PS3 Price Drop!!

[noxibox]

The examples they give are something like when you watch a certain scene in a movie, the picture in picture might have the director explaining why he did something a certain way etc.

You've never had a DVD with something similar as a bonus/special feature? The real downside on DVD is that they have to switch away to the explanation, so this is definitely an excellent advanced feature.

Now I don't know about other people, but when I watch a movie, I want to watch ONLY the movie, without some dude interupting me.

Obviously it is something you enable when you're watching the extras.

 

[Retro]

How are Sony going to afford this?

Weren't they already making huge losses on each console??

Yup, same as MS did with the 360. Console makers don't really expect to make a profit the first couple of years.

The Wii however is different.

 

[Retro]

You've never had a DVD with something similar as a bonus/special feature? The real downside on DVD is that they have to switch away to the explanation, so this is definitely an excellent advanced feature.

You can't be serious? The dvd features are excellent added material. After you watch the movie you can go and check out all the extras.

With this you'll get the extras while you watch the movie. So with either the movie or the commentary you won't have sound, cause you can only listen to one at a time. So you either miss out on a part of the movie, or you have the commentary, but can't listen to it? Or you have to pause the movie, but then where's the point in having picture-in-picture then? Just doesn't make any sense to me...

Obviously it is something you enable when you're watching the extras.

Obviously, but like I said, I can't imagine anyone using it, unless you're maybe watching the movie the second time around. The extras on dvd's like it is at the moment just works better for me.

 

[Frikkenator]

Yup, same as MS did with the 360. Console makers don't really expect to make a profit the first couple of years.

The Wii however is different.

I call bullsh!t...

Companies like Sony, MS and nintendo obviosuly aim to make a profit on their products from the word go. Especially RIGHT from the start, as that is when most customers line up to buy the consoles. They don't have a large margin, but they do make money, or at least they should. Sony has had billions of $$$ in losses in their games devision in the last financial year. It is not how they "planned" it, and no, they can't really afford to cut the price, but they have to.

Console makers do make most of their money off games though, that's where the real money lies. Making a loss of billions is not the plan however!

 

[Retro]

I call bullsh!t...

Companies like Sony, MS and nintendo obviosuly aim to make a profit on their products from the word go. Especially RIGHT from the start, as that is when most customers line up to buy the consoles. They don't have a large margin, but they do make money, or at least they should. Sony has had billions of $$$ in losses in their games devision in the last financial year. It is not how they "planned" it, and no, they can't really afford to cut the price, but they have to.

Console makers do make most of their money off games though, that's where the real money lies. Making a loss of billions is not the plan however!

lol, you obviously don't know what you're talking about, but I'll let someone else back me...

Here's an old article on the 360 as well...

Microsoft (MSFT) will carry on its tradition of taking a loss on the console, according to a preliminary analysis by market researcher iSuppli.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2005/tc20051122_410710.htm

 

[Frikkenator]

lol, you obviously don't know what you're talking about, but I'll let someone else back me...

Lol... Dude... Everybody and anybody can see that Sony is in trouble, or at least their games division is. Nobody wants to develop for the PS3 because it's just too much of a mission with buggy tool and dodgy SDKs. They are selling one game per console on average vs 8 games per 360 (avg). Hence very little games. Online gaming support is minimal at best, compared to xbox live.

The only thing the PS3 has got going for it is Blu-ray, which nobody needs yet. The may 2007 sales showed that the PS3 sold 1.5m in the US compared to 5.4m for the 360 and 3.8m for the Wii.

Sony claimed that the PS3 would take the world by storm, instead hundreds of consoles lie in shops collecting dust. They underestimated the Wii, saying that it's not a next-gen console. Now the Wii is outselling them by 3 to 1.

The moral of the story is that they missed the plot completely with the PS3, over-speccing it and postponing launch dates. They have been making huuuuuuuuuuuge losses with the PS3 and even though sales should pick up now, their going to make even bigger losses.

