Week recap: PS3 Trojan; Xbox 360 Blu-ray; Wii Ware

Sales for Sony Corp.'s Playstation 3 fell for the third consecutive week in the latest Japan retail data. The PS3 ranked No. 4 in overall hardware sales.

A Disney exec this week said that the PS3 was a Trojan horse for Blu-ray technology. Disney releases high-definition content exclusively on the Blu-ray disc format.

Capcom Co. this week said that Devil May Cry 4 has shipped 2 million units on the PS3 and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360. The title was released earlier this month.

PS3 sales continued to gain amid the Blu-ray format's victory over HD DVD. The 40GB PS3 this week held a sales increase at retailer Amazon.com.

Sales for the Xbox 360 this week reached barely over 2,000 units in the latest Japan charts. The hardware ranked No. 6 in hardware sales, behind all handhelds and consoles.

Analysts this week told TheStreet.com that Microsoft may keep Blu-ray away from the Xbox 360. Instead the company may focus on digital distribution via Xbox Live. - Via Punch Jump

[Joey Gladstone]

I guess that is one way to look at it, as admittedly Sony took a Huge risk in including the Blu-ray drive as its media player in the PS3, while betting on a Format War Victory over HD-DVD........but betting is no longer required for Sony, HD-DVD's death has assured that.....and now that Blu-Ray is the High Def Standard they will quickly Reap the profits and benefits of their risk...
....
.....
......"The JOEY has Spoken"

[Captain Tuttle]

Too bad the people who buy it as a Blu-Ray player aren't gamers.

[fox02]

now you're talking sense lol

[Apokalypsis]

That might actually be true that certain People will only purchase the PS3 as a Blu-Ray media player, but that fact alone still gives them double the consumer market, not just tied to gamers but also to movie peoples........and TBH when was the last time anybody bought the 360 just to play movies?????

[SSCOOLCHEA]

Oh the stupid argument , who gives a crap what people are buying it for . There actually smart ...lets see , GAMING + BLU RAY = I DONT KNOW ABOUT YOU BUT FOR US SMART PEOPLE ITS WIN WIN BABY....LAME AZZ HATERS

[DJ]

Angry that PS3's outselling the 360 by hundreds of thousands of units a month? It's impossible to believe that every person that buys a PS3 for gaming won't purchase Blu-ray movies, just as it's hard to believe that every person who buys it for Blu-ray movies won't purchase any games.

Games and Blu-ray movies are both selling well on the console, so no one seems to mind.

[The Closing]

People are buying ps3 for bluray is complete bs. Lets see hd dvd players Sold 1 million units a lot of which were add ons from GAMERS who happen to own hi def tvs. If Bluray wasn't included it's not like it would have sold much more, and again most of them would've been gamers anyhow. So far Ps3 sold not 1 but 10 million you do the math.

[Omegasyde]

my tuttle,

Even if people buy the ps3 as a blu-ray player instead of videgogames...

Sony still wins....
+Sony makes movies.
+Sony actually makes profit from every Ps3 sold.

And you never know, perhap these people will goof around on PSN some day and buy some Downloaded game like bowling.. or poker?
+$20 more to Sony.

Then Mr tuttle, this summer will have Jeopardy, Wheel of fortune, Buzz
and Singstar.
+~50$.

So, as "The Joey" pointed, Sony gambled with the Ps3 and ended up getting a "full house".

lol, just for you joey.

[Omegasyde]

Wow a $450~ karaoke machine as well as a blu-ray player? I'll be damned.

[Captain Tuttle]

Looks like I touched a nerve. It's definitely a success for Sony but I still don't know how Blu-Ray winning the format war helps gamers.

[Kleptic]

Tuttle...people said the exact same thing with DVD and the PS2...'too bad everyone buying the thing is only using it for movies right now'...and look what happened...that was said right around when DVD was exponentially increasing over any rivals (the physical Divx media was really all there was, save VHS also)...and the PS2 was starting to come into its own in sales...exactly like what is happening now with its younger brother...

its not touching a nerve...its just how amazing it is that people type up the exact same crap as last generation over and over...the BRD is just one more thing that adds tons of value to the PS3 when compared to any of its competition...

The DC had a marginally higher capacity CD-Rom drive...DVD 'wasn't needed for gaming'...people buying the PS2 'are not gamers, just movie watchers'...and about 8.5 years later...we all know how that turned out...the cards are on the table all over again...and it looks good for Sony...again...

[Captain Tuttle]

While I don't agree with everything that you wrote thanks for the intelligent response. I don't think that you can compare the PS2 with the PS3...it's 2 totally different situations. The PS2 was the dominant console of it's generation because, let's face it, it's competition sucked. It's different today.
Just my opinion though.

