PlayStation 3, Doomed to 3rd Place?

Though the hardware saw a happy launch in late November, sales have dropped hard every month. Most telling? Hardware numbers in June are down a whopping 60% from January. Firmware releases and PlayStation Network updates have offered improved features, but can't fix the two most brutal criticisms -- price and software -- and unless a miracle occurs, the former will keep them from playing much catch up this Fall.

Is Sony doomed? No. But, will they move out of third place this Fall? Not at all likely.

[XxZxX]

I concurred in order to sell 10 million plus this fall is absolutely impossible.

[HowarthsNJ]

http://www.1up.com/do/my1Up...

[Real Gambler]

I agree they quite likely won't move out of third place by this fall. And all gamers will agree that for once, everybody is winning because we have three consoles doing really well. But if I had money to bet on who will finish third in a few years from now, I would bet ya it won't be Sony.

Saying there's no exclusive is also false. There's lot and they look extremely good. I just played Heavenly Sword demo. Now, I'm counting the days until the game release. The turtle will win again : ) Or at least won't finish third overall...

[nasim]

so dont count on JUNE sales.

ps3 is now leading x360 in JULY worldwide which includes NA.

IN NA for the 1st time after 7 months ps3 has overtaken x360 in terms of sales (for the last 2 weeks actually)

:0

www.vgcharts.org

x360 is dead in JAPAN/EU

Now it is dead in USA!!!!

[TR0N]

Cant you sony brainwashed zombies give credit where credit is due?, if it wasnt for MS and the xbox (xbox live) sony would most likely never have implemented online gaming for the playstation, so give thanks to competition from xbox and concede that the 360 deserves to be in first place for that simple fact (innovation).

[jromao]

... where the PS3 is placed, PS3 owners are (and will) always be very very lucky to have one or more :)

[hotshot1237]

plus this fall will help. after that its a wrap 4 competition. just wait and see.

[ASSASSYN 36o]

Congratulations you are the first to state wait for this wait for that on this article.

[Xeoset]

Waiting? That's not going to solve anything.

Sony need those games now, not 2009. The PS3 has only 2 console movers, Motorstorm and Resistance, but it's not enough to mae everyone buy the systems because two games alone don't cut it.

Look at the PS2, the only reason that sold so much and got so far is because it had stellar games and loads of the, which is undeniable. The PS3 needs games, it's fall lineup looks good, but there isn't any games like Okami, God of War or SoC in there.

Time will tell.

[daous]

People are forgetting that the PS2's initial year didn't have a fantastic lineup of games. In fact, the good games, such as GT3, came out in the second year.

However, in the PS3 generation, we are seeing a significantly greater amount of AAA PS3 exclusives coming out in its initial year. Let's list the currently released AAA PS3 titles:

Resistance: Fall of Man
Motorstorm
Ninja Gaiden Sigma
Virtua Fighter 5

Now, let's look at the fall lineup:

L.A.I.R.
Heavenly Sword
Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction
LittleBigPlanet (BETA)
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Warhawk
HAZE (2007 PS3 exclusive, from developers who made Timesplitters and Goldeneye 007 baby!)
Unreal Tournament III (2007 PS3 exclusive, excluding on the PC)
SOCOM: Confrontation (personally not appealing to me, but definitely to millions of other users on PS2 at least)
Folklore
Hot Shots Golf 5 (in Japan, it's a HUGE seller there)
Dynasty Warriors PS3 (in Japan this year only, like HSG5, and it's also a massive system seller)

Remember, I'm not evening mentioning the multi-platform games, and already we have a very solid lineup that can last until next year. I KNOW I won't be able to afford buying all the fall games, but I'm definitely going to purchase Heavenly Sword and Ratchet and Clank: ToD. I have been waiting WAAAAY too long for those games :D

Edit: I find it amusing to see a lot of trolls and anti-PS3 fanboys give me disagrees. How can you disagree with this lineup? Heck, I never even commented about the 360 (which also has their own fantastic lineup btw), yet I get disagrees. Unbelievable, but expected in this site dominated by a bunch of 360 fanboys.

P.S. And no, I don't JUST own a PS3. I have an Xbox360 and a Wii as well (which I just bought recently).

[Ju]

Well, RB6:Vegas must be pretty bad, then, or nobody cares about that title on the PS3. Same goes for Transformers, Fantastic Four, Ninja Gaiden, The Darkness, FEAR (how could I add that!), Pirates of the Carbbian, Spider Man and Harry Potter.

Funny, to me that seems like these titles are about the same which came out for the the 360 just recently (except for FEAR and RB6, and Splinter Cell, which I saw in Spring but disappeared but is/was re-released ??).

And that's just what's available, now.

Besides LAIR heading for 08/16, Strangle Hold, NFL08, Tiger Woods 08, GRAW2, Stuntman Ignition, Dynasty Warriors and Warhawk are due for ...
AUGUST (not end of the year!).

What are you people complaining ? Go out and buy some games. There must be something you like. Sure some more Blockbusters are heading for the Holiday season, and the Heavenly Sword Demo due out today might keep me busy.

[neogeo]

.....

[clownfacemcgee]

I beat that demo 4 times already. It takes about 5 minutes to beat. It's SUPER-SHORT. How can you possibly be too busy playing Heavenly Sword? You must really really suck to not be able to beat it.

[Fisher339]

Sony doesn't have to No 1 to be good, no console does.

Anyone Remember N64, prolly my favorite of all time, it got its ass whooped my PS1. Doesn't mean it wasn't good or doomed, nintendo still made a profit off of it.

[MannyHarlem141]

not that the ps3 is gonna end up like the N64.. it's still the best hrdware out now, it will have the best games.. i'm just glad i got a ps3.. i can't play gears for ever

yea, keep disagreeing... cuz when halo comes out what's left... your gonna ask mommy for a ps3 and shes gonna say "when it get's another price cut, billy!"

[eLiNeS]

but if anymore exclusives come over to the Xbox 360 then you will be asking mommy for a Xbox 360 and shes gonna say "Now Johnny, I told you you shouldve gotten the Xbox 360 in the first place, but sure, if you let me play Viva Pinata a few hours a day!"

LOL

[Daishi]

Jericho,Half-Life 2 Orange Box,Ace Combat 6,Mass Effect,Beautiful Katamari,Assassins Creed,Alone in the Dark,Call of Duty 4,Mercenaries 2,World in Conflict,Army of Two,Splinter Cell Conviction,Kane And Lynch,Rock Band,Too Human,Alan Wake,Resident Evil 5,Frontlines: Fuel of War,Dark Sektor,End War,Turok,Star Wars Force Unleashed,Fallout 3,Prototype...
Most of these are multi platform so this post goes for both those that say Halo this... or Killzone that. I would rather nobody be happy than everybody:3

[timmyp53]

4.48 million so far.. how much will be sold after the games relase
http://forums.n4g.com/fb.as...

[MannyHarlem141]

getting like 4 of those plus assassins creed, GTA4 &Cod4.. no madden for me runnin at 30 frames ps.. motherfruck EA!

[THE_JUDGE]

one freaking year. Why can't eveyone wait til its gets on its feet before everyone tries to put it in its coffin.

[Marceles]

Good comment, it's never been one year. Of course everyone remembers the Dreamcast and the headstart it had on the PS2. The Dreamcast and the PS1 were going at it for awhile, just like the PS2 and 360 are now. Then the PS2 came out, everyone hated the price, the games, and the DVD add-on "no one needs", and then all of a sudden it took off. Super Nintendo vs. PS1 also..."we don't need CDs", then Final Fantasy VII had to come out on PS1 and also Gran Turismo came out, then it was over. The people that say FF7 isn't one the greatest game of all time, or say they didn't like it...you just had to be there at that moment and time the game came out and you'll know why everyone loves that game, but anyways... these "PS3 is dead" articles are retarded. PS3 doesn't need anything now, it's just internet junkies like to talk trash and have amnesia about gaming history...

[PS3n360]

Guess they gotta squeeze the last few drops outta the poor sales glass before July numbers hit. Really does whoever wrote this think that The new price isnt going to have an effect. I went from thinking maybe next year to probably next month. i bet I am not alone. its no longer about lack of games for me as the games and demos available right now would keep me satisfied untill the big titles hit. Its price and as far as i am concerned they hit a sweet spot for what you are getting.

