
So, I wish them luck in reaching their goal, but also, I am calling BS on them.
You heard me Sony... BS. http://games.slashdot.org/search.pl?query=sony+li
To understand recursion, one must first understand recursion...
The lower the shipping (and, hence, sales since most are assuming the thing will sell out) numbers, the less chance any given person will actually see a PS3 playing on someone's TV this year and well into the next.
For a price point that high, I don't see many parents buying this for their kids. Only folks with a disposable income will fork over the cash for that and the (hopefully decent) launch titles. They should have dropped the Blu-ray and come down on the price point to be in line with the Xbox 360 at least. The main competition will only be between the Wii and the 360 for some time coming until Sony decides it needs to take a hit in the wallet to move the product.
It's amazing. I think they're research into duplicating the Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field have backfired. Instead of projecting a delusional field of product love outward towards the consumer, like Apple, instead the field has inverted and Sony staff are the ones with the warped sense of reality.
"There is only one PS3" and they're sticking to that production target. But it isn't expensive enough.
Shouldn't you be hoing for a surplus? A shortage means that they are selling all the PS3's that they are making. While they are technically losing money on each unit sold, they lose even more on each unit that doesn't sell. If there is a surplus of PS3s, that would be a deathblow to Sony's counsole dreams.
You are reading a copy of my copyrighted post.
Sony made a decision to sacrifice the Playstation3 on the altar of Blu Ray. If they had released the PS3 with a standard DVD-ROM, it would cut their cost by about $300 dollars (it's estimated by Merrill Lynch that Sony's cost for a Blu Ray drive is $350 a unit). They could easily sell the PS3 for $350 taking less of a loss than they are currently taking per unit. They could have released it at the same time as the Xbox 360 and kicked Microsoft's teeth in. Instead we witness the delays and dramatically cut production. When most companies release a new product, they don't risk their bread and butter products that make their profits. Microsoft doesn't put the Windows franchise on the line in order to sell their music player (which will probably fail terribly). Nintendo didn't risk the DS on the release of the Wii. If the Wii fails, Nintendo will still have the DS as a profitable part of their company. If the Playstation3 is brought down by Blu Ray format, it will be a very messy situation for Sony. Sony has setup a situation where the Blu Ray format must succeed. No rational company does this.
start referring to them as "Son¥" now?
Monstar L
What demographic are they aiming for?
Teenagers don't have this kind of money, and most parents won't buy it for them.
Adult gamers will prefer to Wii, due to their Nintendo roots, innovative design, and cheaper price.
Home theater enthusiasts will have a separate professional high definition player.
The only market I see is the 20somethings out-of-college with disposable income. But even then, the bulk of this market already has a 360 and may not want both.
Just don't see where the demand will be coming from.
I still know a few very single guys who have the money saved up for the PS3 already (one guy has about $1000 stashed away so he can buy a few games). But other than that, nobody I've met is interested in a $600 console.
OTOH everyone I know is saving a few extra pennies for the Wii.
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
How much do online rumors, reports and criticism really effect sales of any particular product? We have folks on both sides of the argument saying how much it will or won't effect the PS3.
Obviously as more folks get more information from the web the effects will increase... I think the PS3 will be a great help in gauging where we're at, as far as online marketing.
We had one other big testcase this year with "Snakes on a Plane" and it seemed to boost ticketsales if just a little bit. However with the PS3 there are two differences... one, it's negative press instead of positive... and two, the videogamer crowd might be more prone to get news from the web, because they're slightly geekier than the movie-goer crowd.
I'm interested to see how it all turns out. Whichever way it goes, it'll probably be a lesson for the next generation of consoles.
You may have a DVD player that upscales to 720p, but that isn't really the same thing as what you're saying. I mean, I can take my 1 megapixel camera and scale an image from it to 5 megapixels - but that doesn't mean i suddenly have a 5 megapixel camera. Upscaling DVD players don't magically make the content be 720p.
HD-DVD does 1080p as well. I think you're confusing the fact that the PS3 is capable of 1080p (though games aren't required to support that resolution and most probably won't) with the fact that the Xbox 360 isn't. In terms of resolution, HD-DVD and BluRay share the same capabilities; the main difference between them is disc capacity.
...there was no current-gen competitor for the PS2 or the 360 when they launched.
They were the only game in town, which allowed them to survive an otherwise precarious launch.
This year, the PS3 is launching itself into the market alongside the dramatically cheaper, more numerous Nintendo console, and a 360 with a very respectable foothold.
These are hardly comparable situations.
Furthermore, the PS3 is not notably more powerful than the 360, and it's advantages are a moot point for all but a tiny segment of the -hardcore- gaming audience.
It would take twenty minutes to explain to Joe Consumer why the PS3 is better on paper.
-Then- you'd have to spend another ten explaining the theoretical advantage is moot unless he's spending several thousand dollars on a TV, and planning on spending another thousand on an HD video player in the very near future.
If he doesn't have an HDTV, the marginal theoretical performance advantage and 1080p capability don't matter.
If he isn't planning on buying a blu-ray player in the next year, then the 'cheap' BR player capability doesn't matter either.
All that 'potential' for $200-$300 more than last generation's price hike, and all ignoring one very large elephant in a very small room: by the time either of those advantages -truly- matter, the PS4, 720, and Wii Too will be in the hype machine.
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
"What demographic are they aiming for?"
People With More Money Than Brains.
Hey, it works for the GOP...
--R.J.
Electric-Escape.net
Being a 20 something (21 specifically) who is going to be finishing college in a year or so, and working at an internship this summer that (if it were year round) would be only a little below 50k, I believe I fit your bill.
And let me say that, while I don't have much history with the 8-bit console generation besides playing duck hunt on my neighbors NES from time to time, my first big generation was the 16-bits (SNES and Genisis). Among my friends, it's mostly the same way, and those that didn't start in 16-bit mostly started in 8 bit. I think sony is going to need to wait untill they get to the PS4 at least to be able to claim that a goodly percent of those "just out of college" + "money to burn" types grew up on Playstations.
And for the record, I have absolutely no desire to get a PS3 and am waiting to see how the Wii does with interest.
In a way the high cost of the BD drive is a good thing - it gives Sony room to move. As more drives are made the cost will inevitably fall, and quickly - say by $100 or more. Having creamed the die-hards, Sony would pass some of the lower costs on in 2007. PS3s going for $349 next year?
Microsoft is the main fly in Sony's ointment, and what they're able to do with the 360's price and game set will make a big difference in this war. But they're going to hurt later on for not including HD-DVD built-in. Sure, it's available as an add-on but can they seriously expect major buy-in from a couch-prone consumer base? I doubt it. On the other hand they could've included it like Sony did but then they'd be in the same pricing situation as Sony.
Add to that the controller (blatant rip off from Nintendo, bless Sony's black little heart), and there you have it: PS3 has everything built-in, but is presently more expensive; 360 is cheaper but you have to buy extras. Game makers will have to produce to the lowest common denominator, which is going to be that much lower on the 360. A large game that's a single disc on the PS3 will have you swapping discs part way through on the 360.
I don't like Sony one bit, continually trying to foist their proprietary formats and DRM on us - but long term I still think they're generally doing the right thing with the PS3. Time will tell.
If you reach around behind you, you'll find an area right beneath your tail bone. There is a hole there which can contain all sorts of interesting stuff (depending on your diet).
From the smell of things, this is the area Sony is getting their numbers from.
Spell cheek you've failed me four the last thyme!