Beginning of the End for Sony?

[scpetit]

Sony made official what we have been reading for a month now..PS3 wont be out until November. This is a huge boost for the HDDVD camp because if they are having problems with the blu-ray enough to push back the PS3 what else are they not saying.

Meanwhile, LG Electronics have moved to push HD-DVD as well and Disney are now getting cold feet and are planning to do both formats as well.

The only keeping Sony going in my opinion is Panasonic. They better hope and pray the PAnasonic doesnt jump ship because then it will be over.

[Patrick]

I couldnt disagree more, I think Sony is doing the right thing by not pushing a system out and screwing up the whole thing. This will give time for Blu-ray players to get out and not be completely overshadowed by the PS3 and give time for more media to be available. And with 6 million PS3's to be ready for launch thats 6 million Blu-ray players in homes all before the Christmas holiday. I dont think HD-dvd will be able to touch that. Now sure MS will put out their hd-dvd player around the same time, but people will have to pay extra for that and many wont want to spend the extra bucks or will say they dont need it yet. PS3 owners however will auto matically have it built in so they can say hey, we have the player so we just have to buy the movies now. Hd-dvd is already having a bad launch with no movies and only 2 players which makes the Hd-dvd sections at stores pretty much non existent. Given the hype for Blu-ray and the HUGE hype for PS3. I dont see much problem. Now that Sony is talking PS3, things and companies will start to sway back their way.

[zombie]

Beginning of the End for Sony? Oh please. Look at it this way, when PS3 launches in November it will be competing against a year old 360 and HD DVD players. Which item do you think most people are going to want under their Christmas tree?

It's unlikely that Disney will release anything on HD DVD this year. Panasonic is from the only other company which stands to lose a lot of money if BD should fail. Sony and their partners are not going to let that happen. Take it to the bank.

[Marwin]

I think Sony is doing the right thing, this gives them plenty of time to prepare for a massive PS3 launch with better games and everything worked out nicely. There's really no reason for Sony to launch now considering how poorly the Xbox 360 is doing in Japan (there is nothing to counter there and launching in North America this spring hasn't been expected by anyone lately). Also, the initial HD-DVD rollout by Toshiba doesn't seem like much of a threat as it will be very limited and they won't be ramping up their numbers until later this year. As long as Sony delivers the PS3 in November in time for the holiday season they should do great.

[Blue]

The inference is that Blu Ray is in trouble because of the delay of the PS3.
1. The XBox doesn't have HD-DVD drives, so that can't be an issue.
2. Blu Ray movies will be released at about the same time as HD-DVD
3. There are many other companies that could give Panasonic a run for their money, anyone heard of Philips not to mention Samsung, then the "smaller" one's like Yamaha, Pioneer etc etc all not into the games market but into Blu Ray in a big way. This will not have a big impact on Sony as the PS3 is only part of a very large product range and it will come - just a few months later than expected.

[monodc]

I'd rather see Sony hold the PS3 realease back until november than to see them do what Microsoft did with the 360. That unit was nowhere near ready for launch, which the problems with overheating and scratched DVD's kinda confirm. Plus, as Blue pointed out, the 360 does not even HAVE an optical HD-player. At all. It's stuck with a crappy DVD-player.

Sony is doing the right thing, no doubt.

*Edit: Oh look at that, my first post. Hey all.

[Marwin]

Hey Mono, and welcome to the forums

[Sidewinder]

Originally Posted by Patrick

I couldnt disagree more, I think Sony is doing the right thing by not pushing a system out and screwing up the whole thing. This will give time for Blu-ray players to get out and not be completely overshadowed by the PS3 and give time for more media to be available. And with 6 million PS3's to be ready for launch thats 6 million Blu-ray players in homes all before the Christmas holiday. I dont think HD-dvd will be able to touch that. Now sure MS will put out their hd-dvd player around the same time, but people will have to pay extra for that and many wont want to spend the extra bucks or will say they dont need it yet. PS3 owners however will auto matically have it built in so they can say hey, we have the player so we just have to buy the movies now. Hd-dvd is already having a bad launch with no movies and only 2 players which makes the Hd-dvd sections at stores pretty much non existent. Given the hype for Blu-ray and the HUGE hype for PS3. I dont see much problem. Now that Sony is talking PS3, things and companies will start to sway back their way.

