Analyst: No PS3 price cut means gamers will flock to Xbox 360
By Dave Parrack
The Xbox 360 price cuts have clearly made a difference to the sales figures, but we won’t know quite how much difference they have made until September’s NPD data is revealed. As usual, the analysts are out in force ahead of time to give their predictions. And not only does Jesse Divnich see the Xbox 360 beating the PS3 this month, he sees the price cut affecting this console war massively.
When Microsoft cut the price of the Xbox 360 across the range at the beginning of September, some questioned how effective this move would be. I myself wondered if it was the last desperate throw of the dice to try and up the stalling sales figures.
But, all evidence is pointing towards the price cuts having made a huge difference to the Microsoft console’s fortunes. Sales are up in Europe, and the cuts have meant the Xbox 360 beat the PS3 in Japan over the course of a month for the first time ever.
Ahead of next week’s official NPD sales figures for September, EEDAR analyst, Jesse Divnich, has gazed in to his crystal ball once again and popped some figures out of his bottom. While they’re quite interesting, it’s what he says afterwards that is of real intrigue.
Divnich thinks the Wii and DS will each have sold around 600,000 units in September, making it Nintendo’s month again for the umpteenth time in a row. Then comes the Xbox 360 on 320,000 units sold, massively ahead of the PS3 on 215,000. Even the PSP is forecast to beat its bigger brother, selling around 235,000 units.
So, interesting, but hardly surprising. The Wii and DS continue to dominate, and the Xbox 360 rose up the sales chart thanks to a new, lower, much more attractive price point. But this is just one month; will the price difference between the PS3 and Xbox 360 affect the war in the long term?
According to GameDaily, Divnich states:
Due to the price drop, we expect the Xbox 360 to sell over 320,000 units. This would be the first time this year that the Xbox 360 surpasses 300,000 units a single month.
The surge in Xbox 360 sales likely came from the mainstream and casual markets who were enticed by a sub-$200 Xbox 360 SKU. We should note that if Microsoft’s first-party titles perform significantly better in quality and popularity than Sony’s this holiday season, we could begin to see a considerable amount of potential PS3 owners, who may be waiting for a PS3 price cut, to choose the Xbox 360 over the PS3.
We still urge Sony to consider a possible hardware price cut this holiday season. If September hardware sales fall below our estimate (under 200,000 units), it could be an indication that the Xbox 360 price cut played a bigger role on hindering PS3 sales than what we originally expected.
While we have no doubts that titles like Resistance 2 and LittleBigPlanet will drive the core gaming market to purchase a PS3, we do, however, have doubts that either title will lure in casual and mainstream gamers. The $399 price point is simply too steep to entice the casual and mainstream markets, regardless of how great Resistance 2 and LittleBigPlanet may be.
While I may have a certain amount of disdain for the crystal ball-gazing analysts, Divnich does have a point. The mainstream market is clearly going to lap up the new (sweet spot) price point of the Xbox 360. While most of us realise that the Arcade pack is almost useless, the casual gamer, and his or her parents, aren’t going to know anything the sort.
This means that even if little Johnny asks for a PS3 this Christmas, his parents are going to compare prices and buy him an Xbox 360 instead. That is unless Sony bites the bullet, takes the gamble of losing even more money on each PS3 sold than it already does, and lower the price in the next few weeks.
If Sony chooses not to act, then this holiday season is destined to belong to the Xbox 360 (and Wii, of course).
Update: According to CVG, Sony has confirmed that no price cuts are coming this side of Christmas. Patrick Seybold, director of corporate communications at SCEA said:
As previously discussed we aren’t making any price moves this holiday season. In my opinion, we have the best line up of any PlayStation generation going into this holiday and consumers will be very receptive to it.
With PS3 titles for this including Resistance 2, LittleBigPlanet, SOCOM, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift to name but a few of our multiple exclusives, combined with PlayStation Home and increasing multimedia features for the hardware, we expect to have continued momentum going into and beyond this holiday season.
Related:
Entry was posted
on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
under
Read more entries by Dave Parrack.
Stumble It!
Tips N4G
October 7th, 2008
I agree. I’d prefer to buy a PS3 but I cant affford it, I don’t care about online either so the Arcade pack is perfect for me to play some really good games. I suspect a majority will feel the same around Christmas time….
October 7th, 2008
Indeed. ‘Mum and dad’ will not want to spend a whole heap of $$$ when another HD gaming machine starts at half the price and has 95% of the games that come on the more expensive machine, not to mention the majority of those games look better on the cheaper machine.
October 7th, 2008
MS is pushing Nintendo and Sony.
