Sony Plans 380 Games for Fiscal Year '08

Next Generation has the word that a bucketful of games are coming to the PS3 during Sony's 2008 fiscal year. While the library for the console consists now of some 60 full-price titles and 50 downloadables, they plan to release 200 retail games and a further 180 download-only titles by March of 2008. "In an e-mail to Next-Gen, Sony Computer Entertainment America PR boss Dave Karraker said that in the U.S. specifically, there are over 105 Blu-ray disc games and around 40 PlayStation Network downloadable games and game packs slated for this fiscal year. However, this figure doesn't include third-party games beyond Christmas, so there should be additional U.S. titles released during Sony's January-March quarter."

Comments

*Holds Breath*

[Durrok]

We all know how well Sony keeps their predictions/promises. :)

Re:*Holds Breath*

[Anonymous Coward]

Totally!!!

You know 'Toy Story Graphics'!!! What a bunch of fucking liars!

Oh wait...

http://news.com.com/2100-1040-250632.html

"One of the basic premises of the Xbox is to put the power in the hands of the artist," Blackley said, which is why Xbox developers "are achieving a level of visual detail you really get in 'Toy Story.'"

that was Microsoft with pathetic lies.

Re:*Holds Breath*

[TB]

As usual people on slashdot post to things out of context, Al Gores internet sucks.

Re:*Holds Breath*

[earnest murderer]

Sure they will, localization alone that turns one game into 3. Don't forget reissues and collections or that about 40% of those games aren't going to be seen on US shelves. Of the 105 left, about 90 percent of those games are multiplatform. Almost all of which load faster and play better on a 360 (when it works anyway) months before the PS3 version is published. Of the 10 or so PS3 exclusives 5 won't suck, and three of those will be good.

It will be a grand year for owning a PS3.

I kid though, it takes 2 years for any console to get a steady stream of good software. That has been true since the 80's. X-mas '08 that's when people will be buying PS3's to play the new Final Fantasy et. al.

Just a side note... I have found that as a general rule, you can wait until rumors start surfacing about the next product before buying the current one. You pay less, there are great games to play *now* and the local trade-a-game outfit is flush with them on the cheap.

Still, I bought a PS3 at release. To play Blu-Ray disc's! Honest!

Re:*Holds Breath*

[Anonymous Coward]

First off: non sequitur! The whole "Toy Story" graphics thing wasn't mentioned at all.

I'd assume what was intended was basically a reference to ANYTHING Sony has promised about the PS3, almost none of which has actually been kept.

But wait, there's more!

You're right, the "Toy Story" graphics thing was all Microsoft. However, Sony did say something practically identical. They said the PS2 would be able to render Final Fantasy 8's cutscenes in real time. (Complete with a rigged demo!)

Which, if you compare them to how Toy Story would look on a TV (after all, the XBox claim presumably was referring to displaying on a TV), the FF8 cutscenes are actually more complex than Toy Story.

And there's no way the PS2 is more graphically capable than the XBox. Or GameCube. Or DreamCast. Or really anything else released at the same time. Except maybe the GBA. I suppose the GBA might not quite have the graphical capability of the PS2.

Re:*Holds Breath*

[CronoCloud]

Actually the PS2 outperforms both the Gamecube and the Xbox in particle effects. The PS2 can do more of them. Which is why even if the PS2 version of a cross platform game looked worse texture wise than the GC/XBox versions it often had lighting and particle effects the other two versions didn't.

As for the Dreamcast, the PS2 has it all over the Dreamcast in every way. Oh sure the early games didn't have the anti-aliasing the DC games did, but soon devs got the hang of the hardware.

The PS2 has:
More main RAM and it's faster too.
a faster CPU
higher resolution
a hard drive
an official Linux release
USB (and Firewire on early models)
DVD storage much higher capacity than the DC's GDROM's.
and unlike the Deadcast, it is backwards compatible with it's predecessor.
And it has more..and better, games including that Half-Life port that was never released for the DC (including full mouse/keyboard support)

Re:*Holds Breath*

[CronoCloud]

Yeah, the PS2 didn't start hitting it's stride till late 2001 early 2002. IIRC BGDA (Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance) was one of the first PS2 games not expected to be hit, that was a hit..

Re:*Holds Breath*

[Doomstalk]

"Deadcast" eh? Well I guess you're a completely neutral party.

