Sony has no plan to cut the price of its PlayStation 3 game console, the company's chief financial officer Nobuyuki Oneda said Friday.

"This year, our strategy is not to sell more quantity for PS3 but to concentrate on profitability, Our plan is not to reduce the price." - Oneda told a forum in Singapore.

His comments followed a report in the Wall Street Journal which said Microsoft plans to cut the price on a popular model of its Xbox 360 game console in an effort to boost sales in the face of stronger competition from rival Sony. The Journal report cited people familiar with the matter and said the price cut would come as early as Sunday.

Oneda also said he expects Sony's PS3 operations as well as the broader game segment to be profitable for the current year ending March 2009.

Reference:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121574819606745349.html

Posted by Maka Asatiani at 4:58 PM | 0 comments  

Labels: PlayStation, Sony

E3, the video-game industry's big trade show, is next week, so a lot of the new software coming between now and Christmas. But there's a bit of a lull until Aug. 12, when "Madden NFL 09" unofficially marks the beginning of the fall game season. Here are the best of the year so far:

1. "Grand Theft Auto IV" (Rockstar, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3): The latest episode of "GTA" has its flaws, particularly in the storytelling department. But living a life of crime has never been more fun, thanks to much tighter gameplay and an exquisitely detailed vision of a decaying metropolis.

2. "Lost Odyssey" (Microsoft, for the Xbox 360): The epic tale of immortal mercenary Kaim is a delight for fans of classic role-playing games.

3. "The World Ends With You" (Square Enix, for the Nintendo DS): This adventure set in modern Tokyo is the most innovative RPG in years.

4. "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots" (Konami, for the PS3): It may be more of a movie than a game, but it's a dazzling finale for one of gaming's most fascinating sagas.

5. "Professor Layton and the Curious Village" (Nintendo, for the DS): Charming characters wrestle with clever puzzles in this beautifully written and illustrated gem.

Reference:

http://www.gamepro.com/

Posted by Maka Asatiani at 4:22 PM | 0 comments  

Labels: Game Development, Game Reviews, Games, Nintendo, PlayStation, Wii, XBox

Sony Corp. will win back its electronic leadership by improving its Internet-linked gadgets, wiping out losses in video games and TVs and pushing services and software, not just hardware. "This is not your father's Sony, “ - Chief Executive Howard Stringer said Thursday at Sony's Tokyo headquarters, outlining a strategy for growth.

Stringer said the company will become profitable in its TV and video game businesses during this fiscal year, which ends March 2009. Company wants to beef up networking gadgets, making sure 90 percent of Sony Corp.'s electronics products wirelessly connect to the Net by March 2011. Sony has rebounded from a bottom in 2005 by exiting or downsizing 15 product categories, reducing 10,000 global workers and shutting down 11 manufacturing sites.

Sony is going to come up with better software and services that match its longtime reputation for gadgets and entertainment content. A movie download service also will come for the PlayStation 3 game console in the summer in the U.S., said Kazuo Hirai, who heads Sony's video game unit. The service will be offered in Japan and Europe at later dates.

Sony is widely viewed as having erred in not pursuing flat-panel TVs soon enough, and in sticking to proprietary software with its gadgets, battering its earnings early in the decade. But it has posted a remarkable recovery recently, racking up a record profit of $3.5 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31. Now, executives said, Sony is investing $16.7 billion over the next three years for future technology. Sony made its announcements shortly after trading ended on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Its U.S. shares slipped 67 cents to $45.55 Thursday.

Reference:

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/200806/08-080E/08-080E.pdf

Posted by Maka Asatiani at 10:45 PM | 0 comments  

Labels: Game Development, Games, PlayStation

New research shows that U.S. retail sales of video games, consoles and game accessories hit $1.12 billion in May, a 37 percent rise over the same month last year. These parameters reported on Thursday by Market researcher NPD Group.


Take-Two Interactive Corp's Grand Theft Auto continues to be the No. 1 selling video game, and its version IV, released in April, sold 871,300 units in May. According to the research the top-selling hardware unit is Nintendo Co.'s Wii console. 675,100 units were sold in May. Nintendo's DS handheld player took second with 452,600 units sold. Those units have captured the top two spot's for four consecutive months. Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 trailed with 208,700 and 186,600 units sold.


As to hardware sales, they rose 34 percent to $428.6 million, while software sales rose 41 percent to $536.9 million, compared to the same month last year. Sales year-to-date come to $6.6 billion and the industry is on pace to bring in revenue between $21 billion and $23 billion for 2008.

