As part of Sony's plans for the launch of its next-gen PlayStation 3 console later this year, the company has started planning the PS3 E-Distribution Initiative, to help both first and third-party developers digitally distribute its games via download, directly to the PS3.
The service, which will clearly compete with Microsoft's successfully launched Xbox Live Arcade service for the Xbox 360, is currently in the pre-production stages, and Gamasutra got a chance to talk to the project's John Hight, Director of External Production at SCEA Santa Monica, about his role heading up the project.
Firstly, Hight discussed some of the advantages of PlayStation 3 E-Distribution from Sony's point of view, noting: "Certainly being able to sell globally on-line makes it easier to reach international and remote markets. On the business side, it also lowers our cost of sales and eliminates inventory risk. It should help curtail used
game sales and piracy."
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.
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.
As of right now, there are no monopolies in the games industry, and for the sake of the medium as a whole, they never should either.
And yet the biggest tech companies in America are essentially that. They buy up all the small comps only to kill them off and steal what they have, and if they can't buy em they bleed them to death.
They buy IPs not talent. That's why these buyouts never work and the IPs die. Right now it's too expensive to develop games - but I expect that to shift maybe as AI tools can make it easier. The best games have been indie games for awhile as big developers fuck their ips to death with "games as a service" -
Gary Green said: We have a juxtaposition of 2D and 3D visuals, flashy turn-based combat, quirky anime characters with cheeky dialogue with plenty of partial nudity; Yes, this is a Compile Heart JRPG. Whilst the engine is borrowed from Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2, Mugen Souls is more of a Disgaea spin-off. It’s not a strategy RPG as such, it merely sits within Disgaea’s ever-expanding universe (Multiverse? Netherverse? Your guess is as good as mine). You won’t find cameos though, since Mugen Souls is a franchise which aims to stand on its own two feet.
Again, Sony talks about something that in theory won't be put into practice for another couple of years. Show the current PS3 games. The majority of gamers just care about the games Sony.
I really wanna see sony follow through on this stuff i have a feeling they will, some of the stuff they've done ith the psp gives me hope but i was also supposed to be able to dowload music online to my PS2 as well as web-browsing
I really think they are underestimating the difficulty of making this distributon network. Or maybe like everything else they do they have to put on a front. I hope this works the way the say it will I just have no faith in sony executives making truthful statements. Good luck sony!!!!
So if one can download the games, movies and so on
WHERE IS THE FREAKING EXPENSIVE NONSTANDARD BETABLURAYPLAYER FOR THEN?
I already typed many times. This is coming in a few years. Not now. Bandwith is allright but not for 8 GB games to wait too long. But in a few years a game of 8 GB will be downloaded in notime. Then we will see it happen.
And then BetaBluRay is totally useless. Video you just stream from your online moviecentre, games you pay with Microsoft Marketplace points.
it's already been set in stone... quite a few games for the psp is using an R&D version of the EDI. Capcom's megeman powered up to be on and Locoroco... already in the latest psp update they have it that game demos and vedio can be downloaded and distributed via the psp's site... thus taking this into light it's a safes bet to say that this will launch... keep in mind that at the begining the Full distribition of 8 gig games may come about in a year or 2. but small games like ps1 or ps2 or maybe even psp games will come about in the start...... i believe the article here was speakin in light of them having an xbox live arcade like. thing hence the reason why both first and third party and indepented developers who want to get there little projects published on the ps3 can have that done by registering there project on the site that they listed... so for right now i feel that sonys prime object is starting the system with small games that could very well be placed up into something big... and the psp will also hel ease that process