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I found the stats in this article to be kind of interesting:
http://www.endsights.com/2009/09/08/...than-november/
The Wii in August still outsold both the PS3 and XBox 360. However the year over year decline was enormous (47%). The PS3 suffered a more moderate decline while the 360 actually had increased sales YOY.
Obviously the August sales don't reflect the PS3 price cut. September's sales will show a massive jump in PS3 sales (supposedly the PS3 sold 500k units worldwide last week alone).
The most interesting stat is that the XBox 360 actually increased its sales YOY despite eroding economic conditions. It appears as if the XBox 360 is easily winning the match with the PS3.
Even though I bought a PS3, I did so because it had a blu-ray player and built in wi-fi. If I'm not mistaken, you have to buy a $100 wi fi unit for the X-Box 360 (or can you simply use any USB wi-fi unit?). Sony's bet was that the blu-ray player would cause people to buy the PS3 as opposed to the X-Box 360 even though it was at least $100 (and much more than that at launch).
It was a bad bet by Sony for various reasons. First, blu-ray content is only now getting up to speed at a price point that is reasonable. Why the hell would you want a blu-ray during the fall of 2006? Second, the initial price was just too much and apparently even having it at $100 above the X-Box 360 Pro was too much. I had contemplated buying a new generation console for awhile, but the Wii was too childish, the PS3 was too expensive and I came close to buying the X-Box 360 Pro. What stopped me was: a) I don't play that many games to justify a purchase of a machine that basically just plays games: and b) for reasons related to a) I actually wanted the PS3 because of the blu-ray player and it seemed like a waste to buy an equivalent system that lacked that feature. I kept putting the purchase off because I wasn't thrilled with the X-Box and I just didn't want to spend $400 on a PS3.
Then Sony lowered the price and I found out that it had built-in wi-fi and the X-Box lacked this feature. I then looked at the X-Box wi-fi hardware and saw it cost $100. So basically, the choice comes down to these three consoles:
1. PS3 Slim: 120 GB harddrive, built-in wi-fi, blu-ray player, $300.
2. XBox 360 Pro: 60 GB harddrive, no built-in wi-fi, no blu-ray, $250.
3. XBox 360 Elite: 120 GB harddrive, no built-in wi-fi, no blu-ray, $300
From a value perspective, the PS3 now blows the XBox away. Again, if I'm correct, you have to buy the MS wi-fi adaptor and that costs $100. So, if I'm going to buy the 360 elite with the same size harddrive and enable it with wi-fi, it's going to cost me $400- AND- it doesn't have a blu-ray player.
XBox has a HUGE jump on the PS3 in the states and a somewhat smaller advantage in Europe. XBox currently controls the sports gaming segment of the market. XBox correctly put most of its chips on having the best online gaming out there. The PS3 is currently trying to catch up.
Here's the thing though, as the former price difference between the XBox and PS3 showed, price was king when the added utility of the blu-ray player didn't mean much without the content. Now that the availability has increased for blu-ray content, it's going to increasingly become a killer app as people see that they can get a PS3 with a blu-ray player for only $100 more than a stand alone blu-ray and it comes with built-in wi-fi and a 120GB harddrive. Not only does the PS3 right now represent a better value from a gaming perspective than the XBox, but it also represents a compelling choice for people that don't play many video games at all due to the built-in wi-fi and 120 GB harddrive- that alone is well worth the extra $100 above the price of a decent blu-ray player. I don't play that many video games myself, but the additional features of the PS3 as compared to a stand alone blu-ray player represented a better value to me.
MS has aligned itself with Netflix which I think is a very smart move to counter PS3's blu-ray capability. In all honesty, I think that online HD streaming will eventually trump blu-ray IF the cost can be comparable to someone going out and renting a blu-ray. The DVD industry never seemed to get too hurt by the on-demand features offered by satellite and cable and it could have been because DVDs offered you content sooner than on-demand and it was also somewhat cheaper to rent DVDs (helloooo RedBox).