Reference:
http://www.npd.com/corpServlet?nextpage=corp_welcome.html http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2008-06-13-video-games-sales-may_N.htm?csp=34

Posted by Maka Asatiani at 10:17 PM | 2 comments  

Labels: Game Development, Game Reviews, Game Sharing, Games, Hardware, Microsoft, Nintendo, PlayStation, Sony, Wii, XBox

A supercomputer with components originally developed for Sony's PlayStation video-game console has become the world's fastest computer. It can process more than 1,000 trillion calculations per second, known as a petaflop. Built for the Energy Department's Los Alamos lab with off-the-shelf components, Roadrunner is named for the state bird of New Mexico and will be used to monitor the U.S. nuclear-weapons stockpile.

Roadrunner cost $133 million and is twice as fast as IBM's Blue Gene system, which had been considered the worlds most powerful. The Blue Gene is at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Along with almost 7,000 dual-core processors from Advanced Micro Devices, the Roadrunner also has almost 13,000 improved Cell microprocessors originally developed by IBM, Toshiba and Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. The Cell combines the Power Architecture instruction set with coprocessors to accelerate computing.

Roadrunner will make it possible for the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration to certify the reliability of the U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons without the need for underground nuclear tests. To accomplish this, it will be used to solve classified military problems. To illustrate the power of Roadrunner, the Energy Department said it can perform a calculation in one day that would take 46 years if everyone on Earth used a hand calculator for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Some observers see the Roadrunner as a resurgence in supercomputing for the United States, which dominated the field from the 1960s to 2002 when Japan's Earth Simulator briefly became the world's fastest by executing more than 35 trillion mathematical calculations per second.

Reference:

http://www.ibm.com

http://news.bbc.co.uk

Posted by Maka Asatiani at 12:16 AM | 0 comments  

Labels: IBM, PlayStation, PSP, Sony

A brand new character is joining the cast of Soulcalibur IV. The exclusive Star Wars deal that Namco Bandai lined up with LucasArts is extending beyond the bounds of Yoda and Darth Vader, as the company announced that Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice will debut as a playable character in Soulcalibur IV.

“We are honored to be debuting Lord Vader’s Secret Apprentice in Soulcalibur IV,” said Todd Thorson, Director of Marketing and Public Relations, NAMCO BANDAI Games America. “The Secret Apprentice adds to the depth and excitement the Soulcalibur franchise is known to deliver; proving to be another formidable opponent in the quest to obtain the mighty Soul swords.”

Soulcalibur IV is set to hit stores July 29th.

NAMCO BANDAI Games' mission is to inspire people around the world and help them enjoy their time to the full. NAMCO BANDAI Games will unrelentingly seek out and take on new challenges as it aims to become the world's most admired videogame maker, capable of consistently supplying games that deliver happiness, fun and satisfaction.

References:

http://www.namcobandaigames.com/news/press/press/295/page/1

Posted by Lika Todadze at 5:01 AM | 0 comments  

Labels: PlayStation, XBox

Speaking in a new PlayStation Blog post Susan Panico, Senior Director of the PlayStation Network, has announced a new interactive digital magazine TV show called Qore. An addition to the PlayStation Network (PSN), the subscription-based gaming program will debut today.

Available only on the PlayStation Store on PSN, Qore is the first in a series of original content planned for the PlayStation community. Qore will feature exclusive multimedia news, developer interviews, in-depth game previews, and behind-the-scene looks at popular PlayStation games. Sony said subscribers will also have special access to game demos, betas, add-ons and other downloadable and game-related content.

The first issue of Qore comes packed with exclusive content for games such as SOCOM Confrontation (including an invitation to the beta), Secret Agent Clank and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Qore is available on the PlayStation Store for a one-off payment of $2.99 per issue, or for a yearly subscription fee of $24.99 for 13 issues.

"Qore is the first step in providing original content dedicated to the PlayStation community and evolving the network into a place where our customers can gather, share and discover new forms of entertainment," - said Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment America.

According to Mike Goodman, a video-game analyst at Yankee Group, PSN is an entertainment network aimed at digitally delivering innovative content and fostering a community for a worldwide audience. The network has eight million members, according to Sony, and Qore is the latest addition. But Sony is still very much in building mode versus its rival, Microsoft's Xbox Live.

