Sony Gamer's Day 2008 (May 6, 2008)

[desmond]

PS3 has outsold Xbox 360 in Europe

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=137142

SCEE boss David Reeves has told the audience at the PlayStation Day conference that Sony is beating Microsoft in the console battle - in Europe, at least.

"I am delighted to be able announce today that we have sold more PlayStation 3s throughout Europe than Xbox 360 - even though they launched sixteen months before PS3," he said.

More than 5 million PS3 consoles have now been shifted in Europe, according to Reeves. "We are particularly proud of this as it has been achieved in a similar time frame as PlayStation 2 which retailed, if you remember, at a significantly lower price," he said.

 

[Gradthrawn]

Any news from SCEE regarding PlayTV recording while playing games ? The last time I heard they were testing it. So we can play GTA4, or MotorStorm 4-player split screen, while PS3 is recording a live show ? There should be a limit somewhere. Some clarification would be appreciated.

I really don't see how they're going to do that w/ just 1 SPE. But that's my completely uninformed, uneducated, guess. Nonetheless, there will be hands on reports for it today according to IGN among others.

Interesting:

Videos for Resistance 2 and Killzone 2 have been removed, at Sony's request. "This was an internal video to show work in progress and was not ready for distribution." We will post new media when it is available.

I better grab those FLVs from my temp cache before its too late.

 

[Vic]

It's not really about "allowing". MS has improved their position in Europe by a fair bit, if you look at the numbers. But EU is Sonyland. There seems to be less of a history of competing platforms in Europe. Was Nintendo or Sega ever a real factor there?

You're joking right? Nintendo and Sega used to own Europe well before Sony was in play. They had a nice split of the market in the early nineties.

MS is paying the price for its focus on FPS' and 'hardcore' games. Are they really selling to that many people who didn't own the first Xbox?

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Killzone 2 Feb 2009.

Glad to see it not competing with Resistance 2.

Or a certain other highly anticipated shooter... And it's better to release a polished game anyway, otherwise all the money invested in its development just goes out of the window. Not to mention that there'll be at least 1.5-2 million more potential buyers after the 2008 holiday season.

 

[patsu]

I really don't see how they're going to do that w/ just 1 SPE. But that's my completely uninformed, uneducated, guess. Nonetheless, there will be hands on reports for it today according to IGN among others.

Yes, that's my baseline. Makes it less useful though.

Interesting:

I better grab those FLVs from my temp cache before its too late.

I missed the R2 video. I am trying to contain my excitement and interest until they show the official one. The Facebook-like web integration is a good move. Hopefully they are able to license it to Sony for other games. It will benefit everyone.

 

[liolio]

It's not really about "allowing". MS has improved their position in Europe by a fair bit, if you look at the numbers. But EU is Sonyland. There seems to be less of a history of competing platforms in Europe. Was Nintendo or Sega ever a real factor there?

Ok Ms has improved its sales ok, but its position it is unclear to me.
At the rates Sony has matched MS install base it doesn't farewell for MS as the end of this gen. I don't speak about first/second/whatever.
MS could end with a pretty minimal market share by the end of this gen in Europe.

You need to develop a fanbase and feed them, they your brand best advocate.
They will cover for your mistakes do the advertising and straightly lie whether its online or speaking to theirs friends.
Mindshare (lack in this case) could hurt them even more.

Ms has touting for quiet some time that Europe was a priority (way prior the last price cut).
MS known what sony was up to, and known that gt was a strong franchise etc.

They should have react slightly earlier, my bet if that they put too much credit on the impact of GTA IV and its exclusive add on, it won't pay (clearly there is a lot to discuss here, but it's clearly too early...)

It may have changed nothing that a possibility, but It may have help.

I found that the delay of KZ II is a good idea.
The 360 will have GeoW II the ps3 RFOM II both ofthem are likely to have CoD V or something on top of that. It's enought.

Plus Sony will have an amazing line up for 2009, GT V, KZ II, FF XIII

I may jump in depending on the price as I still have not settled over a system.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

MS is paying the price for its focus on FPS' and 'hardcore' games. Are they really selling to that many people who didn't own the first Xbox?

Oh come on, this is so old. MS is already at a userbase close to the original Xbox's total sales... and it's still $350 in the US, far from the $200 it's been selling at for most of the previous hw cycle.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

It's kinda hard to beat a Sony console when people are choosing every piece of their A/V equipment based on just the brand.

Seriously, how can someone spend a lot of money on a TV without even looking at the competition, just to have it match up with the DVD player and the speakers??? And I'm talking about intelligent, educated friends here who really should know better.

Not that Sony LCD TVs are bad or anything, but it's still abnormal behaviour IMHO.

 

[deepbrown]

Killzone 2 http://www.gamersyde.com/stream_7071_en.html

 

[L. Scofield]

Killzone 2 http://www.gamersyde.com/stream_7071_en.html

Is it me or is the motion blur gone?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I really don't see how they're going to do that w/ just 1 SPE.

It should take virtually no processing requirements. All you need to do is copy the MPEG stream straight from broadcast to HDD. However I doubt it'll feature because Sony are useless at providing key functions and services (he says in a huff after more hassles with PS3 online gaming given the totally useless communications options on that platform )

 

[Tap In]

It's kinda hard to beat a Sony console when people are choosing every piece of their A/V equipment based on just the brand.

Seriously, how can someone spend a lot of money on a TV without even looking at the competition, just to have it match up with the DVD player and the speakers??? And I'm talking about intelligent, educated friends here who really should know better.

