Hot on the heels of Nikon’s new COOLPIX compacts comes Sony with two new Cyber-shot digital cameras.
Both TX1 and WX1 models offer 10.2 megapixels and Sony’s Exmor R CMOS sensor with BIONZ imaging processor — in English, that means that shooting should be more responsive with reduced noise, even in low light conditions.
Sony has announced two smaller versions of its portable eBook reader: the Reader Pocket Edition and the Reader Touch Edition.
The Reader Pocket (PRS-300) features a smaller 5-inch display and comes in a range of body colors. Because it’s smaller it can be used one-handed and is a little easier to carry around. Its onboard memory will store around 350 books and has a two-week battery life. It will retail for an impressive $199.
With the announcement of the Sony BDP-CX960 400 disc Blu-ray multicharger Sony seems to have made a great move. The device capable of storing 400 Blu-ray/DVD/CD discs comes with all the expected features for only $800.
According to a city analyst (not that they ever get anything wrong mind you), there’s rumours abound that Sony is to announce a price cut for their hardware, along with, perhaps, a non-Blu-ray version of the PS3.
“Recent channel checks indicate increased speculation for a PS3 price cut announcement from Sony in the next couple of days” said Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey on Tuesday. (source – Edge).
One of the easiest ways to reduce the price of the PS3 would (naturally) be to cut the expensive Blu-ray player feature out of the machine, resulting in (potentially), a saving that could be passed on to the consumer to the tune of around $100.
However, this move would seem unlikely given the fact that all current PS3 retail games are produced on the higher capacity discs rather than the older format of DVD. Moving to a two-tiered console base would require Sony to produce two variants of each game – something that they are unlikely to move to. Perhaps then Sony will announce a console that requires an add-on to play Blu-ray movies such as a dongle of some kind?
It’s my guess that a price cut might well arrive, but I can’t see it being at the expense of the Blu-ray player. Perhaps instead they’re working on a killer IP that will actually help to sell their console in larger numbers than they are currently achieving. One or two killer exclusives would cement the console into the homes of many.
I am trying to decide if I should get a Sony K850i.
I know this is such a cool phone to have, the 5MP camera is really tempting. I love the way it tries to be a great camera (with the auto-orientation feature), but there’s this side of me trying to pull me back from the purchase.
I don’t like the tiny “rice-like” buttons, that’s for sure! I think I have fingers too big for those little things. I wonder if Sony held-off giving us larger buttons so it can accommodate more electronics inside.. like for camera.
I’ve read the online reviews, they were all good… but some though “I feel” is trying to tell me there’s a catch 21 in here somewhere. I hope I finally get to jump and get one before the week ends.
Another phone that’s hoping for my attention is the Nokia N95! Another phone in the same league as the Sony K850i.
CNet UK made a wonderful review of this phone, and basically giving them an 8.5 rating.
As the title suggests – Sony has lost a member of staff. Not just any old staff member though, Mr Harrison was in fact the president of the company’s game development arm. He joined the company before the release of the original Playstation and has left after fifteen years of service.
No reason has been given about his departure but Kaz Hirai, Chief Executive of Sony’s game operations, will take over from Harrison until a suitable replacement for the post is found (frankly Mr Hirai san, if you’re reading this, I’ll be happy to take up the post even if I don’t have an M/A in video games).
Phil Harrison is in fact one of the great names of UK gaming, if just because he is in fact a UK citizen. He took up his last post with Sony in 2005, after a long and illustrious career working in various departments. However, he was also president during the launch of the Playstation 3 – arguably not a huge success and certainly nothing in comparison to the launch of the original Playstation back in 1994.
Of course, the PS3 has had some incredibly tough competition, what with the Xbox 360 coming out long before the powerful console and the very accessible Wii proving to be more of a hit (even than the console manufacturer Nintendo) expected. However, Sony is now seeing some success thanks to games such as Devil May Cry 4, Uncharted – Drake’s Fortune and Call of Duty 4 – Modern Warfare.
More than ten million PS3 consoles have now been sold around the world and profit has now been reached for the first time in two years for Sony’s game division. This was reached through cutting costs and an increased global demand through carefully managed price cuts (as well as, no doubt, the demise of the HD-DVD format making the PS3 exclusively the cheapest Blu-Ray player on the planet).
One thing that Mr Harrison did mention about Sony was the frustration he felt toward some of their strategy, which he revealed at the Game Developer’s Conference. He had the following to say:
“Our Japanese colleagues said that there is no such thing as social gaming in Japan – people do not play games on the same sofa together in each other’s homes. It will never happen. And then out comes the Wii.”
