PlayStation LifeStyle » Microsoft

PS3 Sales Ahead of 360′s for the Year, Analysts Predict Shifts Incoming

Paulmichael Contreras — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 17:43:01 +0000

This generation of video game consoles has seen numerous monumental shifts so far. Sony came out on top in the previous generation, but was ousted when Microsoft beat them to release by a full year. Couple that with Nintendo’s wildly successful bid for the casual market, and Sony suddenly found themselves playing a bit of catchup. Ever since the introduction of the PS3 Slim though, things have been looking up for the behemoth, and this year is looking like no exception.

According to Jesse Divnich from EEDAR, the PS3 has outsold the Xbox 360 by 10% in the first six months of this year. In addition, the console is outselling its competition worldwide, though North America continues to be the place where the 360 thrives. Billy Pidgeon of M2 Research said :

Should Microsoft release a successor to Xbox 360 and shift the pipeline for hardcore games over to the new consoles, that would be a possible scenario by which PS3 could bypass Xbox 360′s active installed base. This scenario would give PS3 the opportunity to soak up the hardcore sector.

With Nintendo’s recently-announced Wii U and Sony’s heavy emphasis on the PS Vita, a new Xbox cannot be too far off. David Cole from DFC Intelligence predicts a shift towards Sony’s console by the year’s end when it comes to active systems rather than those simply purchased:

In terms of our forecasts, we have the PS3 sales matching Xbox 360 in 2011 but that still leaves them behind in cumulative sales. However, when we measure what we call active installed base or number of systems in use we forecast that the PS3 will reach the Xbox 360 this year. This is because the failure rate on many older Xbox 360 systems was high. I know personally I have gone through 3 Xbox 360 systems and still have my original PS3.

Though the failure rate on the 360 has improved significantly, there was a time when it was estimated that one in every three systems failed, which – before an extended warranty offer by Microsoft – resulted in another system being sold as a replacement unit. How many people do you know who have gone through a couple of 360s by now? Finally, Colin Sebastian of RW Baird leaves us with what he believes should be Sony’s game plan to put them ahead of Microsoft:

…as quickly as the tide changes in the video game industry, you would never want to count the PS3 out – for instance, if Sony combined a strong first party lineup (e.g. Uncharted/Resistance) with another hardware price reduction, I believe we would see a nice pick-up in unit sales this fall.

So who’s right? Who’s wrong? Nobody will know for sure until this generation of gaming consoles is in the record books. One thing’s for sure – with all the upcoming heavy hitters, it’s going to be a fun ride.

Capcom Predicting Soaring PS3 Game Sales, Backs Platform

Staff — Wed, 25 May 2011 02:42:50 +0000

Capcom have released a chart that not only shows the number of games it has shipped and how many sold, but also their projected number of games and sales for the next financial year. The Japanese publisher has shown their confidence in Sony’s flagship console, putting more support in the PS3 than any other platform.

Capcom has put PS3 game sales over the Xbox all the way through to March 2012, with the publisher showing a lot of confidence in the PS3 with 16 titles slated to make an estimated 8 million sales. Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 games are only expected to sell 4.7 million copies and will only see 14 of Capcom’s titles, almost half of the PS3 titles’ projected success.

It is likely that much of the PS3′s sales will come from the recently announced PSP Remastered Monster Hunter Portable 3rd HD.

[Via]

Pachter: E3 2011 Could Be The Best Yet

Paulmichael Contreras — Thu, 12 May 2011 16:42:54 +0000

E3 2011 is mere weeks away now, and the entire industry is ramping up in preparation for the big show. Professional analyst Michael Pachter is planning to make his case as to why this year’s will be the best show ever.

Industry Gamers recently teased their upcoming monthly segment titled “Pachter’s Podium,” where the analyst discusses his opinion on the gaming industry at large. When asked about the upcoming E3 show, Pachter had this to say with regards to who will “win” this year; Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo:

Gamers will win this year’s E3, because there is going to be a ton of gaming goodness this year,” he enthused. “I’m personally excited to see Star Wars and Battlefield from EA, a Call of Duty reveal from Activision, possibly a Bungie or Respawn game, something cool from Take-Two (like BioShock Infinite, Max Payne 3, or . . . dare I say it . . . GTA???). Ubisoft will show Driver and the next Assassin’s Creed, THQ will show Saints Row, and we’ll probably see Batman Arkham City, Rage … so much that I can’t keep track. The console guys are almost secondary, but we have NGP from Sony and Wii 2 from Nintendo (with Zelda for Wii, likely Mario for 3DS and Wii 2)…This could be the best E3 ever, and I’m not making that statement lightly.

