From psxextreme.com:
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As the Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD war wages on, things continue to look uncertain. While Blu-Ray continues to have support from the larger and more important companies, HD-DVD refuses to let up. Now it's up to the consumer to decide what they want...and early forecasts suggest that the consumer is siding with Blu-Ray. The Nielsen VideoScan tracking data has come in and it shows that Blu-Ray movies are outselling HD-DVD by over a 2:1 margin; in fact, closer to 3:1.

Moreover, the gap doesn't seem to show any signs of widening, possibly predicting a sign of things to come for the movie industry. The numbers for the week ending January 7th demonstrate that for every 47.14 HD-DVDs movies sold, there are 100 Blu-Ray movies sold. But the statistic worsens, as for the following week, ending January 14th, the amount of HD-DVDs sold would be 38.36, for every 100 Blu-Rays sold.
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Full Story: psxextreme.com
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From next-gen.biz:
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As reported in an interview excerpt at EGM's online sibling 1UP, Tretton says, "Because we're in that leadership position, there are a lot of expectations thrust upon us and some of them are a little unrealistic."

He continues, "If we were a distant third in the platform race, people would have a warm spot in their hearts for the good old days of PlayStation and they'd actually root for us to get back on top. But I don't know if we want to pay the price to get that kind of [love]."
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Full Story: next-gen.biz
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From mcvuk.com:
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Leading games retailers have told MCV that they do want to see the ‘basic' PS3 hardware launched in the UK - while consumers have already begun petitioning Sony to make the lower-priced unit available.

In its European PS3 launchplan (MCV Newsflash 24/01), Sony revealed that the decision to only launch with a 60Gb model only was down to "retail and consumer demand".

But retailers have told MCV that they would welcome the 20Gb SKU, whilst conceding that rolling out a single version at launch may prove a wise move.
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Full Story: mcvuk.com
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

Sony released a small v1.51 OS update for the PS3 ... here's the official changelog.

Game
* New for 1.51: Support for PLAYSTATION®3 format software titles has been expanded.

Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From digitimes.com:
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During a recent Sony investor conference, the company said it has already started production of various sized chipsets on 65nm node and noted that die-size could be shrunk by 40% in comparison to 90nm process, indicating that corresponding costs could be reduced along with the reduction in die-size. In addition to the prepared migration to more advanced node production, Sony said it also plans to reduce the number of parts in the PS3 in attempt to see "drastic" cost reductions.

iSuppli's research shows that, at present, manufacturing costs of the two PS3 models - 20GB and 60GB-hard disk drive (HDD)- are US$306.85 and US$241.35 higher than the current retail prices.
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Full Story: digitimes.com
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From akihabaranews.com:
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You'll realize that 60GB is good, but hardly enough after a while... Kurouto Shikou is coming to the rescue with their PS3-eSATA, a SATA and eSATA slot for PS3 that allows you to plug any kind of hard disk, and even install the OS of the PS3 on them. You can even unplug the hard disk from your PS3 and plug it on a PC to backup your data, Great!

From vnunet.com:
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Sony's games division losses will be worse than expected and could exceed $2bn for the fiscal year ending in March, vnunet.com can reveal.

Sony has been shocked by the strong sales of Nintendo's much cheaper Wii console, according to analysts, and has had to fight the entrenched strength of Microsoft's Xbox 360, which was launched more than a year ago and now has a wide range of games.

Sony's predicted loss on the first six months of PS3 sales now exceeds the $1.3bn Microsoft is estimated to have lost on Xbox 360 sales over the same period of that console's life-cycle.
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Full Story: vnunet.com
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From 1up.com:
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Speaking to 1UP on the SplitFish's rumble technology, Sony Computer Entertainment America said the following: "We have had no contact with this company and continue to have no plans to include FF [force feedback] in SIXAXIS."
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Full Story: 1up.com
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From guardian.co.uk
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Hard done-by UK gamers were understandably unhappy at a price (£425) that compares unfavourably, to say the least, with US and Japanese prices of $599.99 and ¥60,000 - roughly £300 and £250 - respectively.

There was only one thing for it: an audience with Sony Computer Entertainment's UK managing director, Ray Maguire - the man who dictated the PS3's UK price. Maguire puts the finger on a number of reasons. First comes the most obvious: VAT. He says: "There's a compulsion within the media to look at everything as a snapshot, and do a calculation, normally based on just the RRP in somewhere like the US and just the RRP in the UK. What you should do with the RRP from the US is add sales tax."

