PS3 not in production yet.

[Eric]

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3153007

>_>

[Zeus]

Well, they still have almost 3 months to launch, so if they can produce 200,000 a month between now and then to start, that at least gives Japan and US SOMETHING. Europe, as always, looks like it's going to have to wait if this is the case

[Zeus]

Whoa, they still think they're going to get 2 million for launch for a new, complicated piece of hardware? I'd be mighty impressed if they can pull that off. That's over 700k a month with the shortened 3rd month.

[Lox]

Not only 2 million at launch. They said that they expect to ship 2 million more between launch and the end of the year for a total of 4 million consoles.

My response: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

[Flip]

Maybe another shortage is just what Sony needs, though, to create demand...

[Zeus]

I think the first 4-5million are going easy to the early adopters and the Sony bitches and other sheep. They'll want to get them out ASAP to get a return on their investment - which is HUGE - right away.

I think the industry is past the whole "hold back your product to create demand" phase now that Nintendo was so good at in the past. It's mature enough to not need it anymore IMO.

[Julius Seeker]

Nintendo has only once in its entire history sold out of any system, and that was with the DS. Anyways, I am no business student, but it does not seem logical that demand will be created by producing too little of a product: if they can't get oranges, they'll buy limes instead; when they have the limes, the demand for the oranges doesn't raise, it shrinks.

[Nev]

Do not believe anything Sony says about PS3 ship dates or system specs until it's out. Seriously. Generally my friends in the industry agree that Sony's press releases are to be read more for entertainment than information these days.

[Zeus]

Do not believe anything Sony says about PS3 ship dates or system specs until it's out. Seriously. Generally my friends in the industry agree that Sony's press releases are to be read more for entertainment than information these days.

What are you talking about, man?!? The Emotion Engine has proven to be PERFECT for military uses and space exploration and the PS2 CLEARLY puts out photo-realistic graphics like the pre-PS2 release press releases indicated :-)

[Lox]

Yeah, the whole "shortage creates demand" idea doesn't really make sense to me as well, based on what I remember from my economics courses in college.

I remember that if the quantity demanded was higher than the quantity supplied, a shortage occurred which could force the equlibrium price to change, but I never heard of it causing demand to shift any more.

Of course, this is all based on 2 semesters of basic econ so who knows?

No matter what, I think that the PS3 will sell out immediately no matter what and then from there it'll be based on how their game lineup holds up. I'm curious to see what will happen if a lot of exclusive titles are removed from the PS3 because of it's sales and such.

[Julius Seeker]

Lox, exactly. That is the Cecil Rhodes Diamond situation; for those who do not know the story, he was a wealthy British businessman during the 19th century who seized control most of the worlds diamond mines. With a massive ad campaign, and a monopoly on the worlds diamond supply, he created a situation where demand outstripped supply, and to this day diamonds are massively overpriced. Though, that is not necessarilly creating demand, if anything it would be lowering it, but the payoff is well worth it. Videogame systems work on a different model, Sony is not aiming to sell PS3s for more money (even though it seems like it), they are aiming to sell as many PS3s as possible with as little damage to their profit margins as is possible.

Actually, Nintendo was responsible for pulling a Cecil Rhodes, it completely slipped my mind. It was in Europe though, where it was easy to do such a thing in particular markets which they had a monopoly on. They were charging a fortune for their software, and people had no choice but to buy it, or go without. Nintendo managed to shake off those lawsuits with ease, it was not the lawsuits which stopped them, it was our pals over at SEGA. The mastersystem creamed the NES in Europe for a time. Unfortunately, companies seem to mutually like to still exploit the European market, the PS3 will be the equivilent to about 850 USD in Europe; I have no price points on Wii yet, but Xbox 360 seems to also be over priced there (it is over priced here in Canada, it is cheaper for me to drive into Maine and buy it there).

Anyways, generally, it does not seem to be like Sony to pull a "Cecil Rhodes." They shipped out tons of PS2s, there are still millions more PS2s available than have been sold. PSP is another very good example, anyone who works at a chain like Futureshop or EB games knows that the retail warehouses are packed with those things. It would be very untypical for Sony to see a "Cecil Rhodes" strategy as ideal.

