Sony Cuts Profit Forecast by Over 50 Per Cent

Laying off more staff yet again? And now closing plants?? Wow.

I am pretty sure the PS3 had something to do with it considering how much it cost Sony and is still costing Sony.

I wonder if Sony will be the Sega of this gen.

PS3 is clearly hurting them as I'm sure the lack of bluray sales are ,PS2 & PSP is their bread and butter now, but for how long?

PS3 is hurting them, though I can see why they haven't blamed it. The credit crunch though will lead to less people buying TV's though TBH not many companies are making sack loads of cash these days.

As for that stupid comment from SS4 about Sony being the next Sega... as much as i'm sure you'd enjoy that, it won't be the case. Sega were skint in 1997, which is why the Saturn went bye-bye the next year. The Dreamcast was developed and launched with cash that Sega didn't have, which is why it represented their last desperate chance. Oh, and Sega had singlehandedly managed to alienate the vast majority of their fans which is why the Saturn and Dreamcast only got 10 million sales each. Sony are in a different ballpark to Sega.

If anything, the Xbox360 is the dreamcast of this generation...only the mother company of the last was 750 million dollars in debt and the mother company of the first has a war chest of 40 billion dollar (and not even the huge in-house development muscle as the last)

If Sega had launched the Xbox(360) they would have dropped out allready.

The PS3 is more like the Gamecube this gen really. Evenly spread over all the regions, not excelling in any.

Err no the 360 is NOT the Dreamcast of this gen, the 360 is more like the PS2 this gen with all the support all the games and tons of sales, the PS3 has become a declined item in this gen and am very sure Sony will decide to end the PS3.

sureley the wii is the ps2 of this generation

Well in terms of hardware sales yes, but if we look at hardware sales + development support + choice of games and other factors we can see the 360 has overtaken PS3 this gen resulting in a turn around between the 2 companies compared to last gen.

Err, not really. The 360 is only slightly ahead of the PS3 in terms of support and that's mainly due to the larger install numbers because of its year lead. However, the lead is coming down, slowly yes, but the 360 isn't as far ahead of the PS3 now as it was when the PS3 launched.

The consoles are much more balanced this gen than last gen, that much is true, but the idea that the 360 is as far ahead of the PS3 as the PS2 was ahead of the XBox is just laughable. The PS2 sold almost 100M more than the XBox and it's still selling, there's a difference of roughly 5M between the 360 and PS3 at the moment and the gap is closing (slowly).

Of course, that's just Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo is way out in front, but still not PS2 levels of success against its rivals.

The DS is the PS2 of this gen, it's so way ahead of...everything...it's crazy. But really, the Xbox360 is just the *shock* Xbox of this gen. It sells good in the US and that's it. It bought a few JRPG's but is losing those now (to the DS and Wii) and expanded the FPSbox image with third-person shooting re-nicknaming it the shooterbox, huzzah for market expansion!

Market forces will be forcing developers to the Wii in the long-term, it's allready hapening actually, just no one notices it because of the american-centered reporting.

Optimus P you talk utter crap:

'But really, the Xbox360 is just the *shock* Xbox of this gen. It sells good in the US and that's it. It bought a few JRPG's but is losing those now (to the DS and Wii'

It seems to be selling pretty damn well in Europe, Australia and even in Japan go do some research, global sales of the Xbox 360 are far ahead of the PS3 but yes the Wii is ahead of all.

How the hell can you throw the DS Lite into the mix???? Its a friggin hand held!!!

Also where on earth is the 360 losing its JRPG's to the DS???? I can think on only Blue Dragon but thats hardly losing a console game to another console its a blasted handheld on top of that the 360 has not lost any JRPG's to the Wii! Again go do some reasearch!

The Xbox 360 has the most JRPG's of this gen period, its a fact.

The Wii is a flop for games but the console still sells because fact is its a NOVELTY I own one and to me its a toy!

Serious gaming starts on the Xbox 360.

Out of all 3 consoles this gen the 360 has the most games at retail and online and has the best online service and online offerings of any of the 3 consoles.

Dude, quit making SS4 look good.

Seriously, thats all I'm gonna say. Not sure what's gotten into you lately, but SS4 is making more sense, atm.

OK, I lied. All this posturing about who's this gen's what, is a bunch of useless wanking.

As far as last generation goes, the (original) Xbox was the superior machine compared to the PlayStation 2, by a country mile; The PS2 had FAR more consoles sold and more games.

This generation, the PS3 is slightly more capable than the 360 (on paper); the 360 has sold a few more consoles, and has a few more games.

Everything else is bullshit, including handhelds...different market, they aren't necessarily fighting over the same lucre.

The Wii is a sideshow, a profitable sideshow, but Nintendo hasn't stepped up to the big stage...yet.

What is the big stage? (How can Nintendo not be on the Big stage when almost all their Big IP's have Wii-iterations?) Really, SS4 logic is all hinged on pseudo-hardcore rambling on how they expercience gaming and then they assume that this way of observing gaming is THE only way.

He says "look at the sales" yeah, i'm looking...in a long term view, he just wants you to focus on the short-term ones and be done with it. I remember news of european retailers getting rid of the Xbox360 off their shelf because it sold lackluster. We only have the British sales figures to base on and the British game market has been more as the american market (with some proper football trown in) then the actual continental market (continental europe has been far more geared to Nintendogs then Halo 3 for example). So the PS3 is selling the least for some weeks...ZOMG that must mean the Xbox360 is now DOMINATING it!!! Quickly, troll the Sony fanboys!!!!*sigh* to be honest, no one actually knows how many Xbox360's and PS3's are sold worldwide but MS and Sony and they have both been very quiet about numbers these days.

