Does This Mark the Demise of the PC?

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Cell Phones, Editorial, Handhelds, PC / Laptop, Video Games

It would appear that the PC’s popularity is lessening in Japan, as overall shipment has declined for the last five quarters. Taking its place are flat panel TVs and cell phones, according to analyst Masahiro Katayama. He added that kids there spend more time using their phones, advanced game consoles, and smart phones to access the Internet than computers. PC makers have taken to marketing low end products in countries for have those who will become first time users. While we suspect that this trend will continue, there is no way that we could ever completely give up our comfortable QWERTY keyboard and widescreen monitors for tiny finger pads and minuscule displays.

Read More | USA Today

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E3 2007: The Big Three: Who “Won” E3?

Posted by Edie Sellers Categories: Casual, Corporate News, E3, Editorial, Hardware, Microsoft, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360

It always seems a bit silly to declare a “winner” of E3. It’s just so juvenile. This is a complex industry that can’t be distilled down to the simple question of “who beat whom.”

But we just can’t help it, can we?

Comparing the three keynotes this year, however, really is a grab-bag of possible outcomes. All three offered something interesting, and picking a single “winner” this year more than ever depends how you define “winning.”

My rundown is after the break.

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Analysts Talk Latest NPD Data

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, Xbox, Xbox 360

The latest NPD data showed strong September sales growth; 38% over 2005. Nintendo and the DS showed strong growth, and the “next generation” transition doesn’t seem to have hurt the industry as much as expected. But hidden in the NPD data are some interesting points that various analysts have started to dissect. GameDaily reports on analysis from Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities, and Deutsche Bank analyst Jeetil Patel. Pachter sees the PS2 growth as a good sign, with software sales up 12 percent compared to last year. But the original Xbox has been fading fast. As one looks at the numbers, it appears that the Xbox 360 is completely cannibalizing the original Xbox user base. The Xbox 360 seems to be pushing better than expected software sales, a good thing for Microsoft.

Still, things don’t appear to be completely rosy in the Xbox 360 camp. Jeetil Patel feels like the Xbox 360 is underperforming. Tracking the Xbox 360 versus the original Xbox’s sales path seems to indicate that the Xbox 360 has moved fewer net units than the original Xbox at this point in the console life cycle; the lack of units during Microsoft’s holiday launch last year really set the company back. In addition, NPD data has the total Xbox 360 sell through at approximately 2.7 million units. Japan adds only a fraction to that number, with well under 200,000 units sold through in that territory. An optimistic projection for the Xbox 360 in the rest of the world might match the US total. At this point, it is starting to look like Microsoft’s projections of a 10 million unit head start by the time the Playstation 3 launches was extremely aggressive. With probably just over six million Xbox 360 consoles moved worldwide to date, Microsoft would have to nearly double their worldwide sales in October and November to match their goals before Sony’s November launch of the Playstation 3.

Read More | GameDaily BIZ

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