| QUOTE (Michelle @ Feb 14 2007, 08:55 AM) |
| Way, way, way too expensive. I've had the other two, but I think this particular PS may have to pass me by. I just hope I can get GTA4 on some other format... :unsure: Although in a year or so, I'm sure the prices will have to tumble for them to stay competitive. I've never bought a console from new anyway, always a year+ after it was released to get a cheaper price. |
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| Sony offers emulation reassurance Sony has provided a list of all PlayStation 2 games that will work on its PlayStation 3 console in Europe. The machine launches in the continent on Friday and will be able to play more than 1,700 games designed for the PS2. Concern was expressed following Sony's decision to run older games through more unreliable emulation software rather than via a dedicated chip. David Reeves, president of PlayStation in Europe, said the backwards compatibility list was significant. "We will be adding additional titles to this list in future firmware upgrades," he said. "But as we have made clear before, in the future our resources will be increasingly focused on developing new services and entertainment features exclusively for PS3, rather than on delivering PS2 backwards compatibility." Technical problems Sony has published a website which contains a list of all older games that will work on the PS3 and states if there are any known technical problems when playing the titles. There are three levels of compatbility for the games that will play - no known issues, some minor issues and noticeable issues. Recent PS2 titles such as Pro Evolution Soccer 6, God of War II, Final Fantasy XII and Fifa 07 will play but there are likely to be some technical glitches. Classic games such as Ico, Metal Gear Solid 3 and Grand Theft Auto will also play on the new machine. In order to play the older games, PlayStation 3 owners will have to update the console's system software, called firmware, either online or via a disk. More than 115 million PlayStation 2 consoles have been shipped worldwide, and almost two million of its successor were shipped between its launch and the end of December. More than one million PS3 will be available for the European launch. Story from BBC NEWS: |
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Sony rewards patient gamers Sony's PlayStation 3 console has gone on sale around Europe at a series of midnight shop openings. In the UK, the patient gamers who had waited up to 36 hours at one particular store in London got much more than they bargained for. As Thursday crossed into Friday, 17-year-old Ritatsu Thomas and the 100 other PlayStation fans crammed into the Virgin Megastore on Oxford Street were jubilant. And not just because they were the first gamers in the UK to get their hands on Sony's long-awaited games console. Nor was it due to the fact they had been fuelled on free coffee and Coke for the last 24 hours. They had just been told they had been rewarded for their patience and loyalty with a free £2,500 high-definition TV on which to play their shiny new console. At first the crowd did not respond to the giveaway. Their senses dulled by the long wait, and the fact most of them had been made to stand in a darkened corner of the shop for about two hours, meant it took a few seconds before they realised they were each walking away with a free television. "It's unbelievable. It's like a dream come true," said 28-year-old Tim Taylor, from east London. "How much is this costing Sony?" he asked. The answer was about £250,000 and that did not include the free taxi ride home each and every person was receiving. It was a great publicity stunt by Sony and exceedingly generous for a firm reported to be losing up to $300 on every PlayStation 3 sold. Sony said it wanted to thank its customers and in many ways European PlayStation fans deserved that thanks. All too often they have been left at the end of the queue when waiting for Sony products. But the PlayStation had finally arrived and, on cue, the fans were excited. "I am going to have to shuffle my furniture. I might have to get rid of my sofa to fit the television in," said Mr Taylor. An hour before the launch Ritatsu Thomas, standing at the head of the queue, had said he was looking forward to going home and sleeping. But soon after learning he was going home with a PS3 and a television he had lost his tiredness. "I can't wait to go home and start playing," he said. He had only queued after missing out on a Nintendo Wii last year on launch day and looked shell-shocked at the level of attention. Gamers hugged themselves and each other as the news filtered through to their sleep-deprived brains that they were getting a television. Soon many were on the phones to friends and family. Miles Frost, from Chelsea, in west London, rang his brother, who had decided at the last minute not to queue. "We