If anyone believes that Sony won't be sold out for the holiday season, they are kidding themselves. The 360 is just bombing, so I predict Nintendo picking up a bunch of steam and coming in second (in all territories), especially with the the high price tag of the PS3.

So um.. what about.. you know, the games?

Any details on what's for launch yet?

My guess is that launch games will be announced at TGS. Though I imagine that the games which are playable at E3 will make launch or soon after.

Welcome to America. Are you here on business or pleasure?

Guess morals dont count for much in todays society!

Of course, I'm sure you'll keep us up to speed on which are?

I guess thus far I'm most interested in Final Fantasy Versus XIII. I just read Yoko Shimomura is doing the music, which really cements that this may be a cute little "in between" game until Kingdom Hearts III gets moving (man, that's going to be a long time). Nothing else shown by Square-Enix or Sony really piqued my interest, though there were a couple of question marks in the Sony presentation I'll need to look for.

Absolutely agree they will sell out easily those first 4 million consoles world wide. Is the 360 bombing though? Outside of Japan I mean.

Today's society? Have you read a history book?

I can't speak for anyone else, but my problem with the lack of HDMI is because of the included Blu Ray player.

A lack of HDMI invalidates the $500 version for many people and forces people into buying the $600 version.

Consider this.

Xbox 360 Premium $399
One Year XBL Membership $70.00
Wireless Adapter - $99.00
HD-DVD Upgrade - $50.00 (Just a very generous guesstimate)
___________________________________________________
618.00

When you consider Sony's free online service, Wifi Compatibility, and Included Blu Ray, it actually seems like a better price than the 360. A price drop could throw this out of whack.... but it's food for thought. At the very least it's competitive.

Well, if I'm following correctly, the HDMI issue is based on watching Blu-Ray movies, right? I have a pretty good feeling that most people are eyeing the PS3 as a game machine and there's probably a very small number looking to get it as an entry Blu-Ray player, so I don't think invalidates it for as many people as you may be thinking.. but I do personally agree it's a bit puzzling if they're trying to get Blu-Ray into people's homes.

Anyone paying $99 for a wireless adapter is insane, but I totally get what you are saying. Them leaving out wifi was a huge strike against the 360 for me and if you want everything the PS3 does at the $600 price point it is worth it.

The 360 is doing fine outside of Japan.

I think Sony has priced themselves out of first place in the US and Europe, the two biggest gaming markets.

The biggest difference is that you aren't FORCED into paying for a next gen movie player with the 360. It's optional for people who want that feature.

You're also not being forced to foot the bill for HD-DVD penetration. With half of the systems not even being able to show them in HD.

You can also subtract $20 from your total, because you only need the $50 Live subscription card. The $400 console has a headset included.

Lack of HDMI invalidates it as a next gen movie format for everyone considering their forced into paying a higher console price for BR's inclusion.

Meaning, even with the $500 version, people are still having to pay extra for the BR drive.

I can't wait for people to start buying the $500 version, then upgrade to a HDTV. "WTF do you mean I have to upgrade my PS3 to watch Blu Ray movies!"

Saw this headline from www.e3buzz.com but can't get to IGN.

"E3 2006: PS3 Too Cheap -- Kutaragi (2 hours ago)"

But isn't the Blu-Ray drive (theoretically) in there for the games?

How is it being forced to pay for its inclusion if the games are going to be using it?

Oblivion has shown that you can have massive games on a standard dvd disc.

If games ever do need more space, a 2nd disc should be more than enough. That's a hefty price to pay to not have to swap discs (maybe).

Ok.. am I the only one that looked at that press conference and thought that Sony was full of crap and stringing everyone along when they stuck to their guns about a "Spring release"? The official word from Kutaragi was that the hold-up was due to the Blu-Ray DRM specs weren't solidified at the time.

So now we see this "dual shake" controller, which doesn't seem to be all there yet. So.... looks like either (A) More proof that the Spring Release was one big fat lie or (B) Sony was planning on introducing the shake AFTER launch.

Sorry, but given the lack of finished titles (are there any?) there is no way that Sony was serious about a Spring release.

HDMI is only required for Blu-Ray movies, and to date there is no mention of any studio using ICT for any movies. In the future, maybe, but not today, and not in the foreseeable future.

If you don't plan on using this machine as your prime Blu-Ray player (or even if you aren't biting on Blu-Ray at all) HDMI makes no difference to you. The $500 version will serve the same purpose as a game machine as the $600 version.

As for the 360 bombing, I have been tracking it, but I need to get April numbers loaded into my spreadsheet. The sales curve world-wide actually turned over (less units were sold in March than in February). I'll have to see if that trend continued or reversed for April. Heading towards a plateau is never a good thing for a system less than 6 months old.

Considering the production issues, it's hard to say if the numbers are actually consistent with demand though. I'm not saying they aren't but it does put them in question.

You have a 360 sales spreadsheet. That's almost as good as Groucho's Lost clue notebook.

I fully agree with that.. I've been saying all along, but Sony is pushing Blu-Ray for games, whether or not it is needed is irrelevant. That's all I'm trying to get at. Given the two packages, movie playback should be considered optional.

Yup. Tired of people saying shit like "Xbox 360 is doing good" and then having to go look up the data to prove them wrong. Much easier to have one source of info. And incase you forgot, Microsoft claimed production issues were solved months ago. Though, I can't find European numbers, so I might have to stick with official sales announcements like the one made a few weeks ago at Microsoft's quarterly report.

Sony is pushing Blu-Ray only as a Trojan Horse for the format war with HD-DVD. In their own press conference, they said that 5% of PS2 games made today are still on CD-Rom format.

It will be a while before a game is distributed on B-R anyway. I really think the whole thing is silly.

The important difference is that with the 360 Core, you can still add on the HDD afterwards if you really want it. With the PS3, if you get the non-HDMI version and later need HDMI, you are screwed. Unless there is some sort of HDMI add-on that they'll make, but not really sure if thats even possible. Otherwise you are screwed and have to buy a whole new PS3 when you do have the need for HDMI.

I think the 360 is at 3.2 million right now with 5 million by June expected. Considering the original Xbox only sold 20ish million it's entire console life, the 360 is doing fine.

Hardly bombing, by any means.

Claiming production issued are solved and reality are two different things, how many have you seen sitting on store shelves? I've seen 1 premium and 6 cores, since launch.