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Sony Consoles and Updates


Sly Reflex
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It looks like Sony are making account ID's the same across the board, same as MS have had for a few years now.

On February 8, 2012, “PlayStation®Network accounts” will be renamed “Sony Entertainment Network accounts” or “SEN accounts”. This change will take effect at the same time as upcoming PlayStation®3 and PlayStation®Vita* system software updates. After you update the system software on your PS3™ or PS Vita , you will notice that “PlayStation®Network accounts” have been renamed “Sony Entertainment Network accounts”. This change will not affect the naming of “PlayStation®Network accounts” when viewed on a PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system. *PlayStation®Vita will launch from 22nd February, 2012.

This account change is a change in name only. You do not have to do anything and your username and password will not change.

This transition is based on Sony’s goal to enhance its unique digital entertainment offering. As a series of these activities Sony started last September, PlayStation®Network will be aligned with “Sony Entertainment Network”. This helps us get closer to our goal of establishing a global comprehensive network platform of services across games, movies, music and more, all accessible from one convenient account.

Your Sony Entertainment Network account also enables use of Sony’s non-game services such as Music Unlimited, Video Store of PlayStation®Store and PlayMemories Online (previously called Personal Space) across a variety of network-connected devices.

Thank you for your continued loyalty and support during this transition

For FAQs and more detail on this change please visit http://eu.playstation.com/support or http://en.support.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com/

Sincerely,

The Sony Entertainment Network Team

I guess it's the sensible thing to do.

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http://spong.com/article/26265/Sony-CEOs-Oh-Sh*t-Moment-has-Arrived

Kaz Hirai takes the top role at Sony and then realises just what he has to deal with? Well, it certainly looks that way according to an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Possibly his greatest challenge is not the market, but his own staff and colleagues. In a statement of the obvious to beggar belief he points out that, "We really need to buckle down and be realistic. I don't think everybody is on board, but I think people are coming around to the idea that if we don't turn this around, we could be sitting in some serious trouble."

So, if you don't turn an ailing company around, you're in trouble? Oh dear.

On taking over, Mr Hirai has had a realisation, the kind of realisation that you might expect any management executive to have had, well, early on: "It's one issue after another," he points out, "I feel like 'Holy s—, now what?'"

He continues his impression of a bunny in the headlights by stating that, "I thought turning around the PlayStation business was going to be the toughest challenge of my career, but I guess not."

So, now he has more than project on his hands, what's his plan? More hardware?

"The world has moved on, We can't just continue to be a great purveyor of hardware products, even though some people expect us to do that."

Let's hope we retain Sony in gaming. Competition is good.

This is quite bad news. If people don't back the gaffer, then what's the point in having said gaffer?

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http://spong.com/nibble/26268/Sony-Sorry-for-Latest-PSN-Failure

Sony's run into another PSN (or SEN as it is now) problem. Not a hack this time.

This time it's users not being able to get digital content that they've paid for... aka "PS Store error 80023102".

A Sony spokeperson told Twitter... and then told Sony EU forums the following:

"Currently work is being carried out to resolve the issue users are having, however we have not been given an exact time for this to be completed yet."

That was at 10:40am today.

Whoops! Somebody made a booboo.

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http://spong.com/article/26289/Sony-No-UMD-Passport-for-the-US

Have a PSP? Holding out on the UMD Passport program that will allow you to transfer your PSP disc games over to the upcoming PlayStation Vita? Well, if you live in the US, you're out of luck - Sony Computer Entertainment America has confirmed that there will be no UMD Passport service.

The UMD Passport launched in Japan during the launch of the Vita handheld last year. It was a PSP application that allowed users to place a UMD game into the drive, register it on their PlayStation Network (sorry, Sony Entertainment Network) accounts and pay a small charge to access a downloadable version. This could then be played on your shiny new Vita.

It sounds like the only way to get your PSP games on a Vita is to re-purchase them all over again on the PlayStation Store. SCEA gave no reason as to why it was not launching the UMD Passport program, but if we were betting men we'd say it was because the handheld is relatively dead in the West and initiating such a scheme would be financially unviable.

