2014 Update: Sony's losses DOWN from $5.7 to $2 billion!

[trap15]

I have the M2 SDK somewhere on my harddrive, if anyone cares? It's pretty neat, and the headers are nice to read.

[GaijinPunch]

Skykid, you are now on my ignore-list; while I can still see topics created by you, all of your posts are automatically blocked from my view.

How will he ever sleep.

[brentsg]

Is there a Skykid plug-in for Chrome?

[Friendly]

Skykid, you are now on my ignore-list; while I can still see topics created by you, all of your posts are automatically blocked from my view.

How will he ever sleep.

You misunderstand. This is not some form of punishment. It's not about him, it's about me. I no longer want to read what he has to say in order to get more enjoyment out of this forum, and it's already working.

@brentsg
You've got a pm.

[Skykid]

Shit, I'm on a roll.

[mesh control]

Shit, I'm on a roll.

I just feel like quoting Skykid from now on

[GaijinPunch]

Shit, I'm on a roll.

I just feel like quoting Skykid from now on

Me too.

[brentsg]

They need a Chrome addon that will ignore everyone from an annoying country.

[MX7]

They need a Chrome addon that will ignore everyone from an annoying country.

All we need now is an add on to block every xenophobic Internet fuckwit and we'll be set!

[Skykid]

They need a Chrome addon that will ignore everyone from an annoying country.

All we need now is an add on to block every xenophobic Internet fuckwit and we'll be set!

Nice one Mike, you just ruined a lucrative opportunity for all the Europeans to make a perfectly good joke about America.

[neorichieb1971]

Throwing rocks over the pond is a great time killer. Its your turn guys.

[Casey120]

Furthermore you are ignoring that Sony's video game section is their most profitable division; the only time Sony Computer Entertainment bled lots of money was during (and after) the failed launch of PS3.

Wut ?
Didn't I read they bled Over 94.7 Billion Yen just last fiscal year ?


http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=480181

[Skykid]

Furthermore you are ignoring that Sony's video game section is their most profitable division; the only time Sony Computer Entertainment bled lots of money was during (and after) the failed launch of PS3.

Wut ?
Didn't I read they bled Over 94.7 Billion Yen just last fiscal year ?


http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=480181

That's $1.2 Billion Dollars, for the $ people.

And ouch, that's painful. Those stats didn't come up in the report I saw, but I'm assuming that that's part of the $5.7 Bil losses for the company as a whole (most of which is contributed by TV division).

Sony are up shit's creek at the moment financially. It's the worst position they have ever been in, however to play devil's advocate for a moment, SCE is still the most profitable section of their outfit and I'm sure with sliding figures across the board, Nintendo and MS were probably a little in the red last year too. However if someone can find the figures, I'd be interested to know if the competitors made losses or profits in 2011?

$1.2 Bil losses for SCE is obviously why they announced to their shareholders they were looking for a primary market alternative to videogaming. They may even step out of the race entirely if this upcoming generation goes poorly.

[Ex-Cyber]

$1.2 Bil losses for SCE is obviously why they announced to their shareholders they were looking for a primary market alternative to videogaming. They may even step out of the race entirely if this upcoming generation goes poorly.

I don't see how Sony can possibly do well with another generation. PS3 was a big bet on a particular direction, and I think it's going to cost them big to move away from that (in developer loyalty, NRE costs, SDK maturity, skill sets, etc.). In some sense this is nothing new; it's always been expensive to move to a new console. However, that cost has only increased over the years, and now the relevant technology has narrowed to a handful of viable vendors and platforms such that it's hard for a console to differentiate itself on a hardware basis anymore.

[neorichieb1971]

Well, the main reason they are losing is because the differentiation is the cost. Its usually 30% above its competitors.

If your going to charge so much for something it has to look like its worth it straight away. In most cases, the Sony label on it doesn't justify the cost at first sight. Although I am one of those who feels that the brand does mean something on its own. But I won't just blindly buy Sony thats just silly.

[Skykid]

Well, the main reason they are losing is because the differentiation is the cost. Its usually 30% above its competitors.

