miir wrote:Not really sure how relevant that is in a video games forum as SCE is actually a money making division of Sony.

Moderators: Funkmasterr, noel
miir wrote:Not really sure how relevant that is in a video games forum as SCE is actually a money making division of Sony.
Jobs only got lucky with one device...The need a Steve Jobs type of leader to step in, clean house, and focus the company
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/ ... 0120120208-- The likelihood of a strong recovery in Sony's earnings is low, due to a massive erosion of prices, falling demand, and harsh competition in Sony's mainstay businesses.
-- Standard & Poor's lowered the long-term corporate credit and debt ratings on Sony to 'BBB+' and removed the ratings from CreditWatch. We affirmed the 'A-2' short-term corporate credit rating.
-- The outlook is negative, reflecting our view that we could lower the ratings further if we see no meaningful sign of recovery in Sony's earnings within six to 12 months.
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services today lowered its long-term corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on Sony Corp. to 'BBB+' from 'A-' and removed the ratings from CreditWatch, where we placed them Nov. 4, 2011. The outlook on the long-term corporate credit rating is negative. We base the downgrade on our view that severe circumstances in Sony's mainstay electronics businesses make a strong recovery in earnings unlikely. We base the negative outlook on the long-term corporate credit rating on our expectation that we could lower the ratings further if we see no meaningful sign of a recovery in Sony's earnings within six to 12 months. We affirmed the 'A-2' short-term corporate credit rating on the company.
Sony's TV business has made repeated losses since fiscal 2004 (ended March 31, 2005). The company expects to incur a net loss of JPY220 billion in fiscal 2011. Standard & Poor's believes the major reason for the extended losses is Sony's strategy to aggressively expand its global market share despite strong competition, a massive erosion of prices, and its high cost structure compared with overseas competitors. Massive pressure on the prices of Sony's key products, such as flat-panel TVs and mobile handsets, is likely to continue, and the company's position in the global market is under strong pressure amid severe competition from Korean manufacturers and emerging Chinese companies. In our view, an enhanced focus on profits, rather than on expanding sales, and efforts to lower costs are likely to reduce losses in its TV business. However, circumstances are so severe that Standard & Poor's believes it will be difficult for Sony to return its TV business to profitability even in fiscal 2013. Therefore, we see a low likelihood of a strong recovery in Sony's earnings in the next two years or so.
Because of continuing net losses since fiscal 2008, Sony's profitability looks significantly weaker than that of its global industry peers. In addition, we believe its ratio of adjusted debt to EBITDA is likely to remain high for the next one to two years, even for companies in the 'BBB' category. Standard & Poor's also believes Sony's adjusted total debt to capital (excluding finance operations) will rise to around 40% as of March 31, 2012, from 35% a year earlier. However, we base our one-notch downgrade on our view that Sony's profitability and financial standing will gradually recover in fiscal 2012 because there will be no repeat of one-off expenses due to floods in Thailand and impairment losses on stockholdings. Also, we believe Sony's strong short-term liquidity (excluding finance operations) continues to support its financial stability.
The outlook on the long-term corporate credit rating on Sony is negative, reflecting our view that we could lower the ratings further if we see no meaningful sign of a recovery in earnings within six to 12 months. We expect strong price erosion and a fall in demand may delay a recovery in earnings in the company's TV segment and lead to further expenses in restructuring.
Sony's progress toward a recovery of earnings in its TV business in the coming six to 12 months will be key to our analysis of the company's credit quality. We may consider lowering the ratings on Sony if we see a likelihood of weak performance in the TV business leading to another net loss in fiscal 2012. Adjusted total debt to capital (excluding finance operations) of above 40% for an extended period would also pressure the ratings. To consider upgrading the company, we would need to see Sony stabilize earnings in its core businesses and show stronger prospects for financial improvement. Given the severity of the business environment, though, we consider the possibility of such an outcome low at present.
The PlayStation Network is About to go Down for a Day
The PlayStation Network undergoes maintenance all the time. Usually, though, it only lasts for 2-4 hours. On Thursday, the network is undergoing some serious maintenance, because it'll be down for most of the American day.
