Posts Tagged ‘PS3’

There is good news in every statistic, depending on how you twist the numbers. It is not surprising that all three game console manufacturers found good news in the latest unit sales numbers. However, besides the obvious plain sales numbers, NPD’s shipment estimates reveal a trend that the Wii’s best times in the U.S. market may be over and Nintendo could be in trouble as soon as Sony and Microsoft roll out there new game controllers, which effectively serve as platform refreshes. Extra: Charts and Slideshow.

Don’t pretend you are surprised to hear that Sony is being sued over its decision to remove Linux support from its PS3 game console. Attorney Rebecca Call was first to find a disgruntled PS3 owner who was willing to file suit and go along with a class action status. The allegation? The removal of Linux support is a forced downgrade to an inferior product and Sony enriched itself by charging the same price for a product with less value.

Bungie Media, best known as the developer of games such as Halo and Myth, today announced a 10-year partnership with Activision “to bring Bungie’s next big action game universe to market.” Under the terms of the agreement, Activision will have exclusive, worldwide rights to publish and distribute all future Bungie games based on the new intellectual property on “multiple platforms” and devices.

Game console sales continue to disappoint despite a slight uptick in sold numbers year over year. U.S. consumers have purchased more than 60 million current-generation game console numbers, providing a solid view the state of the console gaming market, prior to the introduction of major new technologies by Sony and Microsoft: The Wii will face challenges, the opportunity in the second half of the lifecycle of the generation has shifted to Microsoft’s and Sony’s favor.

As an analyst I am drawn to trends that shift markets. I see nothing shifting the gaming market more significantly right now than the impact that girls and women are having on the industry. The growth and market dynamics related to female players are utterly fascinating.

Sony said that an upcoming firmware update for the Playstation 3 will remove support for “other” operating systems from the console. The company said the decision was made due to “security concerns”.

Here is our headline selection of news not to miss this morning: Microsoft extends Windows XP mode for Windows 7 Pro PCs, Netflix cancels Friends feature, Mobile App revenue estimated at $11 billion per year by 2014, Smartphones take 31% share of cell phone market and HTC’s response to Apple’s iPhone patent claims.