We, at Bitterwallet, hesitated in adding a global manufacturer like Sony to Bitterwallet's Deathwatch list; it's all very well predicting the End of Days for Woolies and PC World, but not one of the best recognised brands on the planet, surely? Until you look at some of the facts and figures haunting the Tokyo-based company right now:
Sony have today announced plans to make 5% of its electronics workforce redundant - about 8,000 jobs
From July to September, the Japanese economy shrank nearly five times faster than Government predictions
Sony's profits fell by 90% in the last financial quarter, while warning that full-year profits would be down nearly 60% on the previous year
The company's share prices has dropped from over $57 at the beginning of the year, to just $20 today
The first PlayStation is home to an array of iconic video games that went on to define the sheer significance of this console.
I think from a historical perspective I would change Spyro for Grand Turismo. It's the franchise that made the PS1 look like an absolute unit. Other than that, I can't argue with the rest when it comes to games that defined the PS1.
And to be honest, there should be space for Tekken 3, Wipepout and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater in order to round out the PS1 identity as the machine to own at the time.
With Tomb Raider 2, Silent Hill, Symphony of the Night, Tenchu, and Soul Reaver as backup contenders.
Gary Green said: You’ll be forgiven if you haven’t heard of the Ar Tonelico trilogy. The previous two games arrived so late in the PS2’s life-cycle that they simply went unnoticed. While most were tinkering with their shiny new PS3s, Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia and Ar Tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica were being ‘returned to sender’ by your local Game stores. Luckily, you won’t need to have played them to understand and appreciate this third and final chapter, Qoga (pronounced k-yoga) tells the story of a racial war between humans and Reyvateils, a breed of biologically produced female cyborgs capable of reproduction, while still having a digital mind.
Oh my god. I kinda wish this would get a remaster on PS5, it would be awesome. One of my favorite games on PS3.
That and 3D Dot Game Heroes. It's a shame that some stuff is stuck on PS3.
Ar Tonelico 3 is good I still prefer the first AT game. The music is solid in all the games and Akiko Shikata is a very talented singer bringing life to the game. Only annoying part is well I find is Saki I always choose Finnel or Tyria. KOEI so needs to HD remaster the franchise along with Ar Nosurge and Ciel Nosurge since it never came to North America. I would day one the Ar Toneliceo games and Ar Nosurge if they were remastered.
I still have the limited edition of Qoga unopened. Unfortunately it never went up in value like I had hoped all these years.
Used to own all these quirky JRPG on ps3 good times. Wish I would have kept them all
Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.
Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.
you should apply in MS PR team buddy, I think you will do a great job in my humble opinion :)
MS: "Xbox services and content without AB up 1%, with AB up 62%. Hardware down 31%. In total a loss of 350 mill."
darthv72: "Seems about right."
MS: "Excuse m ..."
darthv72: "I don't hardly play on my consoles directly."
MS:
What he said was facts. How he plays games is no concern of you. Don't get too mad about it.
I can tell people like you are an absolute minority..
If service is up means their fans and fanboys accepted this model and subscribed to it. The near future you will see a big decline because the service is saturated.
to you it may seem like the minority... but your bubble is shrinking because more and more are following suit. convenience is a hell of a drug and its also why physical sales only amount to 30% of overall game sales. times are changing, you either get with them or you get left behind.
Darth
30% physical sales: yet Phil and xbox division are in a rush go give up on that 30%. they don't have any right to give up any piece of the pie since the control such a little of the pie to begin with
also, the market is clearly speaking that the model Xbox is pushing isn't working right now the keyword being right now. you are right about freedom to play anywhere so i hope they put their games on steam
But that's been ms for years. When things aren't going their way they try to change the way things are said. For instance console sales are down, they stop telling how many sold instead telling us how many hours spent in halo or headshots. So it makes sense console sales down just say people are playing on more devices then previous. What they won't say is how many xbox players jumped ship to ps5.
Hardware sales are so bad that Sony and Nintendo are blowing the sales off the water with their hardware.
If Xbox are losers, others aren’t..
Xbox already tried everything with Xbox live then subscriptions went down so much that they had to find something else. Their fans subscribed then reached saturation rather quickly.
Hardware and exclusive games is where it’s at! Keep gamers excited, announce decent software and people will support you
@shin
Well keep it simple Sony 's operating income is down 26% and Microsoft's is up 32%. No MS spin there, just facts. 😉
Cheers
MS is after diminishing consoles as a medium. They want to destroy this market because they couldnt win. MS’s vision is to dissolve console gaming.
Odd that a company that touts you dont need the hardware to play is already touting another console in the works.
They are not reliant on the HW but still want to maintain a presence (no matter how small) is a good thing. It shows commitment to the craft. It reminds me of SNK and how they made games for their own hardware (Neo Geo) while also making them for others because they knew there was a market to do so. They knew they would sell more to others but also sell to their own niche fan base.
Perfectly reasonable post down voted by insecure corporation friendly folk.... But not gamers. Real gamer want accessibility and ease of acquisition for all.... Company shills are the only ones still telling us that hardware locking people from games is good for us.
@Darth
You should stop parroting metrics like an idiot without context.
"Xbox content and services revenue grew 62% in Q3 from a year earlier, “driven by 61 points of net impact” from the purchase of the third-party video game giant, Microsoft said."
61 of the 62% was from their merger so net increase is ONLY 1%
https://www.mesaonline.org/...
@chevalier
It looks like made a great purchase. Much better then Sony buying Bungie. 😉
Cheers
In the last two years they've started exiting the consumer market altogether. All of the newest Surface products are business models only. They can't seem to work out what they want to do with it.
Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.
"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."
That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.
Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"
Microsoft: "why's that"
Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'
Top brass have also wanted to start seeing returns on the 100 billion they have put into various Xbox related moves so seeing more multiplatform games is highly likely especially from abk
It's basically saying that PlayStation is the reason Xbox is afloat right now thinks to Ps5 versions of COD
The only growth MS will get out of the console industry is if it supports it's rivals platforms. Xbox is a pointless machine now. I can see them on a big push for live next, and they won't give up on trying to buy Steam.
Yes Yes Yes it will fall i am so Excited and all this due to PS3.Hahahaha theirs only room for one console (xbox360)in this world.
Will the Sony empire (which includes numerous electronics, music and movie outlets) fall in 2009?
lol, wut?
HAHAHA, ARE YOU SERIOUS. This will only get approved by the haters.
loll another useless article.. why would it takes 1 year to one of the biggest electronic company to fall?
I know most here are worried about the gaming division but dont worry, sony's gaming division as a whole is one of the most profitable divisions for sony so its not going anywhere. Sure they will struggle for a few months or so but I say once the Obama administration takes office Jan 20th and gets to work, i say by late summer to early fall we will see some improvements in the economy and Sony will be just fine.
Think about it, usually when a game company fails they dont announce huge upcoming titles coming out the next year. I mean they are heavily pushing Killzone 2 for release in a couple months, they heavily announced Uncharted 2 and God of war 3 for next year. So sony knows that the Gaming division is still very profitable. Now if they didnt announce any games for next year then id be worried, but the fact they are announcing all these great games is a sign there is no need to be worried about the gaming division