Come Christmas time, a $200 360 is more attractive to a parent than a $250 Wii (and the PS3 price is on the moon).
The Wii may have problems if the uneducated buyers (the parents) don’t look at the games, seeing the Wii has cheaper games so manages to look better after a few games.
I just don’t think MS can shed its hardcore reputation, though.
And if Nintendo senses waning sales in November, they would be able to cut the price (probably just about in half at this point) without starting to take a loss on hardware.
Sony has it much harder. They risk more money but cutting the price, but the PS3 is in bad shape. This is likely the last Chrismas before the biggest games start getting planned for the late generation. Sony, without paying for exclusives, needs to shore up the hardware sales to get the big exclusives from 3rd parties that start getting planned next year.
“We started a year later” doesn’t cut it for a developer wanting to make money. And while they sit at a high price, the Wii is cheaper to develop for and has consoles still flying out the door, and MS has hit the sweet spot with their price.
Sony is in dangerous water. I think they can get though it, but they need to do well, better than MS, this Christmas, and that involves selling a lot of expensive extras (bluray) to people who don’t need it, don’t want it, or don’t even know what it is. That’s hard.
October 7th, 2008
I cant help but wonder where MS would be if not for the hardware failures.
October 7th, 2008
I wonder what’s going to happen once the fire sale is done… either way price competition is always good for the consumer.
October 7th, 2008
this month sales figure wont tell u anything, price cut always going to increase sales.. sony is in trouble if ms sale 300k+ of xbox360 for 3-4 months,then u see sony will cut the price of the ps3.. competition is good for the gaming industries…
October 7th, 2008
I’m not saying that the analysts are wrong for september (although they have been wrong a lot recently in their predictions), but seeing the PS3 constantly in the top 10 of the bestseller ranking at Amazon, while the 360 lingers in the ranks 60-80, I gotta wonder…
Well, whatever happens, we all know Sony will boost the PS3 sales with LCD and games packs for discounted prices, and who would be surprised to see a new slim PS3 arriving in Feb. 2009 ?
The 360 might be dirt cheap, but it has nowhere to go now, while for the Wii and the PS3, sky’s the limit (Wii at $199 and PS3 at $299 in 2009 anyone ?)
October 7th, 2008
Greg, as production costs lower during the cycle of this generation, then the 360 will keep getting cheaper and cheaper. Saying that it has nowhere to go is pretty closed minded.
October 8th, 2008
@ harry sachz, the figures greg said speek for themselves, the ps3 is always in the top 10, while the 360 is way down. or maybe PS3 buyers are smarter and know how to do online shopping.
October 8th, 2008
PLAYSTATION 3 will do great this holiday everyone knows it. It has so many great high quality exclusives plus anyone that’s buying a Blu-ray movie player is getting a PS3 instead this holiday. Xbox 360 failure still is here and plus the $199.99 Xbox 360 lacks of HDD and many other things.
October 8th, 2008
PS2 is doomed this christmas if sony dont get their act together and its a shame because the PS3 offers a whole lot more. Again Microsoft win just because they can afford to rake in new customers, and again don’t care about older customers which is what Sony are doing. How are Microsoft holding onto existing customers?
October 8th, 2008
ps3*
October 8th, 2008
why must go to the xbox somethin !!
it’s cheep but i have to pay for online games
every year , and some demos and videos must pay to watch them , all of that and as agift for those who have xbox you still afraid from rrod ..
i will pay duble for ps3 and enjoy with a perfect consol ever …
October 8th, 2008
Without a shadow of a doubt this holiday season the PS3 is going to sell like a naked picture of Paris in her teens, to an auction house full of horny old men!
And why does everyone keep on getting all annoyed over the PS3 price, the things packing more gadgets and gizmos than a japanese whore house!
Lets look at it:
Blu-Ray
DVD
CD
Memory Card
USB (flash drive and external HDD)
Bluetooth
In-built easily upgraded HDD (2.5″)
Sufficient and QUIET cooling (unlike one other console I own, not naming names but you know who you are!)
Well built and reliable
It looks fantastic, especially if you install neons xD
And the list goes on and on and on……
(-) It can store your music, movies and pictures.
(-) It can pickup media servers and play all their. stuff too.
(-) It can install an OS and work as your main bloody computer or at least a fantastic downloading or process heavy rendering system and more.
(-) You can access it and view your stuff from more or less anywhere in the world via your psp.
(-) You can bang some CFW on it *cough*, and that adds a whole new level of customisation and fun, of course its entirely illegal though *cough*.
(-) Obviously you can play PS3 games too, you know with it being a ps3 and all that.
And again the list goes on and on and on…….
