Regarding Japan, according to VGChartz 861,424 PS3s and 370,936 XBox 360s have been sold as of the 8th of April, despite the XBox 360 year headstart.

Famitsu Most Wanter March 23rd to March 29th Poll featuring the 20 most wanted games as voted by its readers.

01. (PS3, Square Enix) Final Fantasy XIII

02. (NDS, Square Enix) Dragon Quest IX

03. (PS3, Capcom) Biohazard 5

04. (PS3, Konami) Metal Gear Solid 4

05. (PS2, Atlus) Persona 3: Fes

06. (NDS, Capcom) Gyakuten Saiban 4

07. (PS3, Capcom) Monster Hunter 3

08. (NDS, Nintendo) The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

09. (PS2, Banpresto) Super Robot Taisen: Original Generations

10. (Wii, Square Enix) Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors

11. (PS3, SCEJ) Minna no Golf 5

12. (PS2, Atlus) Odin Sphere

13. (Wii, Nintendo) Super Smash Bros. Brawl (PSP, Square Enix) Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

14. (Xbox 360, Microsoft) Lost Odyssey

15. (Wii, Nintendo) Doubutsu no Mori

16. (NDS, Square Enix) Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings

17. (PS3, Capcom) Devil May Cry 4

18. (PS2, Sega) Shining Wind

19. (PSP, Square Enix) Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion War

20. (PS2, Square Enix) Final Fantasy Versus XIII

So I think if the PS3 continues to outsell the XBox 360 both in hardware and software sales for the long run and the PS2 continues to outsell the Nintendo Wii regarding software sales for this year, Sony's Playstation products would be in strong position for the long run.

@MikeB

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(PS3, Capcom) Biohazard 5

Isn't this coming for the 360 too?
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(PS3, Square Enix) Final Fantasy XIII

Recently Square confirmed that Sony has not signed any exclusivity in respect to this game. They likely will but oh what interest the 360 would generate if FF was dual platform.

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So I think if the PS3

in Japan will Quote:

continues to ...

fixed!

@BrianK

I think even if the PS3 would lose some exclusives and more games are shared between both platforms it wouldn't matter much for the Japanese market as the PS3 has and will have a much larger install base.

Microsoft doesn't seem to understand the Japanese market very well (I posted an IMO insightful article on this a while ago) and maybe hardware problems have affected the bad sales as well. So overall I think the battle between the PS3 vs XBox 360 is already decided and now it's just a matter of time when the big titles hit the Japanese market.

Regarding Europe Sony announced they have sold over 800,000 PS3s so far, significantly outpacing the XBox 360 over a similar timespan.

Regarding North America it will be interesting to see if the PS3 will continue to outpace the XBox 360 during an equal timespan of availability, like the console has done so far. I think this will be the PS3's hardest battle as the XBox has been going extremely strong there, especially Christmas sales will be interesting.

Last edited by MikeB on 17-Apr-2007 at 01:30 PM.

@MikeB

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Regarding Europe Sony announced they have sold over 800,000 PS3s so far, significantly outpacing the XBox 360 over a similar timespan.

This sentence is probably very true, but it would have been so much more insightful if it would have taken into consideration the limited supply Xbox 360 suffered from. It is more interesting IMHO to try and analyze how much more (if any) PS3 sold compared to the situation where Xbox 360 supplies weren't constrained.

I think it probably still would have sold more (as I always said, I think PS3 will end up the winner in numbers). What I don't think it will do, is replicate the resounding success of PS2 in terms of market share. Xbox 360 will likely improve from Xbox.

@MikeB

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MikeB wrote: Regarding Japan, according to VGChartz 861,424 PS3s and 370,936 XBox 360s have been sold as of the 8th of April, despite the XBox 360 year headstart. Famitsu Most Wanter March 23rd to March 29th Poll featuring the 20 most wanted games as voted by its readers. ...

None of that matters. Blue Dragon was at the tops of that chart for months and what did it translate to in sales?

btw,

Phil Harrison annouces 800k PS3 sales in Europe after 3 weeks:
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5251&Itemid=2

Safe to say that there are spot sell outs of the initial shipment and if there has been a second shipment then they should be plenty of stock on the shelves.

