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Tekken Dark Resurrection Promised “This Month”
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Fighting, Internet, Namco, PlayStation 3,
Tekken: Dark Resurrection for the Playstation 3 will officially be available to US customer this month, according to a report on 1up. Namco has not offered any pricing or an exact availability date, but the release time frame will put the game squarely against Sega’s upcoming Virtua Fighter 5 release on February 20th. Of course, the Tekken: Dark Resurrection download will more than likely cost less than half of the retail Virtua Fighter release, which should Namco’s sales. Namco also clarified that the release will not include online battles, but their statement leaves open the possibility that such a feature could be added in the future. North American availability has trailed the Japanese release by almost two months; online gamers have speculated that this might mean additional gameplay modes and content, however, at this time it looks like this is not the case.
Read More 
| 1up
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Virtua Tennis Goes 1080P On Xbox 360
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: PlayStation 3, SEGA, Sports, Xbox 360,
Sega updated gamers on Virtua Tennis 3 today, according to a report on Gamasutra. While the game was previously shown running at 1080P on the Playstation 3, it now appears that the Xbox 360 version will be the first game for that platform to run at full 1080P resolution. If that weren’t enough to take the shine off of the Playstation 3 version, Sega also promises exclusive online support for the Xbox 360 version as well. In trade, Playstation 3 owners get support for SIXAXIS tilt support. Still, the dual-platform release may be more interesting than just for the feature differentiation; the Playstation 3 version is being developed by Sega’s AM3 division, while the Xbox 360 version has been outsourced to Sumo Digital.
Read More | Gamasutra
Perhaps to no one’s surprise, Sony confirmed that there is a next-generation WipEout in the works for the Playstation 3. Sony needs more exclusive titles, and leveraging past successes may help them deliver. In an interview with Developer Magazine, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe management confirmed the existence of the title when discussing downloadable content. WipEout Pure used this to great effect on the PSP; hopefully the additional content for the Playstation 3 will be plentiful and free.
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UK Gamers Get Horrible Playstation 3 Bundle
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Hardware, PlayStation 3,
GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that UK gamers looking to pre-order the Playstation 3 through retailer HMV are being forced to partake in a particularly onerous bundle. An e-mail sent to customers indicates that those who would like to place a pre-order for the Playstation 3 can do so only when also purchasing a 4 GB PSP package. The bundle includes the new PSP, two PSP games and the Playstation 3, but retails for almost 675 GBP, around $1330 US. According to Gamesindustry.biz, Sony was less than sympathetic towards its fanbase, stating that “his is just one of a number of value added incentives that retailers will be offering to mark the launch of PS3.” This bundle seems to be the oddest choice; hardcore fans of Sony’s hardware will likely have already purchased a PSP, and the pricing puts this above the casual fan’s price range. Add this together with no actual guarantee that the Playstation 3 will be available, this action would seem to be the definition of HMV “biting the hand that feeds it.”
Read More | GamesIndustry.biz
Sony Considers Potential PS3 Price Cut
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Hardware, PlayStation 3,
An Associated Press report suggests that Sony may be weighing the pros and cons of a Playstation 3 price cut during the next fiscal year. The report has Sony Senior Vice President Takao Yuhara discussing the company’s strategy to bring the games division to the break even point. While stressing that no price reduction has been set, Yuhara did say that “We may look at the price as part of our strategy to expand the market when the timing is right.” One can’t really make a leap from that statement to an actual price cut, but it is interesting that price cuts are on the table for the upcoming fiscal year as a means of driving sales; Sony may be pinning its hopes on high-profile software releases in Japan to spike demand and save them from a costly price-reduction.
Read More | Associated Press
After rumors that the Xbox 360 sandbox game Saints Row would be coming to the Playstation 3, THQ confirmed the rumors to Gamespot. The company announced that Saints Row would be available on the Playstation 3 in the second quarter of 2007. Gamespot notes that a number of high profile PS3 titles have been announced for the Xbox 360, now titles are flowing the other way. Given the high cost of developing next-generation titles, it seems unlikely that most “exclusive” third-party titles would stay that way without serious monetary incentive from a console manufacturer.