My point being for the PS3’s current price its incredible, try picking up a blu-ray player thats as good as the ps3 or a PC with the specs of the PS3 and see what it costs you.
Oh why do I bother…
Goes and bids on the naked picture of Paris…
Mog
http://Www.MogCast.coM
October 8th, 2008
Gdog,
I wasn’t disputing his figures, I was disputing his comments. But while you’ve raised the topic, if PS3 is always in the top 10 or whatever, why aren’t those figures reflected in the NPD data?
October 8th, 2008
Greg - the amazon figures are meaningless - last year HD DVD hardware & software was repeatedly way above BluRay in their sales charts and look where it got them. As Amazon give no insight into how these figures are collated, it is a very unreliable source of info. I don’t think Sony are in any real trouble though - they have a solid console and are slowly building a decent selection of games. They are unlikely to rise above 3rd place, but it still a significant market share (although their projection of 150million sold after 10 years is WAY off the mark!)
October 8th, 2008
@everyone
Sorry for being as dumb as a murderer in Texas, forgot the link entirely there,
here is the link to the good article ^^
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PJQ/is_19_2/ai_n6227089
Mog
http://Www.MogCast.coM
October 8th, 2008
You guys are funny. Both Mog and Bourne are in denial that their PS3 is becoming a 360 with every update. The PS3 offers nothing over the 360. Nothing! Getting a PS3 is like getting a dowgrade.
October 8th, 2008
Xbox 360 is gonna be the next Dreamcast outer the gaming business. PS3 is the real next gen console.
October 8th, 2008
@Rimmer..
No it wasn’t
Even on amazon HDDVD got wiped. try another example.
October 8th, 2008
LOL CAD, u wanna explain to me how my PS3 is morphing into an unreliable doorstop?
October 8th, 2008
@CAD.
PS3 offers blu ray. Does the 360? Access to non proprietary peripherals (BT, HDD’s)
MS is even ripping off some of Home’s functionality with their next update (ability to stream files between friends list)
1st party games from approx 20 different studios.
October 8th, 2008
PS3 offers this better functionality, better this, and better! But did it sell well?? X-box did! Well, at least for now…
Hell, the Japanese hates MS and the X-box 360 before, and loves Sony and Nintendo, but how come the 360 is top selling in Japan for the few months now… This is quite mind-boggling to me. Can some enlighten me on this….
October 8th, 2008
What does Blu-Ray do for Gaming? Absolutley nothing. If you want to talk about movies head over to the “Tech” section. Is “Home ripping off Halo 3 and it’s file sharing abilities? File sharing has been on the 360 so drop that bullshit. And Bourne it is’t pain stackingly obvious that the PS3 has been slowly adding features to the PS3 that already existed on the 360 then I don’t know what will convince you of that.
October 8th, 2008
Phranctoast
HDDVD got wiped because Sony paid for Bluray to win with Billion in written cheques. The consumer never decided the fate. That is the truth and the bottom line. Lets move on.
October 8th, 2008
aside from Trophies? i highly doubt that. Im guessing microsoft will add a home like feature soon, motion sensor cotrollers, and throw money at anything else they can do. Shame that the console war is being won, not on quality of console, rather than wallet size. If you gave most console owners a choice of 360 and ps3 they’d pick ps3 everytime, its just they cant afford it.
October 8th, 2008
@Antonidas
360 has been beating the ps3 for three weeks in Japan..not a few months. And only by a couple of thousand. Like I said before..it would take the 360 selling 30,000 units a week (the most it has done) over a year to get to ps3 numbers if ps3 sold nothing for for the same time period.
@CAD
What does it do for gaming. I dont know ask…ask Blue dragon, or any of the other games that come out on multiple dvd’s. It helps thwart piracy, which is killing the PC business. I’m well aware that features on the 360 are turning up on the ps3 (never denied it) but don’t act like its not give and take. I could give a list MS has taken if need be.
buddy..I’ve been following the hi def media was longer than you have and you really don’t know shit. MS paid Paramount 150 million to go HDDVD exclusive for 18 months. Maybe they didn’t pay them directly, but in the form of incentives and publishing (Michael Bay quotes). That still wasn’t enough to pull it in HDDVD’s favor. Neither was the fire sale for $100 player.The consumer was making the choice, and they chose blu ray. The sales showed it. I cant believe I’m arguing this. The ps3 boosted the blu ray format to the stratosphere and Toshiba could not keep up.
October 8th, 2008
Sony was shortsighted when they included BluRay into the PS3 as a syandard feature.
They have caused their own problem, Let me explain.
They have bet the farm on BluRay becoming the next standard, and plan to make their future income on the liscensing of the format to other companies to manufacture players, and pay royalties to Sony.
