It looks like it's time to the PS3 SKU dance again. An alleged Wal-Mart spreadsheet sent to Joystiq states the 40GB PS3 "will be replaced with [a] new model in early August." What this new model will entail is unclear: it could be a new 40GB bundle, or it could be something different altogether. Perhaps we'll find out more at E3?
This isn't the first time hints of a new system were revealed through retail channels. The 40GB model is currently the cheapest model of the PS3, retailing for $399. It is the only model of the PS3 that does not feature any backwards compatibility support for PS2 titles.
Rumors about a Wii-like PS3 controller surfaced in early June when details about a supposed secret focus group testing were leaked. Heading back into the rumor mill, we found a startling discovery over on JustPlay -- a videogame peripheral manufacturer and supplier. On the website, a listing for a "PS3 2.4 GHz Wireless Handgun" quite possibly shows us what this rumored PSThrii-mote will look like and its intended use.
While the picture does suggest that peripheral is being made for such a device, there isn't a guarantee that such a device does indeed exist. It could very well be a mock-up for ideas being played around with. We'll continue to chalk this one up as rumor for now. In the meantime, we'll keep our eyes out for more. Most likely, if there is anything out there regarding a PSThrii-mote, we will be seeing it at this month's E3.
The annual report of the Entertainment Merchants Association released recently stated that PS3 is "the primary driver behind Blu-ray sales, with 87% of PS3 owners watching Blu-ray movies on their console." With 3 million units sold by the end of 2007, the PS3 easily outsold the HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox 360, which sold 316,000 units. The EMA feels Blu-ray was the losing format in 2006, but thanks to the PS3, it rebounded in 2007 to become the de facto winner. Their prediction is the PS3 will be "the main force behind Blu-ray disc sales until 2009, when standalone Blu-ray players are expected to outpace the sales volume of the PS3." We think this report raises a number of questions:
Is the PS3 really the driving force behind Blu-ray? Or is Blu-ray the driving force behind the PS3? Did Sony take too much of a gamble with a new format and didn't invest enough into the games? If so, will that improve now that Blu-ray has won?
What about the credibility of the report? Almost a year ago, the NPD Group found that 60% of PS3 owners didn't know it played Blu-ray discs. Is that a contradiction with this study or have consumers become more educated? As a side note, the study found the average gamer to be 33-years old with 24% that are older than 50. Are 25% gamers really 50 and over? If true, this might be good news for Sony.
What do you guys think? Fire away in the comments below.
Reuters Tokyo reports that the PS3 is finally catching up to the Wii in Japan. Reports say that the PS3 is closing the gap between itself and the Wii from 6-to-1 to 1.7-to-1 for last month. That huge difference is in no doubt thanks to the launch of Metal Gear Solid 4. What's interesting is that even with a big-name exclusive like MGS4, the PS3 still failed to beat out the Wii for the month of June. In fact, with all the media hype and fanfare for MGS4 gone, it's hard to tell when we'll ever see such a huge spike again.
The second week after MGS4's launch ended up seeing the PS3 slunk down into fourth place on the gaming hardware charts. So are we going back to the old 6-to-1 figures? Looks like it to us -- for awhile at least. The PS3 caught up for the month of June, but that's pretty much it folks. The PSP on the other hand ...
It's that time again, firmware update time. The huge one is finally here: 2.40. So, without a doubt, we're sure you're all very anxious to go grab it already. Five bucks says most of you didn't even bother to read what is being written here and just saw the headline and ran off on us. We don't blame you. With that, we'll keep it short and enjoy our new firmware features.
[Thanks Tim P., and everyone who sent this in!]
Update:Super Stardust HD patch is live. The 255MB download will add trophies to your game.
Posted Jul 1st 2008 9:00PM by Alan Tsang Filed under: News
Back in March we reported on an extremely unfortunate incident of a boy stricken with cancer who had his PSP stolen. Now we have a story to rival that, but with a PS3. Zak Touilii, an 14-year old Australian boy confined to a wheelchair by the life-threatening illness duchenne muscular dystrophy, had his PS3 stolen when thieves burglarized his home.
Worse yet, the PS3 and games Touilii owned were granted to him by the Make-a-Wish Foundation. But that's not even all, as Touilii was also scheduled this week to meet his favorite rugby team, the Melbourne Storm. Instead, he had to stay home because of a broken wheelchair.
Let's hope these thieves have a heart and return Touilii's PS3, especially if after they read about this. And let's all hope Zak has a much, much better next week.
All signs are pointing to a major Xbox 360 price drop in the days leading up to E3. Leaked retailer scans show a new lower price for Microsoft's home console: a drop of $50 from $350 to $300. When this price drop happens, there will be a $100 price gap between the Xbox 360 and the cheapest PS3 model (40GB).