Why make such a big song and dance about it, and then say it isn't available. That's a bit dickish is it not?

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  • 3 months later...

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-05-11-sony-shares-topple-to-31-year-low-after-record-losses

Sony's share price has fallen to a 31-year low following the announcement of the company's record 456.7 billion yen (£3.5bn) annual loss.

Shares fell by 6.7 per cent to 1132 yen (£8.79) in response to Sony's latest financial results, announced yesterday. That report revealed that sales of PS3s, PS2s and PSPs were all down year-on-year.

But Sony boss Kaz Hirai has forecast a healthier outlook for the year ahead, including a return to profit for the firm's gaming division and an ambitious sales forecast for PlayStation Vita.

Today's dramatic decline in share price suggests that investors remain worried by Sony's financial future, however.

"Sony is facing a lot of difficulties and the new president has not been able to produce a clear plan as to how he will turn around the company," Yuuki Sakurai, president of Japanese finance firm Fukoku Capital Management, told BBC News.

"Even the little that investors have heard, they are not very impressed with."

Sony was aware such losses were coming - the company last month braced investors it would announce the biggest loss for a decade.

To combat this, Kaz Hirai's "One Sony" vision for the company's future involves focusing efforts on just three areas: "digital imaging, game and mobile". The new plan was accompanied by the confirmation of 10,000 lay-offs.

Hirai commented at the time that the company's PS3, Vita and peripheral sales were "generating steady profit".

Fucking hell, that's a lot of moolah.

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what's odd about the numbers is that Sony have been losing money for years, but the playstation/games section has always done well. I suspect the yen hasn't helped with it all, the launch of the vita will have cost them a lot, and they'll be throwing cash at a new console. If the expenditure is done then the gaming area will return to profit, especially if the wests economy picks up.

It does make you wonder why anyone bar nintendo (because they have to) would be rushing to launch a new console

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Gaming is very much a case of keeping up with the Joneses. It's very similar to the cellphone market, when you look back on the innovators Nokia, for every phone sold in their heyday 60 out of 100 handsets were manufactured by Nokia. Then of course they started pissing about and lost a lot of ground to the smartphone market and now they sell something like 2 in every 100. That's a big drop, something which could have been easily avoided if they had just competed with like for like smartphones instead of doing there own thing. Not having a device out to means when you eventually catch on to market trends, you are on the back foot and are constantly playing catch up.

Can you imagine how big Move and Kinect would have been if they came out at the same time as the Wii? The mopped up minor sales, and although the Kinect sold fucking loads, I reckon it'd have sold way more if it would have come out earlier.

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My point is that if you don't keep up, you get left behind and grabbing the market share back is extremely hard. The N64 had a hard time of it because it was behind the curve time wise. The original xbox also suffered because it was like a year and a half behind the PS2. The PS3 suffered because it was out a year after the 360. With technology companies need to keep up otherwise they fall behind and lose brand recognition.

You product can be the best thing ever, but if it comes late to the party then people will have already spent money elsewhere on filling that technological itch we all get.

People will see that Nintendo have a new console on shelves, while many will run out and get a WiiU, there will be people that sit on their hands to see what the competition are doing. They will only wait for so long though before going through with a purchase, people today are very much consumerists. Although they can sit on their hands and wait to see what future brings, it's not going to be long before their hands become numb and want to whatever is available to them on their best decision at what tech is available at the time.

Most buyers are smart. They will research whatever they are thinking about buying and events that could alter decisions when purchasing products. Someone over on another forum has just had his 360 die on him, yet instead of running out to replace it, he's waiting on E3 to see if MS announce a price drop. You'll get people who will put off buying apple products whenever there is an apple conference due because there might be price cuts or new tech that they would consider getting. It's just human nature for us to want the best available deal for our needs in a reasonable window of time. This is how companies market and push these things. The free market and competition drives companies and technology forward, getting left behind as a company is the worst thing that can happen.

