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Sony Europe Cuts PSP Price
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PSP,
Following the lead of the US PSP price cut, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe today announced that they would be officially dropping the price of their handheld as well. Currently 149.99 GBP, or 199.99 Euro, the portable console will drop in price to 129.99 GBP and 169.99 Euro on May 4. According to GamesIndustry.biz, Platinum Hits titles for the PSP will also drop to 14.99 GBP. The PSP has somewhat been languishing while Sony focused its energies on the PS3 launch, but now it appears that the company is starting to get more aggressive as it attempts to build more market share.
Read More 
| GamesIndustry.biz
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Nearly 800,000 PS3s Sold In Europe
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Hardware, PlayStation 3,
According to a report by the Financial Times, Sony CEO Howard Stringer said that Sony was nearing 800,000 PlayStation 3 consoles sold in Europe. With 600,000 of those sales reportedly coming in the first two days of launch, this would seem to indicate a healthy 200,000 units being moved in the three weeks following. One assumes that this is the sell through number, since Sony had previously indicated that 1 million consoles would ship for launch. The numbers are interesting from a couple of perspectives – first, that there would seem to be more people than expected willing to pay the hefty exchange rate adjusted price of the PlayStation 3. The second interesting thing is that European sales are quickly closing in on the Japanese sales numbers. While Japan has taken months to reach nearly 900,000 units sold, Europe is nearly at that point only a month after launch.
Read More | Financial Times
European PS3 Motherboard Analyzed
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3,
It didn’t take long for someone to dissect the European PlayStation 3 to see what makes it tick, and the hardware geeks at Beyond3D have analyzed the motherboard pictures and compared them with the US and Japanese PlayStation 3 to see if they can determine the exact differences, and where Sony might be going with their hardware design optimizations. The known difference is the removal of the Emotion Engine that provided hardware compatibility with the PlayStation 2. Other optimizations seem to have the Graphics Synthesizer connected between the RSX chip and the HDMI transmitter. Beyond3D seems to believe that the Graphics Synth chip will eventually be integrated into the RSX. Another unexpected development has the southbridge chipset shrinking for the PS3, indicating a possible move to the 65nm production process. While this has little to do with the game playing capabilities of the PS3 (other than backward compatibility), the article does give hardware design nerds some insight into Sony’s ongoing quest to reduce costs.
Read More | Beyond3D
Europe PS3 Backward Compatibility Database Online
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3,
Sony’s backward compatibility database has gone online, and there is good news and bad news. The good news is that out of the door, Sony is listing 1,782 titles as compatible with the 1.60 firmware update. The bad news is that there are many high profile games not on the list, and many that are on the list are listed as having “noticeable issues.” God of War 2 is listed as having no known issues, along with most of the games in the Grand Theft Auto series. Unfortunately, San Andreas is listed as having noticeable issues, as are Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2. Final Fantasy XII has minor issues, but Final Fantasy XI is nowhere to be found. Gran Turismo 4 Prologue is on the list, but the full game is not. The Metal Gear series looks to be compatible, though. And for those wondering, like the Xbox 360, Barbie Horse Adventures is fully compatible with the PlayStation 3. The full list is online here.
Read More | GamesIndustry.biz
PAL PS3 Backwards Compatibility Crippled
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3,
Sony is changing the hardware specifications for the Playstation 3 in Europe and other PAL territories, according to a report by Reuters. The report, confirmed by Sony, indicates that backward compatibility for PS2 and PS1 games will now be provided by a combination of hardware and software, rather than the hardware solution in the Japanese and American Playstation 3 consoles. This move may be a cost-cutting measure for Sony; software emulation would allow the company to remove the costly Playstation 2 hardware in the console used in other territories. Sony claims that PS1 compatibility will be high, but that PS2 compatibility will be limited as Sony focuses on “developing new games and entertainment features exclusively for PS3.” One would expect high compatibility for PS1 games; Sony’s emulator for the PSP already seems to work with a large number of games tested by PSP hackers. Without full compatibility for PS2 games, though, Sony may find itself competing against its previous generation console more than expected. Given that the European territories already face the highest adjusted price for the console, this announcement can’t be good news for Sony fans abroad.