are all getting a free HD TV," he said down the phone. "On mum's life, I swear it's true." "I'm ecstatic. Sony we love you." Before the announcement the launch had been in danger of being a little flat. The queue of gamers seemed small compared to previous launches of consoles and there appeared to be more press, guests and staff than consumers. Ray Maguire, head of PlayStation in the UK, said he was "delighted" with the response. "We have got plenty of stock in shops, so people know they don't have to rush out to secure a console," he said. Sony is also hoping that the plentiful supply of consoles on launch day and beyond will help stop people selling on their machines online at inflated prices. Oxford Street has seen its fair share of console launches in the last five years and typically they follow a pre-ordained pattern - fans queue up in the cold, laser lights and spotlights criss-cross the sky, a highly-paid celebrity starts the sales and a few hundred gamers troop onto the shop floor. But this time there was no celebrity-injected glamour or son et lumiere. Sony said it wanted it this way. "It's all about the consumers," a spokesman told me. After delays, stock shortages and reports of stabbings and shootings at the US launch of the PS3, everyone seemed delighted that the console was finally on sale. Sony still needs to convince the mass market that the PS3 is the console of choice. And it cannot give away a free HDTV as an incentive to everyone who buys the console. But for the London gamers, at least, PlayStation 3 was the only console they would be playing for quite some time. BBC News |
| QUOTE (willowroolz @ Mar 23 2007, 10:43 AM) |
| Blimey, Sony really are desperate ;) |
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| ChartTrack has confirmed that 165,000 PS3 units were sold during the console's launch weekend. The figure is three quarters of the total 220,000 UK launch stock for day one, and makes PS3 second only to PSP in the overall launch weekend sales stakes. The Sony handheld shifted 185,000 in its opening weekend back in September 2005. PS3’s record-breaking debut for a home console comfortably beats the previous top seller Nintendo Wii, which sold 105,000 after its frantic launch weekend in December last year. Fellow format rival Xbox 360 racked up an estimated 70,000 at launch in December 2005. The figure also means that Sony has not sold all of its opening weekend stock, something the platform holder claims is part of its overall strategy at retail. |
| QUOTE (Bill The Bloodless @ Mar 27 2007, 12:43 PM) |
| How much has that got to do with the others not sending enough stock to meet demand? |
| QUOTE (willowroolz @ Mar 27 2007, 12:23 PM) | ||
More than a fair bit I expect. The others did near simultaneous releases around the globe and their products were in short supply as a result, whereas Sony's delaying of the European launch for nearly 4 months after the other key territories has obviously worked in their favour. IIRC, Microsoft only had around 300,000 units available at the 360 launch for Europe as a whole so, judging by how difficult they were to get hold of, that 70,000 mentioned above must've been the entire UK allocation :ponder: Haven't played a PS3 yet, or even seen one running, although I just went over to Canary Wharf and both Game and HMV there had plenty in stock (no surprise, given the above). |
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| PlayStation to record digital TV PlayStation 3 (PS3) users in Europe will soon be able to record and playback digital TV on their console. Sony has unveiled a TV tuner which plugs into the PS3 and turns it into a personal video recorder like Sky+. The company has held a press conference at the Leipzig games show in which it highlighted key multimedia capabilities for the PS3 and handheld PSP. More than 200,000 gamers are expected at the German show, playing some of the year's biggest games. Games on display at the show will include Halo 3, Mass Effect, Super Mario Galaxy, Pro Evolution Soccer 2008, Crysis, Warhammer Online and the new expansion pack for World of Warcraft, The Lich King. Wireless internet PlayTV for PS3 is a twin TV tuner that will launch in early 2008 in the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain with other countries to follow. Recorded programmes can be streamed over a wireless internet connection to the portable PSP or transferred permanently to the handheld console via a USB cable. In a statement, David Reeves, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, said PlayTV would extend the "broad entertainment credentials of PS3". It is the first time a console has been given PVR capabilities. Gamers will have access to free channels that are delivered over digital terrestrial. Rival Microsoft has touted its Xbox 360 as a platform for internet TV but no partner has yet come forward while its Xbox Live video download