Sony Playstation

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According to figures released by research analyst NPD, Sony's PlayStation 3 games console has seen a year-on-year sales slump of almost 25 percent in January 2009. In January 2008 the company sold 269,000 units in the US, whilst This Year the figure is just over 203,000 units. Many would suggest that this slow-down in performance is attributable to the global economic downturn, others may assume that because these next generation games consoles have been on the market for well over two years there has been a resulting drop-off in demand. Despite these seemingly obvious explanations, it seems that the problem is Sony-specific. The same report also revealed that sales of the Microsoft Xbox 360 grew 25.5 percent to 309,000 units in January 2009, whilst Nintendo's Wii made an even greater gain with sales up 59.5 percent to 676,000 units. So what are the reasons for these opposing sales figures? In my opinion there are two major factors.

The first is the Sony consoles relatively high price. Despite it being on the market since October 2006 we have only seen one price drop and that was from what I feel was an unrealistically high launch price. The current recommended retail price of a PS3 is almost double that of an Xbox 360 Premium or a Nintendo Wii. It is true that you get more for your money with the PS3, notably an integrated Blu-ray player and wireless connectivity, but for the consumer who just wants to play games the current price is a major hurdle. Sony has to lower prices to compete, but even at the current retail price it is widely reported that they are still loosing money on each unit sold. Until they can engineer to the console to be produced at a much lower cost I would assume they are better off selling fewer consoles but at a higher price in order to minimise their loss on each unit. The downside of this is more of their competitors consoles, games and accessories being sold resulting in a lager user base for their rivals. Maybe it is in Sony's interest to sell more units but at a loss simply to gain market share, although I'm sure this is only something Sony themselves can decide.

The second factor that I feel contributes to the  poor sale performance is the PlayStation's integrated Blu-ray drive. Since the Blu-ray formats launch the PlayStation 3 has been commonly renowned as the best and cheapest Blu-ray player on the market, a title it held for some two years. Why would consumers buy a much more expensive but inferior stand-alone player when they could just get a PS3? Perhaps a lot of the early sales were not from gamers but from movie fans. It is only in the last few months that this situation has been reversed. Stand alone Blu-ray players from the likes of Sony themselves and Panasonic have stolen the advantage away from the PS3 with cheaper players, better performance and much better aesthetics. After all, the PS3 isn't exactly a style icon.

It appears to me that despite its best intentions Sony has found itself in a predicament with the PS3. There is no doubt it's a fantastic piece of technology, but its production cost and hence retail cost maybe more of a detraction amongst consumers than its technical specification is an attraction

The author of this article, Mac Jones, runs the website gadgets-4-free.co.uk. Here you will find tips on receiving the latest technology such as a free PS3 console or a free iPod touch. The site includes the latest console related tech news complete with regular new content. We look forward to providing you with the best gadget advice on the web. Please visit us today.

Sony Playstation 2 Vs Microsoft Xbox - Setting the Tone?

A systems' availability, specifications, price, number and quality of games and perhaps most importantly its' ability to provide fun and longevity are all factors that should be considered when purchasing a game console. After assessing the PS2 and Xbox on these criteria can we determine which console succeeds at obtaining higher sales?

The PS2 has the most games available as a result of its backward compatibility with Playstation. PS2 can not only play games intended for the original Playstation but it also makes them look better. It does not seem that Sony will have this advantage for very long however, as Xbox gears up to offer an extensive amount of games to a variety of gamers.

These two consoles are very similar in price however, Xbox tends to require the purchase of extra equipment for additional functions. For example, the PS2 comes ready to play DVD's whereas the Xbox requires the purchase of the Xbox DVD playback kit. The Xbox to its credit does contain an 8GB Hard drive and is broadband ready and offers a live online gaming service. It is worth mentioning that PS2 does have extra gadgets available also for example a DVD remote, a hard disk, a mouse, a keyboard, an eye toy camera and game-specific gadgets such as a microphone for Guitar Hero.

Both systems have online capabilities, a similar amount and quality of games, cost the same amount of money and target the same market. The differences to follow put Xbox a nose ahead of the PS2. The graphics are sharper on an Xbox. Xbox loads and saves games faster since it writes the saved game data directly to the hard drive. This eliminates the need for memory cards. Also, with the purchase of 2 additional games and a controller a 50 dollar rebate was being offered on Xbox making it 50 dollars cheaper!

However, PS2 remained the leader in the industry. The year of its release the Playstation 2 showed the power of brand awareness and supplying capabilities. Sony Playstation 2 was the sales leader with a final tally of 1.4 million units sold as opposed to 934,000 Xbox consoles. With the launch of a new product by each manufacturer, Sony's Playstation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 can we expect similar results? Is the PS3 likely to keep its lead in light of the inclusion of a blu-ray player combined with its industry clout? The most notable advantage for Microsoft is it's one year jump on the release of the PS3 which resulted in many multi-platform developers making Xbox 360 their primary platform, which means the games will look and perform better. The PS3 versions will be ports of the 360 versions (the opposite was true for Xbox and PS2). The PS3 ($399.00) is also 100 dollars more expensive than the Xbox 360($299.00).

A systems' availability, specifications, price, number and quality of games and perhaps most importantly its' ability to provide fun and longevity are all factors that should be considered when purchasing a game console. An assessment of these variables for the PS2 and Xbox revealed two very similar products and a leader as a result of industry clout. Their newer versions have changed the platforms a bit and resulted in products that are more dissimilar than their predecessors. These changes are bound to shake up the results of future product analysis! Educational Computer Software and Games.

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What Sony Playstation 3 racing game do you recommend?

My Dad doesn't play games but he does want a racing game for his Playstation 3. What do you recommend?

I would recommend Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.

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