Reference:

http://blog.us.playstation.com

Posted by Maka Asatiani at 9:27 AM | 0 comments  

Labels: Game Development, Game Sharing, PlayStation, Sony, XBox

Greenpeace has released the results of its investigation into hazardous materials in next-generation video game consoles. The study reveals that the Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3 Elite and Microsoft Xbox 360 have all tested positive for hazardous chemicals. The analysis of the toxic materials shows that all three manufacturers failed the green-electronics test established by Greenpeace.

Dr. Kevin Brigden of the Greenpeace Science Unit says: "Whether game consoles are classified as toys or not, they can still contain hazardous chemicals and materials that could harm humans. The technology is available for the manufacturers to design out toxins and produce greener game consoles now."

The report reveals that both the Xbox 360 and PS3 contained very high levels of phthalates that are not permitted in components of toys or childcare products sold in the European Union. One of the phthalates, DEHP, is known to interfere with sexual development in mammals - including humans, and especially males. The other phthalate, DINP, found only in the Xbox 360, is prohibited from use in toys and childcare products in the European Union if children can place them in their mouths.

The game-consoles market is one of the fastest-growing in consumer electronics, with more than 60 million sold and 14 percent growth last year, according to Datamonitor. They not only contain hazardous chemicals, but also contribute to the fastest-growing type of waste - e-waste, according to Greenpeace. Discarded game consoles are often dumped and end up in unsafe and dirty recycling yards in developing countries, harming the environment and the health of workers.

Reference:

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/game-consoles-no-consolation200508

Posted by Maka Asatiani at 9:33 AM | 0 comments  

Labels: Nintendo, PlayStation, XBox

A while ago I bought a stereo Bluetooth headset Jabra BT3030 for using with my Nokia E90 Communicator. Today, I was playing the final levels of Resistance: Fall of Man (oh by the way, there is a teaser of FOM 2 available on PlayStation store... Hale's back) and as it was quite late, I did not want to bother people around me with the noise. So I tought, what if I used this headset with PlayStation 3? So, I gave it a try.

The good news is that within a minute I had the headset paired with PlayStation. The bad news is that PlayStation cannot direct the main audio output to a headset. Thus, it is only used for chatting and communication purposes. The Jabra headset has a built in microphone, so it makes a really perfect combination with PlayStation.

The quality of sound and microphone was excellent.

Posted by George S. at 11:27 PM | 0 comments  

Labels: Accessories, PlayStation

While Grand Theft Auto IV is racking up sales records, console makers are vying for bragging rights of their own, and Microsoft seems to be the victor.

GTA IV was released April 29 and global sales totaled more than $500 million in the first week alone. The first day the latest addition to the hit Rockstar Games series hit retail store shelves, sales were $310 million. More than six million copies have been sold.

The only question is, which console is the game being played on? GTA IV was developed by Rockstar North on two platforms -- the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360. Both manufacturers are reporting higher console sales as a result.

According to news reports that claim to have the inside scoop on Microsoft's sales data, Redmond is the big winner. Reportedly Xbox 360 console sales jumped 54 percent. Other reports estimate more than 60 percent of GTA IV games went to Xboxers, leaving less than 40 percent for PlayStation 3 gamers.

References:

http://www.gamerankings.com/

http://www.biline.ca/xbox_list.htm#g

Posted by Maka Asatiani at 8:40 AM | 0 comments  

Labels: Game Development, Game Reviews, Game Sharing, Microsoft, PlayStation, XBox

The accolades lavished on criminal action video game "Grand Theft Auto 4", long expected to be the best-selling game of 2008, pushed Take-Two shares as high as $27.10, more than a dollar higher than the $25.74 per share offered for the company by rival Electronic Arts Inc. It was the highest level for the stock since February 28, when it touched $27.61 three days after Electronic Arts went public with its $2 billion hostile bid.

These ratings are quite extraordinary. It's something special and helps critics to understand why Take-Two was so confident and adamant that they wanted to wait. Many analysts have long said EA may have to raise its bid by a dollar or two per share.

Take-Two and Electronic Arts were not immediately available to comment.The Tuesday launch of "Grand Theft Auto 4" is expected to be the biggest entertainment event of the year, with first-week sales of up to $400 million.

Scores on gaming review aggregation site Metacritic.org show the game, in which players work for a crime syndicate in a fictionalized New York, is on track to be the highest-rated video game of all time.

Based on more than a dozen reviews so far, the version of GTA4 for Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 game console has scored a perfect 100 while that for Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 has achieved a score of 99.

Reference:

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/grandtheftauto4

Posted by Maka Asatiani at 9:10 PM | 2 comments  

Labels: Game Development, Game Reviews, PlayStation, XBox

U.S. video game sales including hardware and software jumped 34 percent in February to hit $1.33 billion, even with two top-selling consoles in short supply, according to data from market researcher NPD Group.