Read More | Gamespot
Compete: Wii Interest Led Xbox 360, PS3 This Holiday
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Hardware, Internet, Nintendo, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360,
Microsoft’s Andre Vrignaud linked to an interesting study of online next-generation console interest published by online metric provider Complete. The analysis shows relative online interest in the three next-generation consoles as tracked via the Compete toolbar technology. According to the tracking numbers, both the Wii and the PS3 peaked around their launch date, with the Wii running up slightly more user interest. The Xbox 360 hit its popularity peak for the three months from November to January right around Thanksgiving, which would tie in somewhat to a number of promotions run around the Xbox 360 at this time. After the holiday season, all three consoles tail off in online click-through. The Wii still leads, but the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 match nearly exactly. Further, it appears that Playstation 3 searchers are transferring to either the Xbox 360 or the Wii.
Overall, though, it is hard to gauge how accurately this tracks real-world purchasing. First, given that Compete gets its tracking numbers though the number of users that have installed the Compete Toolbar, it is hard to say how accurately this reflects the general Internet public. Secondly, given the difficulty in acquiring either a Playstation 3 or a Wii and both consoles’ lack of availability online, one would have a hard time tying an online visit into a retail conversion. A longer period of observation tied with real-world sales numbers as all consoles become readily available at retail will give a better indication of the correlation between online visits and actual sales numbers.
Read More | Compete via Ozymandias.com
Sony Profits Drop 5% On PS3 Launch Costs
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Hardware, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP,
Sony’s 3rd quarter financial results reflect a 5% drop in net profit year-over-year largely due to costs incurred launching the Playstation 3. A BusinessWeek report on the financial results indicates that despite this loss, Sony has raised its guidance for the year due to its successes in the flat-panel TV and digital camera arenas. While the games division used to be a huge profit center for Sony, lately gaming has been dragging the company down. Sony missed its shipment targets for the Playstation 3, but still believes it is on track to ship 6 million consoles worldwide by the end of March. Still, Playstation 2 and PSP unit sales were down. Third quarter sales of the Playstation 2 were down 1.25 million units to 4.11 million sold, a decrease of roughly 30%. Sales of the PSP were down even more; the company moved only 1.76 million handhelds compared to over 6 million sold during the third quarter of 2005, a decrease of nearly 75%. Sony seems to be losing battles on two fronts right now, with lost opportunities on the Playstation 3 side leading to conversions to either Nintendo’s Wii or the Microsoft Xbox 360. The PSP is getting beat up horrendously by the Nintendo DS; while Sony’s handheld had held its ground for quite some time, its popularity now appears to be fading. Sony hopes to get things turned around with the Playstation 3 soon; console availability doesn’t seem to be as much of a problem as a lack of exclusive titles.
Read More 
| Sony Financial Release [PDF]
Read More | BusinessWeek
Sony Announces European PS3 Launch Date, Price
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Hardware, PlayStation 3,
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe announced that the Playstation 3 will be available across Europe on March 23rd. Sony expects to have one million PS3 consoles available for the initial launch. Only 60 GB configurations will be shipped to Europe initially, for Euro 599 or GBP 425. At current exchange rates, this puts the UK price point at approximately 840 US dollars and the Euro price point translates to about $780. The pricing of the Playstation 3 has roughly a 50% price premium over the Xbox 360 Premium configurations in Europe, about the same in the US. The delay in Europe does give Sony the advantage of a fuller launch line-up; assuming that there are no further delays, this means that titles that missed the US launch will be available during the launch window in Europe, including games like Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and Motorstorm It was also announced that the downloadable HD port of Tekken: Dark Resurrection will be available, a title that has not yet seen a release in the US. Hopefully the delay for Europe will mean that Sony’s launch goes much smoother than it did for other territories. Given the low bar the console set in the US and Japan, though, it seems that Sony has nowhere to go but up.
Sony’s full press release continues after the jump.
Click to continue reading Sony Announces European PS3 Launch Date, Price
Sony Update Fixes Backward Compatibility Glitch
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3,
When Sony released the 1.50 Firmware update in Japan, most of the reaction on the Internet was muted; after all, the upgrade seemed to add support for touchless payment methods and Korean input text via keyboard. However, mentioned almost as a side note, was an update for backward compatibility for PS1 and PS2 games. However, now that the firmware update has dropped for US customers, the compatibility patch now seems to be one of the larger parts of the update. One of the biggest complaints about the Playstation 3 backward compatibility functionality has been graphical glitches in PS1 and PS2 games, particularly when using the advanced connection options of the PS3. The 1.50 update largely fixes these issues, making backward compatibility that much easier to enjoy. There are still some game-specific issues lingering, but PS3 gamers can now play a large majority of their PS2 games glitch-free. The patch gives hope that Sony is listening to the concerns of gamers and that future fixes may yet take care of the remaining issues with the console.
Read More | 1up
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