[Armyless]

When the July numbers come out, there will be 10 articles/week saying just the opposite. This is obviously bait to get linked, just as next month's articles posted on the PS3 "surge" will be.

[pilotpistolpete]

Oh no! another ps3 bashing blog!

*snore*

[boodybandit]

Exactly.
Funny how it surfaces the day Heavenly Sword demo is released.

[witchking]

They may be in third at the moment, and they're likely to stay there through the holidays and well into 2008 (after all, not enough people are going to shell out $500 or $600 outside of the holidays to allow them to catch up), BUT... they're on the right track. They will have great software, and some of it will be exclusive. And eventually they'll hit a price point that more people will want ($300-$400).

With Microsoft tripping over the RROD issue (the warranty is nice, but it basically says "your machine can break, you could be without it for a month, but we'll replace it for you), Sony is in a position to let this "10 year war" stretch out into quite a nice little battle for 2nd place. Let's face it, the Wii -- somehow, unexplainably -- is going to win.

[Gil]

Not sure I agree with you about Sony finishing second, but I really don't care. I like MS, but I've got nothing against Sony. I do agree with you about Nintendo though and I really don't understand it either.

Look at that Fanboys, a MS guy agreed with a Sony guy and gave him a bubble.

Edit: Even if Sony (or MS or Nintendo) finishes in third, it doesn't mean they are doomed. There are enough gamers out there for all the consoles to be successful

[ASSASSYN 36o]

Sony in third... for now? They have been in third for a year in a few months.

[Odion]

it took them 5 months and launch to get 80% of that number, it took another 3 to get 700 000k (which doesn't line up with any of their sales numbers) chances are that in another 5 months their not going to sell another 5.5 million.

[achira]

i have the feeling that the "xbots" make in their panties. so their plan is to spread fud like this to ditract from their RODs. ps3 and sony are fine. its the first year, and it will go only better, and the "xbots" are afraid of this.

[sticky doja]

You just want to go back to one buble don't you. Why do you have to down on people that enjoy xbox so much? Why do you have to say they wear panties and are xbots? Can't we all just get along?

[Mike134nl]

But 2008 might become the year of the ps3, or not of course.

[mintrieri]

Don't get me wrong, I like the PS3, I just can't think of a reason to actually buy one yet.

[sticky doja]

My sentiments exactly. I will get one, but not for 500 or 600 and the possibility of games to come. I will get one when there are games I can't live without, and hopefully a price drop will be there before that happens.

[GRRiMREEAPeR]

The ps3 is a LUXURY item. at SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS they could have Metal Gear Solid 4, 5, and 6 and they still WONT enjoy the sales Ps2 had. its a high end luxury player that dosent show consumers a big difference to justify its price, madden not running at 60 frames, Rockstar saying that the 360 version of GTA is the "complete experiance"
( http://www.joystiq.com/2007...
Its habit of bleeding VITAL exclusives to the competition. a minorty of the population goes out to buy luxury items when they go on sale, iphone, gucci, ps3... when the smarter majority knows that a less expensive treo, polo and xbox 360 work just as fine (somtimes better)... luxury never sells as much as regular items... xbox will always have the lead, wii dosent count. maybe next generation sony. learn from your mistakes. BENTLEY WILL NEVER SELL AS MANY CARS AS TOYOTA

[MannyHarlem141]

and youre a proud owner of a toyota lolz

i'll take the bentley, thank you.. i don't care that toyota sells more!
I like luxury.. besides TOYOTAS are RELIABLE, thats a terrible anaology with the THREE RED RINGS AND ALL!

[SmokeyMcBear]

i think he means ford taurus instead of toyota

[xmod]

Bentley vs Toyota?

No, I think you mean Lexus vs Ford

(aka expensive, reliable vs less expensive, unreliable)

[Adamalicious]

Where can you even buy a PS3 for $600 right now?

[Rageanitus]

PC gaming is a luxury.... hehe something I have

for those ppl who think the ps3 is doomed .. then you have a very closed mind.

Its only been out for ~8 months. Give them credit they are actually doing the same or even better than xbox over the same time frame.
Plus their unit costs much more than the xbox 360 and wii.

They must be doing something right... Ppl forget the ps1 and ps2 never had a great start, I would say about the same start.

Do you know sony is succesful, it is because they fully support their previous generation products t o help fund for their next gen products. Although their ps2 is soooooooo out of date hardware wise they still support it. And this is money to support their ps3.

Its big business ppl, and for ppl to complain that they are using their consoles as a trojan horse to expand into different markets , I guess those complainers will never survive in as a business executive . PPl forget that blu-ray will help push sales in their 1080p monitors, sony studio movies. Its not rocket science... if you notice sony only started advertising their 1080p monitor only a few months before the ps3 launch.

[D_U_I]

I'm not saying a thing.... but i'm

OUT

[bednet]

If one console goes down, it's the consumer that looses...we should all be happy that there is a console war, cause your xbox/ps3 would be much more expensive, they could actually sell it for profit not with a loss (700$ 360 or 900$ PS3) and the games would most likely be more expensive too.

In any case, you making money out of this war? I didn't think so, so shut up and leave history write itself!

Wear the hat if it fits!

[supaet]

Even if sales were to double in July and continued going forward, they would have no chance of catching up with Nintendo, let alone Microsoft. In the event of a gaming apocalypse where Xbox 360s were to stop being manufactured until January 2008 -- keeping in mind U.S. total Xbox 360 sales to date are at 5.79M, whereas PS3 sits at 1.49M -- they would need to sell 4.3M units by December. At the averaged rate culled from the last six months of PS3 hardware sales -- 127,250 units -- it would take them a total of 33 months in order to catch up with Xbox 360.

a total of 33 monthes just to catch up? that's with the 360 not selling a single unit....

[Ju]

The June sales were closer to 99k, and the July numbers are about 135% increased which would be closer to 227k now (and considering, the first 10 days in July didn't have a price cut maybe even higher). Say they'd keep this up (which is BTW more then the 360 sells ATM), 4.3M would take 18M. I, however doubt these numbers. You mix match global numbers with US numbers. And the global sold closer to 5M, IMO, and they try to reach 10 or 11 until late this year (or if that is next fiscal year, is March 08). I am also pretty confident that, if not late 2007, then in 2008 there will be a $399 model out.

[Daewoodrow]

I'm not normally one to come to the defence of the PS3, but the fact that sales fell 60% from January doesn't mean much, the console sales are always higher near launch.

[DeadIIIRed]

We can sit around and argue all day about which system will win and I've watched most of you do it, but it never gets anywhere. Besides, Sony addressed those two "problems" at E3 and did it quite well.

[neogeo]

I would be scared right about now,
back to Heavenly.

[eLiNeS]

if the 360 had a built in HDDVD drive. That would mean the Xbox 360 would be in the same boat as the PS3 right about now or worst with the RROD issues. I don't think anyone is DOOMED but it will take some time for Sony to even come close to 2nd place.

[GRRiMREEAPeR]

u may not care about sales but u can bet ur bently that sony does, and their investors too, oh and game developers, those are the guys that MAKE the games u wanna play lol at you... u can keep ur bentely that ull never enjoy cuz they stopped making 'gas' for it, get a toyota like me, i got a full tank of mass effect gta asscreed halo bioshock fable 2 mercs 2 ace combat... im speeding past you while ur sputtering on lair, and shoddy 360 ports... VROM!

[peyotiux]

i own a Camry and i dont need to send it in for repairs every 3 months so i guess your analogy is quite wrong.

[Ju]

The investors hardly care about the number sold. They care about how much money you can make. Sure, you'd put your money where the mouth is, but as long is you make profit, that's all right. Sony made profit with the PS2 and pretty much with every other HW gadget they are making (with their up and downs). Something which the xbox division never managed to achieve since its inception. If I would be investor, I'd ask why MS fried my last $1.6Billion again (!).

BTW: I'd place a bet, that the PS3 will make profit before the 360 does. (-including depreciations activated to cover up 3y warranty claims before fy2007 ended).

[felidae]

how could they move to 2nd place this fall? everybody knows that this is impossible for them. does this mean that the ps3 is not a good system? No.