Re:*Holds Breath*

[flewp]

So it's made of vacuum tubes? (Yeah, I got nothing)

Re:*Holds Breath*

[CronoCloud]

The Dreamcast, unlike the PS2, is dead and gone, it would be different if I had called it the Deadcast before Sega got out of the hardware business.

Re:*Holds Breath*

[earnest murderer]

I remember playinig that and thinking exactly "Now this is what an f'n PS2 is for!".

Re:*Holds Breath*

[lietkynes65]

Wait really, the PS2, a system released 2 years after the Dreamcast has better Specs? NO WAY! YOU ARE BLOWING MY MIND! Thanks for taking the time to type that up man.

Re:*Holds Breath*

[adona1]

Agreed, I only got a PS2 this year when the price dropped dramatically, and there's still some good games being released - God of War II springs straight to mind. Big back catalog of games, lots of second hand games floating about everywhere, decent sized 3rd party hardware market...yeah, good time to buy.

Next up: I upgrade from VHS to DVD, just in time for Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD v2.0! ;)

Re:*Holds Breath*

[KDR_11k]

Actually it's made of three dead salmons and some duct tape but for somplicity's sake most just call it tubes.

Re:*Holds Breath*

[earnest murderer]

This is awesome I've been to troll and +3 insightful 3 times now!

Wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

Wrong. Sony has already clarified the 380 to be world-wide. Only 145 will be released in the US, with about 105 of those being actual boxed games.

Re:Wrong

[sqldr]

still.. 105 is better than the two I've got sitting on my shelf, both completed. I'm quite looking forward to powering up my PS3 again for a decent game.

Re:Wrong

[donaldm]

I have posted on this before but why don't you try PS2 or even (shock horror) PS1 games. If you are in the US then you have Hardware emulation while I living in Australia have software emulation. Since V1.8 of the firmware nearly all my games work properly although I have one that does not (Wizardry - oh well) the other two have what is called artifacts which are annoying however I still have well over 40 PS2 and 20 PS1 games that work.

With V1.8 all my PS1/2 games scale to 720p, 1080i and 1080p although I only have a HDTV that will support 720p and 1080i (found 720p looks nicer on my TV). Sill because of the upscaling PS2 games get a new lease of life since they look so much better and even my old PS1 games are graphically acceptable, something the PS2 could not do very well. Even playing DVD's look so much better via HDMI on my HDTV.

Just saying you are hanging out for PS3 games on your PS3 is rather short-sighted since there are a huge amount of PS2 games that you can get for the PS3 and at bargain prices. The PS2 is still a supported console and many games are being developed for it so why not play them on your PS3 while you are waiting for native PS3 games, which are going to be more expensive on initial release. Baring that why don't you set up your PS3 as a media center.

If you don't have a HDTV you really should get one that is 32" or bigger (depends what you can afford) with HDMI and component video because that is what the Xbox360 and PS3 display best on.

Re:Wrong

[sqldr]

I currently have "gears of war" for PS2, which works pretty well on the european software emulation. I was looking forward to getting a decent football game, but microsoft buggered that one up when they got exclusive rights to both FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer (if you can't compete on quality...). All things considered though, it's a good little machine :-) As for the TV.. 42 inches baby!

Time for a double-take...

[pie4all88]

I swear I read the title as "Sony Plans 360 Games for Fiscal Year '08" I expected them to admit defeat, but so soon? :)

Re:Time for a double-take...

[Bobfrankly1]

Well, I suppose he'd need to know who he's talking smack to...as AC has SOOO many faces
=D

Re:Time for a double-take...

[Anonymous Coward]

The 360 is selling almost entirely to the very same 10-15 million mostly US/North American Dreamcast/Microsoft/PC gaming demographic. The console is pretty much dead in two of the three major console regions. It is unlikely the 360 will hit the same 24 million installed base after four to five years with its current sales rate and unprecedented hardware failure problems.

So, no, that would be a bad idea.

This generation is going to be a battle between the PS3 and the Wii with the 360 effectively a non-factor.

Re:Time for a double-take...

[catprog]

from http://www.vgchartz.com/ last week Japan 10,451 Ps3 vs 7,847 Xbox360 Other 21,883 Ps3 vs 22,838 Xbox360 America 21,292 PS3 vs 41,166 Xbox360 Which of the 2 major regions is it dead in?

Re:Time for a double-take...