If your going to charge so much for something it has to look like its worth it straight away. In most cases, the Sony label on it doesn't justify the cost at first sight. Although I am one of those who feels that the brand does mean something on its own. But I won't just blindly buy Sony thats just silly.

I don't think the Sony label justifies anything on first sight anymore. Rewind fifteen years, sure, but if their TV division is anything to go by, it's the complete opposite. I began seeking alternatives to Sony products after my Vaio laptop popped for no reason taking all my years of work with it, and two compact camera's which ended up being poorer than my phone. I stopped identifying the brand as a guarantee of quality and more a case of paying x amount for the name.

On your other point, don't Sony have to charge a premium for their consoles because they're always way more expensive to manufacture than their competitors? No one else bundles Blu Ray (or HD) drives in when it's a new and costly technology, and Nintendo don't even let you play DVD's!

That excess is being passed onto the consumer, and it's proven a marketing strategy that's run out of steam since the PS2.

[BPzeBanshee]

On your other point, don't Sony have to charge a premium for their consoles because they're always way more expensive to manufacture than their competitors? No one else bundles Blu Ray (or HD) drives in when it's a new and costly technology, and Nintendo don't even let you play DVD's!

Note that the Wii's hardware is more than capable of playing DVDs albeit not made use of unless you softmod your Wii and run MPlayer CE or something similar. If you consider DVD Videos as a separate functionality from Wii games on DVD discs you could say you're paying more for functionality you can't use - but I'm pretty sure that's not how it actually works as DVD-formatted Wii games (to my knowledge, correct me if I'm wrong) are no different from DVD Videos in terms of the hardware level.

Where the Wii gets off real cheap though is the actual hardware not being able to play anything BUT DVD-format discs. That CD/CD-Audio functionality you've come to expect from every drive isn't there. So we've got the Wii which can't read anything but DVDs, the 360 which can read CDs and DVDs, and the PS3 which can read all of the above plus Blu-Ray. It's probably the biggest difference hardware-wise that I can recall off the top of my head. Makes sense to me then that the current-gen consoles are at the price range they are.

[GaijinPunch]

I don't think the Sony label justifies anything on first sight anymore. Rewind fifteen years, sure,

20. 15 years ago their build quality had already started sinking quite a bit.

[Skykid]

Where the Wii gets off real cheap though is the actual hardware not being able to play anything BUT DVD-format discs. That CD/CD-Audio functionality you've come to expect from every drive isn't there. So we've got the Wii which can't read anything but DVDs, the 360 which can read CDs and DVDs, and the PS3 which can read all of the above plus Blu-Ray. It's probably the biggest difference hardware-wise that I can recall off the top of my head. Makes sense to me then that the current-gen consoles are at the price range they are.

And the Wii is a Gamecube. That's a smart cost-cutting exercise right there.

[BPzeBanshee]

Where the Wii gets off real cheap though is the actual hardware not being able to play anything BUT DVD-format discs. That CD/CD-Audio functionality you've come to expect from every drive isn't there. So we've got the Wii which can't read anything but DVDs, the 360 which can read CDs and DVDs, and the PS3 which can read all of the above plus Blu-Ray. It's probably the biggest difference hardware-wise that I can recall off the top of my head. Makes sense to me then that the current-gen consoles are at the price range they are.

And the Wii is a Gamecube. That's a smart cost-cutting exercise right there.

True, albeit with some higher-clocked RAM and CPU crap like that. Gotta hand it to Nintendo - they were really on the ball for compatibility thanks to this factor. It was my main reason for buying it - I get the new gen stuff and my old GCN games work fine.

[GaijinPunch]

Yeah -- I was really excited when all 4 off my Gamecube games could work on my Wii. Meanwhile, my 30-40 PS2 games...

[moonblood]

Sony acquires Gaikai for $380m, Intends to establish new cloud streaming service for games and more

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012- ... or-USD380m

hmm

[Ex-Cyber]

Seems like their strategy has been all over the place lately. Does anyone know how PlayStation Suite, PS Vita, and PS4 are supposed to complement each other?