Have a bubble.

[Spike47]

I'm starting to ask to myself what the heck is wrong with japan?

xbox360 2,000 units, ps3 20,000 units?

Is the xbox360 gonna be completely dead in japan, cause the ps3 will easily regain sales with mgs4 and gt5,

but what about the xbox360, will sales keep going down till it's death in that region?

[SSCOOLCHEA]

Why would anybody want a big ugly box in there living room ?

seriously

[lynx1halo]

......wow this site had a lot of changes since I last visited

[meepmoopmeep]

yeah you're right, no wonder 360's don't sell there

;P

[ps360s]

is that true...I thought I were a gamer myself!

ermm so its no good me owning Xbox360, a PC that plays Crysis in very high settings and Im not a gamer after all since I own a PS3!

People who buys it as Blu-ray player yes are not gamers but that doesnt mean its a bad thing ...it means it can bring in other consumers to the market which will help sales which in time is good for the company...

so meaning gamers will eventually or are buying a Ps3(or already brought 1) to play the games and then the people who buys it for a Blu-ray player both will help double the sales of the Ps3 or triple or whatever...

Xbox 360 is stuck as just for games which to me won't bring more sales then the Ps3 if you think about it that way

Thats what I call a good plan from Sony.

[moparful99]

Exactly right! Sony is genius, they are not only aiming the ps3 at gamers but movie buffs as well. They did the same thing with the ps2. What the haters out there dont see is that eventually alot of the people that buy it as a movie player will be intrigued by the gaming portion and pick up a game. Now the chances of them becoming gamers is unknown but the fact that you are putting ps3 into homes that other wise wouldnt have bought a game console is genius!!! I bought my ps3 as a game console because I love sony franchises but have since started watching blu-ray and I'm hooked. I own 11 blu-ray movies and 13 games.... Its a win win for the industry, true the 360 is strictly a game machine and that is what it does best but that doesnt mean the ps3 cant do gaming as well. In a sense blu ray will propel the ps3 just like dvd propelled the ps2....

[EZCheez]

I might post about this a lot but it's only because i'm in shock. My 360 broke within FOUR DAYS after I bought it. I just can't believe it happened so soon.

FOUR DAYS! I didn't even get the RROD. I guess they did fix the RROD because mine just froze completely within minutes of startup 15 times in a row while trying different things.

I know you 360 owners will see this as probably trolling or something, but I bought this because I wanted to be a 360 owner. Never again.

EDIT-And yes, that is the burger king game. I thought the kids would get a kick out of it but my 360 couldn't even start the game.

[toughNAME]

maybe MS is punishing you silver members :P

free replacement...took 10 days total for me

garbage hardware, but great customer service (in regards to the xbox 360...not windows!)

[rofldings]

Damn ... I just saw you post about getting it only a few days ago.

That sucks.

Return it, don't exchange it. :)

[EZCheez]

I refuse to play the replacement game after owning it for only days. If it had been at least six months, maybe. Four days? HELL NO.

I just got back from returning it, and i'll be buying some new PS3 games with the money I got back.

[AllroundGamer]

after looking at the screens i would say your xbox tried to run the Matrix... and failed :) but i feel your pain, mine broke a week ago the second time now. (first the classic RROD, now just freezes after couple of seconds after game is launched without any red lights or something...)

[Kain81]

Yesterday i was in Mediamarkt (its like Wal-mart)and played PGR4 on 360,
after 13-20min. the game freeze on me (not RROD but this has happen to me too for 5 month ago^^)

[EZCheez]

That's how it started. I downloaded some games that would get my kids attention and when I started an ACME Arsenal demo it died. Then again. It finally got to the point of where it wouldn't even get to the dashboard.

It sucks because I made it to the final boss on Gears last night, but I was too wasted to actually beat him so I saved it for when I was sober. I guess I'll never know how it ends.

Also, I never once got any red rings. It looked completely normal, made no weird noises, and then BAM, frozen. 15 times.

[Ghoul]

i feel you

[The Closing]

But don't worry about not finishing gears since there isn't much of a story. The game is all about awesome online multiplayer not the campaign.

[AllroundGamer]

this time my xbox broke when i played a GearsOfWar tournament, where people could win nice prizes, so i was really happy about it... damn unreliable piece of...

[Lew_Ijgee]

is because they have no room to breath when packed into such a small space as you have them. With the way you have then set up, the heat that is vented from the system gathers and bakes the systems within the tiny amount of room they have. Furthermore, the hot air that is vented out will be the same air that the systems will attempt to pull back in to remain cool.