Of course, this is mostly just speculation at this point, but with E3 just around the corner it won’t be too long before we see if Mr. Pachter is correct in his conclusion that gamers will benefit the most from all of these high-caliber titles perhaps being demoed on the show floor. Curious to note here – a lot of the games Mr. Pachter names are sequels. Most of the developers named have booked plenty of floor space to show off not only these hot titles, but much more. Stay with PlayStation LifeStyle as we will bring you nonstop coverage of E3 2011 as it happens.

E3 2011 Show Floor Plan in Detail

Paulmichael Contreras — Wed, 11 May 2011 15:07:18 +0000

It’s that wonderful time of the year again – less than one month until the annual Superbowl of videogame industry tradeshows, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3 for short. Wondering where your favorite developers and publishers are exhibiting in this gigantic show? Find out after the jump.

As can be seen in the screens below, the show is just as big as last year, with only a small few booths still marked as available. Entering the South Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center, you will be greeted by a large Electronic Arts booth, while entering the smaller but tightly-packed West Hall you will see Sony Online Entertainment to your left, and Capcom to your right. Sony, in all its iterations, has booked three booths, one of which is directly across the way from one of Nintendo‘s two booths. Microsoft has booked one booth in the South Hall, surrounded by Ubisoft, Square Enix, SEGA of America, and EA. Is your favorite dev here? Who are you surprised did not make a showing? Stay connected with PlayStation LifeStyle since, as you may well know, we will be there in full force to bring you all the previews, interviews and breaking news you can handle when E3 hits from June 7-9.

Microsoft Has Some Choice Words to Say Regarding Sony’s PSN Predicament

Joseph Peterson — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 03:33:18 +0000

Many gamers may have found themselves in a boring weekend so far due to the fact that the PlayStation Network is down, and there is no word on when it will be back up and running, adding insult to injury. Recently, Microsoft had their Xbox Nations event, and had some flamboyant words of choice to share about their competitor’s online “maintenance”.

Electronic Theatre recently asked Microsoft about the issues Sony is having to deal with, and here is what they had to say:

“Of course it’s regretful that Sony is encountering issues at such a busy time, and Microsoft takes no joy in the problems gamers are having playing their favourite games online.

The Xbox representative continued:

“That being said, we are expecting Microsoft’s robust online network to see an increase of traffic from those gamers who own both systems. Being able to play their games via the Xbox LIVE network could make all the difference for some gamers, and the Xbox Nations event will allow all of them to do just that – whether they have a Gold subscription or not.”

Stay tuned to PlayStation LifeStyle for any updated news on the status of the PlayStation Network. For the time being, be sure to check out Go Outside and Live Your Life, it’s probably your best bet in battling the pain resulting from having no PSN access.

3DS Just a “Babysitting Tool” for Jack Tretton, 360 “Running Out Of Steam”

Tyler Minarik — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 00:52:57 +0000

Nintendo has long been outpacing Sony and Microsoft in hardware sales, but recent word from Mr. Tretton shows that he sees them as an “irrelevant” adversary, and doesn’t have the nicest thoughts about Microsoft either.

Apparently despite numbers showing that Nintendo is still in the lead with overall hardware sales this generation, Jack Tretton doesn’t see the kid friendly competition as serious opposition any more. It’s true that Nintendo’s sales of the Wii have been slowing down, but is it really enough to dismiss them altogether? Now that the PlayStation Move has been out for a couple months, and PlayStation 3 sales have picked up significantly, it seems that Jack’s confidence has only grown larger than ever. Speaking to CNN, he stated with regards to Nintendo’s Wii and the Xbox 360:

They’re starting to run out of steam now in terms of continuing to be relevant in 2011 and beyond. I mean, you’ve gotta be kidding me. Why would I buy a gaming system without a hard drive in it? How does this thing scale? Motion gaming is cute, but if I can only wave my arms six inches, how does this really feel like I’m doing true accurate motion gaming?

