PS3 Delay May Hurt Current Gen Too 85
Next Generation reports that, in some analysts view, the real victim of the PS3 delay may actually be current gen console publishers and gamers. Houses like EA and Activision have a lot of money tied up in creating games for the next generation, and if the PS3 isn't launching here in the states until after summmer... They end up laying out four increasingly bad scenarios for the industry. From the article: "The third scenario theorizes on a 25 percent price cut on current generation software. We've already seen substantial price-cuts from EA, as the current-gen versions of The Godfather, Black and Fight Night Round 3 all debuted or will debut at $40, a 20 percent cut from the normal $50 price tag. The erosion of sales prices may be caused by publishers trying to unload inventory, or by publishers that target budget shoppers. This scenario could cause major publishers' earnings to drop between 35 and 49 percent."
I beg to differ... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I beg to differ... (Score:2, Funny)
Fifth scenario (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Fifth scenario (Score:1)
The obvious solution (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The obvious solution (Score:2)
Re:The obvious solution (Score:2)
I remember there was a guest on Letterman once who when asked what kind of movies they liked said "I like good movies". The audience and host laughed at him for saying something so idiotic, and the actor tried to recover by quickly naming a few favorites and articulating what in particular was good about them.
Whatever, shill. (Score:3, Insightful)
> Sony will have any problem in manufacturing them.
Oh, really? Because they've made a few thousand of these they'll have no problem making a million? In just a few months?
>
> And most likely September in the US. $349/399.
What - exactly - are you basing this on and which oriface did it come from?
> Don't worry, if you get your order in you'll almost certainly be pl
Re:Whatever, shill. (Score:1)
>> the fantastic PS3 title currently in development long before the
>> 2006 holidays.
>No, that doesn't sound like shilling at all.
Actually it doesn't -- he states that there's only one fantastic PS3 title currently in developement.
Doesn't sound very good to me.
Re:Whatever, shill. (Score:1)
Re:No Delay - Move Along (Score:1)
See http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=30108 [theinquirer.net]
or http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117939258?catego ryid=18&cs=1&s=h&p=0 [variety.com]
Re:No Delay - Move Along (Score:2, Insightful)
It delivers 480p, seems to be good enough for most people.
GTA 3 is a current gen game, if you want to play that you can grab a current gen console.
The 360 is not guaranteed to be upgraded and more importantly it won'
Re:No Delay - Move Along (Score:2)
Funny how you say that, as I certainly think that NVIDIA would object to their 300 million transistor, GeForce 7800-derived chip being called a "graphics rasterizer".
So...what? (Score:2, Insightful)
Look at how much money they're raking in now, though. If EA takes a bath for a quarter or two, the company's not going to suffer in the slightest. They'll just make most of it back when they release the next go round of sports titles.
Re:So...what? (Score:2)
First of all, they're a publically traded company. So a drop in revenues that bad will definitely hurt their share price and investor confidence.
Second, that big of a revenue drop for most companies could seriously impair their ability to generate operating revenue. If the de
Re:So...what? (Score:2)
I don't know, taking a bath in a pile of money would probably cause a lot of paper cuts. Thousands of paper cuts from bathing in money could possibly considered suffering.
I'm not terribly worried about companies like EA hurting in all this; they have a huge amount of cash and have no problem screwing over gamers if it means a higher profit. I'm more worried about the effect on small and independent developers who are
"summmer" (Score:2, Funny)
Until after the summer? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Until after the summer? (Score:3, Informative)
wait... (Score:1, Redundant)
Is a gentoo porting for PS3 planned ?
heh
Re:wait... (Score:1)
Possibly.
Sounds good to me (Score:2)
"Delays" (Score:5, Insightful)
Now, maybe Sony claimed something specific about American release dates that I didn't see at some point. But that brings me to my point: Practically nobody knows they were supposed to be expecting a ps3 spring launch in the first place unless they follow websites and magazines like this one religiously! Sony's been so tight-lipped in the general american press about the PS3 it's crazy. A lot of people don't really know anything at all about the PS3 except that it's someday coming-- which is something they probably knew two years go, too. The uncertainty about the release date is a big deal on internet message boards, but internet message boards are not the market.
How can delays in the PS3 possibly hurt PS2 game sales when practically nobody knows a delay is happening in the first place? Especially considering
It just seems kinda silly to me. PS2 hardware sales are probably going to drop off as people increasingly wait for the PS3-- I know I personally would have probably bought a ps2 several months ago if I weren't waiting for the PS3-- but the PS2 sales base is already ginormous, and they're talking about game sales in this article. PS2 games absolutely can and will continue to sell briskly right up to the PS3 release, even if there is a "next gen" system already available; look at Final Fantasy 9, a PS1 game which came out shortly after the PS2 launch and after the Dreamcast had been out a year. It was a top seller at release despite being widely viewed as the worst game in the series**.
This whole thing just sounds to me like gibberish from analysts trying to rewrite reality to be more dramatic.
* Though if they don't announce a release date at GDC on March 20, I will take that as a sign the Japan launch date has slipped as well. You do not go from media blackout to release in under three months unless you are Sega and you have a death wish.
** Mystic Quest doesn't count.
Not quite (Score:1)
Actually, I had to have my PS2 replaced by Sony a few months ago, and a customer service rep I spoke with on the phone was allowed to tell me that the release is expected to be in the March-May time frame.
Re:Not quite (Score:1)
Tech-monkey often don't follow company policy; that monkey would at least get chewed out if his manager found out.
