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Two on display and six upstairs in our lockup. We have recieved two PS3 so far every two weeks. Sor far none have sold. Last week we go 3 Wii's in, they sold withen 24hours.

Just relating a personal story of Sonys failuar first hand.

You know, I wonder how much of it is failure and how much is a lack of initial demand. The PS3 is the most expensive of the current generation of consoles and the lack of titles (or other must-haves) means it's not going to sell terribly well, especially compared to the dirt cheap Wii.

I think the big question will be whether the PS3 has the games to make it worthwhile in six months or a year. As I recall, that was the pattern with both the PS2 and the X-box.

Stormbringer wrote: I think the big question will be whether the PS3 has the games to make it worthwhile in six months or a year. As I recall, that was the pattern with both the PS2 and the X-box.

That's my plan. I do plan on getting a PS3 before the other next-gen consoles, simply as it has more games coming on it that I want (Guilty Gear, Nippon Ichi games, likely SRW...). I won't be buying one until several month after launch though.

Regardless I wait a year before declaring any console a failure.

Its already flopped before launch over here, the Wii sold out on amazon in 9 minutes whereas the PS3 has been on preorder for weeks and there are still units available
DRESS YOUR FUCKING LINKS MORON

Sharp-kun wrote: That's my plan. I do plan on getting a PS3 before the other next-gen consoles, simply as it has more games coming on it that I want (Guilty Gear, Nippon Ichi games, likely SRW...). I won't be buying one until several month after launch though.

jump in dude: SRW XO is already available :p

I'm perfectly willing to give the PS3 a chance once that price drops to something I can afford.

Until then, however, I do find myself hoping that Sony ends up with a big enough black eye over this to never try pulling this kind of mess again.

Stormbringer wrote:You know, I wonder how much of it is failure and how much is a lack of initial demand.

In a market like games consoles, lack of initial demand is failure.

If your console looks like a poor seller, it won't attract publishers, and so it will have nothing on shelves to attract buyers, and so it won't sell, and the circle just rolls on and on.

And when you're launching into a marked your competitor has been sitting in for a year, right alongside the hot new must have item, you need that big initial splash to make it look like you have something worth selling.

It's a week on Friday the PS3 launches in the UK/Europe. Every store still seems to be taking preorders. I spoke to some friends who work at Gamestation, they were expected to take 200 preorders and after the scheme's been running for a couple of months they've got 65. They still have a list of people waiting for Wiis since they sell out whenever they get stock. Keira said they were getting about 3 people looking for Wiis for everyone looking for a PS3.

The ridiculous price the PS3 will have in the UK may well be a factor. It costs about £300 in the US but £425 over here. Given we are getting an inferior product with the dropping of hardware emulation it's fair to say that's absurd.

The Best Buy near me has several PS3's, no Wii's, and only one Xbox 360. I'm still hoping the PS3 has a good run at some point, but I'm not holding my breath.

I think it all comes down to Sony forcing BluRay on us...

If they hadn't of tried craming a BluRay player in it and used a normal DVD, it proably would have cut maybe 300$ from the price. As is, the PS3 is just way too exspensive to be a comfortable purchase.

It's a week on Friday the PS3 launches in the UK/Europe. Every store still seems to be taking preorders. I spoke to some friends who work at Gamestation, they were expected to take 200 preorders and after the scheme's been running for a couple of months they've got 65. They still have a list of people waiting for Wiis since they sell out whenever they get stock. Keira said they were getting about 3 people looking for Wiis for everyone looking for a PS3.

The ridiculous price the PS3 will have in the UK may well be a factor. It costs about £300 in the US but £425 over here. Given we are getting an inferior product with the dropping of hardware emulation it's fair to say that's absurd.

I was in a GAME store last Saturday, and they were taking preorders. Had the big posters up and everything, just like they always do when something like the PS3 is going to launch.

There were a couple of things I notice that were different though. I know that this can't be unprecedented, but they were offering to let people trade in PSPs with memory sticks to bring the price down to 375 quid. I haven't seen them do that before, but I don't usually pay much attention to consoles, and I only rarely buy games. The second is that they were asking everyone if they wanted to preorder, to the point of having a guy out in front of the store asking passersby if they wanted to preorder. I didn't hear one person accept, and everyone who gave a reason, including me, gave the same one; it's too expensive.

Of course, that's only one store, not a representative sample of the whole of Europe, or even the UK, but it's not exactly a forecast of wild success, either.

Psychic_Sandwich wrote: There were a couple of things I notice that were different though. I know that this can't be unprecedented, but they were offering to let people trade in PSPs with memory sticks to bring the price down to 375 quid. I haven't seen them do that before, but I don't usually pay much attention to consoles, and I only rarely buy games.

They did a new lamps for old trade in with the DS/DS Lite, but that didn't get you a great deal off.