Yes the Xbox360 is getting the biggest support...from the biggest third parties but almost none from smal and only a bit from medium third parties because they can't finance to join in the HD-arms war. Those are all on the DS and Wii, really 2009 will be the year of the Wii, the (mostly Japanese) s**t that's going to come out then is ridiculousy awesome! same for the PC really. The HD-machines will start to feel market forces forcing developers away from them in the following year except for the big companies that can still finance the arms race.

And gaming press is very america-centered. The so-called grand game-industry crash of 1982-1985 actually only happened in the US, Japan and Europe...hell even Canada wasn't affected by it. Xbox360 has it's biggest install base in the US (something of a 3/5 ratio) and the american gamepress is then more focused on it, claiming it is THE gaming machine. Combined with the Wii=the murderer of the game-industry mantra still going on, you get a very skewed perception. Hell, the DS has more Final Fantasies on it then the Xbox360 has exclusives JRPG's...look that up.

Microsoft has done a great job of giving the Xbox360 the perception of being the best game-machine for pseudo-hardcore gamers and the peusdo-hardcore have done a great job of convincing themselves they are the true hardcore...but the real hard-core are getting bored by the Xbox360, they can only digest so much of the same, personally...i think the real hardcore just bought DS's and upgraded their PC's and be done with it (which is mine perception, i got absolutelty no numbers or graphs or stuff to prove it, as with 90% of the other claims made in this topic).

And why do people always want to dismiss the handhelds as a "seperate" market. they represent a third of the market. If it would stop to exist at one point, the industry would crash and burn. It's again very skewed perception.

OK, I was going to give you a serious, well-reasoned response, until I picked up on a disturbing thread in your arguments lately.

You seem desperate to convince anyone that 360 users are "pseudo-hardcore" and the "real hardcore" are playing DSes and PCs, etc, ad nauseam. *cough* skewed perception *cough*

I don't recall your being empowered as the arbiter of all things 'core. But as someone you have labelled as "pseudo-hardcore" and resenting such, allow me to retort.

At first, I was worried because you appeared to be losing an argument with SS4. In reality, you're losing a dick-swinging contest with him. You have, quite simply, met him on his level, and from my POV, you're losing, not only the argument, and the contest, but also any pretension to being any less of a fanboy than he is.

Also, the notion that the entire gaming industry would collapse without handhelds is ludicrous. As for them being considered along with the "big-boy" consoles, they aren't really fighting over the same dollars, handhelds and the Wii are still "toys", there is some, perhaps even significant overlap, but not enough. Nintendo can and likely will enter the conversation with a new console, but they're satisfied to count their money at the moment while Sony and MS hemorrhage cash.

You seem to misunderstand, or i mis-explained (think the latter). It is not that Xbox360 users are all pseudo-hardcore, just the ones that dismiss games because they have OMGZ colours! or seems kiddy (In episode 2 of the Bonus Round Special for Q4, Banjo-Kazooie was "demoted" as a "casual" game...really Banjo-Kazooie, casual?). Actually the term is a satire on the trend of these days to label everything with cutesy looks as "casual" and only things that have blood and space-marines as "hard-core" for no apparant reason, the gaming press likes to roll with it too.

Oh, and i didn't call you a pseudo-hardcore, just SS4. Sorry about that.



Now...if a market would suddenly lose 30% of its capacity, what would economics call it...oh yes...a crash! So yes, if the handheld market would suddenly dissapear, the game-industry would crash and burn. The enormous amount of cash-flow generated by it is probably a big (but not sole) reason the industry hasn't crashed yet under the HD-arms war. There are entire third parties (mostly japanese though) that rely on DS cash-flow like Majesco, Marvelous, Square-Enix ect.

Nintendo's plan is actually a insideous one...Nintendo plans to re-configure and re-shape the entire industry from the bottom-up, actually forcing Sony and MS to wage the HD-arms race amongst themselves, driving them into costs and up the market. it's called a disruption strategy. The good part is, Nintendo has been telling everyone it is doing this, it is actually happening and almost none of the gaming press or analysts are aware of it. One of the properties of a disruption strategy is just that: traditonal analysts and press will waver away this new strategy as a fluke or as "not playing with the actual big-boys" untill it's too late and the "big-boys" are pushed out of the market.

Not that that constitutes you as a pseudo-hardcore...just ignorant...and a self-proclaiming arbiter of what a "big boy console" and a "toy" is...if the toy is the norm...doesn't it make it the big boy then (now personally, i think all consoles are still toys, vessels that should ray out beams of fun and joy into our minds)? And that brings us back to...perception. The only reason you see the Xbox360 and the PS3 as the "big-boy" consoles is due to perception and arbitrary definition based on...nothing of reason. Vice-versa with the Wii and DS. Yes "hard-core" gamers will, shall and never intented to buy Mario Kart DS!
I have found out that using any kind of qualitive wording of anything game-related in anything definition-like, it will fall on it's ass because it will be based solely on subjectivity and perception.

Like how i said that the hardcore probably bought ds's and pc's, that's indeed based on perception and my own subjective expercience (of myself and a few friends of mine). I also added, i offcourse did not had any proof for that (do you just stop reading after I make a claim and the miss the remarks after that?)

A defenition of a hardcore games: a person who spends a lot of time on gaming and meta-gaming activities and also stands open for trying any type of game. Will not differentiate games unless between interested and not-interested after finding out what types of games he/she likes and what not.
A defenition of a pseudo-hardcore: a person who spends a lot of time on gaming and meta-gaming activities but does not share the same openness to all types of games as the hardcore gamer but thinks he/she is one. Pseudo-hardcore gamers can also been seen as a statusgroup that differentiate between games, labelling them as hardcore and not-hardcore and assigns arbitrary what game where belongs, almost socially enforcing what a "hard-core" gamer should and should not be playing.