[Maxwell]

You probably knew this, but for the benefit of the rest of the /. crowd:

Last weeks Japan sales were a record HIGH for Xbox360 this year and a record LOW for the PS3 this year. There are already 3x as many PS3 in Japan as X360 and the gap is widening every week. In Europe, the console that has been out for 18months, has over a hundred games for it and a loyal fan base is being outsold by a far more expensive system with no games. That is not good for X360. This should be X360's prime selling season, it is mature but not outdated yet. Instead it gets killed in Japan, can't even keep up in Europe. Only in NA is the X360 consistently outselling the PS3. It should be outselling it everywhere, by huge margins...

So to answer your question: X360 is absolutely dead in Japan, always has been, and is dying in Europe.

JON

Re:Time for a double-take...

[ivan256]

The spike in 360 sales is because people are replacing their out-of-warranty red ring of death 360s with new elites. >:)

Re:Time for a double-take...

[buffer-overflowed]

Uhh.. it was an unusual week for the XBox 360, but that wasn't a record LOW for the PS3. The PS3 was up 700-ish units from the week before. The low point for the PS3 is under 8k units IIRC.

This last week was the release of Ninja Gaiden Sigma(PS3), and Trusty Bell(360). Ninja Gaiden Sigma didn't move many PS3s, Trusty Bell did move some 360s. The 360 should go back to it's 2k a week on a good week numbers next week.

Not that any of that matters, Japan belongs to the Nintendo Wii, which has outsold both the 360 and PS3 combined LTD, and outsells both combined by 6:1 on a bad week. For either platform to recover it's at something like 3x the greatest market reversal ever at this point.

Re:Time for a double-take...

[Thansal]

umm, poking through VGChartz, it looks like the 360 is dominating....

only in France is it beign beaten, and that is from the Wii. In only one or 2 other areas have the Wii rapidly gaining on it, but in all of them the PS3 is failing horribly.

TBH, I I don't really know how much I trust VG Chartz,but as they are one of the few seamingly unbiased sources, I guess we ahve to trust them....

Oh, 2 centso n actual article?
Hype is powering the Wii (Why I have one, and only 3 games).
Hype WAS powerign the PS3, however now price is killing it.
The 360 is beign powered by:
1) An early start.
2) More good games, including a few 'killer apps' (this is probably related to 1)
3) A reasonable price.
4) Online capaility. (Yes, the PS3 has it, but no one realyl uses it, and the Wii is still lackign outside of Japan, and even there, only 1 game I think).

It doesn't really matter how many games Sony can toss out. If they can't get a Killer App out there, it will all be for naught. The next FF might do it (The FF Fan Boys will probably be willing to shill out the $$ just to get the next one). This is assumign they havn't already bought the PS3, thoguh I personaly think that a number of them are either waitign for a price break (and one has now been announced), and/or skrimping and saving.

Oh, and this is also going to go for the Wii. They have the install base, but they don't really have any Killer App (they have a number of good games, but nothing Killer).

Meh, it all boils down to wait and see.

Re:Time for a double-take...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Last weeks Japan sales were a record HIGH for Xbox360"

"X360 is absolutely dead in Japan"

The logic is STUNNING.

Re:Time for a double-take...

[LWATCDR]

Yes I would say the XBOX 360 is dead in Japan. I put that down more to prejudice and or nationalism than any real failings in the hardware.

The PS3 is massively under preforming in sales. That is the simple fact. The Wii is right now a runaway hit.
My predictions are this.
The Wii will start to get a lot more 3rd party software. Here is a news flash. Game companies are not in it for the art. They are in it for the money.
The Wii will soon have an installed base bigger than even the 360. That will drive the developers to the Wii.

Here are how development costs break down.
1. Wii. The Wii has the lowest development costs of any of current Consoles.
2. XBox 360. Microsoft provides great tools for developers.
3. PS3. The tools are not as good as Microsoft's and it is a much more complex system than even the 360.

Market share.
1. 360. There are just more boxes on the market.
2. Wii. number two with a BIG BULLET. Soon to take the number one spot.
3. PS3. Only in Japan is it out selling the 360.

Raw power.
1. PS3 wins but not by much. The PS3 CPU is a lot harder to program for than the 360s. The extra floating point performance is at this moment in time mainly theoretical. The GPUs seem very close in performance as well. Where the PS3 does have an advantage is that all of them include a harddrive. That is IMHO the 360s only real fault. I am also guessing that most 360 users are buying the HD model.
2. 360. Microsoft should have put a HD on every one.
3. Wii. Yes the Wii is weaker than the all of it's competitors but it is more powerful than the PS2 and the XBox.

