PS3 once more proclaimed Dead

[Crossroads Inc.]

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PS3 bested by older brother

by Mike Smith
Buzz up!
May 18 2:42 P.M.

According to official April figures released by the NPD Group, the Playstation 3 found itself beaten out for fifth place by an unusual competitor: its predecessor, the Playstation 2.


Still the boss

A 50% leap in Playstation 2 sales accounts for the surprising change, an increase likely prompted by the system's price cut on April 1, a move which apparently electrified interest in the nine-year old platform.

The PS2's success was probably the only nugget of April sales news to put smiles on the faces of Sony execs. Nintendo platforms continued their lockdown of the top spots, with the Wii coming second and the DS coming both first and third, courtesy of the just-launched DSi: the DS's two hardware variations accounted for an astonishing million sales during April.Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 was down slightly over last April, but still managed a solid fourth place and remains on course for a record-breaking year.

But both the Playstation 3 and PSP posted disappointing results, with the PS3 placing sixth with its worst performance in over 18 months, and the PSP limping in seventh with a total of 116,000 sales -- down over 30% on March's numbers.

The news has revitalized persistent rumors of price cuts for Sony's PS3. The system's base model is between $150 and $200 more expensive than its competitors, the Wii and Xbox 360. Industry news site Gamasutra predicts we'll see a $100 cut in the $400 Playstation 3 announced at the E3 video games trade show in Los Angeles in early June.

So if you're contemplating taking the Playstation plunge -- and with top exclusive superhero thriller Infamous just a week away, we're betting some of you are -- you might well want to hold off and wait to see what June has in store.

So we've heared this time and toime again, the PS3 is dead and dying, who knows if it is truely going down, but its one more nail in the coffin.

[Stark]

Eh? The article says merely that it's selling poorly and price cuts are expected by the industry. It doesn't claim it's 'dead' or 'dying'.

[Phantasee]

Whoa, they cut the price of the PS2? Time for me to get on the bandwagon! I wonder how many variations of Sing Star are out there now...

Although the idea of a PS3 price cut is also enticing, and will allow me to laugh at my cousin for quite a while.

[weemadando]

I might finally pick up a PS2 if the price cuts come through for Australia. After all, I won't get a fucking PS3, because there's no backwards compatibility in the AU models...

[Ford Prefect]

I've bought something like eight or nine different PS2 games over the past year and still don't have the console to play them on. If the price cuts come through, that'd be boss.

[Oskuro]

What did you expect? It's the black console! It'll be the first to drop dead!

On the other hand, being repurposed as a BluRay player might give it a bigger draw with casual gamers (aka adults) who are not so into the Wii.

[Starglider]

On the other hand, being repurposed as a BluRay player might give it a bigger draw with casual gamers (aka adults) who are not so into the Wii.

That argument worked when Blu-Ray players were still expensive. They're now down to about a third the price of a PS3 (ok, half the price for a decent one) and still dropping. A stand-alone player will also draw less power, avoid the PS3's annoying fan noise and actually stack with the other AV gear. You can probably get an Xbox360 and a Blu-Ray player for the same money as a PS3, and that is a better solution for both games and movies (unless you're in a tiny Japanese apartment with no shelf space, I guess).

[DaveJB]

I'll just add that in the UK at least the cheapest combined price of a Blu Ray player and a 360 is £250 (or £230 if you don't mind the arcade 360) versus £300 for a PS3. In fact, I picked up a £100 Blu Ray player on Saturday, and it works very nicely, so the last real reason I might have had to pick up a PS3 is now gone.

[Rye]

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So we've heared this time and toime again, the PS3 is dead and dying, who knows if it is truely going down, but its one more nail in the coffin.

It doesn't sell as well as really cheap consoles. That's far from "dead and dying".

The PS2's success was probably the only nugget of April sales news to put smiles on the faces of Sony execs.

I don't get this bit. Are there even new PS2s in the system anymore? All the ones Game sell are preowned. Poorer customers have access to cheap preowned consoles and games, so yeah, that side of sales will look pretty good.

[Joviwan]

I don't get this bit. Are there even new PS2s in the system anymore? All the ones Game sell are preowned. Poorer customers have access to cheap preowned consoles and games, so yeah, that side of sales will look pretty good.

Tons of them. You can find a shelf full of them behind the glass case in the electronics department at almost any large retailer (eg. Target, Walmart). At least, you can where I live.

[Starglider]

I confess I have been considering getting a PS2 slim just so I can play Ace Combat 4, 5 and 0 again. I didn't bother owning one as a student because I was always living in a house where someone else had one.

[KlavoHunter]

The PS3 has only recently fallen to prices I would actually pay for a console.

[Sea Skimmer]

Tons of them. You can find a shelf full of them behind the glass case in the electronics department at almost any large retailer (eg. Target, Walmart). At least, you can where I live.