Starting at 8am Pacific and running until an estimated 10pm Pacific, almost everything PlayStation-related that uses the internet will be going offline. That means the PlayStation Store, online multiplayer, signing into accounts, editing accounts and PlayStation Home. If you're signed in once the maintenance starts, you'll be booted out.
You won't even be able to visit the PlayStation Blog for updates, because it'll be down as well. In fact about the only thing running will be Sony's PlayStation Twitter account, so maybe you can play with your friends on that...
miir wrote:Jobs only got lucky with one device...
Apple's current success is based solely on the iphone platform.
Go ahead, toss that backwards compatibility right out the window! No chance your PS3 games will play on the PS4 if this turns out to be true. I'd still do it if I were Sony because the PS3 is/was/always will be, a huge clusterfuck of fail for the company. I wonder if the PS4 controllers will have rumble!PlayStation 4 Ditching The Cell Processor, Sources Say, Which Leads to Some Wild Theories.
The PlayStation 4 will not use Sony's Cell processor nor any possible successor to the vaunted chipset that was introduced to the world through the PlayStation 3, gaming industry sources tell Kotaku.
What we're hearing from sources follow a Forbes rumor last week that chip-maker AMD would make the graphics chip for a PS4, a shift from the PS3's use of a graphics chip from AMD rival Nvidia.
The abandonment of the Cell architecture would thrill the many game developers who have struggled with the complex chipset, but it could also be viewed as the admission of a mistake.
Cell was the pet project of PlayStation creator Ken Kutaragi, who dreamed that the chip—a "Power Processing Element" married to eight "Synergistic Processing Elements"—would make the PS3 the most impressive gaming console ever. He spoke of a home equipped with multiple devices that were powered by Cell, all of them linking to each other to increase the computational power driving any of the devices.
Cell was not the revolution Sony hoped and hyped that it would be. It also never managed to make the PS3 appear to be significantly more powerful than the year-older Xbox 360. That could have been the Cell's fault or simply the result of development decisions that compelled game creators to make their games run on both the PS3 and the generally-more-popular Xbox 360.
But with no Cell or Cell successor in the PS4, what would Sony do? Here's where the reporting turns to speculation. One theory I've heard is that AMD will provide both the CPU and GPU for the PS4, meaning that AMD, not Sony, would engineer the main processing and graphics chips for the machine. Should AMD be doing that, they could go with the AMD Fusion architecture, which puts CPU and GPU on the same chip. AMD has already been putting chips like this out (one was considered for the MacBook Air), which would enable Sony to turn to developers and say: you could be working with the PS4 architecture right now; just work on an AMD Llano chip or something. Would developers like that? They'd have to prefer it to Cell and—what do you know—here's one of gaming history's best programmers, id's John Carmack, saying in an interview with PC Perspective last year that AMD Fusion-style chip architecture is "almost a forgone conclusion" for the future of computing.
A Sony rep declined to comment on this story, citing the company's policy not to comment on rumors and speculation.
Sony hasn't even acknowledged the existence of the PlayStation 4 let alone detailed the guts within it. But we're beginning to hear trickles of information about Sony's next gen. It's all vaguer than the talk for next Xbox, code-named Durango, which Microsoft has been showing to publisher and developer partners.
The lack of chatter on PS4 would suggest that Sony will once again put its next console out after Microsoft. But if the chipset for the PS4 is actually one that already exists, then aspiring PS4 developers might find themselves capable of ramping up for this new machine faster than expected. And if that happens, the code-named Durango, probable for 2013, might have a sparring partner from Sony sooner than we thought.
Mine does. You gotta be quick with Sony or they take away the "feature"!Aslanna wrote:Well current PS3s don't have backwards compatibility either so...
I like how "several hours" in Sony speak = 14 hours in the real world.As you may recall, we had postponed our scheduled PlayStation Network maintenance session from last Thursday to a time to be announced. It is now determined that maintenance will take place tomorrow (Sunday, March 4).