However, The PS3 is also a gaming machine, and is aimed at that crowd also.
They have the choice of either cutting the price of the PS3 to stay competitive with their competition, AKA, Microsoft and Nintendo, and alienate themself to all the other BluRay manufacturers because they have a BluRay player sold at a loss - Or they can keep up the price of the PS3 and lose market share in the videogame market.
It is not a smart business move to be in competition with yourself.
October 8th, 2008
The xbox will stop production prematurely in 2010 with 30+ million sales, it’ll live on as a new console with BC, so 360 wont die. They might sell more than sony but as a different box.
PS3 will sell 100+million in the end because of its 10 year life span. Its set at selling 10 million a year. With potential price cuts, its not a farfetched goal.
October 8th, 2008
@phranctoast Why would MS pay anything for HD DVD. It was Toshiba’s baby not MS.
I’m waiting for a price cut to get a PS3 and not until then.
Also the 360 is sweet but the PROD is stopping me from buying one for over $100.
October 8th, 2008
@Bill.
good post. Lots of truth in there.
While the ps3 is a very good blu ray player, its is not the best. Manufacturers will continue to make high end hardware that will not be competing with the PS3 from a audio/videophile point of view.
The PS3 will compete with lower cost blu ray players. The components aren’t all that different from HDDVD players and they were able to get those a relatively low price (before the fire sale).
October 8th, 2008
It always makes me laugh when I hear 360 fanboys complaining if Sony throws some money around for blu ray. A minute doesn’t go by that MS doesn’t throw their money around to put business in their favor. What a joke!
October 8th, 2008
@Norm.
MS was supporting HDDVD (Even if it was half assed support).
HDDVD used vc-1 compression technology on every disc, which MS saw royalties from. HDDVD also used iHD as apposed to java which was the interactive media level used on HDDVD discs (MS created). In a way MS wanted to see HDDVD win as opposed to Sony because of that, but truth be told, they wanted neither to win. They just wanted to stalemate the format war until they had a better foothold in Digital Distribution with their HD streaming technology.
Michael Bay (the Rock, Transformers) brought this point up, and if you don’t believe me..he at least is in the movie business and has eyes and ears where mine don’t go.
October 8th, 2008
Amazon figures mean nothing, final sales figures do. People can walk into Wallmart or Target and just get a $200 dollar 360, most people still don’t shop online so the Amazon statement is pointless.
October 8th, 2008
I think many gamers don’t care that Microsoft’s having a firesale. You get what you pay for.
You buy a cheap Wii, you get last-gen tech.
You buy a cheap 360, you get feature lite unreliable hardware.
You buy an expensive, you get unreliable hardware.
You buy a PS3, you get the dogs b0llocks.
October 8th, 2008
Phranctoast
Oh Big deal there is more then 1 disk so what. I still get to play the game don’t I and the multi-platform games on 360 look better. Exactly how does Bluray help thwart piracy? As for the Hi-Def argument I have done my research and I can tell you that you don’t know shit about the Bluray & HDDVD war. Your mentioning Fire sales that happened after the war was over. Yes there was payment to Paramount but no one know how many PS3 are bought for gaming or just Movies which I have read many people repeat over and over that that is the only reason they have the PS3. Stand alone HDDVD players were out sell bluray big time. The bottom line is PS3 was a Trojan horse for Bluray. Sony had to win because if bluray didn’t the PS3 would look like a piece of shit with yet another failed format that would have follow Mini-Disk, Betamax, ATRAC, and UMD. They paid Target, WB, Disney, Blockbuster, oh and I can’t remember the rest but the list goes on. That is why Sony said it had no money for exclusives because they spent the money to not be obsolete. I can go on but I’ll wait to hear more from you.
October 8th, 2008
Norm
You make a good point about that payment. You’re absolutly right. It was Toshiba’s Baby not Microsofts.
October 8th, 2008
Wylie
The difference between Microsoft throwing aroud $ and Sony throwing around $ is that the $ thrown by Microsoft benefits 360 owners. Something Sony has been forced to to. Sony threw $ to secure a format and creat the most expensive console in history.
October 8th, 2008
@phranctoast
MS still gets royalties from VC-1 because Blu-ray started using it when videophiles started demanding it for their discs.
October 8th, 2008
Pranchtoast
That is a stupid statement that
“They just wanted to stalemate the format war until they had a better foothold in Digital Distribution with their HD streaming technology.
How is that true when HDDVD was out first before bluray hit the market with all the features that did not hit Bluray until Feb 2008 when they introduced BD-J which was after the war. An inferior format won. How sould that be possible. Money Money Money Moooney………Money!!!