This highlights two things – exactly what makes Sony great and also what makes it so poor. How can a company’s strength also be its’ weakness? Well, it’s the sheer single-mindedness of the company that will grant it either success beyond imagining, or poor performance indeed.
Strength in Clarity
What do I mean by having strength in clarity? Well, whilst Jaguar had produced a ridiculous console that still used cartridges, as had Nintendo with the N64, Sony went in another direction. A console that used CD-ROM, had two ports, played CD’s and offered an interesting small form-factor was released (the PS One was an even smaller console).
To put the release of the Playstation in perspective, it was released in 1994. By 31st March 2005, more than 102.49 million consoles had been sold, making it the best selling console ever made. With the right marketing and some excellent games (with Gran Turismo selling more than 10 million copies) it was literally the console for everyone.
A single-minded vision created the Playstation. Sony saw what Nintendo and Sega were doing, capitalised on the best bits, and took a risk to bring out a console, something they’d only formerly discussed with Nintendo and which probably spurred on the birth of Playstation.
Single-mindedness Crushes Imagination
As Phil Harrison’s comment highlights, Sony didn’t believe in gaming that would involve the whole family sitting around the TV, taking turns, laughing and having fun together. Whilst I’ve made no bones about the Wii not being for me, the fact that the Six-Axis responds to your movement tells me something – Sony saw that they missed a trick here. I’m still not sure that the two consoles are in direct competition (the demographic for a buyer of a PS3 is very different than the purchaser of a Wii.
Sony’s Future
Okay, so the PS3 isn’t taking off in a massive way yet – especially in comparison to the Playstation above. However, there are now more gamers than ever. We’re literally all over the world, connecting every day. We talk more. We listen more. Perhaps Sony will do the same in the future. Whatever happens, I’d never write the company off and I still expect something special from games like Metal Gear Solid 4 offering something very special indeed.
Recently, Sony has courted controversy (to a certain degree) due to featuring Manchester Cathedral in a violent video game – the fairly well received Resistance: Fall of Man. Sony’s Playstation game uses the historic church as a scene in which violent gunplay takes place.
Originally, spokespeople for the church asked for the game to be withdrawn from sale – Sony however did not accept this request, but it did apologise for using the graphics within the game.
The Very Reverend Rogers Govender had the following to say regarding the use of Manchester Cathedral:
“We do forgive Sony for what they have done, even though they still believe they have done nothing wrong. In an industry that is breaking new frontiers, it is important that long held traditions of film and television are maintained. These traditions include having courtesy, respecting the dignity of your subject, and admitting when mistakes have been made. In so many ways Sony have failed to live up to these standards by disrespecting people of faith and the victims of gun crime here in Manchester.”
I’m really in two minds about this. I’m not one of those politically correct do-gooders and taking the religious aspect out of the question could then raise the issue of image rights within a game – if I made a game for instance could I feature my local mall or would that be violating their image rights?
Of course, the real issue is the content – that is what Rev Govender after all is taking issue with. I highly doubt the company that brought us the Playstation, the original mass-market entertainment system, would want to disrespect anyone, either those of faith or any victims of crime, gun or otherwise. However, this begs an important question – should first person shooters really feature real-life locations? If not, it then surely draws some realism from the game.
It’s interesting that the Very Reverend Rogers Govender picked up on how gaming is at the forefront and is breaking new frontiers. I’d like to really consider this for a second. There’s still a lot of argument over whether games are art. If they are, then surely they are allowed to provoke debate in this manner? Perhaps because art is made for purpose (i.e. it is what it is) whereas games are made solely for entertainment moves them into a different direction.
One real issue here is the bad press games receive in general. Things like this don’t help and in a way I’m inclined to say that Sony have slipped up. They maybe shouldn’t have done what they did – set a ‘violent’ videogame in an important religious location.
However, let’s be fair about what Resistance: Fall of Man is. The storyline is as follows:
‘In Resistance: Fall of Man, the U.S. and Britain band together in a last-ditch effort to save Europe and Asia from a horrific scourge. In mere decades, the Chimera, a species of unknown origin propagating a virus that converts other life forms into more Chimera, has overrun Russia and all of Europe. Humanity’s hope for survival is slim, and the tide of the battle rests on the shoulders of U.S. Army Ranger, Sgt. Nathan Hale.’
So, you’re fighting an unknown alien enemy, and one scene happens to be in a church. It is a console FPS – plain and simple. Religious beliefs are held above all others for some, which is exactly the reason why Sony has hit a nerve here. I don’t think however though that it really relates to gun crime and to be honest, I think that it has been blown a little out of proportion.