This significant PSN maintenance period is expected to start at just after noon Pacific and will last for several hours, until approximately 2am Pacific on Monday, March 5. Unlike typical maintenance events, consumers who are already signed-in to PSN will be signed-out, and consumers will be unable to sign in for the duration of the maintenance window. During this time, users won’t be able to access the PlayStation Store, PlayStation Home, Account Management or play online
Way to bring a console that's "almost" as powerful as the six year old X-box/PS3 generation consoles. On top of it being underpowered for any future growth, it looks like it was designed for short bus kids to play with .There's been a lot of chatter lately about Sony and Microsoft's rumored next-generation consoles, but the only company that actually announced its next hardware is Nintendo. In our time spent with the Wii U, it's obvious this console packs far more graphics power than its predecessor, and appears to be on par with the Xbox 360 or PS3. However, we're starting to hear conflicting reports as to just how the Wii U stacks up. Several anonymous developers have told Gamesindustry International that the Wii U is less powerful than the aging Xbox 360 and PS3. One source said "some things are better, mostly as a result of it being a more modern design. But overall the Wii U just can't quite keep up."
Sales decreased 18.5% year-on-year (a 14% decrease on a constant currency basis) to 3,136.8 billion yen (38,253 million U.S. dollars). Sales to outside customers decreased 18.9% year-on-year. This was primarily due to a decrease in sales of LCD televisions, PCs, digital imaging products including digital cameras, and the game business.
Isn't a strategic price reduction supposed to increase sales of hardware? If not it doesn't sound like a very god strategy!The decrease in the game business reflects lower sales of PlayStation®3 hardware due to a strategic price reduction and lower sales of PlayStation®2 due to platform migration.
One of the few good/funny things that came from Sony was the Kevin Butler commercials. Now he's screwing Sony over by doing something like this.Sony is Suing Kevin Butler
Following a bizarre turn of events and a highly unlikely TV commercial, actor Jerry Lambert - for years the "face" of the PlayStation brand - is being sued, along with Bridgestone, by none other than Sony itself.
Despite having made something of a name for himself playing the fictional PlayStation executive Kevin Butler, last month Lambert appeared in an advertisement for Bridgestone tyres playing a competitor's product, the Nintendo Wii.
Sony is suing both companies over trademark infringement, I'd wager for their use of Lambert - synonymous now with the PlayStation brand - in a scenario involving video games that aren't PlayStation games. It would be crazy if the fine print of Lambert's contract with Sony didn't include some mention of not being seen to endorse competing products.
Awww, the PS3 sold less than that (63 Million)...less than half of the number of PS2s that were sold (150M+). Fail!Since its launch way back in 2005, the Xbox 360 has been purchased a grand total of 70 million times, according to IGN (confirmed by Microsoft). This figure is up by nearly three million units since last April, when the global total rung up at 67.2 million.
Conceptualizing that many Xboxes is kind of hard to do, so let's put that figure into a ridiculous, arbitrary context. An olympic-sized swimming pool, for instance, holds about 424,935 Xboxes, assuming a pool volume of 88,528 cubic feet and Non-S model 360s. In order to hold all the Xboxes sold in the world so far, it would require 165 olympic-sized swimming pools, with that 165th pool having a tiny little bit of space left over for some controllers and a copy of Condemned: Criminal Origins.
To put it another way, if every Xbox sold in the world were put on one side of a giant scale, 2,156 blue whales would need to be placed on the other side for it to balance properly, assuming a median weight of 250,000 pounds per whale. That's kind of a lot of Xboxes, you guys.
PlayStation 3 Leads Living Room Netflix Viewing
We’re proud to stream TV shows and movies from Netflix onto nearly every Internet connected screen, from pocket-sized screens on phones to very large HDTVs. We’re also passionate about product innovation and continually investing in making the Netflix viewing experience better for our users.
