DonWii said: outlawauron said: If they don't get games, well then those people just aren't don't like video games and wouldn't have gotten a PS3 anyways. They WOULD get a PS3 because: 1)It is a cheap BR player(Last I heard, it is the same price as the SONY's own stand-alone BR player) 2)It doubles as a computer. My friend who works at Circuit City told me that they are trained to sell the PS3 as a BR player. When people ask about a BR player, they are directed to the PS3.

I don't see this continuing to be the case for much longer.  Since PS3 price has gone from $600 to $500 and the standalone BR players have gone from $1000 to $500.  I would think by this holiday season, standalone BR players will be $400, maybe less depending on how much HD-DVD players are.  I don't see another price cut for the PS3 anytime soon. 

outlawauron said: Well, if the PS3 can get into homes, then commericals and great games will be released on the system. The people, if they are video games players, will go and get games along with it. If they don't get games, well then those people just aren't don't like video games and wouldn't have gotten a PS3 anyways.

You're forgetting about attach rates / software sales. Developers are not stupid, they need more reasons to believe their software will do well than simply seeing good hardware sales.

 

Game_boy said: If people are buying PS3 as a Blu-ray player, then the attach rate will fall and yet more third-parties will leave, plus Sony makes a large loss on each PS3 sold which wouldn't be brought back in terms of game revenue (I assume games are more lucrative than BD movies at the moment).

The Attach rate doesn't matter. If I am a studio, I would rather sell 400,000 copies with a 0.1 attach rate than 100,000 copies with a 0.8 attach rate.

dli2k3 said: Game_boy said: If people are buying PS3 as a Blu-ray player, then the attach rate will fall and yet more third-parties will leave, plus Sony makes a large loss on each PS3 sold which wouldn't be brought back in terms of game revenue (I assume games are more lucrative than BD movies at the moment). The Attach rate doesn't matter. If I am a studio, I would rather sell 400,000 copies with a 0.1 attach rate than 100,000 copies with a 0.8 attach rate.

Talk about missing the point...Of course the attach rate must be considered together with hardware sales, you aren't exactly inventing dynamite here!

 

This is true, but when it is selling so poorly and slowly then that's what matters.

@ FinalEvangelion

Are you sure about that? Aligning the launches for Japan and North America they pretty much overlap (XBox 360 performing excellent in North America, but very bad in Japan in comparison). But the European data is left out and I have the impression the PS3 does outperform the XBox 360 significantly in other parts of the world in comparison to the XBox 360.

But IMO just as important for Sony, the PS2 is still a very strong product worldwide. Even in the US the PS2 significantly outperformed the XBox 360 since its release. It's good to see the PS3 perform about as well as the XBox 360 performed in its first year, but for the second year IMO the PS3 needs to outperformed the XBox 360 significantly for the same timespan. Then later with a cheaper slimline product Sony can let the PS3 takeover from the PS2 position within the market.

@ ioi

If reading, I would value your input. Any idea on how the PS3 performs in comparison to the XBox 360 in Europe and other areas for the same timespan?

MikeB said: @ FinalEvangelion About 60k under what the Xbox 360 was doing at this point. I guess they are following almost identical sales patterns as of yet. Are you sure about that? Aligning the launches for Japan and North America they pretty much overlap (XBox 360 performing excellent in North America, but very bad in Japan in comparison). But the European data is left out and I have the impression the PS3 does outperform the XBox 360 significantly in other parts of the world in comparison to the XBox 360. But IMO just as important for Sony, the PS2 is still a very strong product worldwide. Even in the US the PS2 significantly outperformed the XBox 360 since its release. It's good to see the PS3 perform about as well as the XBox 360 performed in its first year, but for the second year IMO the PS3 needs to outperformed the XBox 360 significantly for the same timespan. Then later with a cheaper slimline product Sony can let the PS3 takeover from the PS2 position within the market.

Except, of course, by the time the PS3 is ready to take over the position of the PS2 the Wii will have beaten it to the punch ... The PS3 could literally have Pixar level graphics and super-computer physics simulations in a game in realtime and people will not buy it if it is $300 and only has a couple of games released for it in a month.

Sony doesn't need to outperform the XBox 360 eventually to gain second place, it needs to outperform the Wii now. Arguing over the sales of the PS3 against the XBox 360 is like getting into a pissing competition into the wind, you're in a competition where you are going to lose regardless on whether you win.

DonWii said: People keep talking about PS3 selling well for $500/$600. However, the increase in PS3 sales saw only a small increase in software sales. Meaning? People are buying the PS3 as a BR player. Not everyone buying a PS3 buys it for games, nor the prospect of buying games in the future. IF the PS3 didn't double as a BR player, THEN I would acknowledge it selling well at such a high price.

yea it is much more impressive to sell a PS2 in a new box with a motion controller.....shoulda just copied Nintendo right. The fact is the PS3 is a game machine that plays Bluray I would not expect a diehard Nintendo fan to know anything about Multi functionality but seems like it Is something consumers want (ie.Iphone) . Or do you not acknowlege the Fact that Iphone is a phone.

If the PS3 did not double as a Bluray player it would be a couple hundred dollars less and would be selling faster than the Wii. Sony wanted to make a system that would still be considered next gen in a few years (when most people will get the full value of the then cheaper console by owning HD TVs) By the time most people move to HDTV the format war will be over and Bluray will be the Nextgen disc format.

This is completly different then Nintendo's approach of using last gen tech that was cheap and readily available so price of the console would be low but questions arise about the longevity of the system itself. Nitendo is the cheap system it will sell while the more expensive 360 and PS3 are challanging for next gen gamers. There is no comparing Wii sales to PS3 but honestly you can not compare the 2 at any level sure they both play games but It is not the same type of games.

Keep telling yourself that!