Maguire adds that VAT varies from "lesser" rates in mainland Europe to an "extortionate" one in Ireland. Which does, at least, explain why the PlayStation 3 will cost €629 (£415) in Ireland as opposed to €599 (£395) in continental Europe. But merely adding VAT of 17.5% to the US RRP would take us up to £352 - a still whopping £73 premium.
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Full Story: guardian.co.uk
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From CNet news.com:
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Sony may be eyeing price cuts for its next-generation PlayStation 3 video game machine in a bid to break even on the console by the end of fiscal 2008, it told reporters in Tokyo.

According to the Associated Press, Sony senior vice president Takao Yuhara said that while no specific plans have been made, the company is considering reducing the price as a way to boost sales.
"We may look at the price as part of our strategy to expand the market when the timing is right," Yuhara said.

Industry observers have long assumed that Sony would eventually cut the PS3's price in order to woo more customers--especially since it loses more than $200 on each unit--but no one expected movement on that so soon.
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Full Story: news.com.com
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

Dragon Electronics announced another 3rd party controller for the PlayStation3:
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A very complete wireless controller that is compatible with Playstation 3, Playstation 2 (adapter included) and PC. It is packed with features such as rumble, wireless DVD remote control, 2.4GHz operating mode and more!

From next-gen.biz:
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In an earnings conference call yesterday Rob Wiesenthal, chief financial officer of Sony's U.S. operations said "We are feeling really good about Blu-ray right now, but it is early days."

He added, "In Japan, about 96% of the hardware being sold for high-definition format are coming from the Blu-ray family. It's a format with over 100 different CE manufacturers. Obviously we have the launch coming up in Europe for PS3. So we are feeling very good about that."

Sony points out that the top five films of last year - as well as the top 11 of 15 - were all released exclusively on Blu-ray.
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Full Story: next-gen.biz
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From Bruce Dawson (Microsoft senior software design engineer) on Andre Vrignaud's Blog:
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I see no sign that the PS3 contains a chip that can do vertical scaling, and this new feature (horizontal scaling) is a poor substitute for a true hardware scaler. It is a step forward for owners of 1080i only HDTVs, once PS3 games support it, but it is nowhere near as good as the Xbox 360's scaler.

This recent announcement is just for horizontal scaling, and horizontal scaling is easy. To do high quality horizontal scaling you just need to buffer up a few pixels and intelligently average between them.

Cheap horizontal scaling is even easier: you just send pixels to the video output a bit slower (or send pixels at the same rate, but read them from memory slower). It's the sort of thing that consoles have always been able to do. This new horizontal scaling feature just sounds like they are adjusting the video output rate.

Vertical scaling, on the other hand, is much harder. You need to be able to buffer up (or sample from) two or more lines of data, and then intelligently average between them. For high quality scaling you want to be sampling from a half-dozen lines or more. The Xbox 360 can do this. I don't know whether the PS3 can do this, but if it could I think we would have seen it by now.

This new feature means that games that have previously only supported 720p can now, sort of, be modified to support 1080. When these games detect a display that can't support 720p they can switch to using a 960x1080 buffer. This is only 12.5% more pixels than 1280x720 so the increase in fill rate and memory consumption should be manageable. Then they can tell the PS3 to stretch this buffer to 1920x1080 at display time and voila, 1080 support.

Except, it will be pretty weak 1080 support with an odd and substandard result. The horizontal resolution will be worse than with 720p (960 across instead of 1280), and the images will be twice as blurry horizontally as vertically. 960x1080 is going to look worse than 1280x720 (although it's certainly an improvement over having to drop back to 480i).
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Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From the press release:
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SplitFish GameWare Inc., a leader in video game hardware innovation, today announced it has developed a new dynamic force feedback system for use with the Sony Playstation 3 and other next-generation video game systems. Basic PS2 and Xbox versions are being considered.

The new SplitFish dynamic force feedback system was designed to insure compliant operation with the new tilt, motion and directional sensor technologies currently found in the next generation game consoles. The potential interference on the Sony PS3 SIXAXIS Controller caused by rotating mass force feedback systems such as Immersion's Rotating Mass Patent, required us to approach the solution from a completely new direction. While the SplitFish EdgeFX uses a mechanical feedback system, this new technology produces a whole new aspect of force and tactile feedback.