This might be a good time to point out that 49.2 million PS3s have been sold globally, while 86.3 million Wiis have been sold. However, the Wii also had a considerably better start by targeting casual consumers with a low price point and easy pick-up-and-play party style gaming. Considering my own personal preferences when it comes to gaming, it’s hard to disagree with Mr. Tretton, but that doesn’t mean everyone thinks the same way. Jack doesn’t stop there though, and goes on to make remarks on the 3DS, citing it as “the Game Boy experience”:

Our view of the ‘Game Boy experience’ is that it’s a great babysitting tool, something young kids do on airplanes, but no self-respecting twenty-something is going to be sitting on an airplane with one of those. He’s too old for that.

He may have a point there, considering that much of the software for 3DS and most Nintendo products in general are aimed at either the casual audience or children. Again though, the sales numbers say otherwise regarding competition, with Nintendo’s DS devices selling 146 million units worldwide total, and the PSP is at 67 million sales. Mr. Tretton may be overlooking these figures, or just speaking to the idea that with different target audiences and technological evolution, the two companies aren’t in direct competition due to selling to completely different audiences. Sony’s employees are rarely short on confidence, and generally with good reason, so it’ll be interesting to see if the NGP is truly more than just a babysitting tool. So far the features we’ve seen show great potential, and hopefully we’ll find out for soon if it’ll redefine portable gaming, or just add another piece of hardware to an already diverse market. Do you agree with Jack Tretton’s statements, or is he just blowing a lot of smoke onto the playing field?

Microsoft Tries to Stop Gran Turismo 5 Sales

Jonathan Leack — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 09:25:37 +0000

Polyphony Digital has already sold over six-million units of Gran Turismo 5, and it’s only been two months since release. The competition clearly isn’t happy, so much in-fact that they’re willing to play dirty (see above image).

Okay, so the sign is likely just a misunderstanding or a typo, but it’s definitely funny. It looks like it was taken at a North American convenience store. Maybe an employee planned this sabotage? What do you think?

[Thanks to geekfill.com for the image!]

Sony Has a Huge Edge on Microsoft for Motion Controller Software

Jonathan Leack — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 05:34:36 +0000

It’s no secret that Sony and Microsoft have been at each other’s throats for the past decade, and the motion controller battle has only added fuel to the fire. Sony ditched the idea of going with a controller-less peripheral after the EyeToy saw extreme limitations a handful of years ago, whereas Microsoft had no qualms with throwing the concept at the forefront of its arsenal. While both have their merits, some people in the industry are starting to see the limitations of the EyeToy popping up in the Kinect’s environment.

Anton Mikhailov, one of the main engineers behind Sony’s accurate Move controller talked to Eurogamer about the possibility of a Move-based Star Wars game:

“I’m usually not very aggressive, but I will say it’ll be damn better than Kinect could ever do.”

He then added:

“There’s no way Kinect can do a good lightsaber game. Just never. Unless they give you a stick. If they give you a stick then they can do OK, but then they’re going to ruin their whole no controller motto.”

The great thing about PlayStation Move is that while it obviously requires a controller in the hand, it has done nothing short of showing itself as a capable device in the facet of every genre. Kinect, on the other hand, has been limited to games that work with standing still and flailing limbs, such as dance and ball-deflection games. One of the first things I thought of the moment I put my right-hand on a Move controller was “Where is the lightsaber game?”. It just makes sense. Heck, the Move even resembles a lightsaber. Maybe it is just meant to be.

Patcher Claims PS Move Sold “Below Expectations”

Ray Conley — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 17:20:08 +0000

With all of this motion-controller frenzy, each console giant is marketing their “Sunday’s best” as they try to grab the attention of the gadget-hungry gamer. Whether it be sales or popularity, we do know that everyone wants to be king of the motion market. One industry analyst had some bitter words to ignite some serious flames in the race for motion-controller dominance.

Michael Pachter, famed gaming research analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities, believes that the PlayStation Move has been “overtaken” by Microsoft’s Kinect. He stated that Sony’s motion controller sold a poor 400,000 since launch, while Microsoft has taken its lead of one million controllers sold in just its first week.

“Move sold well below expectations in its first month.
“Interestingly, the higher priced Kinect controller appears to have overtaken the Move controller in the sales race.”

Really, Mr. Pachter? Really? I would be more inclined to believe that statement if the facts had lined up. We’ve already learned that Sony has celebrated its October sales to the tune of 2.5 million Move units sold, and that’s just the numbers between Europe and the US. So, I’m not entirely sure how Mr. Pachter are pulling those numbers as we seem to have a different set of statistics. Either way, we’ll have to let the consumers decide the real outcome.