In other new, Sony Europe to lay off 160 employees:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=24232

Last edited by Lou on 17-Apr-2007 at 12:42 PM.

@MikeB

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MikeB wrote: @BrianK I think even if the PS3 would lose some exclusives and more games are shared between both platforms it wouldn't matter much for the Japanese market as the PS3 has and will have a much larger install base. Microsoft doesn't seem to understand the Japanese market very well (I posted an IMO insightful article on this a while ago) and maybe hardware problems have affected the bad sales as well. So overall I think the battle between the PS3 vs XBox 360 is already decided and now it's just a matter of time when the big titles hit the Japanese market.

I think if the 360 only sells marginally more than the original Xbox, Microsoft will have to seriously reconsider making a 3rd console. However, if they can hit 35 million consoles vs. the Xbox's 25 million, then I think they have personally succeeded. In the meantime, I think the 360 will outsell the original Xbox in Japan, if it hasn't already.

They will just continue to chip away at Japan. They've already won over Capcom, Techmo, Mistwalker... Lower licensing fees go a long way. These Japanese developers are starting to think gloabally and realize they can't ignore Microsoft for ever. If Sony's PS3 sales don't pick up for Christam '07 then you may see alot more Japanese games published on the 360...

By 2010, the HD media format war should be over and I imagine Nintendo will have it's HD media and display act together. Sony is patenting a way-more-complicated Wii-remote-like device that responds to your fingers moving... We'll see what MS has up it's sleeves... It should be interesting...

@Lou

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None of that matters. Blue Dragon was at the tops of that chart for months and what did it translate to in sales?

Best sold XBox 360 game for Japan (almost 140k, best sold PS3 game for Japan is at 260k so far, so Blue Dragon has a higher penetration amongst XBox 360 owners), hardware sales jumping 10-20-fold, still at 3K units sales per week currently is double the figure it has been compared to prior to this game's release.

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Safe to say that there are spot sell outs of the initial shipment and if there has been a second shipment then they should be plenty of stock on the shelves.

Luckily after all the worries that's the case!

Last edited by MikeB on 17-Apr-2007 at 03:03 PM.
Last edited by MikeB on 17-Apr-2007 at 01:12 PM.

@jtsiren

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It is more interesting IMHO to try and analyze how much more (if any) PS3 sold compared to the situation where Xbox 360 supplies weren't constrained.

I think it will be most interesting when the most highly anticipated PS3 games hit the market, it's primarily a game system after all. So for example Gears of War vs Metal Gear Solid 4, Halo 3 vs Killzone 2, Blue Dragon vs Final Fantasy, Kameo vs Rachet and Clank, etc.

Note that although Microsoft claimed to have shipped 500k units to Europe in 2005, it took months in 2006 to actually reach such sales figures to consumers.

Last edited by MikeB on 17-Apr-2007 at 01:21 PM.

Part of the Dutch TV program investigating XBox 360 scratching, now available with English sub titles:

here

@MikeB

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I think even if the PS3 would lose some exclusives and more games are shared between both platforms it wouldn't matter much for the Japanese market as the PS3 has and will have a much larger install base. Microsoft doesn't seem to understand the Japanese market very well (I posted an IMO insightful article on this a while ago) and maybe hardware problems have affected the bad sales as well. So overall I think the battle between the PS3 vs XBox 360 is already decided and now it's just a matter of time when the big titles hit the Japanese market.

Right now the 7th gen Nintendo console looks to have a larger install base then the 7th gen console by Sony or Microsoft in Japan.

I agree Microsoft may not have the push in Japan it should I disagree with what you appear to be trying to do which is try to extrapolate Japan market is = world market.

I agree that the PS3 will likely beat the 360 worldwide. However, Microsoft made the 360 to compete. At this point I'm pretty confident that the 7th gen Sony console will lose marketshare compared to the 6th gen Sony console. At this point I'm confident that the 7th gen Microsoft console will gain marketshare compared to the 6th gen Microsoft console. The gain in marketshare is what Microsoft is goaling for. Yes they'd like to be #1 but they're looking for gains in marketshare. Microsoft may still be 3rd but since the % of the market as 3rd is larger then last time they are going to count this as a win. We already know they have green lighted development of the 8th gen console. At that time hopefully the HD format war will be settled so it'll be included in their 8th gen. Also Microsoft seems to have a 3rd time is the charm to their product lifecycles, if that charm plays again we will likely see them as #1 on the 8th gen.