This low power consumption force feedback technology called "Sensor Effects -- SensorFX" uses no moving parts to produce meaningful sensory feedback. A broad range of intensity and sensation compliment the ability to derive feedback sensations from isolated areas on the controller, to isolate one side or the other, movement from front to back or all areas at the same time. As an example, a gamer playing a race game can feel variations in pulse, strength and collision location and to feel intensity differences between a smooth guardrail swipe and a full frontal slam into a wall.

The SensorFX feedback system can be sold as an add-on to existing controllers or as an imbedded feature that is part of a standard controller. The SensorFX PS3 add-on version is simply connected to the USB plug on the PS3 controller, similar to SplitFish's MotionFX.

The patent pending SensorFX has two modes, one for games that have force feedback support already built in and the other mode that relies on motion tilt sensing and button use and other actions to trigger the SensorFX tactile feedback. SplitFish will work with video game publishers and next-generation hardware manufacturers in an effort to establish standards for this directional force feedback technology.
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Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From ps3blog.net:
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I just got Need for Speed: Carbon for the PS3. I put in the disc, booted up the game, selected "Quick Race", and started playing with my Driving Force Pro. What did I notice?

Force Feedback!

Remember, earlier this month, when waves of web sites reported that the PS3 was uncapable of doing force feedback, even with third party steering wheels? Apparently, testing this out wasn't hard at all, and this rumor is completely, 100%, categorically untrue.
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Full Story: ps3blog.net
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From psu.com:
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Sony Computer Entertainment has started production on the previously announced 65nm CELL processor. All PlayStation 3 units so far have a 90nm processor inside, but this will change soon. As it seems Sony has started the massproduction of the 65nm processor, and this will have a few advantages.

First of all, this will mean a price cut for Sony on every PlayStation 3 sold. This is because the 65nm CELL processor is cheaper than the 90nm processor.
And second, this means a heatreduction for the PlayStation 3.
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Full Story: psu.com
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From next-gen.biz:
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News agency Bloomberg says that Sony could be in for a 50 percent Q3 drop in profits due in large part to the PlayStation 3 launch.

Income is forecasted to be down to 84.1 billion yen ($691 million) for the quarter ended December 31, compared to a record 169.9 billion yen a year prior. Sales are expected to rise 9.6 percent to 3 trillion yen.

The games division is expected to lose a record 191.9 billion yen, compared to last year's 8.7 billion yen profit.
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Full Story: next-gen.biz
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From computerandvideogames.com:
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"It's a beautiful machine, it's a great-looking piece of equipment, so I think Sony's going to be fine" - Mark Rein defends PS3.

"People think it's bad if they can't ship enough, and then they think it's bad if they can ship enough. It's like, which is it? Either they can't fulfill your order or they can, and they're both good.
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Full Story: computerandvideogames.com
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From spong.com:
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Sony has outlined its marketing plans for PS3 in Europe, with a heavy focus on ‘user-generated' content via social networking sites such as MySpace.

According to a full report in today's Media Guardian, the company has identified:
"12 individuals and organisations - ranging from club promoters to artists, fashion industry insiders, Dazed & Confused magazine and even the BBC's 1Xtra - and given them a free hand to create original content inspired by key characteristics of the PS3. Each will then distribute content digitally across a wide range of outlets including their own contacts and fanbases, social networks such as MySpace and Bebo, websites, blogs, and by email."

Alan Duncan, marketing director for Sony Computer Entertainment UK, believes that traditional advertising and PR cannot properly communicate the PS3's appeal, noting that, "The idea is to use physical space, blogs and other forms of digital networking to inform, entertain and encourage interaction and debate about all the different things the PS3 can do."
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Full Story: spong.com
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com

From gamesindustry.biz:
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Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter has predicted that the PlayStation 3 will sell out in Europe by May, with a price cut of more than EUR 150 expected inside 12 months.

He went on to dismiss suggestions that the high cost of Sony's new console might affect sales, stating, "The PS3 can command GBP 425 from the hardcore and I think you'll see price cuts a year from now, probably to GBP 300."

According to Pachter, the UK's stock allocation will "quickly disappear" after PS3 goes on sale come March 23, and the console will "sell out relatively soon after launch" in the rest of Europe.
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Full Story: gamesindustry.biz
Discuss on our forums: forums.ps3scene.com