September 18, 2008 – 2:00 pm
If you ever needed a sign of Armageddon I think this might just be it, yes ladies and gentleman the Xbox 360 has outsold the Nintendo Wii in Japan! During the month of September the Xbox 360 put on a show and beat out the PS3 and Wii.
The 360 sold 28,681 units from September 8 to September 14, beating out the Wii’s 27,057 sales and trouncing the PS3’s 8,050. To further put this success into context, the 360 only shifted a dismal 845 units the previous week.
It is no doubt in correlation to the drastic price drop of the Xbox 360 in combination with new JRPGs hitting the market. Tales of Vesperia alone is a console mover as it is geared perfectly for the Japanese audience and is a very solid game that the Western RPG fan can enjoy as well. Also throw in the mix the new Square Enix RPG Infinite Undiscovery, which I am not a huge fan of, but has the Square Enix name on it that is sure to bring Japanese fans in.
So in conclusion, head toward your bomb shelters now and lock yourself up because the winds are shifting!
[Via Destructoid]
February 27, 2008 – 1:30 pm
The poor corpse of HD DVD isn’t even cold yet and we are already seeing price drops on hardware and now the movies. Looks like Amazon is having a half off sale on a good amount of their HD DVD selections. Not a bad time to pick up that copy of Transformers and a few others, unfortunately I didn’t see Heroes on sale. Be sure that even more of these types of sales will be springing up shortly so if you miss this one don’t sweat it.
February 7, 2008 – 12:45 pm
IBM has successfully made a 45nm Cell processor, the chip behind the PS3. For those unaware, shrinking processors means for less heat generated, less power consumption, and lower price production. The original Cell processor in the PS3 was 90nm, which was then shrunk to 65nm, and now 45nm.
So what exactly does this mean for you? Well, lower priced PS3 systems in the future, mainly. The chips cost less to produce and less cooling equipment is needed since there is significantly less heat generated. Now this doesn’t mean we’ll see a price drop quickly. Sony will still need to rework the rest of the PS3 components for the 45nm Cell. And they may choose to make up money by leaving the price the same for a while.
My bet is we’ll see a price drop mid year, with 45nm introduction coming late 2008, followed by another price drop in mid 2009. I’m not betting the farm on it, but it seems pretty logical to me.
[via ArsTechnica]
October 18, 2007 – 9:30 am
Jack Tretton announced today that the gimped 40GB PS3 will be making it’s way to America on November 2nd for a cool $400. The differences between the stripped down console and it’s big bothers are a 40GB hard drive, two USB ports instead of four, no card readers, and no backwards compatibility.
Along with the new console, Sony announced a price drop for the 80GB PS3 to $500 in the US.
“We’re choosing to focus on the PlayStation 2 consumer with the PlayStation 2, which remains incredibly relevant, and focus on the PlayStation 3 consumer with the new 40-gigabyte model and the great software coming out,” Tretton said.
“Backward compatibility is a nice secondary consideration, but it’s far from the number-one priority.”
I’m still not a happy camper about Sony ditching BC with the 40GB console. For me, it’s a big downer. At least now with good PS2 games still coming out. What do you think? Will the 40GB PS3 succeed in the US?
September 6, 2007 – 8:19 am
If you’ve been wanting an iPhone but didn’t want to spend the money, you’re in luck. At yesterday’s media event, Steve Jobs announced the 4gb iPhone would be going the way of the 20gb PS3, and the 8gb iPhone would see a price drop to $399. That’s a $200 price drop for those counting.
Sucks for early adopters with this huge price drop just 2 months after release, but this is going to sell a LOT more iPhones for Apple.
Check out our review here if you need some more information. The iPhone is easily the best mobile device I’ve ever had.
September 5, 2007 – 8:14 pm
Dave Karraker, the senior director of corporate communications of Sony Comuter Entertainment of America announced today that he will be leaving the company and going to Skyy Spirits. Karraker’s last day at Sony will be Friday September 7th and will begin at Skyy Spirits will be October 1st.
This is an interesting announcement as Sony seems to be turning the corner now after the brand new price drop. Reports have stated that Skyy Spirits made him a great deal that he couldn’t refuse, in case you did not know Skyy is a pretty famous brand of vodka and many of you have probably gotten drunk thanks to this company. Maybe there will be a price break in Skyy vodka?? We can only hope, good luck Dave.