October 8th, 2008
@CAD. maybe multiple disc aren’t a big deal. To each their own. Multi plats that look better that..guess what..were developed first on the 360. Developers are learning its better to go ps3 to 360 for better results. (burnout amongst others). Blur ray helps thwart piracy since its a hell of a lot more secure than both DVD and HDDVD. Multiple forms are security on a BD. Tell me all you think you know. I was looking forward to blu ray two year prior to its release. Went to Digital Life in Manhattan for the release of HDDVD. have been part of forums following this shit before you cared.
So what that more HDDVD players were sold. Thats only true if you don’t count the ps3. And you have to count it because in boosted the blu ray media sales up so far past HDDVD, the war was over before it started.
I don’t recall if they paid Target. Disney was part of the blu ray disc associating ass. Blockbuster stil rented HDDVD online (just not in stores..there goes that argument) and Warner brothers have said in statements that they saw the war becoming a HD media format stalemate and terrible for consumers if they didn’t just choose a side. They went with the one with the most Hardware and Movie Studio support.
The better one did win. The better one with 20 gig more storage per disc. The one with far more studio support because…yeah you guessed it..studios dont like their movies pirated! The one that supported multiple codecs…not just MS ones.
@CAD about stupid statement
Warner brothers have said this and so had Michael Bay (mostly Paramount movies)
MS was well aware that blu ray was going to be on the ps3. they figured they could act as both a thorn in Sony’s side (if blu ray didn’t make it, there would be no ps4) and by shelling out some loot they could prolong the format war and not have a true victor.
October 8th, 2008
@Vargar.
yeah I know. VC1 isn’t terrible by no means. I happen to like MP4 (H264) better, but you can get some damn high quality pictures from MPEG2. Some of the blu rays I display are mpeg2.
It all depends on the amount of work done during the transfer.
oh btw…to CAD
blu ray also has a higher bit rate than HDDVD. think of HDDVD as like listening to a 128KB/sec mp3 and blu ray as a 256KB/sec mp3.
yeah… the better one won!!!!
October 8th, 2008
Pranchtoast
I’m not going on with this because your telling me all the stuff said that you sucked up a gospel and who cares what excuse they have the bottom line is they got paid to make the decision. So they can tell the public this or that but bottom line is they got PAID$$$$. No consumer decision was taken into consideration. How can the product with more features get trump by a product that did not even have an ethernet port on it and did not even come upto specs except the war was over and it only happened this year in February. HDDVD had these supports in back in 2005 and maybe even 2004 I just don’t want to look it up. Anyways I’m done. HDDVD is over so lets drop it. So PS3 owners thank Microsfot for not making the 360 standard with HDDVD because it it was oh the PS3 would have been a dead duck with an obsolete format.
October 8th, 2008
BLUray prior to the war had no:
Ethernet port
No extra content that could be downloaded
no interactive menu
no in movie menu
no mini games
Longer to load
no firmware updates
October 8th, 2008
You can say whatever you want about the great features on the PS3, but what it’s truly important here is THE LACK OF GAMES FOR YOUR VIDEO GAMES CONSOLE. I don’t give a s**t about Blu-ray, I don’t watch movies, I PLAY. Until the good games appear on the shelves (not promises of release dates), the thing is not going to change for the PS3.
Sony did great with PSX and PS2, what’s going on now ?? They made a lot more efforts getting an HD format rather than focusing on games, that’s the problem.
October 8th, 2008
I also forgot to mention:
Dual Format Disk
Picture in Picture
October 8th, 2008
I also forgot to mention:
Dual Format Disk
Picture in Picture
October 8th, 2008
jham, thats an old argument, relevant only at the launch of the console. Now we have plenty of games and it shows how worried Xbots are if they have to bring up an irrelevant argument. Funny now that the PS3 now has loads of exclusives lined up, and now the Xbox 360 has only GOW2, halo wars and left 4 dead.
October 8th, 2008
well since you say they got paid it most be true. Ill take my sources from people in the know…. thank you very much.
iHD was finished before Java. This is true, and HDDVD was cheaper. That hardly means it was better. Better to me is being able to see the movies I want on it. Blu ray has all the support minus Universal (and Weinstein if you want to call that a studio). The picture and sound is better. They used last gen hardware with hddvd and you act like that a great thing. Higher storage space and higher bitrate. more hardware and studio support.
consumers made the decision when blu ray discs out sold hddvd by a hefty margin.
Maybe if MS made it a standard in 360 the war would be different. That goes to show you they really had no faith in it because of their plans to stalemate, and the 360 was rushed to beat the ps3.
