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Sony Admits It Made the PS3 Too Expensive

Just one more thing. Your comment about the "build it and they will come". How can you compare the small time start ups of the dot com boom bust to Sony?!!! The dot coms didn't have strategies based on historical sales. They had never sold anything before but were building these websites thinking that people would quickly come on board and buy them. You could maybe liken the dot com boom bust to the Xbox 1 in a way but it would still be a bad example.

With the PS3 you are looking at a brand that has a huge world wide following that has been built by selling the two of the biggest selling consoles of all time (only behind the snes I think). Playstation vs Dot Com start ups? Erm... Taxi!!!

Sony Admits It Made the PS3 Too Expensive

Hi William,

I'm not sure of your background or knowledge into the industry but I am sure it is many times more layered and experienced than myself but I do find your comments astonishing. Do you actually believe that Sony will bankrupt themselves over this? I've seen that mentioned on this site before which is just silly. I can't remember how much surplus cash Sony have but I seem to remember it being something like $18 billion. So let's put things into perspective. Sony could fail to sell any more PS3's and still not go bankrupt. The only way they could lose all of that cash would be if they sold 60 million PS3's tomorrow at a loss of $300 a piece. But even then they'd be laughing because they would reap the rewards of selling games to the owners of these 60 million consoles.

And Sony won't be lowering the price any time soon. I'll almost guarantee it. Maybe next Christmas they'll reduce the price by $100 but by that time the technology will have come down in price by $200-300. The three most expensive things in the PS3 (the Blu-Ray drive, the Cell processor, and the Graphics Card) make up a huge proportion of the unit cost and each one will come down in cost price significantly over the next year.

As far as upgrading the PS3 over time then I think you're really missing the point here and I find this just as astonishing that an electronics blogger would suggest that this would be possible. Why didn't they just upgrade the PS1 and PS2 over time? Because it amounts to a whole new console that's why. They can't just upgrade the processor and graphics card willy nilly. It then means that all the games developed to the new processor/graphics card power standard will not be playable on the older PS3 consoles. I'm actually still struggling to believe that you suggested such a thing so I'm going to stop there.

Sony Admits It Made the PS3 Too Expensive

Shrinking high end of the market Scott?!!! Where have you been for the past ten years? The high end technology market is booming. How else could you explain that millions are buying flatscreen tv for many more times the price that they would have previously paid for a crt tv? And here's the thing. Technology gets cheaper by the day. So while Sony may be losing $300 per machine right now in 18 months time it will be making a profit. And in 18 months time people will have got bored of the Wii long ago. In 18 months time developers will still be improving the PS3 games rapidly. Every year with the PS3 will be like owning a new console because every year the games will improve significantly. On the other hand it won't take long before the games developers will have reached a dead end with the Wii and then soon after with the Xbox 360.

Games consoles wars and anything in Technology are not sprints. That's what the average consumer seems to think. They think oh wow this is going to kill the other thing because it's cheaper and does everything we need it to right now. And that's the thing, the Wii does everything anyone wants it to right now. But what about in a years time?

I have a feeling this is the last true great console war as we know it. When the next one comes round in 4 years time things will have changed. In fours years time I do not expect anything other than the PS3 to be standing on the podium and the other two to be "also rans" who were simply guilty of sprinting the first mile of a marathon.

Sony Admits It Made the PS3 Too Expensive

To me this could just be some very clever marketing. It is laying down the gauntlet to the developers by saying some on let's see what you've got. And these developers are not stupid. They'll start to understand from a very early stage how much of the Cell processing power they are using. They may not have the time or resources at this stage to use it to it's potential but they will understand what the need to do in the future to get there.

Secondly, it's not just the cost of the Cell processor that has contributed to the high cost of the PS3 so it's a bit naive to blame it just on that. By putting in a cheaper processor it may only have saved $50-75. And the delays were mainly caused by the Blu-Ray drive and not the processor so it is also naive to suggest that we would have got the PS3 any sooner had Sony opted for a cheaper and slower processor.

