40°

2009: PS3 and Blu-Ray's Year to Shine

2009 is the year Sony has been waiting for. There is no doubt that the release of Killzone 2 will mark the beginning of Sony's serious entry into this console war. Killzone 2 is Sony's main title and everyone knows this, including the Sony Corporation. It's the only title that's been talked about for 4 years since before the birth of PS3.

It's the only title that has yet to be released. It has become quite clear that this game has become the centerpiece of the Playstation 3. Killzone 2 will start it all. In the meantime, the PS3 will be stocked with more exclusives than gamers can count on both hands. The timing couldn't be more perfect as its' technical capabilities have started to align together within the same year. Strategy? Or luck?

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thestartscreen.com
sak5005977d ago

Deja Vu..Zip back a year and same kind of stories were being published all around. Cheaper BD players will definately hurt ps3s sales since 70% of people are just using it as BD players, proven by lack of software sales on the console.

Genesis55977d ago

Yeah software sales that are so bad that only 4 of the major publishers are making most of their profits off the PS3.

gametheory5977d ago

Some people fail to realize that the fact that PS3 winning in Europe in terms of game sales (especially 3rd party game sales) is HUGE considering the value of the Euro against the dollar. Only Xbox fanboys will always fail to realize that, whether because they chose to or because they just can't by nature.

Xbox 360 may have sold more units and may have a higher attach rate, but strategically speaking, Sony has played their cards right. As you said, PS3 is speaking louder than Xbox 360 for 3rd parties in terms of revenue, and that only means that PS3 owners can expect great things from 3rd parties. Once Sony starts making a profit on PS3 instead of being an uphill battle it'll be downhill.

Sony is probably anticipating profit relatively soon considering their upcoming huge ad campaign. That is, they can now spend a bit more than they were doing last year on game advertising. While the PS3 has an attach rate of 5.5 games per console and 360 of 7.5 games per console, you have to remember that 360 launched earlier, it is cheaper, it had achievements way longer and (here's the dealbreaker) it sells more first party software.

These aren't excuses, just facts; being earlier had the advantage that hardcore gamers had a single console to spend most of their money on, being the only next-gen console back then. My point is, the true attach rate for third parties requires you to subtract 1st party attach rate. There was an article on N4G before pointing out at what attach rates were made off in terms of 1st and 3rd party, and the results were this: Wii = 5.5 games per console, with 3 of them being made by nintendo, and 2.5 of them 3rd party (most of them shovelware).

360 had an attach rate of 7.5 games per console, with two of them being published by Microsoft (it used to be 8.0, but with Microsoft's price drop to $199 it attracted a more casual audience that bought less games). This shouldn't come out as a surprise, considering how Halo 3, Gears 1 and 2 have sold. To put it bluntly, Microsoft knows their audience and targets them with specifically what they want from their own studios.

However, Sony has a much wider market. Sony doesn't simply appeal to its fanboys, and it doesn't simply appeal to action game lovers or whatever target demographic you can think off. Most bought the Ps1 or the PS2 for very different reasons, and the same can be said about PS3. While it may sound bad that Sony only has one of their published games per console (out of 5.5 games per console), that's how Sony has always played it out. They don't look for a single target demographic, but rather, they encompass the whole gamut of target demographics and that's why 3rd parties can compete and sell whatever the hell they want on PS3 and that's why Sony attracts many types of tastes and gamers, including hardcore and casual.

So you have 5.5 3rd party games per 360, 4.5 3rd party games per PS3 and 2.5 3rd party games per Wii (on average). But developers have reported more revenue for quite some time already because PS3 has been catching up. The additional advantage the 360 has in terms of 3rd party is probable because of the reasons I cited (time on market, cheaper, achievements), but it's likely that ever since the PS3 launched they could be on par in worldwide terms. While the 360 has the advantage on units, the PS3 has the advantage on revenue because in the end it sells more software in europe, a higher percentage of that is 3rd party on PS3, and well, the Euro is a lot more expensive.

Grasp that, fanboys.

KillzoneKid5977d ago

on fen 27th just pray to GOD that x360 is not fully KILLZOWNED

2009 and beyond are just years of PS3 and Blu Ray

twoface5977d ago (Edited 5977d ago )

ps3 is an entertainment system, with one of its core function being a bluray player.

A trojan horse for bluray adoption, it has already fulfilled that quite successfully. It was never meant to be sold as a bluray player. And that is why it doesn't matter if there are now cheaper bluray players than ps3. It has already served its bluray adoption purpose.

It baffles me why ppl like you wish to believe that ps3 is meant to be sold as a bluray player.

ACEMANWISE5977d ago

I don't understand why Blu-Ray is not seen as a storage format. The PS1 used Cds and it happened to play music. The PS2 used DVDs which happened to play movies. These were BONUS FEATURES to an already used gaming format. I don't see how Blu-Ray is any different. And don't say uneeded storage space because DVD started out the same way: Perceived as not needed.