A similar price cut for PS3 may be unlikely, consider Sony's recent focus on profitability. Already, the cheapest PS3 includes wi-fi, a Blu-ray drive, and free access to PSN. Sony must do a better job at emphasizing the value of the PS3, in spite of its higher cost of entry. "The gap of $100 may be a fair price to pay for [PS3's] built-in wireless Internet connectivity and Blu-ray, but [Sony's] done a terrible job of explaining that to consumers," popular analyst Michael Pachter noted to Next-Gen.
PS3 won last month's NPD figures, and is likely to win again this month, thanks to the release of Metal Gear Solid 4. Undoubtedly, Sony will pay close attention in the following months. If their momentum begins to slow, Sony may follow Microsoft's footsteps. "In the event of decelerating PS3 unit sales trends, we believe Sony might rethink its strategy on PS3 pricing, but for now, the hope is that a stronger software lineup as opposed to price concessions will drive hardware adoption," Colin Sebastian said. For the full analysis, visit Next-Gen.
Posted Jun 30th 2008 8:00PM by Majed Athab Filed under: News
Sony has already denied the rumors regarding PS2 games for the PSN. Sony's Patrick Seybold, director of corporate communications & social media, spoke to GamePro: "I'm not sure where the image came from. At this point, we haven't made any announcements, and there are no plans for PS2 downloadable titles on PS3."
Take Mr. Seybold's answer for what it's worth -- an honest sounding, and somewhat surprised, reaction. We don't know what to take from this and perhaps we shouldn't read into it any further as there's nothing really left to go on. Then again, the image in question belongs to the UK store while Mr. Seybold is with SCEA ... hmm. Anyway, it is an interesting response to say the least. It is a very different answer to the usual robotic auto-reply "we do not comment on rumors and speculation."
So, we're finally able to talk officially about PS3 firmware 2.40. Available July 2nd, this hotly anticipated firmware update has been the topic of discussion throughout various internet forums and our own site. Many rumors stemmed from supposed leaks, and we can now say that many of these reveals were right on the money. The features to be added in firmware 2.40 represent the biggest jump for PS3 owners, more so than 2.00 released a few months earlier. The key features of the update include the most-wanted things voiced by a majority of PS3 fans. In-game XMB and achievement-like trophies are the two biggest additions to this update.
In-Game XMB Finally, in-game XMB will be implemented for the very first time. When one presses the PS button, it will bring up with entire XMB. No features are hidden in this menu; you will be able to see all of your Photos, Music and Video. While everything can be seen, not everything can be accessed from the menu. For example, if you want to click on a video, a message will tell you that the game will end if you proceed any further. This will allow players to jump from one activity to another quickly on the PS3. For example, you can jump from a game of PixelJunk Monsters, directly into Resistance 2. Then, you can quick to a video on the hard drive, and then listen to some music. It makes the entire system much easier to use.
Sony's Kaz Hirai confirmed to reporters that 65nm Cell processors have been used in PS3s since the "last holiday season." Launch PS3 systems used a more expensive, and more energy-hungry 90nm process. The graphics chip for the PS3, known as RSX, will also be getting an upgrade this Fall. The move to a 65nm process will once again lower manufactuering costs for the Japanese electronics giant, and will also make the system much more energy efficient.
Sony is focused on restore profitability to its games division, especially after it revealed the significant $3 billion loss it has incurred on the PS3 so far. Investors will undoubtedly cheer at this news.
It's a well-known fact that Sony has been losing a lot of money on the PS3 this generation. Although it's the most expensive console on the market, it's also the most expensive to produce, thanks to the combination of bleeding-edge technologies, Blu-ray and the Cell processor. When the system launched in fiscal 2007, the Japanese electronics giant had to swallow a whopping cost of $2.16 billion. Fiscal 2008, however, has been much kinder to the company, with PS3 hardware costs eating up $1.16 billion, thanks to the lowered cost of manufacturing. Combined, PS3 has cost the company $3.32 billion dollars ... so far.
The astronomical figure Sony has invested into the PS3 shows its confidence in its success. However, the company did note that unless it reaches "favorable market penetration," the PS3 would have a "significant negative impact" on the company's profitability.
Software is where the company will the company will recoup costs, and with an excellent holiday lineup in store for PS3 gamers, we're sure that Sony has little to worry about for the rest of this generation. But remember, while other companies are eager to make profit off of you on day one, Sony put their necks on the line to give you a great deal on a monstrously powerful system.
So we've previously reported on how the launch of Metal Gear Solid 4spurred PlayStation 3 hardware sales in Japan, but now we're bringing in the news that the PS3 is back on top of the charts. According to Media Create numbers, the PS3 sold 75K+ (a slightly different calculation from the previous Enterbrain numbers at 77K+).
1. PlayStation 3: 75,311 2. PlayStation Portable: 64,675 3. Nintendo Wii: 45,564 4. Nintendo DS: 39,201 5. PlayStation 2: 7,297 6. Xbox 360: 2,163
The PS3 was the one to finally knock the PSP out of the prime position. The PSP has had success for the past several months, continuously taking the number one spot and crushing everything else. The question now is: Can the PS3 keep the momentum up and keep things going? Or, will the PSP return to its rule over Japan?