[Source]

Sony Still The Greenest Console Manufacturer

Paulmichael Contreras — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:50:43 +0000

Every few months, Greenpeace produces the Guide To Greener Electronics report, which ranks large electronics manufacturers on how eco-friendly their operations are. In May, Sony came out on top of the other two major console manufacturers, and the company has repeated that once again this time around.

This time, Sony remained at their overall position compared to May, in a three-way tie for sixth place. Their grade received was 5.1/10, a .2 rise from May 2010. Greenpeace stated in their documentation (you can download the PDF here):

“Sony does relatively well on chemicals, with its score boosted by having models on the market that are partially free of PVC and BFRs, including all models of the VAIO PC, and many models of video recorder, Walkman, camcorder and digital camera. However, to keep these points it needs to show more progress in bringing new products that are free from these hazardous substances onto the market. It still needs to set a timeline for eliminating all phthalates, beryllium copper and antimony and its compounds. Sony has yet to show support for bans on PVC vinyl plastic and brominated/chlorinated flame retardants (BFRs/CFRs) during the revision of the EU’s RoHS Directive (Restriction of Hazardous Substances in electronics)“

Nintendo and Microsoft, however, did not fair as well. They rounded out the bottom of the pack, in fact, with Microsoft dropping a position since May to 17th and a score of 1.9, and Nintendo remaining dead last with a score of 1.8. Microsoft apparently “[backtracked] on its commitment to phase out BFRs and PVC by the end of 2010,” while Nintendo “continues to score zero on all e-waste criteria” and has not been able to lower its greenhouse gas emissions. It sounds like Sony could add “PlayStation: It Only Does Green” to their marketing.

Microsoft Still Scoffs At The Idea of Blu-ray

Ray Conley — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 18:16:02 +0000

It appears that Microsoft continues to refuse backing down on their rejected stance on Blu-ray disc. Microsoft’s UK boss, Stephen McGill, is willing to turn a blind-eye towards the dominant success of the standard HD format, and shrugs it off as a passing format.

In spite of Sony’s HD format taking over the HD market, Microsoft tries to play down its success by essentially calling it a fad. McGill had few words to justify their stance on the matter.

“I think people may have spoken about [Xbox's lack of a Blu-ray drive] originally, but that’s long gone. I think people now recognize what a smart decision it was to keep the pricing low, and actually Blu-ray is going to be passed by as a format. People have moved through from DVDs to digital downloads and digital streaming, so we offer full HD 1080p Blu-ray quality streaming instantly, no download, no delay. So, who needs Blu-ray?”

I can tell you who, Mr. McGill. Over 37 million people not only need, but want Blu-ray. And that’s not including movie sales either. Perhaps its me jumping the gun on this, but I think Microsoft would’ve been singing a much different tune had their format (HD-DVD) became the standard for HD.

In my opinion, Microsoft needs to embrace Blu-ray and start figuring out a way to make it work for them. Developers have already praised Blu-ray and the storage space that has allowed them a much larger working capacity. Continuing to show stubbornness over the period of 3 years is starting to look ridiculously childish and is holding back the rest of the industry from progressing forward.

[Source]

Valve Sings Very Different Song, Praises PSN, Calls XBL “Train Wreck”

Mike Hartnett — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 04:16:07 +0000

Gabe Newell and the team over at Valve seem to have had an incredibly affectionate relationship with the Xbox360 and XboxLive over the past few years, tearing into the PS3 every chance they got. However, it looks like Gabe and his pals are singing a very different song now.

Apparently, the grass on XboxLive’s side of the fence isn’t as green as their logo, as Gabe Newell and Erik Johnson from Valve tore into the online service this week in an in-depth interview conducted by PCGamer. According to Gabe, providing updates for gamers on XboxLive is a constant hassle for developers, while the PSN is comparably much easier, giving developers the ability to release as much content and as many updates as they need, free of charge.

We thought that there would be something that would emerge, because we figured it was a sort of untenable… Oh yeah, we understand that these are the rules now, but it’s such a train wreck that something will have to change.
That’s why we’re really happy with the current situation with the PS3… We’re solving it now in a way that is going to work for our customers, rather than assuming something is going to emerge later that will allow us to fix this.

Erik Johnson also sounded off in the interview:

Favourite conversation of ours! PS3, so far. The way we’ve dealt with those customers so far, and the product that they have, and the lack of updates on the 360 for TF2 is also a total failure. Those are the ones that sting the worst because… it got all the way through to customers. It’s like a bug. If you fix a bug before it ever ships, it’s pretty cheap. If you ship it and then fix it, it’s really expensive. Those ones are really bad.

