Sony Expected to Post $1.1 Billion Loss, Says Reuters

[admin]

Sony Corporation is likely to post a $1.1 billion annual operating loss for the first time since the firm launched the PlayStation, according to Reuters.

http://blog.wired.com/games/2009/01/sony-expected-t.html

[cynthia]

Nice.

[dr_ml422]

Heard Sony was blasting M$ for their prices on the xbox saying they were too high compared to what ps3's were w/all their capabilities. Funny you posted they made the chips for the xbox's now they're blasting them. Also Kid at Game Stop told me xbox going even lower to around $100 or s as is the ps3 to $300. You would have the exact link or at least better information on that I guess. Why they so stubborn admin? Cultural thing?

[admin]

Sony are still losing a bundle on each PS3 sold, less than before (used to be more than $150 per console!), but still too much in this economic climate. Plus with the Xbox 360's head start, game sales are slow which further hurts profit. Some of Sony approaches to gaming are still very "pre-Wii" or even "pre-Internet multiplayer", and they are still playing catch up with features such as in game achievements (trophies), online multiplayer community (PS Home), games for casual gamers and all sorts of other things that are natural to the Wii and Xbox 360.

I'm writing up the 2008 year in review for game consoles to be published next week on my blog, and the Wii has been the big winner in 2008 and not because it has better graphics or a Blu-ray drive - simply because it's fun, and timeless fun as well, because its best selling games are still the ones that were released more than a year ago (Wii Play, Mario Kart). In fact, I'd call the Wii the exact opposite of the PS3 (not just due to the colours), Nintendo went in the entirely opposite direction to Sony's all-in-one approach (the Wii doesn't even play DVDs!), and it worked brilliantly, so much so that Microsoft is trying to emulate them.

The Xbox 360 started the year as if it was going to die really quickly, but it has been saved by the price cuts and key game releases. Whatever you say about the Xbox 360's build quality and the major design issues, Microsoft were right to release it a year ahead of the PS3 and this has allowed it to gain significant ground on the PlayStation brand. Unlike the Wii's success with software, the Xbox 360's success are all with third party titles (not Microsoft's own produced ones), and so they're making developers very happy and much more willing to drop PlayStation exclusivity (see Final Fantasy, Resident Evil). This all helps to build up the Xbox brand and it now has the biggest range of games on any current gen console thanks to this.

But despite what I said earlier, Blu-ray is saving the PS3 from total disaster, but only because it won the format war (which could have gone either way, depending on which way Warner Bros. leaned) and because the PS3 is taking away sales from standalones and pushing the PS3 into HT territory, rather than gaming. So Sony have been lucky, but they may have tried to do too much with the PS3 when people are really not ready or willing to invest in this philosophy yet. If anything, this generation shows that the opposite philosophy, the Wii-method where cheap fun > expensive technology, is still the best way to go.

[drfsupercenter]

LOL, the Wii will play DVDs if you install the right homebrew

The only reason I bought the Xbox 360 was because it's now $300 and it came with two games... back when it was $500 or whatever for the one that came with a hard drive... it was just too much. And the fact that I got a supposedly rare cooler running unit helps

Hopefully we'll get a PS3 soon, and really only to use as a Blu-Ray player. As far as media hubs go, I know the Xbox 360 can play CDs and even rip them to its hard drive... and I know it can play videos (though I've never tried it) from a flash drive or external hard drive. Now, if they only released a Blu-Ray player addon I could put on top of my HD-DVD player addon...

[dr_ml422]

Admin I couldn't find what HT meant except for Hyper Threading and some other definition concerning webmasters. Is this the HT you're talking about?

Yes they did right by staying w/1 format. It's been shown w/so many other products, whether software or not, that adding too many toys just messes it up. Nero, telephones w/answering machines integrated, dvd vcr combo as well as dvd or vcr tv combos. Once one thing goes wrong you have to fix the whole thing or at least wait until the other part is fixed to use the entire unit w/all the extras.

