Peter Nowak, Financial PostPublished: Saturday, March 10, 2007
If there’s one thing the current generation of video game consoles can tell us, it’s that the next generation of games that kids will be playing will be very different. The coming wave -- perhaps five years or more away -- isn’t going to be about nicer graphics; it’s going to be about price and innovation.
Larry Probst, chief executive of the world’s largest video game publisher Electronic Arts, this week predicted Sony’s command of the market is going to slide over the current generation of hardware. Sony won the last round with its PlayStation 2, which accounted for about 60% of the console market, followed by Microsoft with its Xbox and Nintendo with its GameCube.
Sony’s momentum should carry it through the current round with its PlayStation 3, released in November, but it should be a much more level playing field this time around, Mr. Probst says.
That’s because the PS3 is just too expensive compared to its rivals. At $699, the console goes for a considerable premium over Microsoft’s Xbox 360 at $499 and Nintendo’s Wii at $279. Sony has packed a lot of expensive hardware into the console to provide the best graphics on the market, not to mention a Blu-Ray high-definition DVD player, but the success of Microsoft and the Wii indicate gamers want more than games that simply look awesome.
Prior to 2001, Microsoft wasn’t even a player in video game consoles. But with the launch of the Xbox that year, it was obvious the software company wanted to take gaming in a new direction. The Xbox had a hard drive for storage and a built-in broadband connection, both of which enabled the Xbox Live online service. Suddenly, gamers could play against each other online or download updates and expansions to games straight to the console.
The Xbox Live service, which was continued when the 360 launched in November, 2005, has been a tremendous success for Microsoft. The company this week announced it had surpassed six million subscribers, four months ahead of its original forecast.
If anything, the Xbox and the 360 have proven gamers have a real zest for online gameplay. Sony, meanwhile, was caught napping and has been playing catch-up ever since.
Nintendo, which was in Sony’s commanding position in the 1980s and much of the 1990s, went back to the drawing board and came up with a profoundly innovative product. The Wii shuns dazzling graphics in favour of a one-handed motion-sensitive controller that players can wave like a wand or swing like a tennis racket. The console has flown off the shelves and has opened up a world of possibilities in game design. It doesn’t hurt that the Wii is the most attractively priced of the three consoles.
A year ago, Nintendo was being written off as yesterday’s news in the video game console wars, but the company is now firmly back in the thick of things. With Microsoft carving out its online niche with hard-core gamers and Nintendo appealling to casual players, Sony is going to have to go back to the drawing board and figure out where its market is. It’s not beyond the company to do so -- after all, Sony did revolutionize the business with its original PlayStation, which, back in 1994, could play CDs and had vibrating controllers.
But needless to say, the days of steady improvements to graphics for an everhigher price tag are over. The games of tomorrow are going to be something else indeed.
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta PS3. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta PS3. Mostrar todas las entradas
lunes, 12 de marzo de 2007
viernes, 23 de febrero de 2007
Sony Woos Buyers With PS3 Freebies
TOKYO - Sony is handing out freebies to buyers of its PlayStation 3 as its hefty price appears to be scaring away shoppers. The latest giveaway will take place in Australia, where the gaming console launches March 23. The first 20,000 buyers will receive a copy of the James Bond movie "Casino Royale."
Free downloads of the PS3 game "Gran Turismo" _ out since December for U.S. and Japanese PS3 owners _ also will be offered in Australia. A PlayStation 3 model with a 60-gigabyte hard drive costs 999.95 Australian dollars ($790). The console costs $600 in the U.S., where it's been on sale since November.
"They have to sweeten the deal a little bit," said Hiroshi Kamide, director of research and game expert at KBC Securities Japan in Tokyo. "The problem with the product so far is that no one has fully understood why it's so expensive."
In the U.S., Sony also offered the movie "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" as a freebie. (The movies are produced by Sony's movie studio, and they're given away as Blu-ray high-definition discs, which the game console can play.)
Although Sony officials say PlayStation 3 sales are on track, the machine is still a money-loser for the Japanese electronics and entertainment company. Sony blamed losses in its video game operations for its faltering profits in the October-December quarter, when Sony profits slipped 5 percent to 160 billion yen ($1.3 billion), largely because of PS3 startup costs.