Read More | Reuters
Casino Royale To First 500K European PS3 Registrants
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3,
The ‘semi-official’ Three Speech blog today confirmed that the first 500,000 gamers that register their Playstation 3 console in Europe will receive the Blu-ray release of Casino Royale. Unfortunately the movie will not be a pack-in for release, and users in non-English territories will have to wait until the localized version of the movie is available. Still, this would seem to beat the Talladega Nights pack-in that the US received; on the other hand, one would expect the incentives for the console release in Europe to be slightly better, if only for the high price that those consumers are paying relative to the United States.
Read More | Three Speech
Sony Announces European PS3 Launch Date, Price
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Hardware, PlayStation 3,
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe announced that the Playstation 3 will be available across Europe on March 23rd. Sony expects to have one million PS3 consoles available for the initial launch. Only 60 GB configurations will be shipped to Europe initially, for Euro 599 or GBP 425. At current exchange rates, this puts the UK price point at approximately 840 US dollars and the Euro price point translates to about $780. The pricing of the Playstation 3 has roughly a 50% price premium over the Xbox 360 Premium configurations in Europe, about the same in the US. The delay in Europe does give Sony the advantage of a fuller launch line-up; assuming that there are no further delays, this means that titles that missed the US launch will be available during the launch window in Europe, including games like Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and Motorstorm It was also announced that the downloadable HD port of Tekken: Dark Resurrection will be available, a title that has not yet seen a release in the US. Hopefully the delay for Europe will mean that Sony’s launch goes much smoother than it did for other territories. Given the low bar the console set in the US and Japan, though, it seems that Sony has nowhere to go but up.
Sony’s full press release continues after the jump.
Click to continue reading Sony Announces European PS3 Launch Date, Price
Nintendo DS Sells 1.7 Million In Europe
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Wii,
Nintendo of America celebrated the success of the Wii and the DS in North America, now Nintendo of Europe is doing the same in their territory. Sales monitoring company Chart Track has released their sales numbers for the month of December, and in the UK Nintendo sold nearly 200,000 Wii consoles and 500,000 DS handhelds.
In Europe, Nintendo moved more than 700,000 Wii consoles and an amazing 1.7 million DS handhelds. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess nearly matched the attach rate in the US, selling 500,000 copies to 70% of Wii purchasers during December. With huge sales in Europe, Nintendo has basically stormed across the globe this holiday season.
Read More | Nintendo Europe
In Two Days, Wii Sells 350K In Europe
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Wii,
Nintendo of Europe has released their sales numbers for the launch weekend of the Wii in Europe, and to no surprise, the sales trends mirror the US numbers. Nintendo of Europe managed to move 350,000 consoles in the first two days of sale. Along with those consoles, Nintendo sold 240,000 copies of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess; ¾ of the people buying the Wii also purchased Zelda. Again, like in other territories, the success of the Wii does not seem to be leeching sales from the DS; Nintendo sold 515,000 handhelds in the same week as the Wii launch.
Read More | Nintendo Europe
Sony Won’t Commit To March 2007 European Launch Date
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3, Release Dates, Rumors,
You can’t blame Sony’s Phil Harrison - after talking up the PS3 so much and promising console numbers and release dates that never materialized, he’s got to start being a little more cautious. But I think his current statements shed some light on just how dire Sony’s production problems are:
Appearing in this month’s official Playstation magazine, Harrison states:
On asking if the PS3 will definitely be out in March in Europe…
“Given that all of our previous statements about launching in Europe simultaneously with the US and Japan turned out not to be the case, I would not like to make any definitive statements on that. It’s not my job to comment on hardware supply issues other than to say some very smart people are working very hard to catch up. In fact, the ramp up is already starting to happen in supply and output, just obviously too late for us to have launched in Europe at the same times as the US.”
So Sony, what you’re telling us is that Sony might not even meet its thrice-delayed launch date in Europe?? Can you tell us anything definitive about the European console? Is it ever going to make it to Europe? From our ends, it sounds like you’re just barely making your production quotas and hedging your bets. Please, tell us we’re wrong.
Read More | ThreeSpeech.com
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