Sevir045977d ago

2009 Is really poised for greatness in gaming particularly with Sony. the PSP is getting tons of games and the S3 PSN is getting exclusives left and right in all regions and some killer 3rd party support. i can bet some really big summer block buster movies will help make blu ray stick around and a new price point for Sony's flagship console will serve as a catalyst for good sales and stronger market adoption. and lets all get to the games. Something they are giving on a silver platter starting with KZ2.. drools this year is a year of gaming heaven.

ACEMANWISE5977d ago

I can't wait until 3D Blu-Ray games and movies start coming in. I'm waiting for HD-audio receivers to lower in price.

ACEMANWISE5976d ago

Preference based on emotion doesn't get along with preference based on reasoning.

cryymoar5977d ago (Edited 5977d ago )

and the xbots will be sitting in the corner with his xbox 360, cutting himself, dripping blood as red as his rings of death, because he cannot play PS3's superior games OR Blu-ray movies, while writing poetry about last year's sales.

:DDDDDDDD

Slinger4205976d ago

AHAHAA, I can't freakin wait for Killzone 2, that game is going to be the best game ever to grace a console and it's going to be sooo huge that it's going to boost hardware sales through the roof. Goodluck finding a PS3 after Killzone 2 releases.

290°

The Real Enemy of Gaming Isn’t DEI. It’s the CEO

From Horse Armor to Mass Layoffs: The Price of Greed in Gaming. Inside the decades-long war on game workers and the players who defend them.

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rushdownradio.net
jambola4d ago

maybe a real enemy is people who use terms like "the real enemy"
there can be more than 1 bad thing, t's not like a kids show with 1 big bad

senorfartcushion2d ago

This is very much a “dummy who volunteers themselves to the middle” comment.

The real enemy is a common phrase, people use it all the time.

Calm down.

jambola2d ago

i'm very calm
you seem very upset however

Notellin1d 16h ago

You don't seem calm at all. Don't take this so seriously, you seem desperate responding to others defending your opinion that lacks any value or critical thought.

jambola1d 15h ago

stop projecting
i'm not desperately dong anything, i'm tapping at keys on my keyboard bud

PapaBop1d 15h ago

It's not like kids show with one bad guy? I present to you.. Bobby Kotick

ABizzel11d 13h ago (Edited 1d 13h ago )

DEI was never the problem and it was an ignorant take to begin with.

DEI is why games like Kena Bridge of Spirits, South of Midnight, and Ghost of Tsushima exist.

DEI is why we have a huge resurgence in Japanese, Chineses, and Korean developers producing games like Stellar Blade, Black Myth, and why Nintendo & Sony exist.

DEI is why more and more games have HUGE accessibility options with both Sony and MS fully behind this.

DEI was never a bad thing, the entire purpose of DEI is representation of all people, genders, disabilities, etc…

The problem was people used DEI as a default derogatory term to describe what they believed was forced representation, which allowed colorist, racist, sexist, misogynist, homophobic, and xenophobic fools to run away with the negative DEI narrative.

jambola1d 2h ago

you don't get to decide other people's motivations
sorry to break it to you

ABizzel16h ago(Edited 5h ago)

To each their own, however, nothing you said invalidates why some people take offense to DEI incorrectly.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 6h ago
Sciurus_vulgaris3d ago

Executives seem to often have an obsession with perpetual revenue growth. There is always a finite amount of consumers for a product regardless of growth. Additionally, over investment is another serious issue in gaming.

Killer2020UK2d ago

The fact that they also rarely have any real expertise in game development compounds things. They'll look at what's been successful elsewhere, lack the knowledge to properly understand why they have been successful and then force a team to 'reproduce' their badly interpreted idea of that success.

We see it so often with sequels to games that were successful too. The team are left well alone, they have a break through hit and all of sudden the money men descend on the IP and completely railroad the dev team's ideas. Usually winds up being 'make the same game but MORE'

LoveSpuds1d 16h ago

This is true throughout all of the corporate and public sector organisations to be honest. CEO's generally move amongst the corporate world without any need to have experience of a particular industry, they simply need to rely on their senior leadership credentials. A CEO of a retail giant will just as easily transition to a CEO role in the energy sector for example.

Not defending CEOs here to be clear, I think it's a huge part of the reason the western world is so fucked up. CEOs don't need to care about the sector they work in, in fact it's better if they don't care if they want to screw everyone to make profits.

GhostScholar2d ago

Companies don’t hire executives to break even. If the goal is breaking even then why start the company in the first place.

Soy2d ago

That's understood; it's getting record profits and expecting to always beat those record profits, and seeing anything less as a total failure. Then they lay people off and raise prices to reach those record profit levels again, just to sate shareholders. It's setting expectations way too high just to spike share prices, then inevitably falling short. It's feeling entitled to being more successful than everyone else. It's the CEOs doing all this to boost their own bonuses.

ABizzel11d 13h ago

Growth benefits the company’s profits and therefore the company’s stock if publicly traded, which pleases the shareholders making them more and more rich, which is why Growth is always at the forefront of the vast majority of any publicly traded company.