[RadientFlux]

Why the heck is this in the xbox 360 section

[sajj316]

I don't think that Sony will be out of third place even after the holidays but they will be 2nd after holiday 08. Yes, is it an uphill climb. Sony will most likely take 2nd place at the end of 08 and pry it away from Microsoft. Why do I say that? They have traction in all three regions, Europe, Japan, and the US. In the long run, I believe Sony will come out first and overtake the Wii somehow in the next two or three years. Just my take ...

For those that disagreed .. I will copy and paste my prediction and put it as my profile. Let's talk 08.

[BLACKJACK VII]

This article speaks for itself, & reinforces why people aren't buying into Sony's hype. If you want a cheap BluRay player, it is the way to go. If you want to play games, there are obviously much better choices out there. Late 2008 or 2009 will be the time to buy a PS3 after they drop the price some more & release some desperately needed software. Frankly, with all the games coming to Xbox360 before Christmas, the gap will only continue to widen:

"Even if (PS3) sales were to double in July and continued going forward, they would have no chance of catching up with Nintendo, let alone Microsoft. In the event of a gaming apocalypse where Xbox 360s were to stop being manufactured until January 2008 -- keeping in mind U.S. total Xbox 360 sales to date are at 5.79M, whereas PS3 sits at 1.49M -- they would need to sell 4.3M units by December. At the averaged rate culled from the last six months of PS3 hardware sales -- 127,250 units -- it would take them a total of 33 months ( 2 years & 9 months) in order to catch up with Xbox 360."

"$100 might have swayed those on the fence during the slow summer months, but Sony's relying on a bunch of unproven new IPs ... to jump start PS3.... Sony's once great backup plan, Grand Theft Auto, will be a multi-platform release -- with exclusive content on Xbox 360. Times have changed."

"Hardware numbers in June are down a whopping 60% from January. Firmware releases and PlayStation Network updates have offered improved features, but can't fix the two most brutal criticisms -- PRICE and SOFTWARE -- and unless a miracle occurs, the former will keep them from playing much catch up this Fall."

[Amplifier]

I would trust someone that has been in the videogame console market for 12 years(having the 2 most successful consoles ever) than someone that has been in it for what 5 years(dropped support on their first one to rush out the next and give us reliability issues on top) that doesn't hardly know from lick to spit in this specific industry.

Regardless of how things look know, obviously things can and will change down the road.

Sony made this industry bigger, they will get back that support when the games and price drops come.

It's far from over! Trust me on that one.

Amp

[Daishi]

I would just about guarantee that most people who have Wii's have a PS2. Did they buy a Wii because the love Nintendo? No, but because it was cheap and came out the door with a major ip. The casual gamer wants something proven with games in their hands then, not an IOU. This is why the 360 is in such a slump right now. Sorry but those old PS2 owners aren't loyal to anyone IMO.

[Bathyj]

What a joke. Talk about a biased point of view. He acts like its a failure because it hasnt closed a 10 million gap lead in 6 months. And does he acknoledge that it has in fact closed the gap to 7 million in that time, and that with no game, a tempoary situation. I look around lately and all I see is happy PS3 owners. HS Demo 53%

[Itachi]

1 million units in 1 month in europe and with no football game this year with PES 2008 and FIFA 08 on the PS3 thats gonna be a massive units sold

I mean PES6 sold 8 million copies on the PS2 last year

this year PES 2008 with 18gb of content cant wait till october

[Covenant]

...on the fates of ALL THREE systems until after this Christmas, and even then, we may not know. Folks, the PS3 and Wii are still less than a YEAR old, and the 360 less than two. A little early to judge long-term prospects, I think.

[360Crusader]

Even if PS3 gets all them games the 360 is still matching their best.
Their only success is crossing swords with 360. It will take more then that to overtake a system that has already dealt numerous blows to PS3.

[ApocalypseShadow]

ps3 just came out.sells at a higher price and doesn't have all it's big hits yet.while 360 has been out for almost 2 years and is barley over 10 million with a third of them broken.

if sony only sells 5 million a year for 6 years,that's 30 million.

10 million a year for 6 years,that's 60 million.

the price is going down and the sales will go up.

meaning: they have a chance to sell 100 million systems again for a THIRD time.

that's the reality.sony has their own agenda.nintendo has theirs and so does microsoft.

[KingJames1906]

I have a suspicion that at least half of the PS3 owners today are buying them for blue ray movies only. If that’s the case, Sony’s game studios can pack it up. No way can you spend two years (or more) in development (see Heavenly Sword, Lair, Little Big Planet, etc.) and not get the maximum output in terms of dollars out of your games. I personally believe its BuII Shi+ and state that PS3 doesn’t have any games. They have plenty. The issue is not enough PS3 owners are buying them in mass quantities like the 360 crowd. Look at the top twenty games sold in the US alone. Most titles are 10 Nintendo (Wii and DS) along with Six Xbox360 titles. You’ll have maybe two PS2 and one PSP and one PS3 title, which will not cut it if Sony’s selling the PS3 systems at a loss. Blue Ray movie sales will not cut it. Sony does not get money for every blue ray title sold outside of their own studios. What they do get the return on is games. I just think their strategy is flawed. Sony should have stopped making the PS2 first; second keep the 20 gig PS3 (or keep both sku’s) and the launch price should have been 499.99 and 399.99 respectively. Well see if I’m right once Heavenly Sword and Lair release. Give it a month or two (Well know by early October.) If only one title is successful, they still lose as now that profit from one title has to pay for development of two.

[daous]

You bring up a lot of points, but there are a lot of things you don't understand:

"I have a suspicion that at least half of the PS3 owners today are buying them for blue ray movies only. If that’s the case, Sony’s game studios can pack it up."

There's no evidence indicating that half the PS3 owners bought the systems SOLELY for Blu-Ray movies. Be careful in making such an assumption. And it's highly likely that you're wrong. Remember, there are over 110 million PS2 owners. It's almost certain the 4.48 million PS3 owners are essentially the first wave of PS2 owners who were hardcore and rich enough to make the transition early.

Also, Resistance: Fall of Man has already sold over 2 million copies worldwide. And it's a first-person shooter, which is not what the Playstation brand is typically famous for. Motorstorm has sold well over 900 000 units. Dynasty Warriors: Gundam has sold over 300 000 units in its FIRST week in Japan alone. On the first day, Hot Shots Golf 5 sold over 150 000 units in retail stores in Japan, excluding the 300 000 online pre-orders. And there's lots of other games (particularly multi-platform games) which have sold solidly on all consoles. Considering not everyone is into FPS, nor racing games, nor fighting games, etc., it's obvious that far more than half of the PS3 owners bought their system for the games.

However, there's certainly going to be a lot of people who bought the PS3 solely as a blu-ray player.

"No way can you spend two years (or more) in development (see Heavenly Sword, Lair, Little Big Planet, etc.) and not get the maximum output in terms of dollars out of your games."

Gears of War was in development for over 4 years, alongside the Unreal Engine 3.0. Elders Scroll: Oblivion began development over 4 years ago as well. Mass Effect is about 2.5 years in development. And Too Human has been in development since the PSONE era.

Of course games with 2+ years of development will not get maximum profit output. The only ones that will are a lot of Wii mini-games or "family" games like Rayman Raving Rabbits or Brain Academy Wii. Any game with such big budgets naturally run the risk of not making a lot of money in comparison to how long it takes to make the game and its costs.

"I personally believe its BuII Shi+ and state that PS3 doesn’t have any games. They have plenty. The issue is not enough PS3 owners are buying them in mass quantities like the 360 crowd. Look at the top twenty games sold in the US alone. Most titles are 10 Nintendo (Wii and DS) along with Six Xbox360 titles."

You are also forgetting the fact that the PS3 install base is a third of the Wii or Xbox 360. Of course it won't sell enough to make the top 20 easily. When the PS3 install base is 10 million and over, there will be the same mass purchasing. This does not apply solely to the PS3, but instead to ALL consoles. That's how business works.

"You’ll have maybe two PS2 and one PSP and one PS3 title, which will not cut it if Sony’s selling the PS3 systems at a loss."

Every console maker with the exception of the Nintendo Wii has always sold their consoles at a lost in the first year. Some don't EVER break-even, such as the original Xbox, which stayed in the red throughout its ENTIRE lifespan. Microsoft lost billions of money, but luckily for them they make billions of more money from Windows :D

Again, this applies to all console makers. Wii is an exception, and is the first console in the past decade or two to actually have given a company, Nintendo in this case, profit per console right at launch day. This was one of the key reasons why Nintendo didn't match their specs with the 360 and PS3, and it's a very smart business decision on their part, which has made them millions of money so far this generation.