How Google Can Put Salesforce.com Out of Business

I've been saying something similar to this for almost a year to my friends. As far as I'm concerned Microsoft should be very worried about Google long term. What google is doing is building up an amazing portfolio of applications that are all free. Now the usual tactic would be to make people reliant on them and then start charging but I don't see this as google's tactics. Basically because of what's going to start happening over the next few years.

We are starting to see huge possibilities in terms of being able to log onto your own computer from any internet connected computer in the world. This means something very very big for Microsoft. It means that we will not need a generic operating system on all computers. If you can log into your own operating system at home from anywhere in the world and use that all the time then it doesn't matter what your friend or internet shop has on their computers. You can therefore have your own bespoke OS. I think google are aiming to provide everyone with their own internet based bespoke OS that is based on all the free apps that they offer but is by no means exclusive to them. All for free. They just continue to make money from advertising.

Then all computers in the future will come with a very basic operating system that can log onto the net allowing you log on to your own operating system. Then you will be able to choose to down load the operating system to the computers hard drive if it is your own computer but keep it on the net if it is someone else's computer.

Long term Microsoft will not be selling operating systems because a computer won't need one as such. Vista will be their last great OS.

Sony's Media Divisions May Be Sinking The Company

Lol. Isn't it funny how different people have such different opinions. Here I was for the last two months spending an enormous amount of time looking into Sony and reading up about their two new key products (the Bravia range and the PS3) and thinking all the time that this is Sony's chance to regain their premium brand. They've not had their premium brand status for a while now I would say. So it's not them just losing it now. But they have suffered recently I'll admit that.

Anyway, I find the timing of your article very very strange. Had you done this 12 months ago then fair enough (in fact you may well have and are just reposting it now). But Sony have just released (according to all the reviews that I've read) the greatest range of LCD screens that we have ever seen. If you ask me a quality product deserves to be tagged as a premium product. If the Bravias are that good then they will sell at a premium price whether they have Sony's badge on it or not. And that is the key. Sony got the premium brand tag by developing premium technology. They then rode the wave for a while by selling overpriced kit but now they've actually got two products that deserve to carry the premium brand tag again. Secondly while the PS3 is expensive it's not overpriced. Not for what you get. It's just that some of the complaints so far is that some people don't need all of what the PS3 has to offer. But if you ask me people will need these features in one or two years time and this console war has only just started. There won't be another new console out for a few years so while the Wii may win in the short term Sony has positioned itself beautifully for the long term. And by throwing in the Blu-Ray it's also helping it's short term because it gives those wishing to buy a HiDef player a cheap route into the market. And the reviews that I've read actually say that the PS3 Blu-Ray capabilities are better than the current stand alone machines that cost twice as much.

The Bravia and the PS3 will carry Sony out of the doldrums and back into the big time. I see long term. You obviously need to put your glasses on because your can't see very far right now.

Sony PS3 Misses Sales Target, Xbox 360 and Wii May Beat Targets

I certainly feel that the predicted trouble of Sony with the PS3 is very premature from Carl. Thomas certainly put things into perspective here when he said that total Xbox 360 sales so far only represent 10% of what the PS2 has sold so far. That doesn't include Christmas season sales though so I'm assuming that by the end of this year the 360 may have sold around 12m units. Bear in mind that for the past 3 quarters the PS2 has actually outsold the 360.

Sony may have had trouble over the past few years but they've never put a foot wrong as far as the Playstation brand is concerned so to predict that they have done it here is a bit rich. The 360 may have better games but surely that's a no-brainer considering that the 360 has been out for over a year and the PS3 has been out a matter of weeks. And maybe the first selection of PS3 games have only marginally better graphics you wait until this time next year.

