Nintendo President Satoru Iwata likes to say that game console price cuts aren’t the cure-alls many believe them to be. “People often talk about the price cut as if it’s an almighty weapon,” he said this past summer. “The fact of the matter is what a price cut can do is rather limited.” But Nintendo is cutting the price of its Wii videogame system just the same.
The videogame industry may be recession-resistant, but it is clearly not recession-proof, as some once claimed.
If it was, surely we wouldn’t be seeing the sixth consecutive month of declining sales reported by NPD. According to the market research firm, overall sales in the United States in August of hardware, software and game accessories were $909 million–a 16 percent drop from the same period a year ago.
Who will win the gaming console price war of 2009? Consumers. Two weeks after Sony lowered the price of the PlayStation 3 to $299 from $399, Microsoft did the same for the Xbox 360 Elite, slashing $100 off the price of the console. In addition, the company cut the price of its now discontinued Xbox 360 Pro console by $50 to $249.99, while supplies last.
So those rumors of a PlayStation2 price cut? True. Rumors of a similar cut for the PlayStation 3? Not so much… Confirming recent speculation, Sony this morning said that it’s dropping the price of the PlayStation 2 from $129 to $99.99 as of April 1. But it aggressively dismissed reports of a PS3 price drop as false.
Playing videogames in a recession doesn’t make them any less fun–even if that recession is the worst we’ve seen in 50 years. Though the economy shuddered and slowed in December, videogame industry sales rose nine percent in the states. And for the year, sales of games, consoles and accessories grew 19 percent to $21.3 billion, from $18 billion in 2007.
“What has become of the Sony known for its technology?” Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister and former Sony employee Akira Amari asked in October of 2006. “I hope it will solve its problems soon to quickly recover its brand image reputed for technological prowess.” If Amari can recall when that was Sony’s image, he has a good memory. Because Sony lost its dominant position in consumer electronics to rivals in Japan, South Korea and the U.S. long ago and has yet to regain it. And nowhere is that more apparent than in the the company’s videogame division.
It’s likely a challenge to program and a bitch to debug, but IBM’s new Roadrunner supercomputer is the most powerful in the world. With 12,240 cell processors typically found in Sony’s PlayStation 3 console and another 6,562 dual-core AMD Opteron chips, Roadrunner has been benchmarked at 1.026 petaflops (1.026 quadrillion calculations per second).
Grand Theft Auto IV, the latest installment of Rockstar Games’ (TTWO) controversial Grand Theft Auto series, arrived at market today amid a suppressive fire of Entertainment Software Rating Board warnings. “Blood,” “intense violence,” “partial nudity,” “strong language,” “strong sexual content, “use of drugs and alcohol”–it’s all there, along with simulated drunk driving and in-game prostitution, [...]
Woolworths has declared a winner in the next generation DVD format war and it’s not HD DVD. Yesterday, the British chain said it will stock only Blu-ray discs, becoming the first major retailer to drop HD DVD.
Woolworths’ decision came after it found Blu-ray movies outsold HD DVD by 10 to 1 in its 820 stores. [...]
Auction Action: Confirming the expected, Google announced today that it would indeed apply to bid for wireless spectrum in the Federal Communications Commission auction in January. … Facebook Gets a $60 Million Infusion… Hong Kong mogul Li Ka-shing has invested $60 million in Facebook. … Rise and Fall of Motorola Magnate: Ed Zander, CEO of the electronics manufacturer whose mojo with the Razr cellphone brought the company big gains, is resigning.
Note: John Paczkowski is on vacation and won’t be writing or posting videos until he returns Monday. To keep you abreast of tech news while he’s away, we’re compiling a daily digest of 10 must-read tech stories. We’re calling it the Tech 10 and it appears below.
Though a public high school’s outdoor amphitheater might seem an unlikely location for Microsoft’s event at this year’s E3 Media Summit in Santa Monica, Calif., it was particularly apt given the schoolyard beating the company’s taken in the gaming market recently. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 strategy has been generally unimpressive and, in some cases, disastrous thus [...]
Turns out when Sony president Ryoji Chubachi said Friday that the electronics giant had “no immediate plans as of now” to cut the price of its PlayStation 3, he was speaking literally (as in “at this very second”). Because three days after denying rumors of an impending “refinement” of the PS3’s price, Sony announced one. [...]
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
12:58 AM: Breakfast: Two schools of fish from Tokyo Bay. Calories: 782,000. How I was feeling when I ate this: confused, irradiated, hating my size.
11:37 AM: Exercise: “Taxi Stomp” (alternating legs, for 30 blocks). Calories burned: 148,900,183.
1983. The Beatles announce their first tour in thirteen years, but likewise announce that Michael Jackson will be going on tour with them as a one gigantic mega-concert event.
Best video mashup ever.
A Facebook Memorial
Wow.
Worth it for the Rickrolling photo alone.
Excellent.
Flughumor!
… you vacuous, toffee-nosed, malodorous perverts
Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine meet the kakapo — a fat, flightless and very randy rare parrot.
D is unlike any other executive conference. Since its debut in 2003, D has brought to life the energy and excitement of the digital revolution in an unscripted, upfront and unparalleled way. Read more »
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