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I think you've misunderstood me, I'm not talking about Sony alone holding off, although I do think holding the Vita back a little longer would have helped them

Nintendo have to release the WiiU because Wii sales have plummeted. Sony and microsoft aren't really competing with Nintendo, the WiiU is looking likely to be less powerful than their current gen and aimed at a different market, basically Nintendo with the DS, Wii and WiiU have created their own cycle, infact they even launched the Wii after the 360.

It's in Sony and Microsoft's interest to hold on to this gen as long as possible, hence why both released motion peripherals, because buying the tech at the minute is going to be way more expensive than it normally would be (world recession, floods in Thailand, high Yen price). They're making a profit on these consoles, and asking people to pay for a new console (or lose money selling it cheaper) is dangerous with their financials already taking a hit, which is why MS are testing the subscription model because if that works they could use that as a cheaper way for people to buy in to the new generation, and a big reason the ps3 started off so slow

Most buyers are smart. They will research whatever they are thinking about buying and events that could alter decisions when purchasing products. Someone over on another forum has just had his 360 die on him, yet instead of running out to replace it, he's waiting on E3 to see if MS announce a price drop. You'll get people who will put off buying apple products whenever there is an apple conference due because there might be price cuts or new tech that they would consider getting.

no they're not, most people do fuck all research and just buy whatever, apple are case in point

Dont get me wrong, I think we'll have new consoles by the end of next year, probably even see something of them at E3. But I'd wager that had the economy been different we'd already have new consoles

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I think this will need splitting off if it carries on going off topic.

From an economical point, companies are trying to make the most money, while making competitors make less. It doesn't matter what they are selling. Sometimes, even making a loss on a product initially is a viable business plan (particularly in supermarkets or subscription services), especially when you are in a market where you only normally buy one of a specific item. In this case we are talking about consoles. If I have £300 to spend on games consoles. So I ended up with a 360 under my TV (which were both prizes, but we'll sidestep that fact). If I dropped £300 on the 360 and the garb that goes with it, even though MS might have made a loss, they got a unit in my home. It's the proverbial foot in the door. While I don't own any other consoles from other companies, every bit of money I spend on my hobby filters into Microsoft's pockets. For a loss that will be offset by all the other stuff I am buying while I am using my 360, Microsoft is effectively putting an obstacle in front of Nintendo and Sony, as I have already dropped a significant amount of cash on something that is effectively doing the same job as its competitors and would be unwilling or unable to do the same thing again. They are all games consoles, they all play new games. I no longer have a big amount of cash to blow on either a Nintendo or Sony product, so the 360 gets my undivided attention when it comes to me spending dribs and drabs of expendable income.

When Nintendo launches the WiiU, it will be on the same shelves as the 360 and PS3, it'll be backed up by a massive advertising campaign all looking to to get as many units as possible into peoples homes in the same way that the 360 did in 2005. Although we don't see the WiiU as a direct competitor to the next generation of whatever Microsoft and Sony have up their sleeves, it is. It will take up the same shop space as it's competitors machines will, its games and peripherals will share the same floor space too. They will be given preferential treatment because they are new and exciting. Nintendo will be eating into a market share of the 8th generation of games consoles. They are effectively forcing the hand of Microsoft and Sony through their own plight. Their own 7th generation console has stop shifting so they are marching forward. By holding back and not snapping at the heels of Nintendo, both companies run the risk of being cut out. Folks are not wiling to spend launch day money for games consoles multiple times. If they did hold back, by the time they got to release their own game machines, Nintendo would already have an extensive catalogue of games, which would probably have fallen in price already, making it the more attractive buy over its more expensive rivals.

You can say all you want about the economy being broken, but people are daft enough to buy stuff they cannot really afford. Everybody knows someone that acts like this.

I have to agree and disagree on you statement about buyers being stupid. If you are dropping a weeks worth of wages on something, then you are going to give it the once over with your own eyes and see what your options are. Sure, there are people that will blindly buy based on brand but I'd like to think that these people are in the minority. If they do buy something that's pricey on a whim you can probably bet it has heaps of praise, you rarely hear of someone buying a significant purchase just because they wanted it and could afford it. For disposable income I agree with you. We've all seen stuff that we thought would be brilliant and turned out to be utter shite.