Historically, gaming consoles have been a popular way for consumers to enjoy Netflix. Today we wanted to recognize the PlayStation 3 in particular as a leader in Netflix streaming. In the US and globally, PS3 is the largest TV-connected platform in terms of Netflix viewing. This year, at times, PS3 even surpassed the PC in hours of Netflix enjoyment to become our No. 1 platform overall.
Every PS3 owner can access Netflix directly via the free PlayStation Network and sign-up for Netflix directly from their PS3. The engagement enabled by this easy access combined with the powerful PS3 system capabilities makes PS3 a natural fit for Netflix to develop and deploy our most advanced features first on PS3.
PS3 was the first computer entertainment system to offer Netflix in full 1080p video resolution with 5.1-channel Dolby Digital Plus™ surround sound and to offer post-play, second screen controls, on device sign-up, alternate audio options including subtitles. PS3 is currently the only platform to experience a new voice user interface called “Max” that’s currently being tested. We’ve been able to easily update these features to existing users of the application and continue to update and test new features on a continual basis.
Our sentiment for delivering great living room viewing experiences is shared by Sony:
Jack Tretton, CEO and President of Sony Computer Entertainment America had this to say: “The PlayStation and Netflix communities both share a strong passion for high quality entertainment. Netflix provides a fantastic experience for watching TV shows and movies on PS3, and our joint development will continue to produce innovations for our customers that further demonstrate PS3 as the true home for entertainment in the living room.”
We now have more than 30 million members globally who stream more than a billion hours a month, making us the world’s leading Internet subscription service for enjoying TV shows and movies. We come to work each day dedicated to improving the streaming experience of each member and helping you find and view more great content from Netflix.
Enjoy,Bill
BingoAslanna wrote:No it's because for the xbox you need a stupid Live Gold account whereas on the PS3 it's free.
We just got a new 52" Sharp Aquos to replace our older 42" TV. It's the first "smart TV" we've gotten, and the Netflix client for it is better than any other that I've used.Funkmasterr wrote:Yeah, for Netflix in my opinion pc (media center)>360>pc browser>ps3>everything else.
PlayStation 3 Lifetime Shipments Overtake Xbox 360 According to Market Research
According to a new report published by market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), in December 2012 lifetime shipments of PlayStation 3 consoles reached 77 million, surpassing shipments of Xbox 360 consoles by 1 million units, as noted in GI.biz's summarisation of the 67-page study.
This is despite Sony launching the PS3 in 2007, a year later than Microsoft's Xbox 360, and a relatively slow start thanks to the console's high price point at launch. No doubt the more affordable slim and super slim models of the console have helped in contributing to these latest figures.
Of course, these figures relate to units shipped rather than sold, although Sony reported that 70 million PlayStation 3's had been sold in November 2012, a month after Microsoft had reported the same figure. Good stuff...
http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/10/npd- ... es-890-00/By Donald Melanson posted Jan 10th, 2013 at 7:46 PM
It's a trend that's been clear for some time now, but NPD's year-end report out today has confirmed that the Xbox 360 is the clear winner in US console sales for 2012, with 1.4 million units sold in December alone keeping it in what's described as a "dominent" position. As for this year's big new console, the Wii U, the NPD Group reports that it's sold nearly 890,000 units in the US after its first 41 days on the market, with 460,000 sold in December (actually less than the 475,000 of the original Wii). Nintendo found a slightly different spin to put on that, though, noting that the Wii U has generated $30 million more than the original Wii at the same point in its lifecycle, which sold more units but also cost less. When it comes to Nintendo's other consoles, the 3DS was on top with sales of 1.25 million in December, while the standard DS moved 470,000 units.
That's because there isn't an option to do that like you can with the 360. That's about the only thing I can put in the 'Pro' column for xbox. The Metro UI obviously goes in the 'Con' column!Fairweather Pure wrote:As far as HD space, I've never even installed a retail game on the HD so it has never been an issue for me.
That one doesn't go on sale until the 27thBoogahz wrote:The only bundle I've found with a year of PS+ so far is the white system. That one doesn't seem to be available in stores for some reason.