service has not launched outside the US. Instant messaging No price details for the PlayTV tuner were given. Sony also used the conference to give more details of a video chat and instant messaging system for the PSP, called Go!Messenger, developed in conjunction with BT in the UK. PSP users in Europe will be able to send messages, and video chat with each other once the software behind the tool is released in January. Sony also unveiled a GPS add-on for the PSP, called Go!Explore, and said a UK video download service for the console, developed in conjunction with Sky and called Go!, would launch in the UK in January. Price details for the new services were not given. Sony will be hoping that the new multimedia functionality for its PlayStation 3 and PSP consoles will make them more attractive to both gamers and non-gamers. Both machines lag behind sales of rival devices from Nintendo and Microsoft, such as the Wii, DS handheld console and Xbox 360. Increase shipments Sony said it aimed to increase shipments of the PS3 to 11 million units by 2008. Unlike other major games conferences, Leipzig is open to the public and 200,000 gamers are expected to attend the four-day event to get their hands on the latest titles. "This year we are expecting over 9,000 trade visitors and some 2,800 journalists from over 35 countries," said Josef Rahmen, managing director of the Leipziger Messe, in a statement. The industry has gone on a charm offensive in recent years to improve the profile of games in Germany, which has a rigorous ratings and regulatory system. The country is the third-biggest market for video games in Europe, behind the UK and France, with PC titles dominating the market. Story from BBC NEWS: |
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| Sony offers cut-price PlayStation A cut price PlayStation 3 (PS3) with a smaller hard drive and no backwards compatibility with previous consoles goes on sale later this month. The £299 PS3 has a 40-gigabyte hard disk and will be released in Europe, Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. Sony has also slashed the price of the 60GB model from £425 to £349, as it hopes to ignite sales. Ray Maguire, head of PlayStation UK, said he expected the PS3 user base to double by Christmas. Mr Maguire said the release of the 40GB PS3 was a "strategic decision" and not the result of lower-than-expected sales of the PlayStation 3. "We have done market research, looked at fans' forums and the feedback from consumers is that they are anxious to get into PlayStation 3 but it is too expensive," he told BBC News. Sony was the market leader in the previous two generations of console releases. However, Nintendo is now in pole position closely followed by Microsoft's Xbox 360. We want to get the console to the next level; we have re-engineered the machine to bring the price down Ray Maguire, Sony More than 5.5 million PlayStation 3 consoles have been shipped worldwide, compared with more than 10 million each of the Wii and Xbox 360. He said he expected some existing PS3 owners to feel frustrated at the price cut for the 60GB model coming just six months after the machine was first launched. The new PS3 will be unable to play PlayStation 1 and 2 games, has a reduced number of USB ports, from four to two connections, and no slots for memory cards. It goes on sale from 10 October. "The cost of peripherals for adding USB connections and memory stick options is low," said Mr Maguire explaining the alterations. He added: "Backwards compatibility was reasonably expensive for us to implement and taking it out enabled us to reduce the price." The entry-level PS3 is now the same price as an Xbox 360 Elite, which has a 120GB hard drive. Extra expense However, the PS3 has built-in wi-fi connectivity and a high definition Blu-ray DVD player. An add-on HD-DVD drive and wi-fi peripheral are available to Xbox 360 owners at extra expense. The Nintendo Wii costs £179 but does not have high definition graphics or DVD playback, and relies instead on an innovative motion-sensitive control system. There is no confirmation on the launch of the 40GB PS3 in North America and Japan, which have their own divergent models and price points. Mr Maguire said: "The people who want to get into new technology early are prepared to pay a premium. "We want to get the console to the next level; we have re-engineered the machine to bring the price down." He added: "We have invested a lot of money in reaching this price point." Sony is still losing money on each console sold, said Mr Maguire, but would lose less money on the 40GB machine. "We are in an investment phase," he said. Sony was criticised last year when it unveiled its £425 price point for the PlayStation 3 with many analysts saying the firm would struggle to win over gamers. "It has taken us that long to get the cost down, it's as simple as that," said Mr Maguire. Story from BBC NEWS: |