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I think you're oversimplifying it Sly, Sony in particular cant really afford to be making too much of a loss on their products (they will of course as they did with the ps3, ps2, vita, and MS did with the 360 and xbox), there's financial restraints on all of them. And buying one console doesn't preclude buying another, there's a limited amount of money available sure, but the WiiU is going to launch at least a year ahead of everything else (aimed at a different market, with different features and with less power than the next gen), and will feature a different catalogue, it's why exclusives are so important early on.

I'm still not fully sure what you're arguing against, unless you dont think the economy has played any part in this generation (or the plans for next)?

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I think the point about apple proving that buyers aren't really that clever is key. A lot of people at my work have gone for the newer iPad recently which has then caused a big band wagon load up of more apple technology, the majority of people that have done it have done it because they had an iPhone and other people in the office had an iPad, if you asked them to name three similar tablets that they might have bought instead then none of them would be able to.

By and large people will get what they are told to get, what's big on the playground, that's how the Wii snowballed, everybody had it or wanted one for so long that people just knew it was a thing they were supposed to want, that goes for the casual and hardcore markets.

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No company wants to make new stuff, because it costs money. Neither Microsoft or Sony will want to make new consoles because R&D is expensive, and like you said, they will probably lose money on each unit sold. However, they are in competition with Nintendo, and given what situation Nintendo are in at the minute with the Wii selling bugger all. Because Nintendo isn't selling any more units this is forcing its hand which in turn is forcing Microsoft and Sony's. I'm sure Microsoft and Sony would love to say "Ah, we'll sit this one out" but they can't really afford to. They are between a rock and a hard place, damned if the do and damned if they don't. This is commercial business, dog eat dog.

There will be people that buy all consoles on release, but not everyone is fortunate enough or wants to do that. For instance, Nag can simply not justify buying a PS3. Does he want one? Sure, there are games I'm certain he'd like to play on there, I'm sure of it. He just can't justify getting one right now, so all his disposable income goes Microsoft's way. I think Dante is in a similar position. The 360 came out and managed to manoeuvre itself into a position where it became these players choice of game console. None of this happens by accident, the companies are each trying to do their best with what resources they have to make sales and shut sales out for rival companies.

Think back to the PSN shortage of last year. They had influxes of players trading in their PS3's and getting 360's. It's only enthusiasts like us that buy all the consoles, there are many console owners that own one console at a time.

The age of a console dictates how many games are out for it, but the console must be new enough to have that desirability. There is every possibility that the WiiU will come out and be a raging success, get a fine catalogue of games under its belt and then a week before Microsoft or Sony release their 8th gen console have a severe price cut to tempt people away that were previously sat on the fence.

That's the importance of getting the head start, you can specifically react to other products that could possibly slow revenue. The closer you can launch a product to the time when a rival launches, the more chance you have of taking a sale from them.

In short, nobody wants to make new products, even in times of prosperity. In a perfect world they could sell the same thing over and over again with no modification. This isn't a perfect world though, it's one of cut throat business, one where keeping up with competitors can mean major success or simply being able to continue trading to try and best them another day.

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I'm still not really understanding what's going on here, I think you think I've said something I havent. For example I've not said that everyone, or even most people has more than one console, that in fact was one of the things I was thinking of when I mentioned the different markets the consoles are aimed at. You seemed to be saying that being out first is the be all and end all, people will buy one console and that's it, and that being out first is the deciding factor and that's not true. The megadrive came out before the snes, I think the saturn beat the ps1 out (and had the brand recognition), the dreamcast beat everything out, and the 360 beat the wii out by a year. In all those cases the early launch console was outsold, and in the 360s case the ps3, which had an awful start because of its launch price, has almost caught up (and if microsoft dump the 360 the way they did the xbox, will be over taken).

Nintendo have to launch a new console because the wii sales have dried up, Microsoft and sony have held out longer because theres haven't, and due to the costs involved opted to release move and kinect in an effort to prolong things more.