October 8th, 2008
you also forgot to mention mandatory managed copy…but I leave that alone
the blu ray spec was finished after the hddvd spec….big fucking deal…. Now blu ray has all that. And who gives a shit about all that extra shit anyway. I just watch the movie…and that what was better on blu ray anyway.
October 8th, 2008
@Bourne:
Old or not, it hasn’t happened yet, that’s what I meant. And also, it took 2 years to get where it’s now. And believe me. I have the money to buy a PS3 if I wanted to, but I won’t do it because there’s nothing compelling to me on that system yet. Let’s see what future has to offer.
October 8th, 2008
Well if you cant find anything you like now, i’m afraid that u wont find anything at all on it, you might as well stick to helpbox please fix me. I don’t see anything spectacular on 360 either. Halo and GOW? not exactly stellar.
October 8th, 2008
@jham.
Do multi platform titles count? or is the argument…a console has no good games unless they are exclusive……
Just finished MGS4 and Ratchet and Clank:Quest for Booty.
I’m currently playing The Force Unleashed and Wipeout HD.
buying Dead Space in about a week, followed by Little Big Planet a week from then.
It sounds to me like you’re throwing out the middle of 2007 argument.
October 8th, 2008
RED RING OF DEATTTTTTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!oneone
I figured that was about on par with the latter part of this comment thread
Oh and for the record, my 360 hasn’t RRoD’d yet (if ever!)…
October 8th, 2008
I know this is getting old but the picture quality was the same and Bluray had better audio because it was uncompressed. Other then that bluray was inferior. I know the features are all there now but when Bluray paid it’s way to fame (whether you want to believe that or not) those features were not upto speed yet.
October 8th, 2008
@SW. You’re one of the lucky 60%. You have to imagine if the failure rate is 1 out of 3…2 out of 3 wont fail.
I never had a problem with my launch ps2 until recently. Controller 2 constantly pushed in the up direction…(not the controller fault but port).
While on paper the picture quality wasn’t the same, whether or not people could notice is something else (some people cant tell difference between up conversion)
October 8th, 2008
CAD,
What you (and most fanboys) don’t seem to grasp is that there are two sides to every coin. Both Blu Ray and HD-DVD had advantages, but even you have to realize that Bluray’s higher capacity and transfer rate, combined with a greater potential for expandability, makes it the smarter choice. HD-DVD was fine at the time, but it didn’t leave much room for future improvement.
Also, a truly great warrior knows when to wave the white flag. Phranctoast clearly knows more than you (or I) about this issue. Learn, and move on. This isn’t really a big deal.
-Arvis
October 8th, 2008
:S Arvis i take its not you
October 8th, 2008
I don’t see why Sony would have to cut there prices at this point. They are well on there way to making there numbers for the year. They have the advantage of value for your dollar over there competitors: Blu-Ray, Free access to the PSN, Wi-Fi, etc, etc, etc. Further more, they have the most robust line up this holiday season, and they have the most first titles lined up for 2009.
I think the fact that this article has been picked up in so many different places is propaganda in trying to sway consumer’s minds.
October 8th, 2008
That gaybar seems to be a popular spot…
October 8th, 2008
CAD- “The difference between Microsoft throwing around $ and Sony throwing around $ is that the $ thrown by Microsoft benefits 360 owners.”
Yeah, I forgot MS is famous for spending money to benefit its customers. (how many times have they been in trouble over monopolies?) Their not spending it to try and put more money in their pockets. That’s just what other huge companies like Sony do! I know, ignorance is bliss, isn’t it CAD.
October 8th, 2008
Yeah.. I remember when VHS beat out beta and I bought the beta because it was less expensive. That paid off huge….
I wonder why VHS didnt come down in price to match beta? Weird.
October 8th, 2008
lolz, fanboy wars!!!!!!!!! HURRAY!!!
