Here we go again... the Wall Street Journal aren't feeling too good about the possibility of the PlayStation 3 console's success.
In their latest article (linked above) they doubt it will come back and assert that the PS3 is sagging, while the XBox 360 and Wii are widening their leads.
They pick up on a number of factors including the PS3's price and lack of 'attractive' and exclusive titles.
To quote: With Stringer saying, 'We will be profitable,' you can't cut price," says Michael Pachter, a research analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles. He expects Sony to cut prices at the start of its new fiscal year in April, which could help boost sales.
Sony also is suffering from a lack of attractive titles that are exclusive to the PS3. Microsoft has hit the jackpot with two action-adventure game franchises, Halo and Gears of War, which are available only on the Xbox 360. Most of Nintendo's top games are Made in house... More »
In the gaming world exclusivities have become all but obsolete. So it should come as little surprise that analysts are stating the future of Epic’s gaming giant, Gears of War, will be bright on all fronts of the console war.
Analyst Michael Pachter, who is well known throughout the gaming industry for his insight to the future of gaming, has stated “we pretty much know that Gears of War 3 is probably gonna come out on PS3.”
Pachter is going off the idea that things today aren’t exactly exclusive, they’re only set aside for a set amount of time. If this holds true, PS3 gamers will get a chance to see just how much they’ve been missing.
As gamers of all three major systems, we welcome multiplatform any day. The console war is getting down to the point of ‘who’s system has the better technology’, and steering clear of ‘who has the better games’.
Either way this one ends up, Gears of War has cemented it’s p... More »
The infamous Xbox 360 "red ring of death" (indicating a failed unit) has caused Microsoft - and its customers - untold pain in the three years since the console's launch in 2005, and cost it $1.15bn (£738m) last year.
Microsoft has never said publicly why the console was plagued with faults: it seems that poor production quality was at the heart of the failures - an all-round problem with no single cause except impatience on the company's part as it tried to become the leader in videogame consoles.
It was an ambitious attack. Microsoft's engineers started working on the Xbox 360 at least a year after Sony's engineers began work on the PlayStation 3, yet wound up shipping a year earlier. With the first Xbox, the company lost $3.7bn (£2.3bn) over four years, mostly because costs of the box - particularly its hard drive - were too high.
Bill Gates didn't really care about the losses; that was simply the ante for getting into an exciting ne... More »
The Wii, PS3, and XBox 360 are currently engaged in one of the fiercest and bloodiest console wars ever, with a winner yet to be declared. With all three home consoles still in the running, how can you expect to pick a victor?
This generation of consoles is like no past generation in one important way: it’s almost impossible to pick a winner. Sure, the Wii is selling like hotcakes and currently has the lead, but both the Xbox 360 and PS3 are still selling in fair numbers month on month around the world. So how on earth do you choose which console will prove victorious at this (relatively) early stage of proceedings?
Don Reisinger writes The Digital Home, a column on CNet which looks at the state of technology in and around the house. He thinks he can predict the future, and did so in an article titled ‘The Xbox 360 should win this console war’. I note he used “should” rat... More »
A purported Kmart ad began tearing through the Internet last week, showing a "new low price" of $299 for the 20GB Xbox 360 Pro model, and a July 6 shelf date. Such a price tag suggests a $50 price drop for the Xbox 360 model even before the E3 Media and Business Summit, taking place a week later. While Microsoft won't confirm the price drop, gaming sites are abuzz with speculation.
Now, five top industry analysts have told Next-Gen that they believe an Xbox 360 price drop is not only imminent, but likely required if Microsoft intends to fend off competition from rival PS3.
"We believe Sony will be forced to follow suit [with their own price cut], although we suspect they may wait a little bit," said Arvind Bhatia with Stern Agee. "A price cut sometime between July and September is possible [for PS3]."
A price cut would expectedly increase the PS3's installed base, and create an opportunity to sell more high-margin software to offset hardwa... More »
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