"Blue Ray movie sales will not cut it. Sony does not get money for every blue ray title sold outside of their own studios. What they do get the return on is games. I just think their strategy is flawed. Sony should have stopped making the PS2 first; second keep the 20 gig PS3 (or keep both sku’s) and the launch price should have been 499.99 and 399.99 respectively."

True. However, Sony owns A LOT of movie studios, so they will no doubt be making profit. It just won't be significant enough to compensate the loss from the Sony Computer Entertainment division (a.k.a. PSP, PS2, PS3).

Stopping production of the PS2 would be ridiculous. PS2 is one of the biggest sources of money for SCE right now, since they're making profit per PS2 by now AND they make a lot of money from the vast library of PS2 games available. Microsoft decided to stop the Xbox due to them actually LOSING money per Xbox til the very end. So it's two completely different stories.

I do agree with your pricing strategy. It was suicidal and a big risk for Sony to announce their prices so high, which in turn shunned a lot of gamers who do want to own a PS3, but simply can't afford one.

"Well see if I’m right once Heavenly Sword and Lair release. Give it a month or two (Well know by early October.) If only one title is successful, they still lose as now that profit from one title has to pay for development of two."

I can pretty much guarantee you Heavenly Sword will sell over 1 million copies eventually. Heavenly Sword has the same amount of hype and expectations as Resistance: Fall of Man and Motorstorm. LAIR, well, I'm personally not a fan of dragon nor flying games, but of the two I think this game may not sell as well as HS. However, it will sell a ton of units still simply based on visuals alone. Sony will no doubt be advertising this game for its graphics, in order to wow a lot of people to the PS3. LAIR will be promoted much like Motorstorm in terms of how amazing it looks.

Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction will no doubt sell over 4 million copies. EVERY Ratchet and Clank game so far has sold over 4 million copies, therefore qualifying this franchise a as a system-seller game. Plus, it's made by the same developers of Resistance: Fall of Man, so there's no doubt it will be a good game too (and I have played every Ratchet and Clank game so far and loved them).

Just wanted to address those comments.

Peace out//

[KingJames1906]

Thanks for disagreeing with me without being a total fanboy about it like some on this site. You bring up some well thought out counter points. But, I would say to those and let's start with the Game sales and development issue. To much time to develop without a real return. I'm not sure I know where you're getting the 2 million sold from for Resistance: Fall of Man (VGCharts has 1.5 worldwide.) My point was simply that Sony being the largest first party gaming developer seems to be relying only on first party games. Which you have to agree is a different strategy than what Sony did with the PS1 and PS2. PS2 was basically sold on third party (exclusive) content. That's not the case with the PS3. Sony can't make those kinds of gambles with new IP's that take 2 plus years to develop not to mention that Sony losses money for every PS3 sold. Now lets take that issue of my personal belief that many early adopters of the PS3 were doing so for a cheap blue ray movie player only. You’re absolutely right. I have no proof that half of PS3's were bought for that reason. The same way you have no proof that they were not. I find it interesting that people quote that number of over 100 million PS2's sold yet. PS2 does not lead the software sold in titles for today. You would think with that many units surly there should be at least one title say Sony's Spiderman 3 game were they would have sold at least 2% of the total PS2 units worldwide (2 million total.) Yet the game did not sell half a million copies for the PS2 (according to VGCharts.) Now granted the game did stink but one would think from the hype alone of Spiderman 3 and over 100 million PS2 units it should have sold at least a million units. But it didn't. Why am I picking on PS2 you ask? It's because the software for this system seems to be stagnant. Maybe people are buying used games or buying them as DVD players or replacements for an older PS2 but that fact still remains. For a system that has over 100 units why doesn't the PS2 lead in overall software sales (except Japan.)? Europe and North America have moved on to buying Nintendo (Wii and DS) and Xbox 360 even PSP titles but PS2 software is not selling that well for that number of units. Which brings me to my other point of discontinuing PS2's and selling only PS3's. PS3 has enough to complete with already with Microsoft and Nintendo, but Sony seems to be cannibalizing their console business. Lets for argument sake say the hard-core gamers who wanted Xbox 360 and PS3 have bought one. Now you’re looking for the teenagers and preteens who have to ask their parents to get one for them. Parents are not going to pay 499.99 plus 7.5% tax plus 59.99 for a game plus tax again. Lets not forget that if they are siblings you need to purchase another controller. You’re looking at over 600.00 for a game console. I just think focusing on PS3 only will allow for more units to sell new software in order for Sony to really make up the loss. PS2 can’t continue on this track past a year and a half. Buy then Nintendo and Microsoft will guarantee Sony a third place finish this gen. Now onto the movie business. Yes, Sony has many properties and studios, but as of this week (middle of summer movie season) in North America Sony has no property in the top 10 moneymakers. I can't see many recent movies for blue ray sales (except maybe Spiderman 3 this holiday season) of Sony blue ray properties (most people already own Sony's older properties on DVD and will not pay another 25-35 bucks for the same digital movie.) I could go on, but I would have to say, I think we'll have to agree to disagree. I really enjoyed the debate, Hey if you have an xbox360 look me up. My Gamertag is the same.

[VirusE]

Articles like this are stupid in my opinion. It is way to early to call. Both the 360 and the ps3 have dozens of amazing games coming out soon. Regardless of who "wins" with so many AAA titles coming out we all win in the end. Competition drives innovation and excellence.

[Rooted_Dust]

I somehow feel as if I have been transported back in time to about a month before E3. You know PS3 owners are feeling good now after E3, we have a good fall line up to look forward to and an even better '08, not to mention stuff like HOME and the return of rumble. I just see a bunch of venting because of a lack of negative PS3 news and bit of bad Xbox news (Moore's departure, admitance of faulty hardware, MS's Billion doller+ loss). My question is...why do you even care? X-box has a good line up coming this year, even if they haven't announced any '08 stuff. As a PS3 owner the only thing I'm concerned about is me and my console. If you're so worried about sales figures, go play the stock market.

[The Real Joker]

What are you stupid or lazy.

Turok
Release Date: Feb 5, 2008

Universe at War: Earth Assault
Release Date: Q1 2008

Burnout Paradise
Release Date: Q1 2008

Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon
Release Date: Q1 2008

Unreal Tournament 3
Release Date: Q1 2008

Frontlines: Fuel of War
Release Date: January 2008

Fallout 3
Release Date: Q4 2008

Condemned 2: Bloodshot
Release Date: Q1 2008

TNA iMPACT!
Release Date: Spring 2008

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
Release Date: Q1 2008

Culdcept SAGA
Release Date: Q1 2008

MX vs. ATV Untamed
Release Date: January 2008

Dark Sector
Release Date: Q1 2008

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements
Release Date: Q1 2008

Midnight Club: Los Angeles
Release Date: Q1 2008

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Release Date: Q2 2008

Legendary: The Box
Release Date: Q2 2008

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution
Release Date: Q2 2008

Postal III
Release Date: Q2 2008

Iron Man
Release Date: Q2 2008

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Release Date: May 2008

Hail to the Chimp
Release Date: Q2 2008

Fracture
Release Date: Q3 2008

The Club
Release Date: Q4 2008

Alan Wake
Release Date: Q? 2008

I realize not all of these are good games or even exclusives but come on. Nothing announced?

[Rooted_Dust]

What I ment to say was they didn't really show any 08 stuff at E3. But thanks for ripping me for the minor point and not accepting the fact that b!tching about sales is lame and pathetic.

[HydroBoy]

im happy with the ps3..so i dont care what postion it is on the market..*yawn* you guyz should post good articles & important news etc..not stuff like this

[ParaDise_LosT]

ofc this is important
more sales = bigger instal base = More developer support = more games...
This effects you too not just the company :P

[RussianSniper]

Are a bunch of idiots.

They're calculating monthly sales and then just going by those to say "It'll take 2 years and 9 months to reach the 360!"

Sorry, but you forgot to mention the PS3 cost more than the competitors, yet it still sold as much as the PS2, and launch to launch with the 360 actually sold MORE.

If you think the PS3 is doomed, your idiotic, now the 360 on the other hand, they've STILL haven't made a profit....

