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Sony Probably Going To Do PlayStation 4
Nomura Securities' Yuta Sakurai has been quoted as saying that 'he cannot imagine a PlayStation 4' because of Kaz Hirai's promotion. He sees it as a move (eventually) towards Sega-like software focus. Sony has, of course, immediately denied this because ... they (understandably) like money. From the article: "Following the launch of the PlayStation 3 just a few weeks ago, and witnessing the huge consumer demand for the product, I think it would be rather short-sighted for anyone to predict there might not be a next generation of PlayStation product."
No shit sherlock. The PS3 would pretty much have to not sell any units before ruling out the PS4 would seem plausible.
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The R&D and production costs of the consoles is spread out over a fairly large time frame.
It isn't like they calculate up the costs of building a PS3 and don't count it until they sell it.
"OK, we sold 200k PS3's this quarter, so write down $12 million in the 4th quarter revenue box and $16 million in the expenses box"
Sony has not let its buyers down with a console yet.
Everyone who buys a Sony console knows there will be many games for it. With that kind of franchaise amd market mementum, there is no way sony will skip releasing a Paystation 4.
The only question is when will technology that is exciting enough to display the new games be ready?
1000s Warcraft Gold while you sleep
As to how many consoles they actually sold, you'd have to wait for their stock holders report or when Sony itself chooses to break the silence. They continue to say they'll ship 1 million consoles by end of calendar year so perhaps things aren't as bad as people make out. Personally that sounds rather optimistic, but who knows until they say?
What appears definite is that they sold some 85000 in Japan and probably 200-250000 in the US on launch and must have added to that tally since. EA claimed 200,000 units were sold at launch but do they judge that on how many people bought their games or are they privy to Sony sales figures?
Oh yeah, in 2 or 3 years the PS3's price will drop to a reasonable amount, allowing mass adoption.
I'm sure most developers will stick around until then, completely loyal to Sony.
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
Well, it takes normally 3 crappy consoles to kill a gaming juggernaut. The last one is usually a desperate effort harnessing some completely obtuse miracles of complex technology.
See: Atari 7600, Lynx, Jaguar
See: CD32, Saturn, Dreamcast
See: Amiga 500, 3000, 4000T
With Sony, since they are so diversified, it would probably take at least 7 crappy consoles before the games division tanks.
So, I guess what I'm saying is that the PlayStation X should be friggin spectacular.
First off let me just say that I am a Nintendo fanboy and I may have a slight bias against Sony. That being said, I think that the video game industry needs more competition as far as in-home and handheld consoles go. More competition generally leads to a better overall product and that is what drives growth. If Sony does not continue the Playstation line I sure hope they come up with a "new" line of consoles for the good of the industry if nothing else.
The main reason that Zonk posts all of the anti-PS3 stuff is because the bulk of the submissions the games section receives are anti-PS3 stories. It seems most people reading Slashdot want to see Sony fail. On top of that, it's kind of hard to pretend that everything is just peachy for Sony.