The tide is ever changing in the PS3 vs. 360 battle, even though according to Sony, it’s not about beating Microsoft, but about how much quality content they can deliver. If execs at a company like Valve, once the PS3′s harshest critics, feel this way, there’s no doubt that these feelings are probably resonating all around the development community. And people thought the Sega vs. Nintendo era was intense!?

[Via]

Blu-ray Association Offers Olive Branch to Xbox, Microsoft Declines

Mike Hartnett — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 23:24:40 +0000

The Blu-ray Association, made up of several high-profile entertainment companies along with Sony, have extended friendly offers to Microsoft over the past year in an attempt to get the company to adopt Blu-ray, or at least consider adopting the format for their next console.

Several members of the Blu-ray association have spoken to Microsoft about the possibility of a Blu-ray capable Xbox, only to have their words fall on def ears, as the company is still, apparently, looking for other alternatives. European BDA chairman, Graham Heaton, stated the following:

Already games such as Metal Gear Solid 4 and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves are pushing the limits of the Blu-ray 50GB discs. The infrastructure for broadband throughout the world varies greatly and is a long way from being able to support the downloading and streaming of 50GB games in a consumer friendly format.
It will be a very long time before this changes, so Blu-ray is in a ideal position to ensure that the best games are available to all gamers.
Any company willing to join would be welcome.

When asked whether or not Microsoft would, at some point, adopt Blu-ray, Heaton replied:

That is up to Microsoft to decide.

Microsoft has been nothing but vocal regarding their unwillingness to adopt the format, but perhaps as time goes on and PS3 exclusive after PS3 exclusive dominates the market due to the capacity of Blu-ray and the power of the PS3, Microsoft will reconsider. Until then, we’ll just keep on enjoying, as Kevin Butler put it, the “PS3 sugar”.

[Source]

Microsoft Says Kinect is Much Better Value than Move

Jonathan Leack — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 21:17:17 +0000

During E3 this year, Sony announced the official pricing for the PlayStation Move motion controller coming later this year. After yet another month of waiting for Xbox 360 fans, Microsoft finally announced the retail price for the company’s controller-free entertainment camera, Kinect. To follow suit, Microsoft’s leading instigator drove home another anti-Sony statement saying that Kinect will be a better value than Move.

As usual, Xbox Product Director Aaron Greenberg has been firing-off inflammatory statements about the competition. In response to a question regarding value of Xbox’s upcoming Kinect product, Greenberg said the following:

“Relative to the competition, we feel like we’re in a very envious position…”

Many have been arguing that the Kinect motion controller is overpriced with its $150 launch price tag, but the ability for two-players to enjoy the experience at that price may very-well make it desirable for consumers. The PlayStation Move controller on the other hand will retail at $50 per controller. What many fail to realize is that Kinect can only sustain two-players at a time while PlayStation Move will support up to four-players in several launch titles. The sub-controller for PlayStation Move has driven many to say it’ll cost more, but most games won’t require it while the ones that do will allow the player to use a DualShock 3 or Sixaxis in place of the sub-controller. This obviously isn’t taking into account that PlayStation Move requires the PlayStation Eye, but many PS3 owners already have a PlayStation Eye or can obtain one with the well-priced PlayStation Move Bundle for under $100.

The question is, will price really matter when it comes to how each of these two competing controllers will sell? History tells us that the price-point may very well be the most important statistic for driving sales. Software on the other hand is important to those that already own the device, but it’s hard to tell if it’ll make a big impact on sales. If it does matter, Sony’s motion controller clearly has the upper hand with a wide catalog of good-looking games spanning many genres.

Which do you think is the better value, Kinect or Move? Why?

[Source]

PS3 Owners Not Receiving COD: Black Ops DLC Any Time Soon

Zak Islam — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:40:17 +0000

Activision’s Call of Duty Black Ops first downloadable content will not be coming to the PlayStation 3 any time soon as confirmed by Microsoft’s E3 press conference. Activision has confirmed that Call of Duty: Black Ops first DLC will be arriving on the Xbox 360 first, before the PS3.

In fact, Microsoft has signed a new deal with Activision where every single map pack and DLC will release on the Xbox 360 first starting with Black Ops.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is currently scheduled for a November 9th, 2010 release.