Business 101: If you're already making a loss and you cut the price, you might sell more items but you'll still be making a loss. With no big game releases lined up for this year where do you reckon they are going to make money??

Yeas, sure in 2years time they will sell a lot of PS3 when manufacturing costs dropped, just like they are selling sh!tloads of PS2s right now, but if they will make up their losses remains to be seen.

 

[Syndyre]

Business 101: If you're already making a loss and you cut the price, you might sell more items but you'll still be making a loss. With no big game releases lined up for this year where do you reckon they are going to make money??

Yeas, sure in 2years time they will sell a lot of PS3 when manufacturing costs dropped, just like they are selling sh!tloads of PS2s right now, but if they will make up their losses remains to be seen.

Maybe a larger customer base will provide more incentive for game developers to produce for the PS3? Hopefully with a lower price people will also buy more games and increase the attach rate. Blu ray is definitely important to Sony generally, maybe they're prepared to suffer PS3 losses as long as they can get enough blu ray players out there and ensure their format wins?

 

[Frikkenator]

lol, you obviously don't know what you're talking about, but I'll let someone else back me...

Here's an old article on the 360 as well...



http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2005/tc20051122_410710.htm

Difference is, MS has already switched to 65nm manufacturing, so their losses is something of the past. It was also estimated that they would lose $125/console on the first batch of consoles, that was made up after 4months through game sales.

Sony on the otherhand loses between $240-$310 per console, with an attachment rate of 1 game per console, things aren't looking great. They are taking HUGE losses, which will take a couple of years to make up. By which time the attachment rate of the 360 and Wii will most likely be 20+ games per console.

 

[noxibox]

With this you'll get the extras while you watch the movie. So with either the movie or the commentary you won't have sound, cause you can only listen to one at a time. So you either miss out on a part of the movie, or you have the commentary, but can't listen to it? Or you have to pause the movie, but then where's the point in having picture-in-picture then? Just doesn't make any sense to me...

You've obviously never seen the DVDs that have the DVD equivalent of this feature. The Matrix was one. Amongst recent movies Deja Vu was another. Except on DVD it switches away from the movie to show the director expounding. It will definitely be an improvement showing it in a window, split screen etc.

So you either miss out on a part of the movie, or you have the commentary

Even DVDs keep playing the movie sound during the commentary. I've never checked so I presume the movie sound is actually recorded into the commentary track, but a feature where two tracks can be used simultaneously would definitely add flexibility.

cause you can only listen to one at a time

I can listen to two, but DVD, Blu-ray and HD-DVD may be limited to playing one.

 

[noxibox]

Difference is, MS has already switched to 65nm manufacturing

I thought they were only just ready to start producing some of the hardware at 65nm and would only be releasing an updated unit towards the end of the year.

 

[ChocolateBear]

Doesn't seem like MS is going to do anything about the PS3 price drop (well in Japan anyway)

http://www.fin24.co.za/articles/com...?Nav=ns&lvl2=comp&ArticleID=1518-1783_2143880

 

[Retro]

Difference is, MS has already switched to 65nm manufacturing, so their losses is something of the past. It was also estimated that they would lose $125/console on the first batch of consoles, that was made up after 4months through game sales.

Weren't you just calling this bull****??? Now all of a sudden it was estimated that MS would lose money on the 360's? lol

You've obviously never seen the DVDs that have the DVD equivalent of this feature. The Matrix was one. Amongst recent movies Deja Vu was another. Except on DVD it switches away from the movie to show the director expounding. It will definitely be an improvement showing it in a window, split screen etc.

Nope, never seen this. And I've watched Deja Vu on dvd, must have missed it. Not that I would have wanted to see it anyways. Imagine sitting in the cinema and after a certain scene the movie stops and it goes to the director talking about it. That would really just piss me off. Same with the picture in picture crap. It just spoils the whole movie. People go see a movie cause they want to see the movie, not cause they want to know how it was made?

