Retailer Amazon.com on Sun. began offering a free copy of Activision Inc.’s Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock with the purchase of Sony Corp.’s Playstation 3 160GB SKU.In the new one-day offer, customers who purchase a 160GB PS3 will receive Guitar Hero III at no additional cost.
The promotion is part of Amazon’s 15 Days, 15 Deals sale in which the retailer will offer 15 video game deals for 15 consecutive days.
Amazon this month began aggressive video game discounts to spur holiday sales.
The retailer is offering $50 off the purchase of an 80GB PS3, game, Blu-ray disc, and remote in a new high-definition promotion.
It previously price cut select Xbox 360 titles to as low as $9.95 on Black Friday.
Sony released the 160GB PS3 SKU in Nov. The bundle includes a new 160GB PS3, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, PAIN downloadable game voucher, and a Dualshock 3 controller for $499.
According to data from Media Create, the Sony PlayStation 3 doubled its previous week sales, selling a solid 35,000 units in Japan for the week ended November 30th. Japan continues to be dominated by Nintendo consoles however, which saw the DSi sell 87,000 units and the Wii sell 50,000 units, a 30 percent increase from the previous week. The Sony handheld PSP sold 55,000 units. The DSi’s predecessor, theDS Lite sold 26,000 units. Bringing up the rear after a month of strong sales was the Xbox 360 with 11,000 units sold. Chart: * NDS (DSi + Lite) - 114,036 * PSP - 55,090 * Wii - 49,848 * PS3 - 34,978 * Xbox 360 - 11,423 * PS2 - 5,628 Source: AfterDawn
The Nintendo Wii looks set to be the biggest-selling games console this Christmas for the third year running, despite fears the Wii is in short supply in the run-up to the festive season.
Sales figures from industry-tracking website VGChartz shows that more around 336,517 Nintendo Wii consoles have been bought in the last month, compared to about 190,440 Xbox 360 consoles and 88,561 PlayStation 3s.
The release of games such as exercise title Wii Fit and child-friendly Wii Music are thought to have boosted sales of the Nintendo console, which has been credited with introducing a new generation to video gaming.
But both Microsoft and Sony have mounted their own aggressive advertising campaigns in the run-up to Christmas, and have released a number of family-friendly games in the hope of tempting some consumers away from Nintendo.
Microsoft has revamped its online portal, Xbox Live, introducing customisable avatars to the platform to allow players to create cartoon-like representations of themselves. It has also launched a “party zone” on the platform, where groups of friends can meet to chat online, play games over the internet, and even share photos.
The company has also released a slew of games that will appeal to a wide variety of age groups, including the movie quiz Buzz, and karaoke title Lips.
Sony, too, is hoping to win over cash-strapped shoppers with its PlayStation 3 console, which combines high-definition gaming with a Blu-ray DVD player.
According to analysts at Screen Digest, high-definition Blu-ray DVD players are going to be among the best-selling gadgets this Christmas, but many of the cheaper players are in short supply. Shoppers are therefore expected to opt for devices such as the PlayStation 3 which have multiple uses and offer better value for money.
Sony, too, has released several family-friendly titles in the run-up to Christmas, including the innovative LittleBigPlanet, where players can build and share their own characters, platforms and environments with other LittleBigPlanet fans. The recent launch of rhythm-action party games, such as Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2, where players connect plastic instruments to their console and play along with the music, will also be key for Sony, as it bids to attract a wider user base to its platform.
“Nintendo is currently riding high,” said Steve Bailey, an analyst with Screen Digest. “We don’t believe the Wii will be beaten by the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 consoles this generation.”
Gamasutra pulled together a rough and ready numbers piece today, shunted from a substantial and detailed feature on Nintendo’s sales, and ranked the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii according to their software attach rates.Any surprises? Just one. The PS3 had a third-party attach rate of less than two back in late 2006, just after it debuted, but Gamasutra’s chart now has it nipping at the Xbox 360’s heels with more than double that figure.First-Party2.4 - Wii1.4 - Xbox 3600.9 - PlayStation 3Third-Party5.2 - Xbox 3604.4 - PlayStation 33.1 - WiiGamasutra notes these figures are for the Xbox 360 after September 2007 and the PS3 and Wii after September 2008. If you look at the Xbox 360’s life-to-date ratio, or 35 months, on the other hand, Microsoft’s tie ratio rises to 8.1.You have to be careful here — high tie ratios are generally good, unless a system is trafficking unusually high numbers of units.A console’s tie ratio is equal to total software units divided by total hardware units. So say you sell 10 copies of 5 games for System A and System A sells 10 units, but you sell 10 copies of 5 games for System B and System B sells 50 units. The attach rates are going to be 5 (50 / 10) and 1 (50 / 50) respectively. System A has a much higher attach rate than System B, and so would appear to have the high ground, but System B sold just as many software units and five times as many hardware units, meaning that in this instance, System B is beating the snot out of System A.Likewise, if you’re selling very few hardware units, but lots and lots of software, your attach ratio is going to be high, while obviously failing to indicate your software platform’s paltry sales, or give any indication what your install base looks like.So who’s winning? Hard to say. If you think install base matters most, then Nintendo, with some 16 million units sold in the U.S. versus 13 and 6 million for the Xbox 360 and PS3 respectively. If you think raw software sales trump all, Microsoft has around 126 million total in the U.S. versus 96 million for the Wii so far this year.Several of you might further note that Wii Sports comes bundled with Nintendo’s system (15.2 million copies), so you can’t not buy it, and that Wii Play (15.9 million copies) is essentially free with the purchase of a Wii Remote. Either of these details may or may not skew figures, depending on your perspective.Then again, if you just think “who’s winning” is a dull, boring, last-gen game, hear hear, and I’ll see you online to play something better tonight.Source: http://www.pcworld.com
Are you interested in home décor? Do you think friends more important than family? Does standing out in a crowd make you sweat? If you answered ‘yes’ to all of those questions, then you’re probably a PlayStation 3 owner, according to the latest research.