Nintendo's Wii and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 have been in such high demand stores are having a hard time keeping them in stock. Microsoft spokesman David Dennis said the company moved up shipments during the holidays and hasn't been able to catch up since. He added: "we should be in good shape" by the time "Grand Theft Auto IV," the highly anticipated latest installment of the Rockstar Games franchise, hits store shelves April 29.

The game, which will be available on the Xbox 360 and Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3, is expected to boost sales mutually of both consoles. Pre-orders have been better than expected, according to its publisher, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.

Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan, expects the game to sell about 9 million units during the company's fiscal year, which ends in October. Roughly 6 million of this, he added, will be to Xbox 360 owners.

February is normally a slow month for video game publishers coming off holiday highs, and consumers have also been cutting back spending amid economic worries.

Game hardware sales rose 19 percent during the month to $480 million, NPD said late Thursday. Of this, the portable Nintendo DS was the best-seller with 587,600 units, followed by the Wii at 432,000. The Xbox 360 sold 254,600 units even amid supply constraints.

"It appears that Wii and DS shortages abated in February, likely in anticipation of strong March software launches," - Pachter wrote in a note to investors.

Going strong since its launch in 2000, Sony's PlayStation 2 continued to outpace its successor. The PS2 sold 351,800 units compared with 280,800 for the PS3.

February's software sales grew 47 percent to hit $668.7 million, with Activision Inc.'s first-person shooter "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" at No. 1 with 296,200 units sold for the Xbox 360. Capcom USA's "Devil May Cry 4" and Nintendo's "Wii Play," which comes with a remote and includes games like pingpong and fishing, also did well.

The NPD Group was founded in 1967. Today it is the global provider of consumer and retail market research information for a wide range of industries.

Reference:

http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_080311.html

Posted by Maka Asatiani at 8:29 PM | 2 comments  

Labels: Game Development, Game Reviews, Game Sharing, Nintendo, PlayStation, Wii, XBox

PlayStation Store Cards have been noticed in stores. According to Kotaku, the card was spotted for sale in stores on the US Army base in Aberdeen, Maryland.


Only a $20 value card was noticed shown on the image.





Some people find these cards a dumb idea. However, there are some good points about it. First, imagine that the PlayStation store does not accept your card. I know some people who have this problem. Second, with this card there is no need to enter your card number. Well, it's Sony but anyway if you don't have a credit protection, it's a good idea to use the prepaid store card and not the credit card. Finally, PlayStation Store Card can turn out to be a nice little gift.


So, it's not that dumb idea as it looked initially.



Source: http://kotaku.com/337485/playstation-store-cards-already-in-the-wild

Posted by George S. at 10:00 AM | 0 comments  

Labels: PlayStation

According to Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) PlayStation 3 is gaining developer confidence. This is something that PlayStation 3 has been severely lacking. Hopefully, the more developers start creating good titles for Sony's gaming console, the more appealing it will become for gamers.

Sony on its own is doing maximum to make the console feature-rich. Sony has recently released firmware update version 2.10 for the PlayStation 3. The most interesting new feature added to the update is support for DivX files. Thus, PlayStation 3 has caught up with Xbox 360 in terms of media capabilities.

Another interesting feature introduced in this update is a voice changer feature, allowing users to change the pitch of their voice in chat.

Some PlayStation 3 users have found out that the firmware update also includes the ability to play PS1 games on PSP via Remote Play.

Interestingly, on the portable gaming front, Sony is making progress as well. Sony Japan has introduced a free media manager. The old media manager is NOT free and besides it doesn't work on Windows Vista, which was a huge disappointment for me. However, the new media manager, which is already available for download, allows you to unleash the full power of your PSP's multimedia capabilities for free.

Posted by George S. at 7:38 AM | 0 comments  

Labels: PlayStation, Sony

There are rumours of SonyEricsson making a PSP branded phone. I don't think that SE will be releasing PlayStation Phone anytime soon. But someone has already managed to play PlayStation 1 games on iPhone.

PlayStation 1 games on iPhone? Sounds weird but it's already a reality. But wait, iPhone doesn't have any buttons. Right, the iPhone doesn't, however for a tough programmer that ain't a problem at all. The guy has easily got around this problem by mapping the PS controls to the touchscreen. Wow!