Nonetheless, these are the sorts of issues that will come about as gaming comes further into popular culture and the general public are more aware of the sorts of games that are out there. Of course, the whole issue of video gaming violence is still very high on the agenda, and is something I’ll explore in a separate article.
With the HD war heating up, the battle between LCD and Plasma is reaching fever pitch. Just like HD DVD and Blu-ray, each camp has its avid supporters who extol the virtues of each technology. But Sony is about to stir things up with the announcement that it will finally release the first OLED TV this December.
OLED is widely seen as the best among the three technologies because it is more energy efficient and it allows for the production of extremely thin and ultralight displays. It is also a great technology for showing very vivid pictures that can render fast moving images — this makes it perfect for action movies or sports. Of course, the downside is that OLED is said to have a shorter lifespan.
Sony is banking on OLED technology to really push it in the new millennium. The company wants to use OLED as its rallying point to signal the revival of its leading position in technological innovations.
The first OLED TV will only measure a paltry 11 inches because one of its limitations is that present technologies are not capable of producing larger panels. The OLED TV will measure just 3 mm in thickness though, and will sell for $1,740m, which is a high as the price of current 40-inch plasma models.
We’ll see if OLED will really signal Sony’s resurgence or if this will go the way of other “pioneering” Sony technologies like the DAT, Minidisc, Atrac format and the Memory Stick.
[tags]Sony, OLED, Plasma, LCD[/tags]
NO OVERNIGHT SUCCESS
It is technologically difficult at the moment to make larger panels, limiting the appeal of the otherwise promising next-generation television.
Panasonic maker Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd is offering 103-inch plasma TVs, while the main battle ground for LCD TV makers are moving up to the 40-inch class market from the 30-inch class category.
An 11-inch panel is smaller than regular copier paper used in office.
“I don’t think OLED TVs will replace LCD TVs overnight. But I do believe this is a type of technology with very high potential, something that will come after LCD TVs,” Sony Executive Deputy President Katsumi Ihara told reporters.
Ihara said he set the 200,000 yen price tag without paying much attention to profitability, suggesting Sony will make a loss for each set it sells at least in the initial stage.
The new TV is set to go on sale in Japan on Dec. 1, while overseas launches have yet to be decided.
It has a life span of about 30,000 hours of viewing, which is about half of Sony’s LCD TVs, but long enough to allow eight hours of daily use for 10 years.
Monthly production will come to just 2,000 units. In comparison, Sony plans to sell 10 million units of LCD TVs in the year to next March.
During the recently held Tokyo Game Show, the gaming press as well as video game fans were anticipating the announcement of a price cut for Sony‘s Playstation 3. Unfortunately, this did not happen, which left so many people disappointed. Sony’s present price point for the PS3 is proving to be the biggest stumbling block in the company’s goal to make units fly off the shelves.
That price cut dream looks like its still alive though. Information has surfaced about Sony applying for a new filing with the FCC with regards to a new Playstation 3 with a new model number — CECHGO1. Some people are speculating that this could be the first proof of the eventual announcement of a $399 40GB SKU. From what has been gathered, Sony will implement some changes in order to drive prices down. One rumor is that instead of four USB slots that are available from the S3, only two slots will be offered with the new units. Hopefully these rumors are actually true so I can make preparations to finally buy a PS3.
[tags]Playstation 3, Sony, PS3[/tags]
One of the best examples of corporate white lies is the Playstation 3 Sixaxis controller. When the official controller was announced Sony played up its so-called Sixaxis feature — which is basically a motion sensing capability similar to the revolutionary Nintendo Wiimote. Some people thought it was an obvious cribbing of the Nintendo Wii’s unique selling point but stolen idea or not the concept was quite cool. What made people raise their eyebrows though was the very obvious absence of a rumble feature. According to Sony, the rumble feature would negatively affect the sensitive controls of the Sixaxis — which is a strange claim given that the Wiimote also has a rumble feature.
Gaming industry experts, however, knew that this was just Sony’s way of skirting the negative issue of Sony’s losing court case with Immersion. It was the company’s way of not paying anything anymore to Immersion. But that was then…
With Sony now officially friends again with Immersion, the rumble feature will be made available again with a newly retooled Playstation 3 Sixaxis controller. As white lies go, the one Sony did was quite obvious. Obfuscation is really not one of Sony’s strongest suits. They should take a page or two from Microsoft‘s book of corporate double-talk.
[tags]Playstation 3, Sixaxis, Sony, Nintendo[/tags]