Just wait till the AAA games come out, that's how the PS2 won the last generation, and thats how Sony is gonna win it again.

[GRRiMREEAPeR]

pssst... hey triple AAA titles are already out... only get this, their out for XBOX with the certienty of many many more to come out in the following months, thats why we have the lead with 11 million sold+, welcome to july 2007 how was the weather last generation?

[peyotiux]

"we" got the lead, do you own any stock in microsoft?

[Trick Nolte]

Xbox SUX
PS3 is CRAP
Wii STINKS

I'm sick of this shiyat. I dont mind the debates and all but to much of this crap is being carried out in a manner thats pushes the boundaries of sheer stupidity.

When does it ever end man? We have 3 different consoles that are ALL GREAT on some merrit or a f'n nother and yet the bs continues to crank out. Regardles to who's in what place, do u silly fux see any of the BIG 3 gracefully bowing out and throwing in the towel anytime soon?! Hell no. So all we can expect to see is more quality games, some exclusive, some not. ALOT of effort to be the best by all 3 guns. BUT WHAT U WONT SEE IS NINTY, SONY OR MS QUITTIN THE RACE REGARDLESS TO WHAT!

[360Crusader]

Man I dont have anything against the PS3 (hell I own one) but you
sony fan boys always have some kind of excuse. Oh it cost alot more and its been out for only a year. Oh this game is still in pre alpha stage man you guys take the cake my hats off to ya. You guys are a resilient lot I'll give you that.

[BLACKJACK VII]

I'm BOYCOTTING 360Crusader's avatar !! Let's start a ONLINE PETITION against his forum posts !!! His comments are all crappy ports !! Look at my 'Specs !!!

Don't laugh at me !?! ....My nuttz are only PRE-ALPHA !!!

EDIT - Hee hee hee...... I'm sorry folks, couldn't resist. :)

[DJ]

Sony's got a huge lineup of great games coming out, and that's all that matters right now.

[RussianSniper]

Gears of War?
Crackdown?

You've had a year and a half and you only have 2 games worth buying?

Yea, why don't I go pay $50 to play those online too. ;)

The weather last generation was great, I mean Halo 2 was awesome, but the xbox still sucked just as much, and since Halo 3 is going to be awesome...I can't imagine how the 360 will be...

[Daishi]

Actually you mean The Halo 3 Beta also featuring Crackdown right ;)
I would have swapped it for FEAR, Rainbow 6, Ghost Recon, or even Call of Duty 2, you know games people are actually still playing...

[Odion]

No the 360 has been out for a year and a half, not 2 years, also they haven't had a price drop, they haven't released a big game since may, and even with the bad press they are still selling strong. The 360 could easly sell 6 or 7 million consoles this holiday, last holiday in November and December alone they sold 4.4 million units with Gears, and now their bringout out an even bigger franshise, followed the month after by another huge franshise, followed the next month by another one and another.

Like here is a roguh timeline

Aug

Bioshock (Big title)
Blue Dragon (Not a huge system sell but a great game none the less)

September
Eternal Sonata (Like Blue Dragon)
Halo 3 (One of the Biggest gaming franshises)
PGR4 (Big title, and a system mover)

October
GTA 4 (On the cheaper system that gets more out of it)
Ace Combat 6 (Huge in japan)
VF5 (Online fighter)
BK (Ninche but cool none the less)

November
Mass Effect (Huge title and system mover)
Viva Pinata (Niche right now, but you never know if the Core drops to 199)
Scene It! (Same as above)

December
Lost Odd (If it comes together could be huge)

Not to mention FolkLore bombed in Japan, Hot Shots golf isn't big here, and UT3 has never sold over a million copies

[Eagle Eye]

You forgot Two Worlds it's for August.

[DJ]

360 sales plumetted 60%, and yet...you think that counts as strong. I guess the increase in Wii and PS3 sales is 'weak' to you then, am I correct? =P

BTW, they didn't sell 4.4 million units last November-December, it was actually 2 million. The other two million units were sitting on shelves (and some still are).

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

But only XBOX 360 has Halo 3. I would not be surprised to see another Sony Price cut for the holiday if they can't keep up with XBOX 360 sales. It's really their only hope.

[GRRiMREEAPeR]

WoW! im happy that u sony guys are happy with your purchase, i mean damn... if i shelled out 600 calms on ANYTHING i would wanna try my hardest to belive in it too. listen, I dont know what kinda men and women u guys are but listen, i would Never give a red cent to a company that lied TO MY FACE about CGI vs in game footage... they did this more than once you are aware? oh and for the ps2 correct? they treat you like you dont have enough brain cells to know the difference or care that youve been duped, WOW i would never let a company PIMP me into buying a bluray player masked as the next playstation, that decision cost them a year, and there image took a hit, but that is nuthin in comparison to wat it means to you, the ignorant sony fanboy; first off, about 2 hundred more dollars, slow disc read times, extra space that u pay for that develpers dont use, and ultimatly games, less people buy ps3 = less games made for ps3. well, sony dosent care, hell there happy and could care less about the playstation brand or YOU there loyal (to a fault)consumer fanbase because hey! Bluray for the win! ha ha ha. all on your backs. ill gotten gains won thru lies and deciet and arrogance. at least xbox admits mistakes and works with its fanbase. hey dont hate me for loving my xbox, microsoft gives me alot to love about it. GRRIMREEAPER = former sony fanboy current xbox gamer.

[BLACKJACK VII]

Let's take a *brief* look at how Sony treats consumers:

Paying people to advertise their PSP through graffiti, puting programs in music files that make systems at risk of viruses, claiming CG trailers are gameplay footage, now phasing out the 60gb model & denying it, supposed PS3 "pricecut", all their games will be running at 1080p, the console race starts when they say it does, a Trojan Horse named BluRay, the cell processor, useless specs, DLC is a thing of the past, There will be 2 million PS3s at launch, the U.S. launch date, the European Launch date, Jack Trentton: "The DS is trailing the PSP", ... Sony philosophy: Wait for Nintendo to do it and then Double it: Analog Stick? Dual Analogs! Rumble? Dual Shock!, Wii-mote ? Six Axis ! ... do I need to go on because this list is ENDLESS.

What is *TRULY* amazing is the blind Fanboyism that follows Sony & believes their crap after they lie to you over & over & over & over.

I use to be a Sony Fanboy too. And I still WILL buy a PS3 - but probably not until late 2008 at the earliest or 2009 when I can justify it's pricetag & it's software library. But, I don't believe a damn thing Sony says anymore, I'll wait for their new IP's to come out & be reviewed & for them to give their console a *real* pricecut.

[daous]

Microsoft admits to its mistakes? Are you kidding me? It took them OVER A YEAR to admit the significant amount of defective Xbox 360s! 25-30% defect rate is not to be taken lightly, yet MS purposely and consistently claimed the defect rate was "very small". 2.5 million units defected is NOT small. That's essentially 25% of the Xbox360 owners right there, and puts the case of 10 million units sold in doubt. No one knows if those 10 million units include the 2.5 million or not, except for MS.

So don't just spout criticism on Sony. Sony is certainly not the ONLY company that lies. EVERY COMPANY has at least one time lied, so stop trying to make the Xbox360 look perfect, because it ain't. And this is coming from an owner of ALL THREE NEXT-GEN CONSOLES.

[xmod]

1up.com...a sucky gaming website. I never really cared about them. They're sort of like the USA Today of gaming sites. I like ign.com much better (gamespot.com is a distant 2nd).

[Gamer13]

IM OUT...///"""

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

I'm not going to bash this one Sony fans but just leave with this "truth is truth and you can't argue with truth because it is what it is."

[Wile]

PS3 sales will pick up with the release of the new games this fall. The may have started a significant rise with the 60GB price drop. We will see. But like we've all argued before, it's about the games.

[M1am1U]

It's getting really old hearing about all these "doomsday" stories about the PS3 and 360. Like you said, the PS3 will be fine. The 360 will be fine. They both have some truly amazing next-gen games coming out between now and the end of the year. That's what will define the competition.