Vendetta wrote:

Psychic_Sandwich wrote: There were a couple of things I notice that were different though. I know that this can't be unprecedented, but they were offering to let people trade in PSPs with memory sticks to bring the price down to 375 quid. I haven't seen them do that before, but I don't usually pay much attention to consoles, and I only rarely buy games.

They did a new lamps for old trade in with the DS/DS Lite, but that didn't get you a great deal off.

Yeah, the GAME stores I saw had a DS Lite being around sixty quid for trading in your original Mk. I. I wonder if Sony will do the same if they bring this slimmer PSP out.

I'd also say every store near me has dozens of PS3s just sitting there, but then they're not legally allowed to be sold until the 23rd.

You know, I think the PS3 will turn out to be the Gamecube of this generation: a solid machine with a few good games on it, but not very commercially successful.

Whether that means the end of Sony's foray into the console market or not is debatable.

Elaro wrote:You know, I think the PS3 will turn out to be the Gamecube of this generation: a solid machine with a few good games on it, but not very commercially successful.

Whether that means the end of Sony's foray into the console market or not is debatable.

Except about three times more expensive than even the Gamecube was at launch.

Elaro wrote:You know, I think the PS3 will turn out to be the Gamecube of this generation: a solid machine with a few good games on it, but not very commercially successful.

Whether that means the end of Sony's foray into the console market or not is debatable.

Only one problem with that comparison; Nintendo made a profit on GameCube from day one. Sony's selling at a loss. So while the GameCube didn't do that well in the marketplace, at least it made the company significant profit, and they could keep support up.

PS3 doesn't have that luxury, at a >$200 loss per system.

Praxis wrote:

Elaro wrote:You know, I think the PS3 will turn out to be the Gamecube of this generation: a solid machine with a few good games on it, but not very commercially successful.

Whether that means the end of Sony's foray into the console market or not is debatable.

Only one problem with that comparison; Nintendo made a profit on GameCube from day one. Sony's selling at a loss. So while the GameCube didn't do that well in the marketplace, at least it made the company significant profit, and they could keep support up.

PS3 doesn't have that luxury, at a >$200 loss per system.

And unlike Nintendo, Sony doesn't have a handheld system (TWO, rather) that can not only turn a profit but support them if their home console sales are low.

DPDarkPrimus wrote:And unlike Nintendo, Sony doesn't have a handheld system (TWO, rather) that can not only turn a profit but support them if their home console sales are low.

Uhh... Sony has a massive electronics empire that sells everything from televisions to batteries to radios.

Master of Ossus wrote:

DPDarkPrimus wrote:And unlike Nintendo, Sony doesn't have a handheld system (TWO, rather) that can not only turn a profit but support them if their home console sales are low.

Uhh... Sony has a massive electronics empire that sells everything from televisions to batteries to radios.

Their games division was the only one to turn a profit in 05 or 06, I can't recall which.

Master of Ossus wrote: Uhh... Sony has a massive electronics empire that sells everything from televisions to batteries to radios.

The consumer electronics division has been more of a massive money sinkhole for a while now, gaming is what's keeping Sony electronics afloat.

Just a heads up to everyone that as of a little while ago, Stringer managed the impossible and put Electronics back in the black. With Bravias getting great critical reception and seeing brisk sales, it looks like we've headed through the looking glass and SCE is going to be the red ink division.

That's to be expected, given how much cash and time they put into making that new factory with Samsung (of all companies). The Bravias may have been late on the scene, however, they make up for that as I can attest to with the one in the living room.

It's really too bad I won't be adding a PS3 to the system anytime soon, if ever at this rate.

Admiral Valdemar wrote:That's to be expected, given how much cash and time they put into making that new factory with Samsung (of all companies). The Bravias may have been late on the scene, however, they make up for that as I can attest to with the one in the living room.

They wanted to make LCD televisions. For that they needed Samsung, who are the only other company that make really good LCDs.

Funny, I always heard Samsungs line-up was pretty mediocre at best, or the affordable ones at least (you know the models that they display Xbox 360 units with in GAME and Virgin Megastores etc.), though I was aware they had something Sony wanted, else they'd rather not bother. The Bravias are at least pretty fairly priced now for a nice size since I see no need for some wanktastic 60" monster when HD is but a dream in this day.

Samsung LCDs have an image processing algorithm that improves contrast and produces one of the best blacks on an LCD, even with a standard CCFL. They're also pretty much the biggest LCD panel manufacturer in the world, with only LG on a comparable level. (for the last few years Samsung have had something like 25% of the global market for LCD panels in all applications, with LG slightly behind on 20-23%)

Edit: They also scale SD images fairly well. I've heard horror stories about what SD signals can end up like on a HD set. I've not seen that on my Samsung.