considering that the playstation brand has saved the blu ray brand and the HDtv brand last cristmas. thoes old suits can't cry about its gameing division cause it has carried them thru the last few years. Ipod basically destroyed thier portable music division. however they have Too many divisions that the PS3 helps in the long run. Digital cams easily compatible with the ps3, Music and Movies will make more money once the ps3 adds them the the PSN thru digital downloads.

In whole the PS3 was mad the way it is to help all the divisions of sony especially bly ray and HDtv's and that showed last December for HDtv's sales and this whole year with Blu Ray rushing past HD-DVD.

 The sales will most likely spike once the AAA exclusive come out along with the consistant releases of AA and A titles.

I never thought about this, but could FF and MGS actually HURT PS3 sales as a whole? I know alot of people who want those games, but are just waiting for them to come out before buying the PS3. How many of these, possibly millions, will see what the 360 or Wii has to offer and buy one of those before FF and MGS even comes out?
Undoubtebly they will be huge system sellers, but they could also be the cause of the low sales right now. Problem is, when they eventually come out, it may be too late for the PS3.

Ironicly, Sony's otyher devisions have picked up, while the VG one has slumped. They could cut it without to much of a problem.

The thing is, when PS3 sales spike, it takes only two weakes for them to come back down to nothing. The PS3 sold great the first week in Europe, and then just went back down like all around the world. It has no staying power. Game releases aren't going to help it as much. As someone said before, never has a console come back.

 Wow, excellent point Zaphodile. I had never considered that. I just foolishly assumed that all of those gamers waiting on MGS4 and FFXIII would hold out for PS3s, but they could end up with a 360 or Wii instead. Particularly the 360. Its has three top notch Japanese RPGs releasing this year. So JRPG fans holding out for the PS3 may be end up with a 360 this year, especially if the price drops a $100 this holiday season like I think it will.

For every one person that is holding out on buying a PS3 when that one 'killer app' is released, there are 100 more that are waiting for the system price to drop below $300. I don't think there's any other way to cut it. Videophiles who want Blu-Ray don't want the games console, and hardcore gamers that want the best machine won't drive the Blu-Ray film side in substantial enough numbers to 'end' the current format war. Sure, there are exceptions, but as a general rule the number of people that want everything the PS3 has to offer are few and far between, and most of them bought it already at launch, hence the trend of great sales in Week 1 and a plummet in each successive week following Week 2 in virtually every territory. 

The last overly ambitious $600 console that vied to be the ubiquitous "black box" that controlled every aspect of your TV was the 3DO, and we all know how that turned out. It was a fabulous machine, but the bottom line is Road Rash, Twisted, FIFA, and Star Control II weren't worth $600 to play. If the PS3 isn't selling with the general quality and well-reviewed titles it has now, such as Motorstorm and Resistance, then a bunch of hi-res sequels to games we've all played for 15+ years, plus Home a Second Life clone with less functionality, aren't going to make much of a dent.

This crosses with the PS2/PS3 launch thread, but in 30 years of buying consoles I cannot name one game system that was successful following the business model of, 'Oh, well when X, Y and Z are released, THEN it'll sell like crazy.' Not one. Screenshots and promises don't sell consoles.

This needs repeated over and over again: Hardcore gamers don't drive the gaming market. The NES, Genesis, PlayStation, and PlayStation 2 weren't successful because they had the best exclusives or the promise of the best exclusives to eventually arrive. They won over their fans and generations because they cost either $249 or $299 and had the best libraries at launch. Their points of critical mass weren't reached with gamer-centric killer apps, but rather with puzzle and rhythm games completely out of left field.

Final Fantasy, Zelda, Mario, et al didn't sell a bajillion GameBoys and NESes. Tetris did.

This trend WILL NOT ever change, regardless what "hardcore gamers" think. 

Not that I think the PS3 will ultimately flop like say the Dreamcast. But...

At what point does the market as a whole move on, and a console dies from sales inertia? At what point does 'wait, the games are coming!' no longer matter?

I don't think this is a relevant question now, since there are big games coming soon that are already in development. But what about the developers and publishers now who are making their plans for big-budget titles for 2008 and later? Will they jump ship at one point? If you had $10 million and your company at stake, what platform would you put your chips on right now for a big 2008 release? Sooner or later there is a snowball effect.

I think Sony will institute a price cut when the next big title comes out, which should spur sales nicely. I guess there's not that much point to do it beforehand, if sales don't go up it will make them look worse.

How low? Until it's 0%. If that happens, the Playstation 3 will be extinct, just like the Dinosaurs!

In time, they will get buried, and maybe in 1,000 years, archeologists will find them, hidden under the ground, while Nintendo takes over the world. Oh, Microsoft would have left the video game industry, like Sony, by then.

After the release of Wii's more, major games, it will take up more % of the video game industry, which leaves even less room for the Playstation 3, and Xbox 360.

This week, was released the first SONY game for WII, --SURF UP--, may be , SONY have plans , to release GT5, in WII, too, just in case , ps3 fails, to reach , 10.000.000 units sold at christmas . For instance i can sugest, two solutions, for sony, 1- sony buys , nintendo 2- sony joints with nintendo, in this two options, sony can survive, in game industry, but only, if SIGHERU MIYAMOTO, continues suport, and only in case this two ways , do not proced, the last posibility for sony, is call to BIN LADDEN, and say to this guy, MIYAMOTO is a non recognized, brother of president BUSH

 Well worded and insightful post. I agree almost entirely on every point made. 

Yes, obviously sony's only choice at that point would be to kill Miyamoto.

what a great post .... ..... .....