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Sony Says They May Not Hit PS3 Shipment Targets
Via 1up, a Bloomberg article exploring the possibility that Sony may not hit their shipment targets for the PS3. From the article: "Sony plans to ship two million PlayStation 3 players this year to the U.S. and Japan, and six million worldwide by March. The Tokyo-based company said yesterday annual profit would fall 35 percent to its lowest in five years on price cuts of the console in Japan and a recall of 9.6 million computer batteries. 'The honest answer is it's more of a target' for PlayStation 3 shipments, Jack Tretton, co-chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment America, said yesterday in an interview. 'Clearly we've had production issues.'"
Sony is now having a fire sale on used laptop batteries.
the 400,000 delegated for North America at launch may dip even lower? Looks like those Ebay pre-orders just rose in stock...
"It's a reverse vampire...they....they crave the sun!"
I'm not really a gamer, but I've noticed that Zonk posts a lot of anti-PS3 stories. What's up with that? Is it wishful thinking on his part, or will the PS3 really crater?
They really suckered us in, didn't they? Even I was optimistic when I heard that most stores got at least 8 allocated. Now, I'm kind of shocked.
This kind of subtle hinting always seems to leak out before the bombshell drops. At least with Sony lately, that seems to be the standard. With only a million by Christmas, there was only going to be a launch in name. If there's less than one million by Christmas, then, in all practicality, we're looking at what amounts to a 2007 launch
burrocrisy
and that would be what? Ruling by jackasses? Never has a slashdot misspelling been more apropos
Sony can't reach their over-inflated estimates? Inconceivable!
yes... Vegonomics
Personally?
I love gaming.
I have a PS2, Xbox and GameCube.
The Xbox360 is starting to have some stonking titles coming out to play such as BioShock and Lost Planet. The Wii is looking sh*t hot and I've personally pre-ordered it. The PS3? Even Sony seem to be convincing themselves that it is a worthy investment. Regardless of cost, it looks like a mish-mash of ideas that are poorly conceived and put together. Much like the PSP it is likely to be a jack of most trades and a master of none. I hope it doesn't fail because there is a nice little 3 way competition going on which is forcing innovation e.g. The Wii. The only thing that has my interest piqued is Metal Gear Solid 4, and even that wont be out to play until late next year.
Just my 2 pence.
chris at darkrock dot co dot uk
http colon slash slash www dot darkrock dot co dot uk
I feel sorry for those poor suckers.
I don't, primarily because they're suckers...
This guy's the limit!
Suckers?
Personally I believe that THE Open Source Communiy should develop a console that THE PEOPLE can use and modify to THEIR NEEDS
Yeah, me too! And it should run on Linux or some other open source OS. And it should have user-installable parts so that you can expand it to have exactly the specs that you want. If you want more memory, you should be able to buy "sticks" of memory to plug into it. If you want more storage space, you should be able to buy a hard disk or optical disc component to hook up to it. If you don't like its graphics abilities, you should be able to buy a "graphics module" that will give you more power. And you should be able to run it on a TV if you want, or a monitor if you want. And it should have the option for a keyboard if you wanted to type something instead of use a gamepad. That would be so awesome!!! Man, I really wish somebody would make something like that...
This guy's the limit!
The PS3 is going to sale in name alone.. i'm not going to play fangboy on any one side, but with recent light of events there are going to be a lot of upset kids this christmas if they're expecting a PS3 or a Wii and that may just help the 360 out.
PS3 luanch linup is a fantastic linup, but only 4 exclusives that won't be available on the 360 that i'm aware of. Wii has a fantastic linup but even if there are a million units the numbers shipped by christmas probably won't be enough to fill demand.
Another downside is after the 360 launch experience a majority of people buying these will only be buying them to resell on ebay - even if there is enough to fill demand people are going to do it because it worked so well for them last time.
So high prices, high demand, angry shoppers.. high cost across the board...
i'm not sure it will boost the 360 sales because of the microsoft stigma but i'm sure it will push sales to PC games, HD tv's, computers, laptops and mp3 players!
will be interesting.. Sucks to be Sony though.. i can't imagine how they messed up supply chain management considering they're king of most of what is in the ps3!
