Sony plans 34 new games this fiscal year

Bloomberg earlier reported that the strategists at Sony are planning to release 34 titles for the PlayStation 3 game console this fiscal year which started last March and ends in March of next year. The company says that this will help cut the big financial losses that Sony experienced during the last quarter.

According to Sony's US game CEO Jack Tretton, 19 of these titles will be first-party and 15 of them will come from third-party developers. "We got into the business to be successful and we got into it to make money," says Tretton. "Now, we've got to make sure we remember why we got into the business and how it applies to the PS3."

This, Tretton believes, is among the first steps to recovery and duplication of the dominant standings that the original PlayStation and the PlayStation 2 enjoyed. Analysts, however, are showing strong doubts in that claim, pointing out that in the last fiscal quarter, the PS3 was in last place among the new consoles in the market with only 501,000 units sold in the US compared to market leader Nintendo Wii that made more than double that volume.

A key factor, says the Bloomberg report, in winning over the fans again is getting great, exclusive titles for the platform. The first two PlayStations had a lock on powerhouse third-party franchises such as Grand Theft Auto and Devil May Cry, but Sony is now seeing those gems dock into Microsoft's Xbox 360. Analysts see this as a manifestation of developers not feeling secure enough in the Sony fold to sign exclusive deals.

It's been said a million times, but it doesn't become any less true: Pricing has become a telling factor in this ball game. Sony, however, says it isn't closing the doors on price cuts. "If that means it's going to cost us more to make than we can sell it for in the short term, that's OK, because it's going to pay off in spades in the long run," says Tretton. Analysts agree, saying that chip prices should be significantly lower come 2009, making price reduction more feasible.

While there's been some serious bleeding in its video game division, Sony says that the company in general will note suffer deficits. Strength of TV sales has been better than ever, resulting in big profits. Sony expects 2009 to be the break-out year of the PS3, which isn't really too late when you consider that they've committed a decade to the system.

Two SOCOM games headed to the PS3

It can be recalled that during Sony's Spring Gamers Day 2007, it was announced that Slant Six games (the people responsible for the PSP title, SOCOM Tactical Strike) will be developing a multiplayer-only game called SOCOM: Confrontation. Well, apparently that isn't the only SOCOM game headed for the Sony PlayStation 3.

1UP reports that the developers of the original SOCOM franchise, Zipper Interactive, is still working on its own new SOCOM game for the PS3. 1UP's understanding of it is that this one will feature single-player and multiplayer gameplay, and an extra long development window will allow Zipper to do new things for the franchise.

It is speculated that the game could be released around fall 2008.