October 8th, 2008
XBOX 360 exclusive lineup:
Amped 3
Battlestations: Midway*
Bomberman: Act Zero
Bullet Witch
Call of Duty 2*
Call of Juarez*
Chromehounds
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars*
Condemned: Criminal Origins*
Crackdown
Dance Dance Revolution
Dead or Alive 4
Dead or Alive Xtreme 2
Dead Rising
Earth Defense Force 2017
Forza Motorsport 2
Full Auto
Fuzion Frenzy 2
Gears of War
Import Tuner Challenge
Kameo: Elements of Power
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition*
MotoGP 06*
Ninety-Nine Nights
Over G Fighters
Perfect Dark Zero
Prey*
Project Gotham Racing 3
Quake 4*
Ridge Racer 6
Rumble Roses XX
Saints Row
Shadowrun*
Star Trek: Legacy*
Table Tennis
Tenchu Z
Tetris Evolution
The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles*
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle For Middle-earth II*
The Outfit
Top Spin 2*
Viva Piñata
WarTech: Senko No Ronde
Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged Volume 1
Ace Combat 6
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures*
Alan Wake*
All Points Bulletin*
America’s Army: True Soldiers *NEW*
Banjo-Kazooie 3
BioShock*
Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of World War II
Blue Dragon
Castle Wolfenstein*
Cry On
Culdcept Saga
Dead or Alive Code: Cronus
Dungeon Hero* *NEW*
Elveon*
Eternal Sonata
Fable 2
Far East of Eden Ziria
FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage
Gears of war 2
GTR*
Halo 3
Halo Wars
Hour of Victory
Huxley*
Infinite Undiscovery
Kengo: Legend of the 9 *NEW*
Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom
Left 4 Dead*
Lost Odyssey
Marvel Universe Online*
Mass Effect
Mobile Ops: The One Year War
MotoGP 07*
Naruto: Rise of a Ninja
Overlord*
Postal III*
Project Gotham Racing 4
Project Progressive
Project Sylpheed: Arc of Deception
Sacred 2: Fallen Angel*
The Secret World*
Theseis* *NEW*
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction
Too Human
Two Worlds*
Universe At War: Earth Assault*
Vampire Rain
Playstation 3 exclusive lineup:
Fomula One: Championship Edition
Full Auto 2: Battlelines
Genji: Days of the Blade
Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire
MotorStorm
Resistance: Fall of Man
Ridge Racer 7
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom
Afrika
Angel Rings
Coded Arms: Assault
DC Universe*
Driver 5
Eight Days
Eye of Judgment
Eyedentify
Fifth Phantom Saga
Final Fantasy Versus XIII
Folklore
God of War III
Gradius 6
Gran Turismo 5
Heavenly Sword
Hot Shots Golf 5
Killzone
L.A. Noire
Lair
LittleBigPlanet
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
NBA 08 *NEW*
Ni-Oh
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
SingStar
Sly Cooper 4 *NEW*
SOCOM 5 *NEW*
Tekken 6
The Agency* *NEW*
The Getaway 3
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
WarDevil: Unleash the Beast Within *NEW*
Warhawk
White Knight Story
WipeOut
uhhhh, this was a lot of games, so if i missed any don’t be mad lol. And yes, i do only own a 360, but i have a friend with a ps3, don’t really dig it, i think its just because i’m so dam used to the 360’s controller.
October 8th, 2008
Oh my god that was funny.
October 9th, 2008
Wow, I own a PS3 and everytime I go “WOW” over a PS3 exclusive….the game either becomes multiplatform or MS exclusive. Hear about Tekken 6 anyone? Yup, just went multiplatform as well.
Um, nobody really cares about Blu Ray buddy, not Christmas kids anyway. I used to work part time at a game store, kids would actually be outraged at how their parents shop for them. Parents kept asking me, “what system do you think X would like….he likes action games…oh this looks cheap!” Basically parents walk into the store, look at price, which company has the most shelf space for games, and then they compare the back of covers “Hmmm, I think I saw Timmy playing a racing game the other day…honey look, this one has a red car in it!”
MS has also done an amazing, yet subtle, job of making the Xbox brand name the standard of gaming. How many movies/commercials have you heard someone referring to an Xbox? Even in commercials where nothing is said and it is just a couple of guys playing games, they most likely are holding 360 controllers.
With the exceptional marketing job (television AND usually taking up the majority of store shelf space in comparison to other consoles), an easily recognizable brand name (which always means trust to parents, they don’t pay attention to failure rates, etc.), and a dirt cheap price tag, the 360 is going to sell EXTREMELY well this holiday season.
Fallout 3, Fable 2, and Gears of War anyone?
Agreed, one does wonder if MS didn’t have reliability issues…but then again they might not have been able to get such a head start in the market = consumer base and early developer support/familiarity.
October 9th, 2008
My question still stands:
How on earth did X-box 360 sell so well now in Japan? The japanese are known to be apprehensive with products other than they’ve produced. This is why Sony and Wii are bestsellers. But latest figures shows the 360 sells more than PS3 and this is just mind-boggling to me
October 9th, 2008
Everybody have a bong.
October 9th, 2008
@antonidas
Tales of vespia
and one other exclusive 360 RPG (forgot the name)
October 9th, 2008
It’s not about COST, it’s about VALUE.
PS3 is by far and away the best value, even though it’s not the cheapest.