What does this all mean? It could mean a possible delay (which rumours have been suggesting for the past month), many have stated that Sony can't afford to miss a Christmas. Though why not? If the launch causes negative press, it might be something that they will pay for in marketing rep later on, whereas if they launched in mid winter to early spring with 3-5 million consoles and more games, they could get off to a good start and create a powerful sales blitz. Then again, I don't know, again, I am not a business student.

[Zeus]

Yeah, the whole "shortage creates demand" idea doesn't really make sense to me as well, based on what I remember from my economics courses in college.

Oh, Nintendo worked that back in the 80's like Ish on Lotus. They would purposely limit the number of games available (they kept it down to 5 per publisher per year, which is why Konami created "Ultra" and released Metal Gear and other titles under this brand) and the number of system available in stores to purposely increase the equilibrium price by having demand outweight supply. Hence, they were, back then, able to sell carts for $70 Cdn, which is more than the standard price for GC games. That's the equivalent of what, $110 today? I remember GLADLY paying $93 Cdn for FF3 when it came out on the SNES. If they ever tried to charge me that much today for a game without a super-duper special edition or a unique controller (Guitar Hero cost $85), I laugh at them. They made shitloads of money that way, until the Genesis came out and they actually had competition.

DeBeers is doing the same thing with diamonds. They actually have about 90% of the world's diamonds in a storage facility in Russia and work the whole supply vs demand thing. If anyone dares to try to undercut them, they flood the market with diamonds, make them cheap as hell, and wait for the other company to either run out of diamonds (usually they'd have just a mine or two) or money, which generally doesn't take long when your selling price is below your variable costs; and that's before you even start to try to repay the interest on your start-up capital.

Don't think oil is any different. There are tons of refineries running and far below maximum capacity or not at all. They're trying to stretch out their limited supply (what is it, 100 - 150 years or so they've got left at current consumption?) by providing JUST enough to meet the very basic demand but not the "let's go for a drive for fun" demand. Getting the hybrid cars out there and killing the electric car (there's a good documentary called "Who Killed The Electric Car?" that explains this; you can get the PBS special on this documentary from Torrentspy or Demonoid) is a perfect way of making their supply, and in turn, their profits, last that much longer while still keeping the demand for their product there. Of course, our utter reliance on plastics will also ensure they at least have a strong market (sometime, take a look around your house for the number of items that have plastic in them, it's shocking), even if other products which use petroleum die out.

[Julius Seeker]

For those who aren't sure, Debeers is the Diamond company founded by Cecil Rhodes back during the 19th century. Cecil Rhodes is an interesting character, he did for Diamonds exactly what the people behind the Bush administration are doing with oil, they are using a strikingly similar formula; the major difference is that oil can be used, diamonds are only pretty rocks. The war in Iraq was waged for the exact same reason as the Boer War in South Africa, only instead of civil rights issues, it was weapons of mass destructions. Of course, the Brits were worse, "Not allowing British subjects and other foreigners to vote within the Boer Free States is unacceptable.... So lets capture all of the actual citizens, put them in concentration camps, and let tens of thousands of them die as we burn all their farms. Only then can we have equality." The Iraqi war is as much about oil as the Boer war was about gold; officially neither war was for these reasons, yet any semi-intelligent person who has paid any attention knows that gold (from the Boer free states) and oil (from Iraq) were the motivating factors in each war.

I love the history of "civilized" nations. It is funny how one leader can attempt genocide and be seen as incredibly evil, while another leader can succeed at genocide and be seen as a hero.

[Flip]

I'm not sure if you are saying that we fnd Bush a hero or not. It is hard to tell who you mean when you say successful leaders are heroes when they succeed at genocide.

If you are, then you are seriously mistaken that Americans still support Bush. Also, i would hardly call the Iraqi war genocide as it isnt like the US is wiping out all of their citizens.

[Julius Seeker]

I'm not sure if you are saying that we fnd Bush a hero or not. It is hard to tell who you mean when you say successful leaders are heroes when they succeed at genocide.