[Skykid]

Sony acquires Gaikai for $380m, Intends to establish new cloud streaming service for games and more[/i

Right, well that's really it then isn't it, multimedia streaming for PS4. Cloud based content is the next step for the tech industry, so I'm not surprised they're heading in this direction. I was hoping Sony would conjure up something a bit out of their comfort zone this time around, but I understand why they stick to what they know best.

All the PS4 needs is a hard drive and a supreme interface - no expensive Blu Ray drives forcing the price up, and they have control over who gets what content via streaming and download services. Definitely going to take a massive bite out of the physical retail sector if it takes off.

Only thing I'm wondering: will streamed content be region free too, or IP locked.

[CMoon]

Sounds like the PSP-Gofuckyourself all over again.

[Skykid]

Sounds like the PSP-Gofuckyourself all over again.

The Go was experimental for the time and cloud-based storage and servers hadn't quite taken off. Perhaps a little ahead of its time, but Sony do have a habit of mis-judging the market in that fashion.

Now though, I sort of see cloud streaming, downloading and storage as the future: it's the first true step toward abandonment of physical media in console gaming.

It might flounder, but I doubt it. I'm sure Microsoft have almost exactly the same thing on the cards, since Apple have proven downloading virtual software to be runaway successful. If Sony and MS can protect their machines from Jailbreaking, they could be very successful with low priced consoles not bogged down with blu-ray drives and other superfluities, and a market place full of monthly deals and cheap software.

After this announcement, I'm pretty convinced this will be the shape of the next generation.

[Op Intensify]

I can see it now. They call it the Playstation Orbis instead of the PS4, which gives them an excuse to make it a streaming box for Gaikai instead of a legitimate games console.

It won't have anything to offer over OnLive/Gface besides Sony exclusives. What a waste.

Hope you all enjoy massive input lag in every game.

[Teufel_in_Blau]

Thanks for the explanation with the Greasemonkey script, guys. Didn't know we had such a thing for our forum.

OT:
Aren't there already TVs with build-in Gaikai on the market? I could see them trying to sell high-end TVs with build-in Gaikai and a PS controller for Cloud Gaming and a console for people who prefer retail games or don't have/ want such a TV.

Hmm, I am not really convinced by CG. Wouldn't the lag practically made fast reaction-based games like shmups, fighters and arcadelike puzzle games pretty much unplayable?

[neorichieb1971]

Its going to have a blu ray drive. Well, a cheap one anyway.

If MS and Sony abandon media almost entirely you can bet the game shops won't last long. There will be huge spaces made available in places like CEX (UK) and such.

PS4 is going to hit a brick wall. I just don't see how its going to differentiate games from the PS3 at all. You can do 3D, better 3D and 3D thats even better than that. But the gameplay structure of games is totally the same since PS2 really. Its just the details are less imaginative and more real.

Sony and MS should not release anything until their new console can do something that this generation cannot. It shouldn't be isolated to graphics either as many won't care. If all the PS4 games came out on PS3 as well, most people wouldn't even upgrade.


If Sony wants to take the TV industry by storm they need to make a holographic image that is fired from a strip on the table. I don't know why the picture frame TV is such a big deal. Why not get rid of it comepletely and just have a holographic projection? Apparently Sony have tech like in Star Wars where you see the Death star rotating in 3D. That should be the next step. Smaller, more flexible and potentially have the ability to change the size to your convenience.

[Obiwanshinobi]

If Sony wants to take the TV industry by storm they need to make a holographic image that is fired from a strip on the table. I don't know why the picture frame TV is such a big deal.

The only thing I like about this gen is the screen size of bigger LCD TVs. Nice, if not worth the input lag.

Why not get rid of it comepletely and just have a holographic projection? Apparently Sony have tech like in Star Wars where you see the Death star rotating in 3D. That should be the next step. Smaller, more flexible and potentially have the ability to change the size to your convenience.

Sounds like Vectrex 3D. I wonder about framerates and input lag. Doesn't every game on 3DS run at 30 fps at best? (No idea.)
Furthermore, I wonder how many game designers are ready to work with voxels.