Re:Not quite (Score:1)
FF 9 the worst in the series? (Score:2)
I've never heard that. In fact, most people that I know of would tag 8 as the worst, or maybe I or II.
9 seems to be viewed as a nostalgia-fest, but most people liked it. I know I did.
Jon Acheson
Re:"Delays" (Score:1)
Yeah they did, at E3 last May. Moreover, they just re-confirmed the Spring launch [ign.com] last month.
But more to the point, it's not that Sony isn't hitting their announced ship date, it's that the ship date is so long after the 360 ship date. Until the PS3 ships, the entire console gaming market can't decide if they should (a) get a 360, (b) get a PS3, or (c) stick with what they got. And if you don't know what console you'll have i
If you'll follow your own links (Score:2)
I don't think any such statement was made at E3, and your own link "re-confirm"ing the launch says:
Here is an article titled U.S. November Gam
Re:If you'll follow your own links (Score:1)
Real Victim? (Score:3, Insightful)
The way I see this, is that the publishers lose, and the customer wins. So, does that mean if the PS3 were here now, prices would be higher and the publisher wins and customer loses?
There is the concept of 'risk' that every company must analyze and accept. Sometimes you win some, sometimes... well, you know...
Something else... (Score:2, Insightful)
Think of it this way,
Something Different (Score:4, Insightful)
Wouldn't now be the time for the software houses work on different/quirky games for the current consoles? Now I understand that it takes a lot to get a game out on a console, but it seems to me that there is a lull in the gaming market. Other than the 360, most consoles should have well developed/tuned library that they could churn something out easily. What if they did a google labs kinda thing? Take a quarter or two and incubate some low budget games. Peridocially you see what's sticking and cull the stuff that's not. Who knows, maybe this will give them a new franchise to run into the ground or even better a new genre of game.
Re:Something Different This Way Comes (Score:1)
There was an article on Slashdot just this past week on some of the new PS3 titles, and there were a lot of different/quirky game titles for the PS3, so the question becomes, should they not just concentrate on porting more Japan-only games instead.
There is one good scenario (Score:5, Insightful)
Granted, that means the publishers are screwed over, but as someone else mentioned, they'll just blame it on piracy and life will move on.
Re:There is one good scenario (Score:2)
Since more than half of all revenue for the publishers of games comes in the Thanksgiving to New Years period, I don't think they'll be hurting that much, though. But, yes, they'll pro
PS3 may not be backwards compatible with PS2 (Score:4, Interesting)
Sony has been backing away [digitalworldtokyo.com] from claiming compatibility. "It's hard to say the PlayStation 3 will be 100 percent backwards compatible but as we said earlier this year we aim to make it so as much as possible."
Sony will probably try software emulation, but there's no guarantee it will be fast enough to play all PS2 games. Tetris, no problem. Call of Duty, maybe not. "Compatible" might have to be an upgrade deal; turn in your PS2 game disk and get a discount on a PS3 version.
Re:PS3 may not be backwards compatible with PS2 (Score:3, Interesting)
Sony has one big advantage over MS on that side: they own the IPs to ALL the components in the PS2. They even own the designs. So, what they will do is refound the chips, grouping them all in a lower geometry as a single chip and incorporate the result in the PS3. This is how they did it on the PS2. This is also the reason they do a new lighter unit at the end of the console life: to prepare for that step (PSX -> PSOne, PS2 -> PSTwo).
It is quite easy to fit a
Re:PS3 may not be backwards compatible with PS2 (Score:3, Informative)
Remember, the current Cell implementation is a PowerPC with eight (seven for bad chips) "Synergistic Processing Elements", whi
Re:PS3 may not be backwards compatible with PS2 (Score:1)
Actually, the PS2 IOP is the original PS1 chip. Expect the same sort of thing on the PS3.
Re:PS3 may not be backwards compatible with PS2 (Score:1, Informative)
The fact they said so, over and over again, endlessly? The "it may not be fully backward compatible" comments shold be taken in the same sense as PS1->PS2 compatibility, I.E., the number of incompatible games will be measured in tens.
I mean, yes, of course, anything Sony says may be a lie. But why not just go whole hog, and claim the PS3 doesn't exist, or won't actually have a blu-ray drive, or won't have controllers? I'm sur
Re:PS3 may not be backwards compatible with PS2 (Score:1)
Another culprit (Score:1, Troll)
Re:Another culprit (Score:2)
Even if they priced this at $350-$400, how many parents would balk at that price? Even worse, how many single moms making $40k a year will be able to buy this for their kids? Yes, you the AC in his parent's basement and no GF to spend money on will be able to buy it and every game that comes out, but thankfully, you are few and far between. Idiot.
Re:Another culprit (Score:1)
Not many more than already balked at the XBox 360. The only one going for a reasonable price seems to be Nintendo. I know that was the reason I got a Gamecube back then, 200 is a lot and more than that is plain insane.
Re:Another culprit (Score:1)
Not just that, but think of all the money you saved by not having any new games to buy!
Re:Another culprit (Score:1)
Re:Another culprit (Score:1)
Ah, you must be a fan of the Mario Party games.
(juuust kidding)
Re:Another culprit (Score:1)
While the console will probably cost 600 - 800 to sony, I highly doubt that it will be retailed at that price to compete with MS. I would expect in the 300 - 400 American. I know I paid 500 CDN on the first run PS2. Which is about 400 American I think. (Lazy to find a currency calculator for that time).
Lots of people won't buy the first run because of cost, but I think thats the same with every console on the ma
It's a non article just pass it by. (Score:4, Insightful)
Hurt Gentoo? (Score:1)