If you are, then you are seriously mistaken that Americans still support Bush. Also, i would hardly call the Iraqi war genocide as it isnt like the US is wiping out all of their citizens.

I was speaking about Cecil Rhodes, he has the world's best known scholarship named after him.

[Zeus]

Even the guy who counts the Cell chips things there's no chance they'll get 6 million PS3s out by March....half at best

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3153131

[Julius Seeker]

I smell a possible delay. Unless Sony is planning on launching with 500-700K consoles.

[Nev]

Do not believe anything Sony says about PS3 ship dates or system specs until it's out. Seriously. Generally my friends in the industry agree that Sony's press releases are to be read more for entertainment than information these days.

What are you talking about, man?!? The Emotion Engine has proven to be PERFECT for military uses and space exploration and the PS2 CLEARLY puts out photo-realistic graphics like the pre-PS2 release press releases indicated :-)

Yes, and the PS3 ships with a cloud of magic pixies that will blow fairy smoke up my asshole until I can fly!

Wait, those aren't pixies...it's actually Sony's marketing team, and the fairy dust is leftover cocaine from their planning meetings!

(Sorry, I may or may not have been smoking waaaaaaaaaaaay too much weed lately... ^_^)

[SineSwiper]

Fuck the PS3, and fuck the 360. They are both extremely overpriced. If I wanted to buy a fucking gaming computer, I would have bought a gaming computer. However, I want a console, so I'd expect it to cost no more than $300, including extra hardware and a free game.

Hey, they did it in generations past, so there's no reason to fuck up the model now.

[Zeus]

Fuck the PS3, and fuck the 360. They are both extremely overpriced. If I wanted to buy a fucking gaming computer, I would have bought a gaming computer. However, I want a console, so I'd expect it to cost no more than $300, including extra hardware and a free game.

Hey, they did it in generations past, so there's no reason to fuck up the model now.

So, this means you're getting a Wii then? WOW, Sine getting a Nintendo system BEFORE the others? Fuck, the apocolypse truly has begun

[Lox]

Fuck the PS3, and fuck the 360. They are both extremely overpriced. If I wanted to buy a fucking gaming computer, I would have bought a gaming computer. However, I want a console, so I'd expect it to cost no more than $300, including extra hardware and a free game.

Hey, they did it in generations past, so there's no reason to fuck up the model now.

So, this means you're getting a Wii then? WOW, Sine getting a Nintendo system BEFORE the others? Fuck, the apocolypse truly has begun

Yay!

[Julius Seeker]

Sony has revised their numbers, it is now 2 million before January 1st 2007, and 4 million by Spring 2007.

Nintendo announced earlier 4 million by the end of 2006, and 6 million by March 2007, but bumped those numbers up to 5 million by the end of the year. Microsoft has already sold approximately 5 million Xbox 360s.

[Zeus]

Looks like Sony's going to make damned sure they get those 4 million units

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3153315

[SineSwiper]

So, this means you're getting a Wii then? WOW, Sine getting a Nintendo system BEFORE the others? Fuck, the apocolypse truly has begun

I never said I disliked Nintendo as a company. If I had a choice back then, I would have bought a NES and SNES back in the day. (My parents thought that my computer and library of pirated games was enough.)

Really, the main thing I didn't like was the N64. Everything surrounding that system was crap. The games were crap (for the most part); the controller was ultra crap; the high price of the games were crap; so was the lack of CD support and no 3rd party games.

The GameCube was a decent system. I would place it 2nd before the PS2 (and the Xbox 3rd). Now it looks like the other players are falling behind, and Wii becomes the system of choice. Though, it's not really because the Wii is great, per say, but because the other choices suck so much. I still hate the name Wii, and I think the controller will not be as useful as they think. (People like hitting the jump button because they have to do it a thousand times. Nobody likes jumping with a motion sensor because it would tire you out.)

[Julius Seeker]

I felt quite differently, I didn't feel like the Gamecube offered anything new or interesting when compared to the N64. The Gamecube lacked games which had the tremendous impact of Ocarina of Time and Goldeneye. My biggest gripe with the N64 in comparisson to the Gamecube was game price, N64 games were generally 30-60% more expensive.