[heroman711]

what the hell with all this fanboyism. I thought we were supposed to play the games not talk about the console

[Odion]

it would be nice if say there were 240 Million gamers if everyone just got 80 million

[Chava]

people seem to forget that the ps2 is STILL outselling the x360.
the ps3 sales WILL get much better from september onwards - the majority of ps2 owners, i think, would rather upgrade to ps3 than 360 Why? because they'll probably wanna do like me: stick with the devil you know.

the thing that made me buy a ps3 was the gta4 trailer. I know it's out for 360 but i instantly thought "ps3" when i saw the trailer. the 360 didnt even pop into my head - i'd much rather play a game that i have been looking forward to on a ps3 than a 360, despite the achievents (don't get me started on how stupid achievents are) etc.

In the long run, the wii and ps3 will be battling it out - M$ haven't brought ANYTHING new to the xbox 360. Like good old Krazy Ken would say, 360= xbox 1.5
let's face it, the only new thing 'bout 360 is improved xbox live (that u still have 2 pay for) and improved graphics plus wireless controllers.

The wii and ps3 are much different to their predecessors, especially wii. Ps3 is selling better than ps2 at this time in it's lifetime AND there are only 2 decent games out for the console - just think what will happen when the rush of new games + home turn up.

At the moment, 360 is on top, that's normal for a console that has had a headstart of a year, but the truth is 360 IS AT IT'S PEAK NOW. with games like forza 2 and halo 3.

The majority of 360 fanboys know this, but are too scared to admit it. (u know who u are)

This is just my opinion, and i predict that i will end up with one bubble and 15 disagrees

I've tried hard not to be fanboyish here, so just because you don't AGREE with me, doesn't mean you can't give me (and others that say INTERESTING things) bubbles for making some interesting points

@ themart --- i get ur point, but let's face it the best thing to do right now is stick with ps2/xbox 1 until we see which console turns out to be the best, if i hadnt of got a ps3, i would have waited until this time next year and see who's on top
i really do think it could go either way

[RadientFlux]

xbox 1.5 comment can be said about every new console out now:
PS3 is just PS2 with a hard drive and a new optical drive
WII is just a Gamecube with a motion sensing controller

[TheMART]

Your comment is made useless by only one single remark:

Not one console is on its top after 1 year.

Every console is stretched in possibilities through its life cycle. Because after 5 years they can get more out of it then after 1 year.

Thus, total nonsense. The PS3 will evolve with its games, the 360 will evolve with its games. They're both about equal in power, but the 360 is easier to develop for. Yes they'll find a way to get the games run a bit better on the PS3, but so they will for the 360. The advantage will stay.

Too bad, but the 360 is in the place the PS2 was last gen. Most consoles sold, largest installed base, 3rd party exclusives (PS3 has almost none).

360 has the positive spiral (especially with Halo 3 this year and I bet Gears of War II next Christmas up to KZ2 chainsawing it right through the middle) and the PS3 just hasn't

[felidae]

@TheMART ... that's what i say. give it some time and everything will work out. besides that, it's not our money, it's MSs + Sonys. so as long as the games keep coming we should all be fine.

[360Crusader]

I hope the PS2 is outselling the 360. I mean the console has like 1,000 games and only cost $120.

[daous]

It's been a while since I've seen you comment, you troll.

I completely disagree: the Xbox360 IS NOT in the same position as the PS2. The PS3 ain't either. Right now, the Nintendo Wii seems to be replacing the PS2's position.

Here's something you should know:

PS2 was 10 million units ahead when the Xbox and Gamecube launched years ago. That gap only WIDENED (110 million (PS2) vs. 20 million (Xbox) vs. 17 million (GC)).

If the Xbox360 really was replacing the PS2's position, then why isn't their 10 million lead (when PS3 and Wii launched) no longer there?

Reality check:

Xbox360 now leads the Wii by less than a million units.
Xbox360 now leads teh PS3 by 6-7 million units.

Looks like the gap is closing, instead of widening, which is what the PS2 was able to accomplish.

P.S. The Wii is leading in terms of the number of 3rd party exclusives, not the Xbox360. As for the install base, there's no doubt the Wii will surpass the Xbox360 within two months, especially considering the 60% plummet in 360 sales and the constantly sold out Wii. And I'm not even considering how many of those 11 million Xbox 360s were DEFECTIVE (NOTE: 2.5 million Xbox360s defective)

[whengeeksgobad]

Not even like 1 day ago there were a buttload of articles about how the Xbox had lost its appeal/steam blah blah blah. Seriously people just have to have something to write about to generate ad revenue. Before e3, everyone in the media and industry were talking about what a joke it was this year. After e3, it was "SONY AND NINTENDO CLEAN UP AT BEST MOST AMAZING E3 EVAR!" Yes, I realize I'm exaggerating, it's just so frustrating to read this crap by analysts, then hear gamers regurgitate the same tripe and its all so superficial in the end. The only people who should be considering this a race should be nintendo, microsoft, and sony. We should all be the winners, but we've been so tricked into being such consumer whores that we actually develop a loyalty to these guys and *NONE* of them care about anything but our money. I realize this is a rant, and I'm going WAYYYYY OT here but I'm so frustrated with the industry, and other gamers who get hostile about this or that video game console and to what end? Sometimes I really wish we could all take a step back and stop blindly throwing money at companies that: a) sell machines with a 30% failure rate at $400.00 a piece for over a year before admitting a problem. b) develop root kits which violate their own consumer bases privacy etc. The list goes on and on. Basically I just wish we could collectively open our eyes a little stop hand feeding the same companies that are pooping on our front lawn. They should be bending to our requests/demands/requirements. Not convincing us that we need to be punching each other in the face about not liking this or that console.

[agent864]

i don't read 1up anymore ... the site is slow, their opinions irrelevant and trollworthy.

PS3 sales have already doubled and will continue to do so throughout the fall. The only thing hampering PS3 sales this holiday will be shortages.

[BubblesDAVERAGE]

Lets let the figures speak for themselves. Lets not be fanboys

[SimmoUK]

You was wronge about MGS4 going multi plat, you was wronge about Sony making a price cut, you was wronge that Killzone wouldn't get near the trailer, you was wronge that they wouldn't have any good software this fall, just give up you sad group of xbox fanboys and girls, seriously you are joke to the industry nowadays and your name is hung in shame...

[tonsoffun]

Never mind - it was just the incoherent ramblings of a madman.....................

[HaKeRsCanRotINHEL]

thats when we should question the PS3's longevity, not now! Sony's gonna be O.K. :)

[daous]

...but I should point out something interesting:

The PS2 sold 110 million units (and counting) within 7 years.
The Xbox sold 20 million units within 6 years.
The GC sold 17 million units within 6 years.

So, breaking down into ratios, PS2 sold 15.7 million units per year. Xbox and GC combined don't even come close to that annually.

So if PS3 manages to achieve 10 million units per year, then it's a pretty safe bet that they will be very successful, regardless if they're first, second or third. Of course, I have a feeling the Wii will dominate this generation (not because of good games, but due to its price and mass appeal instead of hardcore).

[IBLEEDBLU]

ASSASSYN 36o - are u on drugs?

you make fun of people that state just wait SONY will produce sales but yet your comparing a system(360) that has been out for a full year lol like are u stupid honestly..

PS3 is doing WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!! better then the 360 when it was at this stage of the game...and if u havent noticed 360 sales are going down..and down...and if u think HALO3 is gonna make ppl go and get a 360 - then ur gonna have a shattered dream rite there because all the hardcore xbox fans that love the series already own a 360 and wont push consoles by alot.

PS3 is gonna rape 360 - expect a brand new system from 360 very soon - this is the only way they will be able to compete vs PS3

like honestly have u compared the 1 year title games to the 2 year title games of 360..like holy what a beat 360 gets and the funny part is its only using 30% of its power

ASSASSYN 36o ur dumb

[Jdash24]

because i have a 360 (dead, had to get a new one), and i bought it for halo 3 in 2005, just waiting for this game, and halo 3 will be the last game i get for the 360 because its the last excluive i see that is appealing to me, every single multiplatform game thats coming out, like call of duty 4, gta4, and assassins creed to name a few, i will get on the ps3, but sony has alot of good looking exclusives coming out that i will buy

im doing my part to bring sony out of 3rd place

[7ero H3LL]

if ps3 is gonna win, then why does it suck so bad?

[Says you]

And plus this year is almost over the sales are going to pick up after 2008 hits with the titles that every one has been waiting for.