And don't predict the end of Sony yet. If you were to list the worlds four most highly sort after consumer electronic goods they would be as follows: MP3 players, Computers (with a larger percentage of them being laptops by the day), Flatscreen TV's, and Games Consoles. Sony is failing with MP3 players. But who isn't? Apple have that one tied up for the time being. They are holding their own ground on the laptop front but it's a saturated market with too many players. It is the new generation Sony Bravia range that is taking the flatscreen tv world by storm. The reviews for the latest models has firmly put Sony back on the top of the pile where they share it currently with long term players Panasonic and Philips. And now they have the PS3 coming out which follows the PS2 which has so far sold over 100m units worldwide.

On two out of the four above Sony is showing huge potential once again. And if someone finally wises up at their MP3 division I fully expect them to be the main challengers to the iPod in the coming years.

Write them off at your peril. The sleeping giants are just waking from their hibernation.

PS3, XBox or Wii: Pros and Cons of Gaming Consoles

Here's the first evidence that the controller is going to get boring

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/te...

PS3, XBox or Wii: Pros and Cons of Gaming Consoles

Don't worry about the rant. That's what these comment sections are for. Reading about someone else's point of viewing is certainly enlightening if nothing else.

I suppose we will just have to wait a couple of years to find out which console comes out on top. I for one am starting to think that the Wii may take top spot for the next year. And not just because the PS3 is short in supply. But gradually over the next 12-24 months I can't see how something like the Wii will win. Nintendo have always been great at innovation and doing something just a little bit different but I have to say that I'm sticking by my argument that different hardly ever wins. Better generally always wins. Sticking to tried and trusted formulas but improving on them is normally a sure fire way to win. Evolution rather than revolution is the name of the game. Especially when you are the market leader with huge brand loyalty.

As for the Wii being capable of coming up with games that have as much depth to them as games on the PS3 then we'll see. While something like Zelda is huge in detail and sprawling landscapes the new PS3 offers the opportunity to make the whole landscape completely interactive. Everything can be altered. Not only that you could have 200 characters on screen with a PS3 who are all completely different in looks and personality which I doubt will be something that you'll see on the Wii. Detail is now something that the PS3 will take to new levels.

As for games developers only developing a game to a certain standard that will look the same on all formats then I agree that this is what happened in the past with the xbox and PS2. But the only reason this happened was because even though the xbox was more powerful than the PS2 all of the games developers had stronger links and bigger contracts with Sony. So games were made for the PS2 and then adapted for the xbox without changing much. This time the tables are turned and the PS3 is more powerful than the Xbox360. What you will see is the games being developed for the PS3 and then adapted for the Xbox360. Because the Xbox360 is less powerful then the games will just be cut back slightly. Sony is in a very strong position to demand that this is the way things work being the market leaders. They still have strong ties with the developers (although not as strong) and as a result don't expect them to not utilise the power of the PS3. To be honest though I don't even expect this to have much of a bearing on whether people choose the PS3 or Xbox360. People will buy the PS3 regardless.

As for the Wii controller I am by no means saying that a normal controller is on par with it. It is far more unique and advanced. But in principle all it does is replace the analogue control stick with the ability to use your own body movement. But if I'm playing a game where I'm holding a sword then I'm still going to be able to move that sword in exactly the same ways with a control stick as I am with the Wii motion controller. It's not like the Wii controller increases the range of movement that the game character has. Granted it makes the whole experience more enjoyable and more life like but the limitations of the in game character will limit the abilities of the controller.

As for the virtual games concept. Well, it's nice enough but I can't see many people using it too much. It's not as if we all yearn to play games of yesteryear other than for just old time sake. With the exception of Mariocart 64 that is :)

Survey Shows There May Be Hope for Microsoft's Zune After All

Your blog title is pretty misleading to say the least. Wow, Microsoft came second after one week of sales. As Andrew Corn highlighted in his blog Steve Zune was only up there for a week. After two weeks it's already dead. I just feel sorry for those who bought it who will never find anyone to share songs with via wifi. Biggest mp3 flop in history!

Microsoft's Zzzune (The Sound Of iPods Flying Off The Shelf)

I don't think you read the article properly Mark. It says that the Zune was in the top ten for several days after it's release but as of the 27th Nov it was down to 76.