Last I checked Sony is even still making new ones at the factory, demand is more then high enough to justify it with several million sold last year. Production might go on a while yet, Sony sure can't afford to ditch that market when even a few dollars are left to be made, never mind the several million sales last year.

[Commander 598]

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So we've heared this time and toime again, the PS3 is dead and dying, who knows if it is truely going down, but its one more nail in the coffin.

It doesn't sell as well as really cheap consoles. That's far from "dead and dying".

I believe the point is that it's not selling as well as a cheap console from almost a decade ago.

[Stargate Nerd]

I believe the point is that it's not selling as well as a cheap console from almost a decade ago.

Yeah the PS2 had a very good month. Only 3k less than the 360 too and 45k more than the PS3

[Pelranius]

Sony's making a profit off the PS3 (despite the small installed base), so they probably won't bother with a price cut until the next big retail season.

I wonder what the Microsoft next gen console looks like?

[General Zod]

Sony's making a profit off the PS3 (despite the small installed base), so they probably won't bother with a price cut until the next big retail season.

Making a profit? No. They're still losing about $40 for every console sold. Although this is better than $160 per console not too long ago.

[Pelranius]

Oh, my bad. I meant that their gaming division was profitable.

[Stargate Nerd]

Oh, my bad. I meant that their gaming division was profitable.

I don't think it is:

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/05/14/sony- ... remain-un/

[Rye]

I believe the point is that it's not selling as well as a cheap console from almost a decade ago.

More low income households, more cheap consoles sold, even ones that have long since reached saturation point over here and are considered obsolete. That's about all there is to it. Also, it's not quite appropriate to compare the 360 to the PS3, since there's 3 differently priced variants of the 360 when there's only one form of PS3. I would bet that the arcades and premiums outsell the elite.

[General Zod]

I believe the point is that it's not selling as well as a cheap console from almost a decade ago.

More low income households, more cheap consoles sold, even ones that have long since reached saturation point over here and are considered obsolete. That's about all there is to it. Also, it's not quite appropriate to compare the 360 to the PS3, since there's 3 differently priced variants of the 360 when there's only one form of PS3. I would bet that the arcades and premiums outsell the elite.

It could just be that the PS3's game selection sucks, making the price point not worthwhile.

[Lord Woodlouse]

I wonder what the Microsoft next gen console looks like?

More raw power, possible use of motion sensors, blu-ray compatibility. Same for the next Sony machine, l bet.

l'm more interested in what direction Nintendo goes in. l'm curious to see if they'll actually try to match Sony and Microsoft in terms of raw power. Maybe a higher priced machine designed to be marketed concurrently with their Wiis (which are, of course, selling like hot cakes).

[Starglider]

More raw power, possible use of motion sensors, blu-ray compatibility. Same for the next Sony machine, l bet.

Blu-ray is certain. Aside from playing movies, we're not ready to go to download-only yet and DVD is already becoming a serious storage limitation. A much bigger hard drive is certain, probably 1 TBish. As for more power, I'd expect 8 to 16 out-of-order cores, probably a Sandy Bridge variant, though possibly a Power 7 variant (IBM have dropped the Power 6 approach of cranking an in-order core to very high clock frequency), likely paired with a Larrabee variant unless that runs into huge unexpected deployment problems. Motion sensing controllers seems very likely given Microsoft's recent patent applications and the PR need to appear to outdo their competitors.

I have seen various people whining that 'graphics are so good now another generation is superfluous' but that is nonsense. Certain games such as race driving and one-on-one fighting games may be near photorealism, but many other types of game e.g. GTA4 will need a lot more rendering and processing power to approach a fully realistic simulation.

l'm more interested in what direction Nintendo goes in. l'm curious to see if they'll actually try to match Sony and Microsoft in terms of raw power.

Highly unlikely. They're making a huge amount of money on their high margin low end hardware. Directly competing with Sony and Microsoft does not make financial sense.

[Stargate Nerd]

Blu-ray is certain. Aside from playing movies, we're not ready to go to download-only yet and DVD is already becoming a serious storage limitation. A much bigger hard drive is certain, probably 1 TBish. As for more power, I'd expect 8 to 16 out-of-order cores, probably a Sandy Bridge variant, though possibly a Power 7 variant (IBM have dropped the Power 6 approach of cranking an in-order core to very high clock frequency), likely paired with a Larrabee variant unless that runs into huge unexpected deployment problems. Motion sensing controllers seems very likely given Microsoft's recent patent applications and the PR need to appear to outdo their competitors.

I don't expect Microsoft and Sony to come out with super expensive hard ware next time, seeing how Nintendo has been beating them handily with a souped up Gamecube. Especially Sony might not want to create another debacle that almost erases any profit they ever made with the PS1+2 all by itself.

[The Yosemite Bear]

I still have a PS2, and enjoy playing DVDs on it....