[7ero H3LL]

then halo3 will beat the crap out its competitors? i think a game/console's pedigree only gets it past the door. It's up to the PRESENT to determine the future. Don't get me wrong, I love Halo! But NEVER buy blindly into the hype, ALWAYS go with what you think is good for YOU. and always be ready to be dissapointed.

the creed of customer staisfaction is always a must, hype is last.

this was for shaka, so whoops!

[Shaka2K6]

PS3 will never be third its really impossible, Sony hasnt been the champ for 12 years for nothing they know what they are doing.

[i Shank u]

if PS3 stays $200 above its competition, it will be in 3rd place. 3rd place in SALES, crap that matters only to the business and shouldnt matter to us gamers

[ChickeyCantor]

@ i shank u
exactly what i was thinking about the GCN it did a sh^tty job on selling it self, but it had some great games so it was a winner for me.

[Zhuk]

I never understand why the gaming industry is perceived as a 'race' every generation, I truly believe that this generation all players can make a profit if they play their cards right.

[i Shank u]

as long as the PS3 is $500, it will be in 3rd place. but 3rd place only in sales people, not in quality. For me, the wii could sell 500 million and im still not getting it until i play something that i "must have". wiimotion control is poo

[nasim]

thts right

ps3 has now overtaken x360 in sales in JULY already by 20k units

PROOF HERE:-

www.vgcharts.org

[AngryTypingGuy]

The PS3 is a long distance runner. It will have to be successful in the long run, if it is to be successful at all. I believe it has yet to hit its prime, same with the 360. The 360 will be successful in the long run as well. If any of the three is a fad, it's definitely the Wii.

[titans9999]

Well, as a true sony fan boy (if that is what you want to call it) I am glad that there is competition from MS, due to the fact that it will give SONY a wake up call and for them to stop sitting on ther a$$e$!!!

I love SONY, dont get me wrong, their controller i like better, great no noise console, hard drive, blue ray awesome...however without the war of the consoles going on we would all be settling on a certain console. This is also good for xbots too....competition is needed to keep the gaming industry alive...now if we can just get EA Sports to get off their a$$e$....

[AngryTypingGuy]

I totally agree. I'm a MS fan, and I hope they are the winner for this gen. But I'm glad that Sony gives them competition and vice versa, because all gamers will benefit. Monopolies lead to higher prices and lesser quality. Competition means that the companies have to try harder to please the customer.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a MS fan, but each generation, I will go to the company that I feel has the best console. I feel it's the 360 this gen., but if I think that the PS4 will be better than the next Xbox, I'll jump to Sony. I don't think it will happen, but it's always a possibility.

[tomfoolery]

Sir Peter Moore is gonna fvck the PAY S 3 like XBOX 1 got fvcked,now
that he's the big enchilada over there........you know,at E.A.
Sonyfans prepare to spread eagle.

[MarioFromTexas]

Peter moore doesn't even remember the 360 by now, it's a business, money talks and what ever gets him more money that's the way things are going to go. Peter moore will defend EA profits first, and there is no way EA games are going exclusive on the 360

[HydroBoy]

lol how do you know he will do that ''sir'' peter moore is not the one buying the consoles ..we gamers decide who ''wins the so called console race'' well you can all keep talking poo bout ps3.the funny thing is most of you will get a ps3 ..right after you get bored of your Halo thingy..360 will probably get stuck at 20million like xbox 1 LOL ..if any console is gonnabe third place it definately aint ps3.

[tomfoolery]

Sonyonlytards!

By the way,isn't there some lame MGS news you can go beat off to.
Sonyonlyfantards....extremely pathetic.

[IPlayGames]

But next year when lots of loved ps2 titles make it to ps3 then it will be a lot closer.

[DeadlyFire]

Honestly I believe that Sony can get into 2nd place with another year or two. Since its been out its been selling at a slow pace, but its getting better. If I am not mistaken they are selling more this year than X360 in there 2nd year. X360 sold 9.4-9.6 Million in 2005 and only about 1-3 Million since then thats almost 2 years. The Wii and PS3 really hurt X360 sales. PS3 seems to be selling better against the competition getting up to 4.48 Million in 7 months of its first year.

[MarioFromTexas]

If we are going by numbers then, wouldn't that put the PS2 in first place since the 360 can't even come close on those numbers. Sooner or later you xbots are either going to buy a PS3 or a standalone blu ray player. PS3 have nothing to worry about because price cuts are coming and by next year will probably be only a $50 gap..Which do you think consumers will purchase?

[The great 1]

IS IT JUST ME OR DOES THIS ARTICLE HAVE A POINT OTHER THAN A MS FANBOYS WET DREAM COME ON THIS IS PROOF ANYTHING THAT INVOLVES A BASHING AT SONY GETS APPROVED ON THIS SITE, THIS ARTICLE IS BS, SONY HAS THE GAMES NOW, THERE SALES ARE PICKING UP, HEY XBOTS HOW MANY CONSOLES HAVE YOU ALL HAD NOW 2 MABYE 3 XBOX 360 I BET MS COUNTS A REPAIR AS A NEW XBOX 360 SOLD AS THEY JUST GIVE THEM A NEW UNIT MEANING THEY HAVE SOLD LIKE 8M OR SOMETHING YOU TELL ME WHOSE GONNA LOSE, FACT IS XBOX 360 SALES ARE FALLING, IT'S ONLY FANBOYS BUYING THEIR CONSOEL REALLY, SONY WILL BE NO.1 BY NEXT YEAR MARK MY WORDS YOU XBOT LOSERS

[IPlayGames]

That would be cool.

[Ares84]

...and than we will talk about it.

[JTR1289]

I honestly think that the 360 has a chance of winning this console war. Now dont get me wrong...I was (and still am) a huge PS2 fan. I've bought every great game released for it (Resident Evil 4, Guitar Hero 1 & 2, GTA 3-SA, + more) and I also bought my PS3 at launch, along with Resistance and Motorstorm.
But I have to say...things are looking bad for PS3 right now.

Here are some reasons why I think they have the POSSIBILITY of ending up in third place this generation:

1. Theres really only 2 games worth owning on the PS3 (Resistance: Fall Of Man and Motorstorm...should also mention the awesome Oblivion)

2. The remaining games on PS3 such as F.E.A.R., Rainbow Six: Vegas, The Darkness, and pretty much every other sports title are just ports from the 360, with most of them looking and running better on the 360 (only because developers have had more than a year getting to grips with the 360 hardware)

3. Alot of games right now that would be considered 'system sellers' (such as the Devil May Cry series, the Resident Evil series, and of course the biggest one of all being the GTA series, which is now actually considered 'better' on the 360 because of downloadable content) and are all deciding to go mulit-platform with simultanious releases on both 360 and PS3

4. The price tag of course. Now the price in America was $600 (now cut down to $500), but in Australia it costs AUD $1000 for the 60GB version, with no signs of a price drop any time soon.
Now this is probably the biggest reason for the poor sales so far, because when given a choice which would you rather buy...the 360, which in Australia is about AUD$600, or the PS3 at AUD$1000, when the 360 is pretty much equally as good as the PS3 in terms of graphics and gameplay, and sometimes even better than the PS3 (Gears of War in particular)

5. The decision to include Blu-Ray in every PS3 I believe was a big mistake by Sony. The only reason they included Blu-Ray in the PS3 was so that they could get the advantage over the competing format HD-DVD, because it would not only be the 'movie buffs' buying into Blu-Ray, but also gamers.
I would have liked to have seen the Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD war had it not been included in the PS3 (which I believe is the only reason Blu-Ray is destroying HD-DVD).

6. The fact that Blu-Ray isnt really necessary for gaming right now. I mean when I first read about the PS3 and how it was going to include Blu-Ray (50GB of storage for gaming etc.), I naturally thought things would be over for the 360 before it even began, as Microsoft decided to stay with the standard DVD9 discs. But now when you look at the games on the 360 such as Gears of War, Mass Effect, Fallout 3, Bioshock etc. I started to wonder how developers managed to even fit all that onto a single DVD, when Sony spent all that time boasting that Blu-ray was 'essential' to games as they would naturally get bigger in size (due to more animations, voice-overs, uncompressed audio, HD visuals etc.) and would therefore justify putting Blu-Ray into the PS3.
Like when you look at a game such as GTA 4, it makes you think whether Blu-Ray was really necessary in the first place as it seems to be fitting on a single DVD disc just fine (unless they're bringing it out on multiple discs?)