Imagine being locked in a hot room (with a window) breathing in the same air you breath out... eventually you will RROD as well.

[EZCheez]

My PS3 has been in that slot for almost a year and a half so your theory is nothing more than a theory.

Furthermore, I gave the 360 the widest portion so it had room to breathe and I even pulled it 1/3 of the way out every time before I turned it on so it would get even more airflow. It still sat perfectly horizontal every time I did.

Tell your theory to all of those people whose broke when they were sitting out in the open. I know they started to install heatsyncs to fix the earlier consoles, but this is a brand new one with an HDMI port and all.

Please, please don't talk to me as if I don't know how to take care of and use my consoles. I've been gaming for over 20 years and I know how to take care of my electronics.

[Omegasyde]

Ezcheez, I couldn't return mine so I sold my 360 on craigslist.com, as soon as my system got back.

~yes the customer server is niceand somewhat expediant. If they weren't MSFT would of been sued.

[moparful99]

Lew the reason the 360s overheat is because of the shell of the console. This is exactly why sony opted to have a huge open case to allow the air to move freely through the system. Air takes the path of least resistance so when you have a cramped case it goes in and finds the shortest easiest path to the vents. I know that microsoft sold you on the "its your fault if you dont leave it in the middle of your living room standing upright on a stool" theory but everyone now knows this isnt the case. Sure having it in a tight confined space isnt going to help the situation but the point is that 360's overheat due to an inherent design flaw that microsoft knew existed since before launch. I wish more 360 owners abandoned the 360 until microsoft themselves fixed the problems. I want a 360 for gears and dead rising but I refuse to give my money to microsoft until the problem is gone. Instead of wasting their money on the xna program and all of these games, they need to fix their console.

[The Closing]

I luckily got to trade my 360 in for my ps3 when it RRODed. Truthfully the only thing I miss is gears of war being I played that game more than any other online game ever, but it's just not worth owning two systems that do practically the same thing just for one game especially with its faulty hardware. Now I just wait for gears of war 3 on ps3 or dark sector to kick as much ass...hopefully.

[eagle21]

The PSP, Wii, DS, and PS3 will continue to do well this year. The satin silver PS3 will release 3/6/08. It is bundled with Yakuza. I think it's gonna be a big seller. Anyway, Blu-ray is going to sky rocket PS3. I just had family over and my cousin who is female told me she got a Bravia and her boyfriend has a ps2, and wants a PS3. I took her through the features and she is going to get one now for her boyfriend and herself. She loved the free online, web browser, the games (both psn and Blu-ray), the Blu-ray playback, etc.

[ForTheFallen]

I got all of my friends to get PS3's...They had 360's...Only 1 out of 4 or 3 is left after 2 years I think. Destroyed 4 games...

[moparful99]

I myself have convinced about 7 people to buy a ps3. 2 of them were friends and the rest were at work, I work at best buy. But as soon as you tell people all of the features their eyes open up. This is sony's biggest problem, marketing. Here in america marketing rules the industry and sony has been marketing but they do it inncorectly. They need to advertise their features not just the games. Half of the people that I have sold ps3 too had no idea that you could go online with the ps3 where as microsoft markets the hell out of its live services. I sold a ps3 to a guy that had a psp and was getting tired of it and I told him that he could connect it to a ps3 and stream music and games and also take blu-ray movies from the ps3, save it to a memory stick pro duo, and then watch on the psp. He came back the next day and bought a ps3 and a samsung 40" tv with his tax refunds... People like me that pound the streets and show off the features of the ps3 are essentially the thing that is winning america for sony. They came in a little to c@cky thinking that ps3's were going to sell based on brand recognition alone. Regardless of sony's lack of appropriate advertisement the ps3 has been selling far better then anyone in the industry wants to admit.

[Rugludallur]

that is about as ignorant as saying: people who rent movies on the Live marketplace aren´t gamers!
People who buy the ps3 for blu-ray always pick up atleast one game at some point and that game could turn gaming into a hobby for some people.
And many gamers like to buy blu-ray too because most couldn´t say no to a 1080p movie if they had the chance, exept the mart who likes his movies sen´t to him via digital distrubution in all its 720p glory.

[LevDog]

Hey you never know.. those people who buy a PS3 for a BR player.. Whos to say they dont see a game they like and end up using it as both a BR player and game system.. Wii opened the door for Non gamers to play games.. The Psn has some None Hardcore games on there.. Simple stuff like that number game sudoko or whatever..and the most recent game Pixel Junk Monsters.. Simple but very very addictive.. So those BR players aka Ps3s can easily been turned into a game system for those None gamers..