PS3, XBox or Wii: Pros and Cons of Gaming Consoles

I have to say that even though the Wii does break new ground in many respects I have not had confidence in it from day one. Every man and his dog are tripping over themselves to laud this new console for everything that it can potentially do. But I've always taken the stance of what doesn't it do? T3 magazine even gave it product of the year in their current magazine.

Now I do think it will be loads of fun to begin with. But all of this motion control will get tedious after a few months for one simple reason. The motion control isn't really that advanced. Fair enough it's one step closer to virtual reality and we should commend Nintendo for that. But even in the fighting games all that you will be able to do is perform the same moves that you would have been able to do with a controller. For instance, if I picked up a sword in real life there are probably millions of different angles I could point it in (all varying by a matter of mm's). With the Wii I'm sure you'll be able to swing the controller and make the character swing the sword in a few different directions but that's it. So you may as well do it with your fingers on the control pad. The same with the tennis. The variables are many millions of times less than actually playing a real game of tennis so eventually you'll start to think "I may as well just use my fingers on the control pad".

The PS3 on the other hand is 10 times more powerful than the PS2 and 3 or 4 times more powerful than the Xbox 360. This doesn't just mean better graphics. It means far bigger games that allow you to do far more exploration. It also means far more characters and much better AI. While this isn't ground breaking it's a evolution that is far more superior. To use an analogy, in the real world we see ground breaking inventions in the field of transport every now and again that seem very interesting to start with. But the car remains the king. It evolves and improves and as a result we stick with it. We get traction control and abs breaks (Blu-Ray), we get satellite navigation (wireless controllers), and we get better fuel economy and more safety feature (faster processor and graphics engine). Microsoft is the equivalent of Ford and Sony is the equivalent of Honda. Nintendo is that wacky scientist who's invented the flying car. Well ahead of it's time and not quite working they everyone wants it to. But genius nonetheless.

What winds me up is the analysts who say that the Wii is cheap enough to buy now and not be broke enough to not be able to afford the PS3. What is this world coming to? The Wii costs £180 in the UK and games will cost £30 each. Although it's cheaper than the Xbox360 that's hardly cheap.

You're right, Sony have been devious with Blu-Ray. But look at it from Sony's point of view. Do you think that they were right to do it? I think so.

Microsoft's Zzzune (The Sound Of iPods Flying Off The Shelf)

I have to say that I do find it really hard to believe how bad at getting it right with hardware product Microsoft are. It's not as if they actually come up with bad technology or bad products. It's just that they don't seem to do their research well enough. In fact to be honest if Windows wasn't so well entrenched and marketed and their were alternatives then I doubt they would even play that one right.

There are obviously some people at Microsoft getting paid an awful lot of money but are just not performing their jobs properly. For a start they often don't listen to what the analysts say about the products. And while I'm sure they do a lot of market research you have to realise that market research is often clouded in the technology market. You get the old "oh yeah that's a great idea" answer that when the person really finds out more about the product (quite often they won't be able to do side by side comparisons with competing products) then they don't like it as much.

Microsoft have a great deal of money burning holes in their accounts but if they continue to bring our duds like this then it won't last long. And they're guaranteed to get burnt by the PS3 and Wii so there's another failure. Add to that the ever increasing presence of Google in the software stakes and I think Microsoft should think twice about falling asleep on their throne.

PS3, XBox or Wii: Pros and Cons of Gaming Consoles

Lol. I'm actually English and worked in Foreign Exchange up until Feb so no problems there with the exchange rates Marcus. Incidentally the EUR is far stronger than the USD at the moment.

I see what you're saying there and have to say that I'm sure that's what most of the disgruntled PS fans feel themselves. What I'm saying though is that I doubt the final cost of the PS3 has been increased that much by the inclusion of the Blu-Ray drive. If we're led to believe correctly the manufacturing costs of the PS3 with the 60gb hard drive is $840.35 (although this is a matter for some debate as it seems some of the breakdown is slightly inflated in it's estimation prices):

www.digitimes.com/bits...