Posted Jun 20th 2008 12:05PM by Andrew Yoon Filed under: News
We knew Europe was getting a Platinum budget range for PS3 games. However, we didn't know they'd be donning such cheap-looking box art. The Spanish line of box art (which may expand to the rest of Europe) features a heavy coat of yellow paint. It reminds us a lot of Japan's budget line of games. Budget repackaging of popular games have always featured less-than-ideal box work. But, how can we complain when we're getting excellent games at lower prices? If some yellow ink is the price to pay for cheap prices, we say bring it on.
The Chairman of the Sony Corp., Howard Stringer, stated today at a shareholder meeting in Tokyo that their top management priority is "to restore profitability in our television and game businesses." This comes after Sony's game division predicted profit for for the first time in three years, due to reduced cost of producing the PS3 and broadened game software lineup. Sony's game division has lost over 3.4 billion dollars the past two years under his leadership, so it isn't surprising profits in that area are in Stringer's (and obviously, Sony's) best interest.
Stringer also feels that "we are not No.1 in my mind yet," and with the Wii projected to sell 25 million units this fiscal year while the PS3 is predicted to sell 10 million, we can see why Stringer would feel such a sentiment.
Posted Jun 19th 2008 10:30PM by Alan Tsang Filed under: News
A new study out today by Experian Consumer Research concluded there are differences between consumers who purchased the PS3 and those who purchased the Xbox 360. The biggest difference being that while the Xbox 360 appeals the most to gamers who are 35-44, the PS3 appeals to the more senior demographic of 45 and up. The study also finds that youngsters ages 18-24 prefer the Nintendo Wii. Finally, the study uses "new media respondents" as a control group, defined as those who spend more than one hour online per week.
This study doesn't tell us anything we don't already know; they don't state any specific numbers in their press release and the presentation you can download basically concludes that there are no differences between PS3 owners and 360 owners except for age. After seeing a sample of their rudimentary research, if we were a company looking for statistics to help us market to gamers, we'd stay away from them.
The annual report of the Entertainment Merchants Association released recently stated that PS3 is "the primary driver behind Blu-ray sales, with 87% of PS3 owners watching Blu-ray movies on their console." With 3 million units sold by the end of 2007, the PS3 easily outsold the HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox 360, which sold 316,000 units. The EMA feels Blu-ray was the losing format in 2006, but thanks to the PS3, it rebounded in 2007 to become the de facto winner. Their prediction is the PS3 will be "the main force behind Blu-ray disc sales until 2009, when standalone Blu-ray players are expected to outpace the sales volume of the PS3." We think this report raises a number of questions:
Reuters Tokyo reports that the PS3 is finally catching up to the Wii in Japan. Reports say that the PS3 is closing the gap between itself and the Wii from 6-to-1 to 1.7-to-1 for last month. That huge difference is in no doubt thanks to the launch of Metal Gear Solid 4. What's interesting is that even with a big-name exclusive like MGS4, the PS3 still failed to beat out the Wii for the month of June. In fact, with all the media hype and fanfare for MGS4 gone, it's hard to tell when we'll ever see such a huge spike again. 
Sony's Kaz Hirai confirmed to reporters that 65nm Cell processors have been used in PS3s since the "last holiday season." Launch PS3 systems used a more expensive, and more energy-hungry 90nm process. The graphics chip for the PS3, known as RSX, will also be getting an upgrade this Fall. The move to a 65nm process will once again lower manufactuering costs for the Japanese electronics giant, and will also make the system much more energy efficient.
It's a well-known fact that Sony has been losing a lot of money on the PS3 this generation. Although it's the most expensive console on the market, it's also the most expensive to produce, thanks to the combination of bleeding-edge technologies, Blu-ray and the Cell processor. When the system launched in fiscal 2007, the Japanese electronics giant had to swallow a whopping cost of $2.16 billion. Fiscal 2008, however, has been much kinder to the company, with PS3 hardware costs eating up $1.16 billion, thanks to the lowered cost of manufacturing. Combined, PS3 has cost the company $3.32 billion dollars ... so far.
So we've previously reported on how the launch of Metal Gear Solid 4 spurred PlayStation 3 hardware sales in Japan, but now we're bringing in the news that the PS3 is back on top of the charts. According to Media Create numbers, the PS3 sold 75K+ (a slightly different calculation from the previous Enterbrain numbers at 77K+). 
The Chairman of the Sony Corp., Howard Stringer, stated today at a shareholder meeting in Tokyo that their top management priority is "to restore profitability in our television and game businesses." This comes after Sony's game division predicted profit for for the first time in three years, due to reduced cost of producing the PS3 and broadened game software lineup. Sony's game division has lost over 3.4 billion dollars the past two years under his leadership, so it isn't surprising profits in that area are in Stringer's (and obviously, Sony's) best interest.
