{"id":1520,"date":"2009-07-08T06:57:57","date_gmt":"2009-07-08T10:57:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/2009\/07\/08\/ps3-rumors-state-of-the-console-market-and-more-eric-lepel\/"},"modified":"2010-09-05T08:20:16","modified_gmt":"2010-09-05T13:20:16","slug":"ps3-rumors-state-of-the-console-market-and-more-eric-lepel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/2009\/07\/08\/ps3-rumors-state-of-the-console-market-and-more-eric-lepel\/","title":{"rendered":"PS3, Rumors, State of the Console Market, and more Eric Lepel"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love these quick sound bites. According to Reuters<\/a>, Sony Corp Chief Executive Howard Stringer says no PS3 price cuts anytime soon.<\/p>\n

Asked about the logic of not cutting prices, Stringer said, \u201cI (would) lose money on every PlayStation I make \u2014 how\u2019s that for logic.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Does that really mean no price cuts for the current PS3 models? There is that Slim thing we keep hearing about. Then you also have the silly rumors<\/a> about the PS4 arriving in 2011\/2012, which falls right in line with Activision saying that they may no longer support the PS3 in 2011.<\/p>\n

JC\u2019s Quick Take on the Console Market<\/em><\/b>
\nI agree with most of the pundits that a price cut is really needed if Sony wants to make any sort of push with the PS3. A $299 price point in the U.S. in time for Christmas would make for a serious spike in sells, but these days I am not sure if Sony really knows their head from their ass. It is almost like there is no real focus or direction, and most of the time the Sony brass are in reactionary mode.<\/p>\n

The good news is that I think the videogame market is fairly healthy. Consumers have their choice of the 360, Wii, and PS3. Competition is a good thing; I would hate to see one of the Nintendo, Microsoft, or Sony drop out of the hardware arena (i.e. Sega). Just think, a few years ago we lost Sega, and many experts thought Nintendo was next. Sony was dominating the market, and everyone was speculating if Microsoft has the wherewithal to make another run at Sony with a second console. Time marches on. <\/p>\n

Eric Lepel \u2026 again<\/em><\/b>
\nSony\u2019s Eric Lepel is making the interview rounds; this time with PCWorld<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll definitely see another firmware update this year, but it won\u2019t be like what the rumors say. We\u2019re working on some consumer features that consumers will definitely like, but it\u2019s nothing like what you\u2019re reading about, and at this time I don\u2019t want to confirm any of those features because they\u2019re not completely locked down yet. We\u2019re looking pretty good, and timing is a little rough, but just in terms of that rumor, it\u2019s not the case.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At least now the rumor writers have more room for rumor speculation and blogging. After all, just what is Sony hiding with the next major firmware revision? Whatever it takes to keep the bloggers blogging.<\/p>\n

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