7. And lastly....the PS3's online service. In comparison to Xbox Live, the PS network is nowhere near as good. Xbox Live is so much more intergrated and user friendly when compared to what the PS3 offers.
Game invites, gamer scores, downloadable content and friend lists are one of the major advantages over the PS network (even though PS Network also offers these things, except gamerscores)
Also the fact that there are 3 seperate Playstation Stores (one for Japan, one for North America and one for Europe) is also a pain because every Store offers the same stuff but with the Japan stores and in some cases the NA stores getting content quicker than others

8. And the fact that Sony has focused more on winning the HD movie format war than they have on gaming so far

Now that we've talked about the negatives, here are my reasons why I want/think PS3 will once again win this generation:

1. Its future proof. When you compare the PS3 to the 360, the PS3 wins straight out in terms of life span and how much it has to offer in the future (Blu-Ray, which I'm 99% sure will become the standard for HD movies, the ability to acess everything on your PC, WiFi, tons of media options, accessing your PS3 through your PSP)

2. Games will not doubt be amazing in the future with all the power in the PS3. Whereas with the 360 I think the games right now, and coming out this year, have really only been more evolutionary than revolutionary and that the games on the 360, while they are still extremely good, will not get much better in terms of innovation (most of the 'anticipated' games are shooters, such as Halo 3, Bioshock, Gears of War, GRAW 2). Games on the PS3 sure as LittleBigPlanet, Lair, Heveanly Sword, and Uncharted all look awesome, and most of all innovative.

3. The 360 is aimed mainly towards the 'hardcore' gamers, which ties into what I said in the sentence above about most games being shooters etc. Whereas with the PS3, there are all different games that are aimed towards different groups, such as Heavenly Sword, Lair, Uncharted: Drakes Fortune, Metal Gear Solid 4, inFamous, Final Fantasy XIII, and the awesome looking LittleBigPlanet.

4. Backwards compatible with pretty much all the old PS2 and PS1 games. With the 360 though, theres really only the main games on Xbox 1 that work on the 360 (such as Halo)

5. Firmware updates are always bringing in something new to improve the PS3. Now the PS3 is able to upscale DVDs to HD, access everything on your PC, upscale old PS2 and PS1 games to HD, have your own pictures as backgrounds plus alot more.

6. Online. I talked about this earlier but I never mentioned the positives. One of the best things about the PS network is its pretty much lag-free from what I've seen so far (Resistance is a dedicated server and doesnt necessarily mean every online PS3 game will be this good). The Playstation Store is also starting to catch up to Live Marketplace in terms of content but still has a long way to go. Making the Playstation Network have one unified friends list and server like on 360 would do alot for Sony if they fix this.

7. Its quiet. Compared to the 360's disc drive, which sounds like a harrier jet taking off, the PS3 is whisper quiet.

8. And lastly, the failure rate of the PS3, which is what...1%? Compared to the 360's apparent 33% failure rate (and the apparent disc scratchings) which is unbelieveable, but hey, thats what you get when you try and rush the 360 to and try and beat Sony by releasing a whole year before of the PS3...hardware problems that weren't picked up on when the 360 was released. This I believe is one major advantage for Sony as people will think twice about buying a 360 because they pretty much have a one in three chance of their 360 getting the dreaded 'Red Ring of Death'.

I do believe that the PS3 has a high chance of winning this generation yet again, just not right now. Give it about another year and I think the PS3 will pull ahead of the 360 once all the big name games are released (MGS4, Final Fantasy XIII, Gran Turismo, and GTA 4 which is unfortunately muliplatform)

As for the Wii, I think they are doing the unexpected and staying with current gen (last gen really) technology and are pulling ahead because of the price, innovation, and the people they're targeting (younger children and people that dont usually play video games (mothers, fathers etc.)) but I havent really considered them to be part of this console war.

Well thats my opinion on the whole 'console war'...anyone here agree with what I've said lol???

[i Shank u]

+ bubble to you for a well thought out argument. I agree with most of what you say; I think the Xbox360 has been in a very good position to take off in sales for about a year now. I thought if MS was smart, they would have dropped the price at least by $50 last year when PS3 and Wii launched, which would have made the core the same price as the wii and much cheaper then PS3. I think 360 is still in a good position, but PS3 is starting to gather some steam, the wii has always been steaming since day 1, and the 360 seems like its losing some steam as of late. Without a significant move by MS (a SIGNIFICANT price drop, revision of the 360), and if they don't move soon, I see MS losing momentum to PS3.

I am a games fan who plays mostly 360, and from a business standpoint, MS is retarded IMO. how MS execs allow the Elite to be $480 when the PS3, with so many more features value-wise is only $20 more, is retarded to me. Add to that the RROD issue and they fact that MS is taking forever to switch to 65NM and save money. Without at least a $100 gap between the 360 and PS3 in all models, I really think the 360 sales will be overtaken by PS3, and then that momentum will be pretty hard to reverse. The PS3 is obviously the more feature rich, quality console, and if it can be had at almost the same price as 360, i think consumers will make the choice to spend $50 more and get a PS3.
With a $100 drop across the board along with Halo 3 release and their other games, i think they can sell a ton of 360's this holiday. If MS doesnt hit hard, and hit soon, they will find themselves a year from now going "wtf happened!?! we HAD IT!?!?"

If the rumors become true, and PS3 finds a way to get down to $399 this holiday, things will be scary for MS.

EDIT- responding to what you said about 360 games not looking as good as PS3 games cause PS3 has blu-ray, remember that all of these PC games (CRYSIS, UT 3, BIOSHOCK, MERCENARIES 2, FEAR 2,) all are developed or being developed for DVD9. The PC GAMES industry has yet to switch to developing games for HDDVD/BLURAY, which is a very strong indication that games still do not need bigger discs. Honestly, Crysis fits on a single DVD; the most beautiful grphx in a game, on a single dvd, says that DVD still has a good amount of life left in it.

[7ero H3LL]

Every point you make is right on the nail. And I stress on the point of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD NOT being essential for gaming. The original Farcry had visuals that pushed dx9 ps2.0 GPUS to their limits, even choking some ps3.0 GPUs. And that was like 2k4! The Doom3 Halflife2 FEAR and Unreal engines were dominant during that time, with FEAR being the most recent.

unreal (2k3 2k4) built for geforce 4xxx and radeon 8xxx series
halflife2 and doom3 built for geforce fx 5xxx and radeon 9xxx series
fear built for geforce 6 and radeon x series

an evolution of Doom3 was Prey and now The Darkness
FEAR's lithtech engine also runs Condemned Criminal origins
Halflife was always notorius for its open source code has spawned numerous mods, for both the original and its sequel

Now granted the previous are all FPSs, but they were just appealing to the majority of PC gamers. The majority who are unconvinced that a gamepad suits their needs. Because their IS no universal PC gamepad! 10 people can buy a Sidewinder and 10 others might have a Logitech, some might have models WITH rumble, some without, and some might not even have a controler, they have a joystick instead! Microsoft tried to bridge the gap by creating Games For Windows platform, offering a Windows PC version of its SUPERB 360 controler.

back on topic, all of the previously mentioned engines were built during times when games on ps2 were being released on DVDs. A full instal of any of these games didn't take up a lot of room (around 2-4GBs) and they delivered graphics and gameplay that were unrivaled.

smart developers who are keen on resource usage and how to conserve space no how to get baround limitations. question is, are thse limitations necessary? well, in PC gaming its a sad fact that developers always chose the lowest common denominator for hardware specs. But in the console world where things are uniform, they can always count on the same specs performing the same way in each household that purchases that system.

if developers combine the beforehand knowledge of system specs, with the ability to work around limitations, then they will be...doing EXACTLY what makes a game great, and not just good! Gears looks better than PS3 Blu-Ray games and people don't understand why, but its like I said: you work with what you got! and either you chose to work with it WELL, or you release a game with problems in its wake, and failed potential.

[7ero H3LL]

did anyone forget that it's realy up to US as gamers to determine who wins. For a cheap thrill, let's all NOT buy MGS4 and scare the crapoutta Kojima when he realizes "Whoops, they somehow found out my only weakness! SALES!"

And then, because it's such an epic we buy it the next day anyway.

See? Let's get the power back in OUR hands, not their pockets. ^0 bucks I worked hard for equals 60 bucks they had better be working HARDER for!