Sony said it shipped 1.84 million PS3 machines worldwide through Dec. 31, and is sticking to its earlier target of 6 million PS3 consoles by March 31. Nintendo Co.'s $250 Wii, which launched about the same time as the PS3, is being snatched up and has been out of stock at some stores. Nintendo sold 3.19 million Wii machines worldwide by the end of the year.
The Kyoto-based maker of "Super Mario" and "Pokemon" games said earlier this year that it's well on its way to reaching its target of global shipment of 6 million Wii machines by March 31, the end of the current fiscal year.Kamide, the gaming industry expert, said the PS3 needs a fuller lineup of new, attractive games to make the purchase seem worth the price."It's the least they can do," he said of the freebies. "If you're paying a head above everybody else for a similar product, a game machine, you want to be able to categorically say the reason why it's so expensive."
Free downloads of the PS3 game "Gran Turismo" _ out since December for U.S. and Japanese PS3 owners _ also will be offered in Australia. A PlayStation 3 model with a 60-gigabyte hard drive costs 999.95 Australian dollars ($790). The console costs $600 in the U.S., where it's been on sale since November.
"They have to sweeten the deal a little bit," said Hiroshi Kamide, director of research and game expert at KBC Securities Japan in Tokyo. "The problem with the product so far is that no one has fully understood why it's so expensive."
In the U.S., Sony also offered the movie "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" as a freebie. (The movies are produced by Sony's movie studio, and they're given away as Blu-ray high-definition discs, which the game console can play.)
Although Sony officials say PlayStation 3 sales are on track, the machine is still a money-loser for the Japanese electronics and entertainment company. Sony blamed losses in its video game operations for its faltering profits in the October-December quarter, when Sony profits slipped 5 percent to 160 billion yen ($1.3 billion), largely because of PS3 startup costs.
Sony said it shipped 1.84 million PS3 machines worldwide through Dec. 31, and is sticking to its earlier target of 6 million PS3 consoles by March 31. Nintendo Co.'s $250 Wii, which launched about the same time as the PS3, is being snatched up and has been out of stock at some stores. Nintendo sold 3.19 million Wii machines worldwide by the end of the year.
The Kyoto-based maker of "Super Mario" and "Pokemon" games said earlier this year that it's well on its way to reaching its target of global shipment of 6 million Wii machines by March 31, the end of the current fiscal year.Kamide, the gaming industry expert, said the PS3 needs a fuller lineup of new, attractive games to make the purchase seem worth the price."It's the least they can do," he said of the freebies. "If you're paying a head above everybody else for a similar product, a game machine, you want to be able to categorically say the reason why it's so expensive."
viernes, 9 de febrero de 2007
Videojuegos - El Wii por encima del PS3 en ventas en Japón
Parece mentira pero a Sony no le esta iendo bien en Japon con una consola por primera vez en mucho tiempo.
Realmente es dificil conquistar el mercado de jugadores y sobretodo en Japón. Sin embargo el factor determinante parece ser el alto costo del Playstation 3. Nintendo y Sony se pelearon por posicionar sus productos: Nitendo Wii y PS3 respectivamente.
En tan solo un año (2007) la consola Wii se apodera de las ventas en el mercado japonés con más de 405 mil unidades vendidas
La PS3 sólo tiene 148 mil unidades vendidas. Este no es un dato menor, porque cuando recién lanzó su producto, Sony aventajaba sobradamente a Nintendo. Al parecer, los usuarios están prefiriendo el menor precio de la Wii. Porque una consola PS3 cuesta el doble que una consola de Nintendo. Lo que le fallo a SONY es la excesiva confianza en su producto, no consideraron el factor económico como algo preocupante y estaban seguros que nada les podía fallar, que los usuarios estarian fieles a una consola de nueva generacion con todos los ingredientes para ser un éxito. Con excepcion del precio... El Xbox 360 le está dando duro a la PS3 fuera de Japon en cuanto al precio. Que será lo que le espera a la PS3 si ni en su propia tierra causa sensación?, Bueno solo el tiempo lo dirá...
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