Yep unless there is a drastic change Nintendo is going to be the big winner this round.

Re:Time for a double-take...

[catprog]

The thing is more software is sold for the 360 in japan then the PS3. (most weeks)

XBox

[Physician]

In other news, Microsoft is renaming their console the XBox 390 and plans on releasing 390 games in the fiscal year.

370

[revengebomber]

380 Games! Wow! Microsoft's only got 360 games! Sony's really pulling ahead...

Re:370

[bakura121]

You know that out of 380 games, about 340 of them are going to be stinkers.

Re:370

[soupd]

Yeah but how many of those 360 games are AAA titles? Microsoft had a year head start over the competition, a giant sackful of money to throw at developers and in the 19 months the X360 has been out, what is the only game that's really caused a stir? Gears of War. Gee, that's just.. great.

I have both a X360 and PS3 but for me the PS3 is currently looking like the better platform for this year and the next. Exclusives on the PS3 that I'm certainly or most probably going to grab are Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Lair, Warhawk, Singstar, Heavenly Sword, Little Big Planet, Metal Gear Solid, Ratchet & Clank, Uncharted, Wipeout and God of War 3 (when/if), Afrika also looks interesting. On the X360, games in the same category: Bioshock, Alan Wake, Mass Effect and Gears of War 2 (when/if).

And games where I have a choice: Eight Days, Burnout Paradise, Indiana Jones, Grand Theft, Pro Evolution Soccer, Assassin's Creed, Mercenaries, Star Wars Force Unleashed, Resident Evil 5. Note the lack of FPS's and hardcore RPGs in all three lists.

Re:380 Games?

[Anonymous Coward]

The headline is wrong, it was originally "Sony plans 20+ 360 games" :)

380 games? Wouldn't it be better to do 360?

[Anonymous Coward]

If they did games for the 360, then there's an actual installed base of customers. The Xbox 380 is selling even worse than the PS3, if that were possible.

not important

[skam240]

I could really care less about the quantity of games being released. what I want to know is, are any of them any good? Anybody out there have a list?

Re:not important

[nschubach]

http://ps3.ign.com/index/release.html There's a start...

Re:not important

[I'll Provide The War]

IGN just did a list of games coming out in the Summer period (June 21-September 21).

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/798/798417p1.html

At the end of that article there are links to the lists for the other consoles and PC.

Re:not important

[asc99c]

Wow, there's actually some decent looking games in there. I haven't bought any games since the three I got with the console. Of those, Motorstorm is the only one I've played much as a single player game, though Tony Hawk is OK for 2 player mode.

Re:not important

[buffer-overflowed]

Wow, that's not a great list, unless all you own is a PS3. Here are the PS3 exclusives:
Heavenly Sword - God of war, with a chick. May be good, may be Genji-bad.
Lair - Rogue Squadron w/o the Star Wars License. Hey, it moved gamecubes right?
Warhawk - WTF is this game now?
Ninja Gaiden Sigma - Made the PS3 leap a whole 700 units upon release in Japan. Not a factor.
Super Stardust HD - A PSN game. Remake of an old Amiga classic. Might be decent.

Here are the Wii exclusives:
Mario Strikers Charged - Arcade Soccer with the Mario franchise. Online play. Nothing too special.
Metroid Prime 3 - It's metroid. Enormously huge franchise.
Mercury Meltdown Revolution - Meh. Sequel to a PSP game.
Pokemon Battle Revolution - My pokemons, let me show you them. Another enormously huge franchise.
Boogie - Ugh....
Space Station Tycoon - This one actually looks oddly interesting. Like mid-90s PC golden era interesting for some reason.
Dewy's Adventure - From the makers of Elebits. Could be good.

And here are the 360 exclusives:
Blue Dragon - JRPG if that's your thing. Can Toriyama do anything that's not in that infernal DBZ style!?
Eternal Sonata - Another JRPG.
Mass Effect - RPG. Not too excited about this one, but some people are.
And of course PC cross-ports like Bioshock, Two Worlds, Overlord, etc.

Re:My plans for '08

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, it is so sad that you were actually trying to be clever.

Sony has over the past seven years since the PS2 hit the shelves amassed the largest first party development studio array ever for the PS3. Massively larger and more talented than Microsoft's anemic first party studios and significantly larger than the once first party dominant Nintendo.

