From thestreet.com:
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After more than a decade at the top of the video game heap, during which it sold more than 200 million consoles, Sony is set to be knocked off its firm position as King of the Hill because of its flawed PlayStation 3 strategy. This is only one of many reasons to avoid shares of the consumer-electronics conglomerate, but it's certainly the most important.

Sony's video-game business is easily its crown jewel. At its best, it has provided more than 60% of Sony's operating profit despite hovering around 10% of overall Sony revenue. Given that Sony is almost certainly going to lose market share, the company's profitability will be dragged down dramatically.

This state of affairs means Sony's historically lucrative video-game unit is very likely to lose its luster over the next few years as Microsoft and Nintendo gain market share in this segment. Plus, one must consider the generally tough state of the consumer electronics business, given how competitive businesses such as high-definition televisions have become. With that in mind, it is nearly impossible for me to come up with a bullish case for Sony.
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From kotaku.com:
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In the days leading up to the PlayStation 3 launch in mid-November, people all over the country lined up with dollar signs in their eyes, hoping to cash in on what was sure to be the most sought after gift this holiday season. I talked to many people planning on financing college, cars, vacations, and countless other dream items with the fruits of their labor. A week later those hopes and dreams were crushed, as reports of plummeting eBay prices poured in. Just how fast did the PS3 grey market crash? Take a look for yourself.

Within two days of the system's launch the going price dropped by over $1000. eBay prospectors across the country were stunned at the rapid depreciation of their investment. While they were still looking at $600 profit on average, it was a far cry from the windfall everyone had been expecting.

The smart thing to do in that situation would be to wait, right? Several enterprising folks I talked to during the launch festivities predicted a glut early on, and planned on holding their systems until Christmas, when demand would be at its highest. As the graph indicates, that wasn't the wisest move. Four days before Christmas PS3 auctions hit the lowest point ever, bottoming out at just $724. Figuring in sales tax, that's less than $100 profit on a 60GB system.
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From businessweek.com:
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In December video game maker Square Enix Co. began running prime-time TV ads in Japan featuring battle scenes from its new adventure game Seiken Densetsu 4, or Legend of the Sacred Sword. Every 30-second spot ended with a familiar logo: PlayStation. But the game isn't played on Sony Corp.'s new PlayStation 3 console. It's for the PlayStation 2.

This might seem an odd time to launch an ad blitz for a game designed for the PS2, which has been around since 2000. The PS3, after all, was just introduced this fall and offers richer graphics with more lifelike action. But despite all the hype surrounding the PS3, its predecessor is likely to outsell it for two more years. "The PS2 will have legs well into 2008," says Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles. And while Nintendo Co.'s Wii console is getting most of the industry buzz, and the Xbox 360 from Microsoft Corp. has racked up big sales in its year on the market, some say the PS2 might even beat out each of those offerings in 2007. "The PS2 probably has the capacity to sell more than any other gaming" console, says Simon Jeffrey, chief operating officer at game maker Sega of America.

The PS2 already owns the industry's all-time sales record. As of last March, Sony had shipped more than 103 million units worldwide. In the year ending in March, 2007, Sony expects to sell an additional 11 million--and just 6 million PS3s. In the following year, Sony will likely ship another 11 million PS2s vs. 7 million PS3s, according to research by rating agency Standard & Poor's.
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Read More: businessweek.com
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From ps3news.com:
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Once again the GODS @ Paradox have released another PS3 iSO dump as follows: MotorStorm_JAP_PS3-PARADOX and from the NFO File comes the following hints today:

| cOMPANY : SCEI | rELEASE DATE : 27 Dec 2006 |
| sYSTEM : PlayStation 3 | sIZE : 120 x 100mb |
| tYPE : Racing | vIDEO MODE : NTSC/JAP |
| sUPPLIER : Huey Lewis | cRACKER : Wireless B/G? |
| mEDIA : BLU-RAY | pLAYABLE : Yes they are |

| sPECIAL nOTE: |
| |
| Happy new year to all members who helped in the past and present! |
| And a question to all, is there a bug in the system software from |
| the playStation 3(R) Yes there is Nothing to add more.. |
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News-Source: ps3news.com
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From engadget.com:
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Can it be? Is Hollywood's new DRM posterchild AACS (Advanced Access Content System, see more here) actually quite breakable? According to a post on our favoritest of forums (Doom9) by DRM hacker du jour muslix64, his new BackupHDDVD tool decrypts and dismantles AACS on a Windows PC. Just feed the small utility a crypto key (it comes bundled with keys for a few popular HD DVD titles, with the promise of more on the way), and it'll dump the video right off the disc onto your hard drive, supposedly playable in any HD DVD compatible player. If true, this would instantly become the DeCSS of high def optical, as AACS is the copy protection scheme used not only by HD DVD, but by Blu-ray as well.

From guidetohometheater.com:
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The PS3 unequivocally earns its keep as a BD player for a home theater environment, although the non-gamers among you will certainly want that optional Blu-ray Disc remote. It's not quite good enough on standard DVD playback to unseat very good, up-to-date, standalone DVD players, but in all other respects it earns top scores.

Compared to Samsung's BD-P1000 and (briefly) Sony's BDP-S1 as BD players, the PS3 is superior in absolute picture quality to the former, and more than holds its own with the latter. And it kills both in terms of startup and disc access speed and overall ergonomic prowess and stability. It's just bullet proof, and aside from being the coolest looking piece of gear ever, it's the only next-gen player so far that behaves like one in every respect. And of course, its connectivity and audio decoding features are tops too, although you really need an AVR or pre/pro equipped with HDMI 1.1, or later, to unleash its potential.

All of the above would be enough to earn the PS3 a rave review as a BD player even if it were on par with the prices of the standalone BD players. But it's not- even the upscale $600 PS3 is by far the least expensive BD player available.
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From gamasutra.com:
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Previously available only in arcade and PSP formats, Namco Bandai's Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection has been released in Japan as a fully digitally distributed PS3 title over Sony's PlayStation Store.

Running at full HD (in up to 720p or 1080p) at a promised 60 frames per second, the new version of the 7th iteration in the long-running Tekken series makes boss character Jinpachi Mishima playable for the first time.

The Dark Resurrection download weighs in at 830MB, and is available for 2000 yen ($16.80) on Sony's Japan store, and $125HK ($16.07) on the Hong Kong store. The U.S. will likely see its own version of the game appearing stateside in due time, but no announcements have yet been made.
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From azcentral.com:
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The PS3 and Wii browsers are kind of fun to play with when you're done gaming and want to goof off for a few minutes before calling it a night. But both browsers are too limited right now to replace anyone's PC. And it's particularly surprising to see Nintendo, the company that claims it only cares about gaming and has no interest in making a multimedia machine, jump into this space. But hey, you can't complain about getting free stuff.
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From kotaku.com:
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Remember back when Sony first introduced the PS3 in multiple colors? There was black of course, and silver, but my personal favorite was the shiny white model. Instead of waiting until Sony releases it as a Japanese-only exclusive somewhere down the road (speculation, but you know they'll do it), PS3 Center has gone ahead and made their own.

From CNet news.com:
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Shoppers are standing in lines to snap up Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii video game consoles as they become available, and some analysts do not expect shortages to ease until March or later.

Shoppers are finding lots of PlayStation 2s and Microsoft Xbox 360s, expected to do well as substitutes for the newest machines that are in short supply.

American Technology Research analyst Paul-Jon McNealy said that since Sony shipment numbers include units in transit or in warehouses, the company's target of 1 million could translate to 600,000 to 800,000 units at retail by year end.
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