I'm not suggesting there aren't benefits to launching early (I never did, I just said MS and Sony would quite like to not spend huge sums of money and loss lead during a global recession), I think it helped microsoft with the 360, although you could also point to the westernisation of games, Japan's stagnation, the cost of the ps3. It's not like the 360 had a raft of games out that first year though, certainly not many good ones (although having a known brand in PGR at launch was good for them), but being first meant they were the option for those that couldn't wait, liked what they saw, or jumped when Sony ballsed things up. But if being first was the be all and end all then at the very least Microsoft would have their next console out by now

your last paragraph agrees with me, although it does have a bit where we differ. The only 'competitor' that has 'jumped ahead' is nintendo, but nintendo have very deliberately broken out of the cycle so they dont have to compete hence releasing a console reported weaker the current gen. Dont get me wrong, I'm sure they all want a piece of every pie, but it's prioritised in a different way. Simply put, Microsofts next console will be significantly more powerful than the 360 and WiiU

I've been really careful with this reply because I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be arguing against :huh:

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Man, I did al that yesterday on about 3 hours of sleep. :blink:

Your point was you had no idea why anyone but Nintendo would want to make a next gen console. My point was that the other companies have to keep pace with a rival. It's irrelevant that the WiiU wont be as powerful or necessarily be aimed at the same markets. The 3DS and Vita are very different machines aimed at very different markets, yet they are literally going head to head.

Being first out, like you point out, isn't always a guaranteed success.

Tha Sega Saturn was out a few weeks before the Playstation. I don't know about costs but I know that Sony really broke open its piggybank to push the Playstation. I don't remember seeing any Sega adverts. Playstation had some stupidly good early titles too. The Saturn had its fairshare of good games, but it paled in comparison to the Playstation. Of course, by the time the N64 released 2 years later it struggled to gain tractions, they eventually cut the price to shift them. That 2 year space between the Playstation and N64 coming out left too much ground between Nintendo's machine and Sony's behemoth.

The Dreamcast had a 2 year jump on the Playstation 2, but I think people were suspect having been burned by the Saturn. The Dreamcast also had some of the stupidest advertisements I've ever seen. Gamecube and Xbox came out a year later and just couldn't keep up with the Playstation 2, despite having some amazing games. It didn't help Xbox that it launched at a silly price point and had to rely on Halo until it got some games out.

The 360 was first out, and as we all know it broke. A lot. When the Wii came it offered something different that everyone could partake in for a low price. It also had a monstrous advertising campaign. Playstation 3 basically crippled itself with PR gaffs, ridiculous price points and bugger all games. It still sold because of the previous performances of Sony's consoles, but it was far from what they were expecting. It picked up due to Japans reluctance to buy anything from abroad.

It's not just getting out first, although that is important, you have several other factors to constitute into the factor. Pricing. Advertisements. Product placement. Availability. Performance. Quality of product. Quality of rivals products in all areas mentioned.

I think failure to stick with the pack in any area results in commercial flops.

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I'm really worried about the next generation. Not so much the WiiU as it looks to be using technology that is only as advanced as the PS3 and 360 but Sony's and Microsoft's next consoles I suspect will be pushing the power a bit.

It's just the industry is such a mess. Too many studios have gone down the pan because games have to be massive successes to make money. Look at Bizarre Creations and Black Rock. Because Blur and Split Second weren't massive they were closed down, and it's not like neither game didn't sell at all; both sold over a million copies. With the way things are I just think things will get worse with the next gen.

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I honestly don't see how much more games can cost to make. I know that a lot of graphic design is parred down to fit resolutions and perform so that'll be less of a problem. I know they always say AI wil take a giant leap, but we all know that's bullshit.

I'd be happy if they just put the extra money into getting proper scripters in to do stories instead of getting the work experience boy to do it.

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Your point was you had no idea why anyone but Nintendo would want to make a next gen console. My point was that the other companies have to keep pace with a rival. It's irrelevant that the WiiU wont be as powerful or necessarily be aimed at the same markets. The 3DS and Vita are very different machines aimed at very different markets, yet they are literally going head to head.

I dont have time to respond to everything, I didn't mean that as literally as you've taken it. I said 'be in a rush to', which they haven't been. I wasn't suggesting that they should avoid making one at all

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