More growth = More Money and the people at the top want all the money they can get. I can’t really blame them anyone would love to see their profits go from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, to multi-millions it’s almost like a gambling addiction.

But it also goes to show someone how morals can go out the window for a lot of these people, and how amazing some CEOs are when they catch this early and provide a balance solution that takes complete care of their employees across the board while keeping the business sustainable IE: Insomniac Games ALWAYS on the best places to work list. The rest of the industry could learn.

jambola3d ago

honestly, the "real" enemy of gaming, is ourselves
if nobody bought horse armor, shitty dlc would have died almost overnight
if we stood firm and nobody bought games from companies that were bad with layoffs, it would be solved
we're the idiots supporting awful business practices, we are the ones enouraging it

TiredGamer2d ago

I think the reality that we don't want to convince ourselves of is that without the rise of "horse armor" and DLC, game budgets would have essentially stagnated (smaller teams/smaller games), or game prices would have risen much more dramatically than they have. There was an incessant drive for bigger worlds, infinite detail, and hundreds of hours of "gameplay" over the last two decades, that while perhaps a natural evolution of things, needed a suitable funding stream to accomplish.

HyperMoused1d 22h ago

What...CEOs make tens of millions and that doesnt include SLT etc etc...we now have multiple editions of games, in game currency, MT's, battle passes.....and what do we get..worse game than what was coming out 20 years ago....dont drink the cool aid, its this nickel and dime crap that is absolutely leading us to gaming destruction.

senorfartcushion2d ago

This is the worst possible answer to this conundrum. Blaming the masses is blaming the only people who are constantly “told” to buy.

Consumers are the only ones not to blame here. People make their own choices all the time. Disney movies are bombing and DEInis being blamed. Has that been enough to put Disney out of business? No and it never will.

Christopher2d ago

Disagree. Businesses are able to do what they do because people are bad consumers and don't think critically about purchases. Disney got away with doing shit stuff for years and it's just the last year where people got tired of it. It's not like it didn't work for 5 years or so for Disney to do the things they've done. They'll just move onto another way to get people to see movies and it will be just as bad but more profitable until people wake up and realize it.

TiredGamer2d ago

Consumerism drives business behavior. It's not so much "blaming" as it is observing behavior. The point I'm making is that the direction that games have gone are driven by the spending. Consumers are spending on DLC and they are driving the expectation of more glitz and padded out (lengthier) games. If they continue to pay, they will continue to drive that direction until a threshold is reached that forces a change in behavior.

senorfartcushion2d ago

Corporate advertising is the most powerful force on the planet.

This is N4G for god sake, every day there are arguments between people who are Team Xbox and Team PlayStation because they’ve been convinced that having an identity built on paying money to Sony and Microsoft matters more than having one as individual gamers who can play whatever they want.

And THEN we get to the corporate advertising part: to play whatever you want is to sink MORE into the advertising pits, making it so that you can more than one specific product.

jambola2d ago

ah you're right
they were told to buy it, it's clearly impossible to avoid that
if enough people stopped supporting, it would stop
disney not stopping would only be because enough people didn't stop

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victorMaje2d ago

Agreed. I’ve been saying for years, announce you won’t be buying the upcoming game because of the practices of the previous game, then you only have to stick to your guns once, see how quickly things change for the better.

We have to unite in what we shouldn’t purchase.

jambola2d ago

just imagine a world, fifa came out worse, nobody buys the next one until they see proof it's better and stick to it
or games being forced online for single player and nobody buys it
things would change so fast

HyperMoused1d 22h ago

Just like scooby doo, you have shown us the real monsters are us

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 1d 22h ago
Inverno2d ago

Greed and greedy people have and always will be the main issue for everything wrong in the world. Everything is a product to be exploited for monetary gain. Even when there are things that could help progress us along for the sake of making our lives easier that thing must be exploited for monetary gains. Anything that tells you otherwise is propaganda to make you complicit.

coolfool2d ago

I've never thought "DEI" (although the way most people use it doesn't match it's real definition) is the problem with games. Good games have continued to be good when they have a diverse cast, and likewise, bad games have continued to be bad. There isn't a credible example I've seen where a diverse cast has been the direct cause of a game being bad.

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80°

It Has Been Over 2,500 Days Since The Elder Scrolls 6 Was Revealed

It's been officially over 2,500 days since The Elder Scrolls 6 was revealed, and fans are still waiting for more than a logo and a mountain range.

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gamerant.com
jznrpg2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

It will come out in another 1000-2000 days or so. I’d rather they remake Morrowind. After they added quest arrows, sprint button, making stats lesser and the big nerfs to spells Elder Scrolls has been too simplified. They could change that with ES6 but I don’t have much faith in modern Bethesda. I would love to be wrong

clevernickname2d ago

Wait until he hears about Star Citizen...

80°

Silly Polly Beast: A Silent Girl's Fight for Freedom • VGMM

Play as Polly, a silent girl on the run from her dark past in this neon-soaked psychological horror shooter.

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