[TheWickedOne]

Thats pretty much my way of thinking. Sony may grab some hardcore movie fans and in the process turn them to the darkside of gaming.

But serious I don't see the problem here, if people want to buy it for movies go ahead. I bought it for both and was hoping blu-ray would come out on top and if it didn't then I'll just play games.

[undacovabrothe]

The ps2 was the same way with its dvd I dont know why people are like ppl are buying it just because its a blue ray player so what. Its selling that is all Sony wants it to do sell they dont care how it sells they put br in it for it to sell.

Also blue ray in a ps3 also helps them kids who parents dont want to fork out the money for a ps3. Kid goes but mommy or daddy it has a blue ray player them things cost like 800 dollars its a bargain. Mommy or Daddy goes WHAT?!?! I better jump on that! Now a kid got a way to persuade his parents to buy him a ps3. I know thats how I got my mom to fork out money for a ps2 I played the its a dvd player card. Thats when they costed like 300 dollars a player I think more and we had no dvd players in the house. Ps2 was like 250 dollars.

[DarkHero]

when ps3 sales rise because of mgs4 and gt5 will the xbox360 be at 1,000 units?LOL.

Can anybody tell me why console sales have gone down in japan?

[vloeistof]

go sony take no prisoners lol

[CrazedFiend]

Well, I can understand PS3 sales dropping here in Japan. We never see PS3 commercials over here. It's like 20% PS2 and 80% Wii/DS commercials from what I can tell.

[Kain81]

live you in Japan?

[Genki]

not realize that the PS3 was a "Trojan Horse" for Blu-Ray. Welcome to November 2006...you've got a lot of catching up to do.

Anyway, there's no negatives attached as the term may implicate. BD provides more space for devs, and the ability for our consoles to double as HD movie players. Those are facts, not spin, period.

[LevDog]

Well I dont know bout japan but they did stop makin the High End PS3.. Maybe people are waiting for the Good stuff... 40g is a nice deal.. but Most gamers want the best.. So they are prolly waiting for the 120 or rumored 250 Ps3.. That would be my guess.. Or It is Japan.. I think You get one free at birth.. I could be wrong tho

[Ivix]

You just made me laugh. And I have nothing to add to this matter.

[Tsukasah]

Nice avatar, Images and Words ftmfw!

[Maddens Raiders]

Sony is *determined to win another console war.

As damned as the path may be to get there, just get the desired result: Victory.

P.S. - EZCheez I think the gaming gods are playing havoc with your karma. Stay the steady path young man. 8D

[EZCheez]

For not "staying the course."

[moparful99]

EZcheez I really feel for ya man. I for one love all of the competition that this generation has provided because the quality of services like live and psn and of course the great games. But when a company ignores its established customer base in order to beat a competitor is a slap in the face to us as gamers. I hope more people follow your lead and demand quality..... BTW what is your PSN name? Mine is moparful99, hit me up man.....

[gololo]

i feel that now the 360 fans will be saying that people are buying the ps3 only because its the cheapest blu-ray player out there....

[Kleptic]

its pretty simple...the 360 appeals to people that like to play games only...most 360 owners use the other features the system has, but those features were probably not any selling point of the system in the first place...just nice bonus stuff to play around with...

The PS3 has all kinds of other stuff packed into it though...giving something known as 'value'...which makes it appeal to a broader market of consumers...there are those that think this phenomenon is bad...and spin the PS3 selling well into a negative thing, of which their point is still unclear to me...

the 360 has some great games...but MS has done little to make the system appealing to anyone other than those that purchased an original Xbox...the system is on track to sell around 30 million units in the same 4 year time span as it took the original to sell 25 million...that is growth, but it makes it very clear that the system isn't breaking into a new market segment...in comparison the PS2 sold around 25 million more than the original PS1 in the same time frame...its just it was around 100 million compared to 125 million for the PS2...it is very likely that the additional 25 million people that purchased one could have been movie watchers first, that bought it for the DVD player around launch...then ended up buying a few games over the years also...

[captainjy]

When Netflix hits Xbox Live exclusively you movie console fanatics will stfu.

[Milky]

WTF is netflix ? this question is why blu-ray is best.

I seriously dont have a clue what netflix is, but I know what blu-ray is.

[Milky]

Netflix is 1 movie rental store of many, blu-ray is in its own league.

[Mr Tretton]

captain, you do know that anyone with a PC can use Netflix?

and Netflix even if it's on Xbox first, Netflix would never give themselves 'exclusively' to MS.

[SSCOOLCHEA]

NOT HD , SO DONT CARE