As for the idiots posting ancient “exclusives” lists, do you actually read what you post? It’s massively out of date, there are massively more PS3 exclusives, due to Sony owning more studios.
PS3 has clearly got the lions share of desirable games this season. Xbox has Gears1.5 and according to some Fable1.5
October 9th, 2008
“CAD,
What you (and most fanboys)”
Ladies and gents, this sites biggest Xbot 360 fanboy CAD!!! Give the boy his reward, a free RROD followed by CAD dropping his pants and taking it up the jacksie from M$ like a man!
You seriously are one deluded little fanboy.
BTW, if you want to play Gears of War buy it on PC (providing you have mid range spec graphics). Bioshock is also better on PC too (i have a PS3 but the PC version was mega cheap). Besides, most 360 “exclusives” end up on PC so upgrade yours and save yourself the embarrassment of owning an extremely unreliable piece of crap console. PC’s and PS3’s are now the way forward.
October 9th, 2008
As a matter of fact, the transferrate on Bluray is simply down to greater bit density on the discs. Which is completely accademic anyway, because neither format makes full use of the even the lower speeds of HDDVD. If You want to increase transfer rates on HDDVD you simply increase the spindle speed. 2x HDDVD will have twice the transfer rate. As for Studios choosing Bluray - this had bugger all to do with consumer choice - Bluray was and is the more expensive format to produce, but it offered the major studios the option of greater control over the distribution of their films (region coding) and more draconian DRM. Ask any smaller, independant studio who they would prefer and they would all side with HDDVD as their profit margins would have been greater. BD Java is clearly more flexible than HDi but also a lot more complicated to work with. Add to this complexity the fact that there is no strict hardware for specifiacation for Bluray and you have decreased reliability, increased costs in testing each disc prior to release and the uncertainty of compatability with older players. But having 15GB of extra storage that very few releases utilise anyway clearly makes it the “superior” format. (Not to mention the fact that a 50GB HDDVD was ratified by the DVD forum just prior to it’s collapse, which makes that argument even less viable) Until Bluray releases a player that is multiregion capable and can reliably perform all the things I have come to expect from HDDVD at a sensible price I will be staying away. No wonder it is doing so poorly, Seriously, how can they expect a format to succeed in the mainstream, when the VAST majority of players out there are not only from one single supplier, but a games console at that. They might as well rebrand themselves as PS3-Ray.
October 9th, 2008
CAD, you really are a head stuck in the sand, fingers in your ears, little child. MS paid movie studios for HDDVD. Sony paid movie studios for bluray. Sony won. Sony didn’t even develop bluray, they don’t own the tech. Wow, you are just a fanboi boob. Your poor mother.
October 9th, 2008
Pfreak - Sony may not be the only developers of Blu-ray, Just like Toshiba are not the sole developers of HDDVD, but they sure are the main patent holders. Why else are they always the ones being sued over alleged infringments regarding Bluray?
October 9th, 2008
Some Sony fanboys sure do make me laugh with their stupidity. and well done on that gears 1.5/fable 1.5 did you spend all night thinking that one up? i know around 4 people in the past week alone who are selling their PS3s to get a 360. I know some fanboys will call me a liar cause they have nothing better to do. its personal choice at the end of the day but I bought a 360 (obviously) cause i wanted to play good games, and the exclusives that are coming out are still in my opinion better than the ones on PS3, what happened to FFXIII is a good example, no one thought that would be on 360 but Square saw that it needed to make a lot more profit to make the game worth it.(im expecting some 10yr idiot kid to say some fanboy crap along the lines of “oh its obviously going to be crap on 360″)… oh well il let them be happy with their close mindedness and stupidity
October 9th, 2008
@Rimmer.
Damn….finally someone who knows their stuff. refreshing
transfer rate and bit rate are two different things however. refer to the high bit rate mp3 file for quality as an example. (unless you weren’t replying to me with that).
You are totally right with the studios, especially smaller independent studios, which explains why HDDVD was porn’s preferential format of choice. However..as a consumer….Do you want the format with more movies or less?
Your HDi vs BDJava argument, while true could be used to null the 51gig HDDVD disc argument, as both were not ready during specifications of the format. Blu ray was also working on 100gig/200 gig discs which would only need a simple firmware update available on said disc or internet to work.
While you are correct that the vast majority of players are the ps3, Early in DVD’s lifetime the ps2 and the xbox made up a decent percentage of dvd’s players on the market, and that helped to mainstream the format.
The Ps3 should wake up the hardware manufacturers to get a lower priced blu ray player out there to compete. We all know the technology is out there. Especially if MS is able to get a blu ray player out in the market for 100-150,and the diode was considered one of the most expensive components.