Even DVDs keep playing the movie sound during the commentary. I've never checked so I presume the movie sound is actually recorded into the commentary track, but a feature where two tracks can be used simultaneously would definitely add flexibility.

LOL, so you have to listen to the commentary and the actors talking at once??? And you think this is something good???

 

[useless]

Doesn't seem like MS is going to do anything about the PS3 price drop (well in Japan anyway)

http://www.fin24.co.za/articles/com...?Nav=ns&lvl2=comp&ArticleID=1518-1783_2143880

They dont need to. They have the hardware with 3 year warranty support and a vast gaming database now. I expect a price drop when Halo 3 comes out to further boost current Halo 2 players to the next-gen platform, could boost sales in the US by around 500-600k to be honest.

 

[Jonny Two Shoes]

Question...is it primarily the blue-ray making the PS3 so expensive ? I have no interest whatsoever in Blue Ray. Not even in HD_DVD for that matter. At least not at the moment.

If I do then Im sure the day will come when we can just download that stuff and watch it anyway_ the pommies are doing that already according to BBC click episode I watched a long time ago. (Telkom will be dust by then )

 

[Syndyre]

Question...is it primarily the blue-ray making the PS3 so expensive ?

I'm not sure if its the primary reason but its quite a major factor I think, the technology doesn't come cheap.

 

[noxibox]

People go see a movie cause they want to see the movie, not cause they want to know how it was made?

Then they wouldn't watch any of the extra features on their DVD either and they wouldn't explore the DVD and enable the behind the scenes material. Obviously this feature will be on blu-ray for those who are interested and those who aren't won't even know it is there. I don't see why anyone who isn't interested in the making of movies should be complaining about this feature or claiming that it is useless.

I've watched Deja Vu on dvd, must have missed it. Not that I would have wanted to see it anyways.

Not everyone is interested in behind the scenes information. Those people will never know the feature is there or miss it on their non-compliant player. The rest of us will be glad to have this improvement over DVD.

Imagine sitting in the cinema and after a certain scene the movie stops and it goes to the director talking about it.

What possible reason could they ever have for doing that in a cinema? What does this have to do with the feature on DVD and blu-ray?

so you have to listen to the commentary and the actors talking at once???

Commentaries on DVD normally still have the movie soundtrack running so I guess if you can't handle multiple audio inputs you'd be out of luck with DVD too.

 

[Retro]

Then they wouldn't watch any of the extra features on their DVD either and they wouldn't explore the DVD and enable the behind the scenes material. Obviously this feature will be on blu-ray for those who are interested and those who aren't won't even know it is there. I don't see why anyone who isn't interested in the making of movies should be complaining about this feature or claiming that it is useless.

The extra features are very good, but showing it at the same time while you're watching the movie is just stupid in my opinion.

Not everyone is interested in behind the scenes information. Those people will never know the feature is there or miss it on their non-compliant player. The rest of us will be glad to have this improvement over DVD.

Agreed. Although I won't call it an improvement. But like you said, people with a PS3 will still be able to watch the movie, even if it might be without that "feature".

Commentaries on DVD normally still have the movie soundtrack running so I guess if you can't handle multiple audio inputs you'd be out of luck with DVD too.

Commentaries on DVD are normally watched after the movie, not at the same time. It's something different having the soundtrack (music) playing in the background, and having the movie continue with the actors talking and at the same time having the director talking.

 

[noxibox]

Commentaries on DVD are normally watched after the movie, not at the same time.

You still have to run through the whole movie. If you're willing to sit through the movie again to watch the commentary, then the same should apply to the other feature.

 

[useless]

Just got some more info on the PS3 price cuts, the SA region will only get such a cut next year so no high hopes for prospective SA buyers. This info comes from an inside source within BT Games.

 

[Retro]

You still have to run through the whole movie. If you're willing to sit through the movie again to watch the commentary, then the same should apply to the other feature.

After the movie, before the movie, whenever you want to. The point is, it's not at the same time as the movie. They might come up with a brilliant idea to use the picture in picture for, but using it for commentary isn't it...