@drf $300 for a xbox? I could of sworn I saw them for about $170 or so? I don't think Sony would be crying that much over a $100. I could be wrong though. Why would Sony want to come down to $300 if xbox supposedly is there now like you posted?

[BR7]

I know the Xbox 360 can play CDs and even rip them to its hard drive... and I know it can play videos

The PS3 can do that as well

[doctorhardware]

I feel so bad for Sony, NOT.

[admin]

Admin I couldn't find what HT meant except for Hyper Threading and some other definition concerning webmasters. Is this the HT you're talking about?

Yes they did right by staying w/1 format. It's been shown w/so many other products, whether software or not, that adding too many toys just messes it up. Nero, telephones w/answering machines integrated, dvd vcr combo as well as dvd or vcr tv combos. Once one thing goes wrong you have to fix the whole thing or at least wait until the other part is fixed to use the entire unit w/all the extras.

@drf $300 for a xbox? I could of sworn I saw them for about $170 or so? I don't think Sony would be crying that much over a $100. I could be wrong though. Why would Sony want to come down to $300 if xbox supposedly is there now like you posted?

HT - Home theatre

[drfsupercenter]

@drf $300 for a xbox? I could of sworn I saw them for about $170 or so? I don't think Sony would be crying that much over a $100. I could be wrong though. Why would Sony want to come down to $300 if xbox supposedly is there now like you posted?

No, $300 for the Pro. Arcade is $200, but that's the "bundle"... so maybe it's $170 by itself. The Pro by itself is $270, IIRC.

But if the Xbox 360 and the PS3 can both play music and videos, what's so great about the PS3? Other than the Blu-Ray player?

[admin]

It's a bit quieter/runs cooler. That's the only reason why I use the PS3 as my media player (also because my old Xbox 360 doesn't have HDMI). They're both UPnP clients that can connect to an UPnP media server to stream media, plus the supported audio/video formats are quite similar for both consoles (the Xbox 360 has better XviD support). Also the PS3's HDD is bigger or can be upgraded more easily.

[drfsupercenter]

Jasper runs quieter though, right? I can't hear it over the volume of my TV when I have it on

And if I'm not mistaken, you can connect an external USB hard drive to the Xbox 360.

That being said, we'll probably still get a PS3 to use as a Blu-Ray player, but I'm not sure what else we'd use it for.

[doctorhardware]

I saw the Xbox arcade online for $199.

[dr_ml422]

It's a bit quieter/runs cooler. That's the only reason why I use the PS3 as my media player (also because my old Xbox 360 doesn't have HDMI). They're both UPnP clients that can connect to an UPnP media server to stream media, plus the supported audio/video formats are quite similar for both consoles (the Xbox 360 has better XviD support). Also the PS3's HDD is bigger or can be upgraded more easily.

Admin so you decided to go for the all in one player in the PS3, but use it as your media player? Do you use it for games also if even once in a while? Was your decision to not get a Blu-ray standalone based on it not delivering a more quality picture than the PS3, or because it costs not too less than a PS3 and you could do more w/a PS3?

[admin]

I don't use the PS3 for games, don't have any on them as the games that I want have almost always been either 360 exclusive or better on the 360 version (GTA IV, FIFA 09).

The PS3 I use for watching DVDs and Blu-ray, as well as streaming media from my PC to my TV. I use these features a lot, more so than actual gaming.

At the time I got the PS3, Blu-ray standalones were just as expensive and none were even capable of Profile 1.1. The PS3 is Profile 2.0 and it's also very quick response wise for DVD/Blu-ray playback - and if they ever make a Profile 2.5 or something, then the PS3 has the power and flexibility to adapt through software.

But I mainly got it because I had to write some guides for the website and so had to have one. I might still have gotten one if it wasn't for work, but much later on and it would have been mainly for Blu-ray.