PS3 Fanboy

Earlier, we reported that up to 100 employees were laid off by SCEA. It appears that these figures were incorrect, and "way high." In a statement to GameDaily, Dave Karraker noted that less than 50 employees were let go. Government regulations require a company that lays off more than 50 individuals to issue a WARN notification -- something Sony did not have to do in this latest step in their corporate restructuring.

"We had a number of different department shifts in restructuring throughout the company, but nothing that's different from what we would typically have," Karraker explained. "The stuff that's been going on and has been going on since I started, back in September, is just continual shifts and changes within departments that's nothing unusual for any company on a regular basis."

According to GameDaily's findings, the lay offs affected a variety of departments, including Consumer Service, Finance, Business and Technology, Operations, 1st and 3rd party test, Marketing and Sales. Karraker refuted the claims, and made note that such layoffs are part of "normal business practice."

The dire prediction that PS3 would only sell 100k units in April was way off target. It was too high.

NPD released their numbers today, and unfortunately, the situation is so grim that Sony's PR machine may not be able to come up with a suitable spin. Sony's latest console endeavor sold through only 82k units. In comparison, the Xbox 360 sold through 174k units (which is also, admittedly, disappointing).

All hope is not lost, of course. NPD's Anita Frasier spoke to GameDaily about the state of the PS3: "Undoubtedly the sales results are not encouraging to date, but I for one am not counting out the PS3," she said. "While there has been good content available for the platform, there hasn't yet been the 'killer' title that tends to drive hardware sales acquisition among the broader audience. As the content ramps up, I'm confident the hardware sales will too. Rather than revisit this each and every month, particularly as we head into traditionally slower months of the year, I think we should really wait to see what the picture looks like in 6 months. Everything will be much clearer then."

That's the vibe we're getting from this interesting write-up from GameDaily. They polled some gamers in each of those places only to find that California and New Jersey seem to be looking forward to the Sony system, but no love for it in Colorado?

In fact, here's one quote that has a pretty good point: "With a price like $600, people might just come back to the arcade for affordable gaming. Well, either that or get a PS2." To those of you too poor not attracted to the PS3, think you may pick up your grassroots in the arcade for some gaming action? Seems like a viable alternative if you already own an Xbox 360 and don't plan on picking up Sony's console. Of course other gamers just spoke their mind like "They're out of their f***ing heads."

Yeah, we've heard that one before too. Possibly the most valuable quote to take away from the whole affair pretty much sums it all up perfectly: "It's just the hardcore people that have a problem with it. Core gamers are little bitches. They complain about everything because they're used to a certain standard of living, and whenever anyone dares to change it they complain. You don't see people stressing out about the prices of new cars, computers, or appliances nearly as much. The cost of living is going up. If you don't want a PS3, then don't buy one."

[Thanks boots]