Flames?! Why, we here at Sony LOVE flames. Flames and explosions. Especially explosions that involve corrosive battery acid. Those are the best type of flaming explosions.
But, no no, we'd never do anything like that. The PS3 WILL come with a special motion sensitive flamethrower attachment, though, in case you like that sort of thing. No? Well, we'll just charge you for it anyway.
No, Mr. Green. Communism is just a red herring.
The only big flaw with the console is, and this is a highly controversial point that has sparked many a flamewar, the fact that it runs off of AA batteries instead of a rechargeable one.
Rawr
The PS3 will do well. But I don't think it's going to dominate this console generation like the PS2 did. And I think a lot of people not only agree, but are hopeful that Sony gets a bit of a kick in the teeth this round. The way they've been talking about the PS3, and really a whole lot of their attitude as of late has been pompous and irritating. They've been acting like they walk on water, and gamers are lucky that Sony has the time to provide us with their hardware. And that's annoying.
Like Nintendo before them, Sony could use a good shot of humility, maybe it'll help them refocus. They need to remember and understand that consumers have choices, and that they need to earn our money.
Zonk is a Nintendo fanboy (so am I), and his anti-sony bent is pretty strong. All that being said, there's been way more bad news for Sony than good news for the past year or so, so it's not all Zonk.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
If it will crater = be ignored by gamers, is not known yet. A lot will depend on how good the games really are. But one thing is sure:
Sony's delays in manufacturing will also delay game sales, and that will hurt Sony. No matter how good the finished product is, people who cannot buy it in the first place won't pay for it => less revenue.
C - the footgun of programming languages
Bits of both.
:) ).
:/ ) and we should be seeing more of what it can do (assuming the launch titles don't thrill as much as expected).
Zonk, from his own articles and admission is a die hard XBox user. There is certainly a rivalry, and Slashdot makes no bones about slant in its editors (no "Fair and Balanced"(TM-LOL) here).
On the other end, while I certainly hope Sony succeeds, and plan on buying a PS3 (in the second wave of adopters), there have been lots of negative articles in the press about both Sony and the PS3.
The media don't really care about the long list of grievances that most Slshdotters trot out, but they need to fill articles, and headlines. As we've seen in the nightly news, sensationalism sells. Sony hasn't exactly made it difficult, but playing the 'lets bash Sony' game seems big right now in the media. (as an aside, I noticed the CNet had a Showdown between the DS and PSP, and they chose the PSP
Unless Sony truly Fs up, the PS3 will be just fine. It might not be the out and out dominant master of its generation (like the PS2 was), but I don't think it will crater. The real question will be how things look next March, June and October.
If the PS3 is still selling out and is hard to get in March, it might be a bad sign (can't produce enough quantity), or a good sign (the demand keeps growing).
If the PS3 has sold enough by June the second wave of games should be hitting (assuming there isn't a summer slump
By next October we'll have a better handle on wether the PS3 tanked, or soared based on availability, game line-up, market-share, etc.
Of course, you can't expect a game company (or anyone responsible for a "games" column), to simply post "We don't know how it will do, so we're not going to print anything until it happens".
On a related note, take a look at the PSP. People started by writing it off (primarily because of UMD, similarly to how PS3 is being written off because of Blu-Ray). It had a slow start at good games. It launched in the US in march 25th 2005. This is its second "Holiday Season", the units are still selling and gaining popularity, availability is good, and lots of games are coming out (some stinkers, some ports, a lot more new and original content though).
Has it toppled Nintendo? No. Has it carved a niche into the hand-held market where lots of others have failed? Yes.
This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
"Sony plans to ship two million PlayStation 3 players this year..."
Why ship the systems when you can ship two million people who play it instead?
/* No Comment */
Sony's quarterly earnings release was at the end of last week (Oct. 12th, http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/info/SEMC/200610.h tml#block0). The talking heads will not give any negitive outlook prior to an earnings release and the quarterly investor conference calls. Also, unless it's a slip-up corporate communications will not voice "lower than expected" earnings, growth, results or whatever unless it's at the end of the business week towards close of the market. This is a tried and true practice of letting bad news simmer over the weekend so it can be often offset with good news sometime next week. So, expect some sort of positive communications from Sony next week sometime.