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So for example Gears of War vs Metal Gear Solid 4, Halo 3 vs Killzone 2, Blue Dragon vs Final Fantasy, Kameo vs Rachet and Clank, etc.

You seem to have some strange comparisions here. You seem to like to compare new PS3 games to year(s) old 360 games. Hows about doing some game comparisions in the same timeframe? GoW vs Resistance which you love to do is even a bit weird as both are in the genre of shooters they are different types third person versus first person.

Kinda off topic, but oh well:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/16/sony-copy-protection-taking-heat-again-now-dvds-wont-play/
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Reports continue to filter in about DVDs that refuse to play on standard players from Toshiba, LG, Pioneer, Sony, and others. The culprit is titles that utilize Sony's ARccOS copy protection scheme, such as Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," The Weinstein Company's "Lucky Number Slevin," and Sony's "Casino Royale," "The Holiday," and "Stranger Than Fiction." ARccOS artificially scrambles sectors on the disc in an attempt to keep users from ripping the disc to a drive. Many older (or less sophisticated) players simply skip these corrupted areas as unreadable and continue on. Computers -- and unfortunately, some newer players -- try to perform error correction on these areas and fail playback. When contacted, Sony seems to deny the problem, much like Microsoft and the 360 disc scratching, and simply passes the buck onto the player manufacturers to upgrade their firmware. Meanwhile, many users have simply downloaded programs to bypass the protection and make copies without the "defect." So, is this a rootkit-like class action lawsuit in the making? Is it just overblown hype over a few players that don't follow standards? Another example of copy protection that bites legitimate users and ignores the real problem? And do average consumers even care?

@Tomas

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When contacted, Sony seems to deny the problem, much like Microsoft and the 360 disc scratching, and simply passes the buck onto the player manufacturers to upgrade their firmware. Meanwhile, many users have simply downloaded programs to bypass the protection and make copies without the "defect.

For a while Sony claimed the PS2s dying were fault of consumers I beleive it was only when threatened witha a lawsuit that they admitted it was the DVD player. Sony's newer thin line PS2s not playing PS2 games is obviously the fault of game makers not following standards. But, one has to question Sony's methodology how did they approve a game for their console which didn't follow standards?

Sony is stating PS3 do not have overheating issues. Yet at Best Buy the kiosk is dead, claimed by reps to have over heated. Now it seems the kiosks have almost no air holes which might more likely be the problem. But, it seems some home consumers are reporting overheating issue problems.

@BrianK

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GoW vs Resistance which you love to do is even a bit weird as both are in the genre of shooters they are different types third person versus first person.

Simply because Resistance was a launch title, it sold well above 1 million units which is pretty impressive. You will not sell as many games as there are consoles to play them.

@jtsiren

We can keep on guessing and filling in what-if scenarios, all I want to add is that the PS3 launched in Europe after the X-Mas selling season.

@jiyong

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We can keep on guessing and filling in what-if scenarios, all I want to add is that the PS3 launched in Europe after the X-Mas selling season.

That is certainly true.

No High Def Gods of War II for Europe.

http://games.kikizo.com/news/200704/046.asp

Reason: Sony hates Europe.

@BrianK

God of War 2 (PAL version) will run in 576i on a PS2 and 576p on a PS3 with component or HDMI. Real reason 480p would have resulted in black borders.

Last edited by MikeB on 17-Apr-2007 at 09:44 PM.

@MikeB
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God of War 2 (PAL version) will run in 576i on a PS2 and 576p on a PS3 with component or HDMI. Real reason 480p would have resulted in black borders.

Yes Europe gets the 576i resolution, essentially the equivalent of PAL. As stated they do not get the 720p High Resolution mode that the rest of the non-european world will get to enjoy.

@BrianK

The NTSC version doesn't render in 720p, the HD mode just increases the number of lines rendering from 512 to 640 (480p with full size buffers). According to Sony you will get the best result on a PAL PS3.

Last edited by MikeB on 18-Apr-2007 at 11:21 PM.
Last edited by MikeB on 18-Apr-2007 at 09:23 AM.