Posted by George S. at 11:12 AM | 0 comments  

Labels: iPhone, PlayStation

What do the Sony Aibo robot and Sony PlayStation have in common? Yes, both of them are toys in some ways. However, in the near future those two devices may become close friends. At least there are some rumours about this, according to Stuff Magazine.

Nobody knows for sure how this friendship between PlayStation, PSP and the Aibo Robot will work however there are speculations that you will be able to download new personalities for the Aibo Robot from the PlayStation Store via the PlayStation 3 and then upload them to your metallic friend. You will then be able to control the Aibo Robot with your PSP via Wi-Fi. At the same time, your metallic friend will be sending a video signal from the new Aibo’s head mounted cam to your PlayStation 3 for watching on TV.

I think this is an excellent strategy for Sony. Men are ruled by toys, somehow said Napoleon. We all like toys and many would not mind spending a grand or two on getting a cool arrangement between a metallic pet, the "best" console and the "coolest" portable gaming device.

On this I must stop writing post and feed my dog... not metallic, so far :)

Posted by George S. at 5:46 PM | 0 comments  

Labels: PlayStation

Recently a colleague of mine mentioned that he was going to buy a PlayStation 3. When I asked the reason, he told me: "why not"? After all, PlayStation 3 is an extremely powerful computing machine and it can be successfully used not only for gaming. Ironically, so far, PlayStation has found the most effective usage in every computing task but gaming. I've tried to cover every such case demonstrating the impressive power of the PlayStation 3's Cell chip at work and let's look at them below.

First, it was Stanford University's Folding (at) Home program where over 600,000 PlayStation 3s have been connected to the program delivering a petaflop performance to the university's network.

Another person successfully using PlayStation 3 for scientific purposes was an astrophysicist Dr. Gaurav Khanna, who has assembled a computer consisting of 8 PlayStation 3s, run by Linux.

Jayram Moorkanikara, Jeff Furlong and Matt Johnson, along with two students from Dartmouth College, have hooked up three PlayStation 3s to reproduce human brain functions. Their solution was able to reproduce visual processing.

And now we have one more successful case of PlayStation 3's power. Security researcher Nick Breese used a PlayStation 3 to crack supposedly strong eight-character passwords in hours. Passwords like this are very common for securing Microsoft Office files, PDFs or ZIP archives.

PlayStation 3's Cell processor can perform computations 100 times faster than a powerful Intel chip. The very architecture of the Cell processor delivers this enormous computing power.

Well, all these is fine. But the main question still remains open. When will PlayStation 3 become a gaming machine in the first place?

Posted by George S. at 7:08 AM | 0 comments  

Labels: PlayStation

At last Sony has launched much awaited PlayStation Store for PSP. This is a clear sign that UMD as a format has reached its death. While I believe the small disks will be around for some time, Sony's move to offer downloadable content is a step to a right direction.

Posted by George S. at 9:01 AM | 0 comments  

Labels: PlayStation, PSP, Sony

Today Sony made one more step to attract more developers to PlayStation 3. The Japanese maker of gaming consoles has halved the price of "Reference Tool" - the software needed for developing games for PlayStation.

The package is now priced at 950,000 yen (approx. $8,600) in Japan and $10,250 in the USA.

I think this is a very timely and effective strategic move. On one hand this decision will lower game development costs and on the other hand it must attract more developers. Lack of quality titles is PlayStation 3's number one enemy at the moment.

Naturally, Sony cannot expect an immediate effect of the decision but in the middle to long run, this decision shall affect sales in the positive manner.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=a4WH3CrEX3Y0&refer=asia

Posted by George S. at 10:36 AM | 0 comments  

Labels: Game Development, PlayStation, Sony

It looks like that Sony's latest marketing efforts have started to pay off. According to Media Create's numbers for the week ending November 11th, the sales figures looked as follows:

1. Nintendo DS: 78,884
2. PlayStation Portable: 58,964
3. PlayStation 3: 55,924
4. Nintendo Wii: 34,456
5. PlayStation 2: 9,043
6. Xbox 360: 5,817

For now PlayStation 3 outsells Wii. A while ago Xbox 360 outsold PlayStation 3. Quite funny. Weekly figures are of course more volatile than for example monthly or quarterly sales figures. However, it must be noted that the price cut on PlayStation 3 and introduction of the 40 GB model have definitely helped Sony increase sales by whopping 300%. Another factor for this dramatic increase is the shortage of Wii devices at the moment. Nintendo's inability to keep up to the demand may cost a lot to the company.

Posted by George S. at 11:38 AM | 0 comments  

Labels: Nintendo, PlayStation, Sony, Wii