Not that Sony LCD TVs are bad or anything, but it's still abnormal behaviour IMHO.

wow so true, sad but true

 

[assen]

But EU is Sonyland. There seems to be less of a history of competing platforms in Europe. Was Nintendo or Sega ever a real factor there?

You haven't looked at Wii/DS hardware or software sales in the EU recently, have you? EU, like everywhere else, is Nintendoland.

 

[DeadlyNinja]

MS is paying the price for its focus on FPS' and 'hardcore' games. Are they really selling to that many people who didn't own the first Xbox?

It's not just that, but the fact that people in Europe are big time PC players. It's crazy to think they would want to buy a 360 when the system's so called "exclusives" are PC ports or ported to PC. Once you strip the system away of it's exclusives, you have a system with very little to offer in games of any genre. I can think of Forza and Dead Raising right off the top of my head and nothing else. Oh well, MS did gain ground, so I guess that's good.

You haven't looked at Wii/DS hardware or software sales in the EU recently, have you? EU, like everywhere else, is Nintendoland.

We really don't have any solid EU numbers. Although it's also one of reason why people can still deny the 360 was losing ground when I brought this up a few weeks ago. Hell, they can still use that argument today.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

...

Are you guys living in 2005 or what?

I've started to write up explanations but I've realized it's futile...

 

[patsu]

It should take virtually no processing requirements. All you need to do is copy the MPEG stream straight from broadcast to HDD. However I doubt it'll feature because Sony are useless at providing key functions and services (he says in a huff after more hassles with PS3 online gaming given the totally useless communications options on that platform )

An earlier PlayTV interview claimed that Sony officials wanted to do it, but they don't have the final result yet.

Regardless, I agree with you that Sony is fumbling on providing end-to-end PSP and PS3 services and features. They do not do enough in what's important (convenience, ease of use !), but overdid in non-essential areas.

e.g., Although the 20 internet radio player interfaces were well received by PSP fans, they could have achieved the same effect with just one easy to use internet radio player (and without clutter too !). I don't know what the PSP marketing manager and product manager are thinking (Not impressed... )

Similar examples exist on PS3 (e.g. Focused too much on Playstation Home visuals, but not enough game integration until recently).

It's kinda hard to beat a Sony console when people are choosing every piece of their A/V equipment based on just the brand.

Seriously, how can someone spend a lot of money on a TV without even looking at the competition, just to have it match up with the DVD player and the speakers??? And I'm talking about intelligent, educated friends here who really should know better.

Not that Sony LCD TVs are bad or anything, but it's still abnormal behaviour IMHO.

wow so true. sad but true.

Shoppers these days are pretty sophisticated, especially with access to Internet. Sony earned their brand after years of quality products and researches. There may be areas where they are inadequate, but as a whole their products are unique and well-built. This is why people trust the brand in general despite all their shortfalls.

 

[Neb]

Shoppers these days are pretty sophisticated, especially with access to Internet. Sony earned their brand after years of quality products and researches. There may be areas where they are inadequate, but as a whole their products are unique and well-built. This is why people trust the brand in general despite all their shortfalls.

Nah I dont think so, many buyers take what the seller says for hard facts and base their desicions on that. I've experienced how in many HDTV shops the seller has wanted to sell me on a Sony HDTV. All the smooth talk to secure his bonus when there was clearly better options at hand but they didnt have much to say about them (eh?). It is really funny when oneself knows more than them!

 

[Neb]

Gamersyde has lots of ingame screenshots of MS2 at SGD08 and also video.

http://www.gamersyde.com/news_6430_en.html
http://www.gamersyde.com/gallery_8356_en.html

 

[Vic]

Oh come on, this is so old. MS is already at a userbase close to the original Xbox's total sales... and it's still $350 in the US, far from the $200 it's been selling at for most of the previous hw cycle.

Its selling at a slightly better rate than the Xbox. And of course Wii is very expensive for a souped-up GameCube and motion controller, and PS3 is more expensive than PS2.

Stereotype or not, 360 is selling weakly in two of the major markets. Some of that is down to unreliability of the hardware, but some of it is due to games. Fans keep saying its got the greatest library ever, but the figures dont back that up. Once Wii and PS3 hit the ground running in the software department, MS's position could well end up looking sorry.

 

[Arwin]

More than 5 million PS3 consoles have now been shifted in Europe, according to Reeves. "We are particularly proud of this as it has been achieved in a similar time frame as PlayStation 2 which retailed, if you remember, at a significantly lower price," he said.

I remember, actually. And the price wasn't significantly lower at all, actually. That was only in the U.S. Most European countries had a pretty hefty price tag that if you calculate it to today's money, is very similar in price. That includes the price drops in the first year, which the PS2 also got.

As to people wondering why 360 was beat fairly easily here, the answer isn't that hard. Their localisation isn't nearly as good, in more than one way. Only the U.K. seemed to have gotten decent stuff like movie downloads, an area where the 360 did a lot better in the U.S. Also, we are a little behind in the tech loop, so getting the 360 out here in Europe didn't pay off as much. Online also isn't as important, though it's coming.

Most importantly though, everyone seems to forget that the original Xbox already did a lot better in the U.S. than it did in Europe. This is partly because SCEE was loads better than SCEA at promoting the platform - in my honest opinion, SCEA have been total idiots. But SCEE came up with EyeToy, SingStar and Buzz, and those were all very big successes (and rightly so).

And yes, Sony also benefits from having a good name in the multimedia department. As HDtv continues to invade European homes, the PS3 is considered a great device to complement it (aAnd it is). There's lots of other reasons, but really its not a big surprise. Besides, the 360 is still doing pretty well, considering where they come from in the last generation (remember, Xbox sold 66% in the U.S., and only about 33% in the E.U.)