Of that $840 the Blu-Ray Drive only costs $125. I think that price has been confirmed as far as I'm aware and isn't an estimation. So the Blu-Ray drive represents 15% of the final manufacturing costs of the PS3. Let's say we take out the Blu-Ray drive. That brings the manufacturing costs down to $715. That is still $115 above the retail price of the PS3. So I think it's safe to assume that Sony wouldn't have just passed on the $125 saving on to the consumer. On top of that they would have still needed to fit a dvd/cd drive. I'm guessing that consumers would have only seen a $60 reduction in price.

So, you can either have the PS3 for $600 with dvd or $540 with Blu-Ray. What do you want? That's only 45 euros more. Most can spend easily that much in the pub in a few hours.

Now in reality I don't think the extra cost is an issue then is it? Do you agree? But what is an issue is the time delay. Without Blu-Ray everyone worldwide would have had a PS3 for Christmas. Sony have taken a gamble on losing Christmas sales to get an extra piece of state of the art technology into their PS3 for hardly any extra cost to the consumer.

As for you point on the Blu-Ray drive not being up to standard of a stand alone machine. How do you know it's going to be that bad? There are a number of reasons why previous technologies weren't so good in the PS's. One of the main reasons was the low quality DAC's (digital to analogue convertors). The DAC is one of the most important parts to a CD/DVD player. But the DAC in the PS3 is not so important for Blu-Ray. Why? Because to transfer true HD pictures the signal remains in it's digital form via the HDMI cable to the TV. Only once it has got to the TV does it get converted. Obviously when you're dealing with pictures and sound there are other things to consider that make up quality but not having to rely on the PS3 DAC is very important.

So I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing the results of the Blu-Ray on the PS3 and comparing them to stand alone machines. For 45 euros I'm sure even you will be suitably impressed enough to hold off buying a Blu-Ray machine until they come down to a reasonable price.

Oh, and I bet a 100 euro dvd machine would beat your older more expensive machine. These upscaling DVD players are better than 4 or 5 year old machines that cost up to £1000.

PS3, XBox or Wii: Pros and Cons of Gaming Consoles

I agree with you to a certain extent Marcus. There are obviously always limitations with a new technology. And I'm sure over the next few years we'll see Blu-Ray or HD-DVD improve far beyond what the initial players are in quality.

But what you are not putting into perspective is that these PS3 owners are getting a Blu-Ray device machine for only $200 (if you take that as the amount that has been added on to put it in the machine. I actually think it might only be $120 though). How much do the first stand alone Blu-Ray machines cost? Many times more than that anyway. So even though I'm sure the quality isn't as good it is still sure to be worth well beyond the $200/$125 extra that it's adding to the machine. And I actually think Sony are absorbing some of the costs of the Blu-Ray chip anyway so I doubt you would have seen that amount shaved off the total cost of the PS3. The main thing that it has done is cause major delays. Those delays are worth it in my opinion.

The other point is that by integrating the Blu-Ray in to this I truly believe that it does change this from being just a games machine to a home entertainment system. The processor and graphics chip are powerful enough to use the PS3 for a number of other things. The internet and live streaming from various HD movie sites and music sites being one of them. When the PS1 had cd capabilities and the PS2 had dvd capabilities people weren't as excited about them as they are about the PS3's Blu-Ray drive.

Sure, the Wii may be attempting to change the face of gaming. But I believe the evolution that we are getting from the PS3 is a huge step in terms of all round home entertainment convergence.

I think Sony believed in the PS brand enough to try and use it to make the Blu-Ray brand get the head start that it needs. By flooding the market with Blu-Ray (even if it isn't the primary reason for owning the PS3) you are telling the movie studios that there is enough market penetration to need plenty of Blu-Ray content. It gives the market the kick start that it needs. That's especially important considering that neither Blu-Ray or HD-DVD is guaranteed to succeed.

Carl