of the PS3 price drop!
This is from Gamedaily.com. Of course, these are all from "ANAL-ysts" so take it as whatever you like
Publishers Shifting Significantly to Wii, says Screen Digest
Mario is one happy plumber these days. Research firm Screen Digest says that publishers are "flocking to Wii" and that Sony's release schedule for the PS3 "lacks the firepower to command consumer attention" during the important holiday season. More within...
According to the industry analysts at U.K.-based Screen Digest, Nintendo's success is reaping the rewards of great support from publishers, while conversely the struggles of the PS3 have led to much less support for Sony. Just looking at the all-important fourth quarter of the calendar year (the holiday shopping season) reveals the dramatic difference in publisher support for all three consoles.
86 titles are scheduled for release on the Wii in Q4, compared with 47 for Microsoft's Xbox 360 and just 38 for the PS3. Furthermore, a quarter of the Wii releases are exclusive to the platform, compared with eight for the Xbox 360 and five for PS3.
Screen Digest sees Nintendo's success and external support for Wii only accelerating, primarily thanks to the quickly growing installed base and lower cost of development on the platform. The firm "expects that the number of games available for Wii will surpass Xbox 360's library in early 2008 at current release rates."
"Armed with the most exclusives as well as the release of Super Mario Galaxy, Screen Digest believes that Wii is likely to lead the 256 bit market in the final quarter of 2007," the firm stated. "The Xbox 360 platform will be driven by an increasingly well established U.S. user base enjoying a combination of strong multiplatform releases and a persistent Halo 3. Given the competition, Sony's release schedule lacks the firepower to command consumer attention during this crucial trading quarter and it is difficult to see how the catalogue will drive hardware sales in such a competitive environment."
Ed Barton, Screen Digest Games Analyst commented, "Halo 3 commanded the attention of the mass market and we expect Super Mario Galaxy for Wii to continue the process of educating the consumer as to the benefits of the current generation of home consoles. Given present publishing activity levels and hardware sales rates, we expect 256 bit gaming to have moved out of transition and squarely into the mass adoption phase by year end. While Wii and Xbox 360 are likely to look back on 2007 with some satisfaction, the same cannot be said for PS3. Given the platform's release schedule this Christmas, it is not a surprise that Sony is focusing on lowering the cost of entry to PS3 platform to maintain parity with its rivals this Christmas."
On a side note, Screen Digest also stated that the Q4 release schedule "underlines the importance of the U.K. as a key territory for console games development, which leads the European territories and, given its size, is more than holding its own against the U.S. and Japan."
And More....
http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=17703
Xbox 360 Sales to See Minimal Impact from Cheaper PS3, says Analyst
All the speculation of late has been suggesting a $399 PS3 is about to hit North America, but is that enough to counter the Xbox 360 (let alone the Wii)? One analyst tells GameDaily BIZ that the new Xbox 360 bundles and continued excitement around Halo 3 will keep 360 momentum quite high.
According to Jesse Divnich, an analyst with the simExchange (an online prediction market for the game industry), Microsoft's newly announced holiday bundles (which include Forza Motorsport 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance) will lead to a slight dip in U.S. Xbox 360 hardware sales as consumers wait for the new bundles at the end of the month. The prediction market shows a decreased forecast for Xbox 360 sales in October from an expected 315,000 units down to 304,000 units.
That said, Divnich noted that "Microsoft will more than make up for the lost 10,000 sales in November and December when the bundle is released," and that the bundle "will ultimately increase Microsoft's market share in the home console market and will continue to widen the gap between the Xbox 360 and Sony's PS3."
The prediction market expects Microsoft to sell an additional 408,000 Xbox 360 units in November, thanks to the new bundle, continued buzz for Halo 3 and the arrival of other highly anticipated titles. In fact, the momentum around 360 is sufficiently high enough to deflect any effect a newly introduced cheaper PlayStation 3 might have, Divnich said.
"The prediction market is expecting a $399 PS3 to have minimal impact on Xbox 360 sales overall," Divnich commented to GameDaily BIZ. "The prediction market appears to indicate that consumers have already made up their minds as to what systems they plan to purchase, or at least put on their list, this holiday season. Since the $399 PS3 will not affect its competitor's sales, the cheaper price point will only be drawing customers who already planned on purchasing the PS3 but were deterred by the price."
Across the pond in Europe, SCEE already introduced its cheaper 40GB PS3, but SCEA has yet to confirm a $399 PS3 for North America despite persistent reports indicating that it's on the way for early November.
HeHe!!! This should really light a fire under the cows and lemming bottoms hehe!
EDIT: Sigh, I hate glitchspot.......
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