August 13, 2007 – 12:05 pm
I recently took a trip to my local Best Buy in the hopes to find a 60 Gb PS3, both because of the $100 price drop and the fact that I wanted to watch 300 in Blu-Ray. So I stroll on into the mecca of all thigns electronic and make my way to the video games sectiona nd what od I see:
- Xbox 360 Elite boxes lying around and lots of Premium 360 and games with Halo 3 Pre-order boxes everywhere
- Still no Wii’s but lots of games and peripherals
- Lots of 60 Gb PS3’s on the shelf, but no peripherals or games (20 Gb has gone extinct)
Seems that Best Buy has had a huge influx of people purchsaing PS3’s isnce the price break and as of this week’s flyer they will begin to carry the 80 Gb version this week at $599. Looks like I will need to act fast and grab a 60 Gb PS3 before they run out, even if I don’t get any software for it.
Trying to find 300 in Blu-Ray is turning out to be quite the task as well and games for the PS3 were limited to Pirates of the Carribean and Need for Speed Carbon, not exactly the first games I want to throw in my PS3, the games and Blu-Ray sections for PS3 were patheticaclly empty and I think a huge sign for the success the price break has had on their business. Looks like I will get my PS3 this week and just rock out some PSN games for the time being.
I’d put this one as close to confirmed as possible. We now have three different store flyers promoting the price cut.
Toys R Us is sporting the $50 price cut on the Premium, as is Walmart. Circuit City is going balls out and showing a $50 price cut for the Premium, a $30 price cut for the Elite, and a $20 price cut for the Core.
I can’t say this is an unexpected price cut. It’s been nearly two years since the 360 was launched and has been sitting at the same prices since November 2005. In my opinion, this is a bit overdue.
Scans of other ads after the jump.
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I have the Today Show on this morning, for God only knows what reason. They had a segment on about video games, again, who knows why.
The interesting part of the segment is that their “tech guru” told consumers to stay away from the Xbox 360 because of the massive hardware problems. He let everyone know that Microsoft issued a 3 year warranty extension amounting to $1 billion. The “tech guru” indicated that is is the same as a recall without the legal issues surrounding an actual recall. Microsoft would not confirm to him what is causing the hardware problems, but he advised all consumers to not buy an Xbox 360 until at least the end of the year.
Along with this, he strongly recommended the PS3 and Wii for their very high reliability and technological prowess. Letting everyone know the PS3 is a much stronger machine than the Xbox 360 and it’s recent $100 price drop, the “tech guru” encouraged users to grab one. He also talked up the Wii’s motion controls and innovative games, and also informed consumers of the high demand that’s still around.
It was actually a decent segment, better than I had expected. I wonder how much effect this will have on the Xbox 360? Millions of people watch the Today Show every morning. I’ll try to find a video later today and post it up for you.
During Comic-Con International 2007, Microsoft announced it will lower the price of their Xbox 360 HD DVD by $20 to $179 as of August 1. Microsoft looks to sweeten the deal and try to lure in more Xbox 360 users to make this purchase by adding in an offer for five free HD DVD movies for anyone purchasing the HD DVD between August 1 and September 30.
Microsoft also announced that coming to HD DVD are 300 and Heroes Season 1, both great pick ups. So if you were on the fence about grabbing an HD DVD player here is $20 in your pocket for some popcorn and 5 free movies to start your HD DVD collection.
From the press releae:
To promote the HD DVD versions of “300” and “Heroes: Season 1,” Microsoft unveiled exclusive content for Xbox LIVE® Marketplace. Xbox LIVE will offer “300” on demand in HD starting Aug. 14, and is working with Warner Bros. at Comic-Con on a Bringing It Home campaign featuring “300” and other Warner Bros. properties. In advance of the street date for the “Heroes: Season 1” HD DVD boxed set, Xbox LIVE members will be able to download for free the show’s pilot episode in high definition for a limited time. Members will also be able to download trailers, teaser scenes and other promotional materials highlighting the “Heroes: Season 1” boxed set on HD DVD.
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