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PlayStation 3 Launches in EU/AU
stpk4 wrote to mention some articles discussing the launch of the PlayStation 3 in Europe; London saw Phil Harrison handing out HD sets, while Microsoft's party barge and lackluster crowds marked the Parisian launch. The Australian launch went well but also saw disappointing crowds, with media, security, and store officials outnumbering the customers for much of the event. Eurogamer has a comprehensive list of launch titles, for those of you in the new territories thinking of picking up a console.
My bet is that Sony realizes that the PS3 is only really a value for people needing HD, and many people simply aren't running HD yet. (I have a 36" standard def tube set at home which still looks great for everything I watch).
That known the best way to get people evangelizing about the product is to make sure they are using it in the most optimal scenario.
Also, I am willing to bet he knows the PR quagmire/sinkhole the PS3 is in and knew it would get him good publicity pop.
I'm a fiscal conservative, it's a pity we don't have a political party anymore
Thats not surprising, considering cell is specifically designed to excel at the sort of calculations involved with protein folding. Its not indicative of the overall power of the system, or how well that power relates to a PC at all. Saying that a PS3 has 20x the performance of a Windows PC based on these numbers is ridiculous.
Of course it's easy to ship enough stock when your demand is low.
I read the internet for the articles.
120 units is a lot more than they shipped to American stores though. Around these parts, stores got between 20 and 30. Although one Circuit City in the 'burbs got 100.
True, I was in Best Buy on Monday and today (Friday). They have a stack of PS3s and XBox360s by the checkout area (noticeably more 360s than PS3). In the past 5 days, assuming they haven't restocked the piles have both shrunk, the PS3 pile by about 16, the 360 pile by about 8 (none of those missing were 'core' units). (for the record there were originally 26 PS3s and 46 360s, 4 of which were "core" units).
I realize that this is hardly scientific, but it I found it interesting on a number of fronts.
1) yes the PS3 is in stores (and meeting current demand). This is hardly surprising considering that they've had several months to build production, and they deliberately chose not to launch in europe and australia until they could better meet demand (as opposed to strangling worldwide demand like the 360s launch last year).
2) Over the course of the week the PS3 sold more units (at that particular store) than the 360.
3) if "piles of units just sitting there" then the 360 is in deep trouble, worse than the PS3. The Wii was no where to be found, but considering how its demand (due probably to the price point, and appeal to "non-gamers"), that is hardly surprising.
This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
I don't know, I really hate optional hardware on a console. If you develop games for a console, you should know what hardware is in it. You should only have to worry about that one piece of hardware (per vendor), not any of this stupid core, plus, platinum, xtreme, wtf, models of a console. I personally believe, from a developers point of view, you can do more if all the neat gee-wiz options are there in every console.
For a good time call www.sawkie.com
And what exactly is the 'overall' power of a system?
Performance always has a context (despite what some marketers will have you believe) and in this context, yes, the Cell in the PS3 really is that much more powerful than an x86 chip.
FUNK!
Sure it does. In fact it already has about half the install base of the 360 and more than twice that of the PS3. Remember that if the 'most powerful machine' wins the race, Sony would never have been a contender. People seemed pretty content with their PS1/PS2's despite there being more powerful systems competing with them.
er.. is it so utterly inconceivable that some people actually want to own a ps3?
for them, it would have been an easy way to save ~300 euros...
If only the Japanese were as bigoted and racist, they would have many cases of American mispronunciations of Japanese words, but then again we don't even try because it's beneath us.
You're kidding, right?
Rob