Here's a tip, get your news from somewhere reliable and not the daily Zonk FUD fest for a change...

380 Games for the Playstation 3

[Bobfrankly1]

200 Retail and 180 Downloadable...
So 50 new retail Japan-only games, 50 new most other countries games, and 100 new hentai dating simulators. Which will pale in comparison to the PS2 Hentai dating sims, because PS2 has the vibra....er, rumble feature.

Also, they forgot to include how many of these games will suck, which is probably going to be a large percentage. So the story should be "Sony puts out 'news' in attempts to cover for vastly misjudging it's market" most likely to distract from the rumors of a PS3 price drop.
I now await the ever present blind fanboi army to tell me how wrong I am.
-
In other news the sky is blue and nuts are itchy...

Re:380 Games for the Playstation 3

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh oh, some random fanboy named Bob Frankly 1 on Slashdot has responded to the PS3 release list with...

SARCASM!

Fanboy Sarcasm!

Teh PS3 am doomed!!!

Re:380 Games for the Playstation 3

[Anonymous Coward]

All these new systems suck. You want games? You can get a system with games. How about over 800 games!. And they never lied about the specs:

CPU
6507, 1.19 MHz
MEMORY
RAM: 128 Bytes, in VLSI
ROM: 4K max
GRAPHICS
Stella, a custom graphics chip that controlled the synchronization to the TV and all other video processing tasks
Graphics Clock: 1.19 MHz

All you fanbois out there can suck on my faux wood god!

Re:380 Games for the Playstation 3

[Perseid]

Um...you do realize that 90% of the 2600 games sucked too, right? It was worse then than it is now.

Re:My plans for '08

[imroy]

And here's my tip: learn to take a joke. Sheesh, what a fanboy response.

Intelligent Posting So Far...

[chubs730]

Well I for one am glad that nobody has used this article as a starting point for useless fanboy arguments where each participant claims to not be a fanboy, while the other calls them one.

I wish there was a way to remove dupes in threads, not just stories.

Re:Intelligent Posting So Far...

[nschubach]

I'm not a fanboy, but your post seemed the most bias on this entire story. Great false information there! I'm totally going to have more posts than you will as soon as my new keyboard comes back from repair. Stupid Caps-Lock of death!

Re:Intelligent Posting So Far...

[Darkfred]

I'm not a fanboy, but your post seemed the most bias on this entire story. Great false information there! I'm totally going to have more posts than you will as soon as my new keyboard comes back from repair. Stupid Caps-Lock of death! I dont know what you are doing here. But I like It...
When beligerant fanboy reaction and dadism meet. Perfect reply to the previous message. Cute.

PS3 price is important

[gilesjuk]

What use is a choice of games if people have little money to buy them after the cost of the console.

I have bought 4 Wii games so far and the cost of the console plus games is still less than a PS3.

Re:380 Games?

[Anonymous Coward]

aye....

quantity != quality

Re:PS3 + 1080p TV Is Gaming Heaven

[CorSci81]

The funny part of that statement is most of the world is too poor to afford it (or just unwilling to pony up that kinda cash), which means Sony has effectively priced the PS3 out of the mass market. So yes, that's what waggle is for this generation: the mass market.

It will only take 6 good games

[kn0tw0rk]

Even if there are that many games going to be made, it will only take 6 of them being good ones with marketing to secure the market.

- Racer (say Gran Tourismo or the next Wip3out)
- RPG (maybe something by Square/Enix)
- FPS (I wonder if QuakeWars will get ported?)
- platformer (either cutsey Mario competitor for the kids or God of War / Shadow of the Colossus variant for adults)
- party game (guitar hero, songstar or DDR)
- rogue (something off the wall different)

But price is the crunching point where the Wii has the advantage over the PS3, due to less complex hardware, and brilliant graphics doesnt make a game good.

On a different note...

[Cowardly Anonymity]

Go Wii! Go Wii! XD

Really, it's part inventiveness and part price that has made Nintendo successful...

Re:My plans for '08

[Anonymous Coward]

Important tip - Fanboys get mod points too.

Fun games = Gaming Heaven

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, Anonymous Sony Fanboy Troll sure has gotten lazy. Are you feeling okay?

1hug4u! Get better soon!

Ok to clarify things

[MemoryDragon]

50 of those will be japan only, 310 will come to the US, Europe and Australia will get exactly one game with about one year delay.