The consumer research arm of credit reference agency Experian questioned PS3 owners about their views on a range of subjects, and compared them to the results of the same questions posed to Xbox 360 owners.
When asked if money is the best measure of success for example, more Xbox 360 owners than PS3 gamers felt that it is. Well, Bill Gates is said to have two Xbox 360s in his modest dwelling…
Of those questioned, 184 PS3 owners felt that friends are more important to them than family, while only 144 Xbox 360 gamers said the same - it’s not clear how many of either group still live with their mums.
Survey respondents who own Sony’s console also turned out to be more interested in nature than Microsoft’s gamers are.
However, equal numbers on both sides of the console divide felt that real mean don’t cry. Apparently.
Interestingly, a greater majority of Xbox 360 owners said they couldn’t live without their mobiles phones. PS3 gamers seem more intellectual: more of them can’t live without books than Xbox 360 owners are able to, although hopefully they’re not referring to strategy guides.
At the end of the day, however, gamers’ views could simply be due to their ages. The research found that while the Xbox 360 appeals most to those aged between 35 and 44 years old, the PS3 is more popular among people aged 44 and over.
By pricing the PS3 below its production cost, Sony has lost over USD 3 billion during the past two years according to information revealed in the company’s fiscal 2008 annual report.
According to a Kotaku report, Sony lost USD 2.16 billion in 2007 and USD 1.16 billion in 2008 on the PS3. The console allegedly cost over USD 800 to manufacture but which was sold in the USD 500-600 range when it was launched in 2006.
Sony has warned investors that its large-scale investment on the PS3 may not be fully recovered if the console does not achieve favourable market penetration.
For fiscal 2008, Sony’s game division saw a 26.3 per cent increase in sales to JPY 267.5 billion (USD 2.5 billion). Nevertheless, it reported an operating loss of JPY 124.5 billion (USD 1.2 billion).
The company previously said that it expected the profitability of its game segment to improve significantly due to hardware cost reductions and a strong line-up of PS3 software.
Sony reported the following worldwide unit hardware sales for fiscal 2008, compared to 2007:
PS2: 13.73 million (- 0.98 million)
PSP: 13.89 million (+ 4.36 million)
PS3: 9.24 million (+ 5.63 million)
Sony also reported worldwide software unit sales for fiscal 2008, as compared to the prior year:
PS2: 154 million (- 39.5 million)
PSP: 55.5 million (+ 0.8 million)
PS3: 57.9 million (+ 44.6 million)
As the data shows, the PS3 saw the greatest year-to-year improvement in both hardware and software sales. However, the PS2 sold almost three times the amount of software as either the PS3 or the PSP in fiscal 2008 and the PSP sold more hardware overall.
So many people are anticipating this PS3 game, and some say they are getting a PS3 just to play it! Here’s some new footage for the game if you’re interested in it!
58 out of the 69 current reviews on Amazon are 5 star, so it looks like this really is the add on of the year from the best console of the previous year! Keep it up Nintendo, I will be sure to get one when stock levels improve!
Gamasutra pulled together a rough and ready numbers piece today, shunted from a substantial and detailed feature on Nintendo’s sales, and ranked the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii according to their software attach rates.Any surprises? Just one. The PS3 had a third-party attach rate of less than two back in late 2006, just after it debuted, but Gamasutra’s chart now has it nipping at the Xbox 360’s heels with more than double that figure.First-Party2.4 - Wii1.4 - Xbox 3600.9 - PlayStation 3Third-Party5.2 - Xbox 3604.4 - PlayStation 33.1 - WiiGamasutra notes these figures are for the Xbox 360 after September 2007 and the PS3 and Wii after September 2008. If you look at the Xbox 360’s life-to-date ratio, or 35 months, on the other hand, Microsoft’s tie ratio rises to 8.1.You have to be careful here — high tie ratios are generally good, unless a system is trafficking unusually high numbers of units.A console’s tie ratio is equal to total software units divided by total hardware units. So say you sell 10 copies of 5 games for System A and System A sells 10 units, but you sell 10 copies of 5 games for System B and System B sells 50 units. The attach rates are going to be 5 (50 / 10) and 1 (50 / 50) respectively. System A has a much higher attach rate than System B, and so would appear to have the high ground, but System B sold just as many software units and five times as many hardware units, meaning that in this instance, System B is beating the snot out of System A.Likewise, if you’re selling very few hardware units, but lots and lots of software, your attach ratio is going to be high, while obviously failing to indicate your software platform’s paltry sales, or give any indication what your install base looks like.So who’s winning? Hard to say. If you think install base matters most, then Nintendo, with some 16 million units sold in the U.S. versus 13 and 6 million for the Xbox 360 and PS3 respectively. If you think raw software sales trump all, Microsoft has around 126 million total in the U.S. versus 96 million for the Wii so far this year.Several of you might further note that Wii Sports comes bundled with Nintendo’s system (15.2 million copies), so you can’t not buy it, and that Wii Play (15.9 million copies) is essentially free with the purchase of a Wii Remote. Either of these details may or may not skew figures, depending on your perspective.Then again, if you just think “who’s winning” is a dull, boring, last-gen game, hear hear, and I’ll see you online to play something better tonight.Source: