Hacking the PSP Blog

Off Topic: Video games grow up as adult ownership increases

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Video games aren't just for the kids anymore. More than one in three U.S. adults who go online, or 37 percent, own a video game console and 16 percent own a portable gaming device, Nielsen//NetRatings said on Tuesday.

The majority of those console owners, 71 percent, are married, and 66 percent have at least one child in the household.

"As game consoles have become increasingly sophisticated, families have incorporated them into their centralized home media centers, which include the television, digital recording device, digital music player and the PC," said Carolyn Creekmore, senior director of media analytics, Nielsen//NetRatings.

Microsoft Corp. and Sony Corp. are positioning their Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles as entertainment hubs for gaming, music and photo viewing amid a fierce battle for dominance in the $30 billion global video- game market.

Sony in particular is making a huge bet on the living room, having installed a Blu-ray high-definition DVD player in each of its new PS3 consoles, which are available for $500 or $600 in the United States, depending on the size of the unit's hard drive.

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March 13, 2007

Source: Reuters

Sony's PlayStation Portable Japan Shipments Trail DS

 March 14 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp., the world's biggest maker of game consoles, shipped 5 million PlayStation Portable machines in Japan by the end of January, lagging behind Nintendo Co.'s DS handheld devices by about three to one.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s spokesman, Satoshi Fukuoka, gave the PSP shipment numbers in a phone interview today, confirming an earlier report by the Nikkei newspaper. Both the DS and PSP went on sale in Japan in December 2004.

Nintendo, the world's biggest maker of handheld players, has shipped 14.4 million DS units in Japan by the end of 2006, the Kyoto-based company said, giving its latest available figures.

Sony Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer is facing declining profit for the group because of losses at the game unit on costs related to the PlayStation 3 and slower-than-expected PSP sales. The company is losing market share to Nintendo's DS, which attracts users with the help of a touch-sensitive screen and games that let them play Frisbee with virtual pets.

Wii sales in Japan totaled 1.69 million units as of Feb. 25, compared with 700,747 for PS3, according to Enterbrain Inc., a Tokyo-based research firm. Consumers are attracted to the Wii's price, at half that of the least-expensive PlayStation 3, and a wireless controller that can be swung like a bat or tennis racquet during play.

PlayStation 3 production snags created supply problems during the holiday shopping season, forcing Sony to concede market share to the Wii. Sony is relying on sales of Bravia TVs and Cyber-shot cameras to make up for losses at the game business.

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Pavel Alpeyev
March 14, 2007

Source: Bloomberg

PSP: Something Happening Soon

Something needs to happen with the PSP, ASAP.

That's the message retailers have, according to our sources, sent Sony. With sales of the PSP lagging (Sony's PSP hardware shipments to retailers last Fall were down 72 percent over the year before, only a meager 10,000 units in the U.S.), word is that a few big name retailers have given Sony a mandate: drop the price or they'll drop the system from their stores. Entirely. With shelf space at a premium, the expectation is for Sony to do something substantial to keep its hardware moving -- or else.

Coming up on the second anniversary of the PSP (March 24th), a price drop seems possible -- after all, the price was lowered by $50 two days before its first anniversary last year. But according to Sony, that's not yet in the cards. Speaking with John Koller, the Senior Marketing Manager for the PSP, at the Game Developers Conference last week, 1UP learned that a price drop was not announced to retailers at Sony's Destination PlayStation retailer event last week.

But something else was.

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Sam Kennedy
March 13, 2007

Source: 1UP