Can The Playstation 3 Save Sony?
After Sony announced job cuts for it's electronic departments, Katsuhiko Mori, fund manager at Daiwa SB Investments, said in an interview with the BBC: "Sony doesn't have any core businesses that generate stable profits". But will the Playstation 3 save Sony?
Even though some people may point out that since the Playstation 3's release in 2006, the console hasn't actually been making a profit, and that is because of the simple fact that Sony are selling the console for less than it costs to make. And it's been like that ever since the release in 2006. Sony cut the price in an attempt to break into the market.
Although this may seem rather odd, Sony have used this tactic every time they release a console, even though the competition was tough, the did it with the Playstation 3.
Their plan is that they released a high specification console into the market at a loss, but because of the spec, the console will last many years, making them profit some years on. But will it prove to be successful this time? With high pressure price reductions of the Xbox 360, and the new market of the Nintendo Wii, will Sony manage to cope and make enough money to cover their losses?
The problem is that Sony will not reduce the price of the console until they begind to make a decent profit. However as the consoles price is alot higher than the other consoles on the market, they won't get a huge section of the overall console sales, which, in turn will cause them to loose money for longer.
Although all that sounds a bit bleak for Sony, there is one upside that they have, Blu-ray. It was lucky for them really that Blu-ray came out on top of the DVD battle. If HD DVD had won the battle, it could of turned out to be even worse for Sony as the Playstation 3 wouldn't have ahd any advantage over the competition.
So, at the moment, it's not looking good for Sony, also, with their release of their new online community, Playstation Home, already being shot down by Microsoft and EA. Both of them have said that Sony's attempt at a social community is outdate and not directed.
Aaron Greenberg, a manager at Xbox 360 game console division, stated: "When they unveiled it, it seemed innovative. I think what’s happened is now here we are a couple of years later and we feel beyond that. It feels like 2005 tech in 2008.”.
Tom Hawkins stated: "I can't tell if they're going towards this mass market idea…or if they’re being lured into essentially trying to compete with Warcraft or Second Life”.
After Sony spent alot of time, money and effort on their new social community, it has just been shot down, personally, it just seems like an idea of earning money, there are several things within the world that requires money to buy, and they also have sections of the world which are sponsored by different companies like Red Bull. I'm sure most gamers will hate the idea of being spammed with adverts as they walk around.
Overall, it's not looking good for Sony, they are relying on a Playstation 3 that is over priced to the consumer and under priced to the makers. Who knows where Sony will be if their console doesn't start to sell more.
Caribbean Holidays and All Inclusive Holidays are perfect for this Winter.
Sphere: Related Content
Need For Speed Undercover Review
The latest ‘Need For Speed’ has got some poor reviews recently, but I don’t see the problem with the game.
I got the game a couple of days ago haven’t stopped playing it! With the great ‘Most Wanted’ game and then the poor ‘ProStreet’ title, the Need For Speed games needed a lift. And I reckon that the latest ‘Need For Speed’ game is that lift.
The game starts pretty suddenly, part way through the first movie scene you get dropped straight into the action, so a quick tip, make sure you’re not drinking while this happens like I was.
Overall this game is alot like ‘Most Wanted’, with many chases to escape from the rather short, and slow, arm of the law, plus with alot of high speed, action packed street races.
However, the thing that makes this new game better than ‘Most Wanted’ is the amazing graphics and new cars. With a new set of cars that include the Pagani Zonda F, you can race around the streets at a lightening speed.
Although the graphics and storyline are awesome, there are some downsides to the game. Firstly, the AI not great, within every race there are some fast drivers that aim for the win and wille stop at nothing to beat you, and then there are the annoying slow ones that all they try and do is hold you up or take you out by pushing you into a wall. For the first few attempts at a tough race, you will end up restarting due to the AI.
Although the game has it’s downsides, the general play of the game is awesome, it’s a mix of ‘Need For Speed: Most Wanted’ and ‘Burnout Paradise’, and both of those games were brilliant. I can only advise than when it comes to making their next ‘Need For Speed’ title, EA spend a little bit more time of the AI. Overall I would rate ‘Undercover’ at 8.5/10
Caribbean Holidays and All Inclusive Holidays are perfect for a Winter get-a-way.
Sphere: Related ContentRock Band 2 vs Guitar Hero World Tour
Ever since their first Guitar Hero game release, Activision and RedOctane, publishers of Guitar Hero have been the top players in the music game industry, until just 2 years after their first game, Rock Band was released into America, this then became a mighty competitor.
Harmonix were the original developers of Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero 2, but after the release of Guitar Hero 2, Harmonix moved onto a new publisher, MTV Games and EA to see if they could find bigger better thigns, which they did. After the old developers, Harmonix left, new guys Neversoft moved in and started to create a new game, Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock, this was then released in the later part of 2007. The game proved to be a winner, until later that year, Harmonix came back into the business with their new game Rock Band. This game featured a whole new range of instruments including a guitar, drum set, bass and mic.
After a year of Rock Band being release, the competition started again because in November 2008, both publishers, Activision and EA both released a new music game into the market, just in time for Christmas. Activision has Guitar Hero World Tour and EA have Rock Band 2, let the battle commence.
For Guitar Hero, this was a whole new venture for them, a new range of different instruments that they had never made before, but after seeing the end result, it was clear that they hadn’t cut any corners. Their new drum set has 5 pads and a peddle whereas the Rock Band kit features only 4 pads and a peddle, their guitar also features a new touch bar which allows finger tapping during guitar solos. Aswell as a whole new range of shiny instruments, the game features a music maker where you can create and share your own songs.
From the Rock Band 2 side, Harmonix have not changed the instrument set up much. They have improved the drum set by making it velocity sensitive, basically the harder you hit the pad the louder the sound in game makes, they also changed the foot peddle to metal as people found they broke the plastic one. Apart from a few tweaks, not alot has changed instrument wise.
On the actual game side of things, they haven’t got a music maker, however, they do have one great thing that Guitar Hero does not; a huge selection of downloadable songs on top of their 80+ song set list. This also gets better, any songs that you have already downloaded for Rock Band 1, are still compatible with Rock Band 2 and appear on the set list when you load up the game. Another advantage is that for a small fee, under $5, you can transfer almost all of the 70+ Rock Band 1 songs onto Rock Band 2, giving you a minimum of 160 songs on Rock Band 2.
Now that the advantages to each game have been said, now comes the difficult part, deciding which one to get. With Christmas closing in, many people will just be choosing one game rather than both, plus many people will lack the space for 2 sets of instruments.
As both instrument sets are compatible with both games, many people will have to choose whether they want the larger and more expandable set list of Rock Band, or the new features and suited up instruments of Guitar Hero.
Although it’s a totally open stage, it’s hard to tell which game will come out on top. I personally prefer Rock Band 2 over Guitar Hero World Tour simply because of the very expandable set list and the layout of the srceen.
Caribbean Holidays and All Inclusive Holidays are perfect for a Winter getaway.
Sphere: Related Content