It will not be 6 million PS3 units before christmas, but 6 million units for the fiscal year of 2006 ending march 2007! And this figures are for a worldwide release, therefore there will be many disappointed boys and girls in front of their christmas trees, I don't think they will do better than MS in this regard, but I really hope they will!
But I do agree with you about the optional HD-DVD Player for Xbox 360, it will never have the same impact as the integrated Blu-Ray Player of the PS3.

Another drawback I see for the PS3 being released in November is that they will have to compete with 2nd generation 360 games, which will surely look better than the 1st generation PS3 games...

[thunderhawk]

Originally Posted by Sidewinder

And this figures are for a worldwide release, therefore there will be many disappointed boys and girls in front of their christmas trees

Why would that be the case..?

[marzetta7]

Originally Posted by scpetit

Sony made official what we have been reading for a month now..PS3 wont be out until November. This is a huge boost for the HDDVD camp because if they are having problems with the blu-ray enough to push back the PS3 what else are they not saying.

Meanwhile, LG Electronics have moved to push HD-DVD as well and Disney are now getting cold feet and are planning to do both formats as well.

The only keeping Sony going in my opinion is Panasonic. They better hope and pray the PAnasonic doesnt jump ship because then it will be over.

Umm, that's funny, I've been reading crap like how the PS3 was not coming until Spring of 2007 at the earliest. So, when I heard, officially, that it will be here in November, I was quite pleased. I don't see this as a huge boost for HD DVD given the fact that HD DVD has been delayed as well with no official time table when those movies will come out. Moreover, I believe Toshiba has a whopping 10,000 HD DVD units--not going to penetrate the market with numbers like that. What a lot of HD DVD fanboys fail to realize is that hype (especially price hype) alone is not going to win the market,...you have to have content. And by content I mean...

1. Movies
2. Hardware to play the movies

Economies of scale will win this battle, and let's just say with 160+ consumer electronics and computer companies behind Blu-ray, there will be a plethora of Blu-ray players and movies (out on May 23rd) to penetrate the market (even before millions of PS3s find their way into peoples homes). By the time PS3 rolls around in November, you'll have players from Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, Pioneer, Sharp, and others, shall I go on? And HD DVD? Toshiba...and RCA's ***** of a copy of Toshiba's player. So, I don't know how you come to the conclusion or opinion that Panasonic is the only one keeping Blu-ray afloat.

Furthermore, there has been no official statement from Disney regarding them publishing movies in HD DVD--just speculation based on comments made by Iger. Until then it remains a HD DVD fanboys wet dream--so keep dreaming buddy. Moreover I find this far fetched considering Pixar (formerly owned by Steve Jobs from Apple who backs Blu-ray) and is now under the Disney umbrella who also officially backs Blu-ray.

Anyhow, I don't think HD movies will become mainstream until 2007 anyway, making the PS3 timetable perfect.

[Sidewinder]

Originally Posted by Sidewinder

And this figures are for a worldwide release, therefore there will be many disappointed boys and girls in front of their christmas trees

Originally Posted by thunderhawk

Why would that be the case..?

Sony gave an estimate of 6 Million PS3 units till 31st March 2007. They also told us, that they will produce 1 Million PS3 units a month after the release in November 2006, therefore a max of 3 Million PS3s will be available around christmas...I don't think this will suffice to meet the initial demand for Japan, Europe, USA...

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=15355

but IF they do realise their projection, it will be quite an achievement in comparison to the 360 launch:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=13605

[Knight-Errant]

Definitely.

Sony: washed up or warmed up?