But PS3 is going to continue capturing more new buyers than XBox because of the value the PS3 represents. Rumor has it that MS is going to redesign the XBox and I think its an absolute must that the new XBox have built-in wi fi. I actually considered the XBox briefly because the netflix capability, but the lack of built-in wi-fi (in addition to the reliability issues) pushed me over to PS3.
http://www.endsights.com/2009/09/08/...than-november/
The Wii in August still outsold both the PS3 and XBox 360. However the year over year decline was enormous (47%). The PS3 suffered a more moderate decline while the 360 actually had increased sales YOY.
Obviously the August sales don't reflect the PS3 price cut. September's sales will show a massive jump in PS3 sales (supposedly the PS3 sold 500k units worldwide last week alone).
The most interesting stat is that the XBox 360 actually increased its sales YOY despite eroding economic conditions. It appears as if the XBox 360 is easily winning the match with the PS3.
Even though I bought a PS3, I did so because it had a blu-ray player and built in wi-fi. If I'm not mistaken, you have to buy a $100 wi fi unit for the X-Box 360 (or can you simply use any USB wi-fi unit?). Sony's bet was that the blu-ray player would cause people to buy the PS3 as opposed to the X-Box 360 even though it was at least $100 (and much more than that at launch).
It was a bad bet by Sony for various reasons. First, blu-ray content is only now getting up to speed at a price point that is reasonable. Why the hell would you want a blu-ray during the fall of 2006? Second, the initial price was just too much and apparently even having it at $100 above the X-Box 360 Pro was too much. I had contemplated buying a new generation console for awhile, but the Wii was too childish, the PS3 was too expensive and I came close to buying the X-Box 360 Pro. What stopped me was: a) I don't play that many games to justify a purchase of a machine that basically just plays games: and b) for reasons related to a) I actually wanted the PS3 because of the blu-ray player and it seemed like a waste to buy an equivalent system that lacked that feature. I kept putting the purchase off because I wasn't thrilled with the X-Box and I just didn't want to spend $400 on a PS3.
Then Sony lowered the price and I found out that it had built-in wi-fi and the X-Box lacked this feature. I then looked at the X-Box wi-fi hardware and saw it cost $100. So basically, the choice comes down to these three consoles:
1. PS3 Slim: 120 GB harddrive, built-in wi-fi, blu-ray player, $300.
2. XBox 360 Pro: 60 GB harddrive, no built-in wi-fi, no blu-ray, $250.
3. XBox 360 Elite: 120 GB harddrive, no built-in wi-fi, no blu-ray, $300
From a value perspective, the PS3 now blows the XBox away. Again, if I'm correct, you have to buy the MS wi-fi adaptor and that costs $100. So, if I'm going to buy the 360 elite with the same size harddrive and enable it with wi-fi, it's going to cost me $400- AND- it doesn't have a blu-ray player.
XBox has a HUGE jump on the PS3 in the states and a somewhat smaller advantage in Europe. XBox currently controls the sports gaming segment of the market. XBox correctly put most of its chips on having the best online gaming out there. The PS3 is currently trying to catch up.
Here's the thing though, as the former price difference between the XBox and PS3 showed, price was king when the added utility of the blu-ray player didn't mean much without the content. Now that the availability has increased for blu-ray content, it's going to increasingly become a killer app as people see that they can get a PS3 with a blu-ray player for only $100 more than a stand alone blu-ray and it comes with built-in wi-fi and a 120GB harddrive. Not only does the PS3 right now represent a better value from a gaming perspective than the XBox, but it also represents a compelling choice for people that don't play many video games at all due to the built-in wi-fi and 120 GB harddrive- that alone is well worth the extra $100 above the price of a decent blu-ray player. I don't play that many video games myself, but the additional features of the PS3 as compared to a stand alone blu-ray player represented a better value to me.
MS has aligned itself with Netflix which I think is a very smart move to counter PS3's blu-ray capability. In all honesty, I think that online HD streaming will eventually trump blu-ray IF the cost can be comparable to someone going out and renting a blu-ray. The DVD industry never seemed to get too hurt by the on-demand features offered by satellite and cable and it could have been because DVDs offered you content sooner than on-demand and it was also somewhat cheaper to rent DVDs (helloooo RedBox).
But PS3 is going to continue capturing more new buyers than XBox because of the value the PS3 represents. Rumor has it that MS is going to redesign the XBox and I think its an absolute must that the new XBox have built-in wi fi. I actually considered the XBox briefly because the netflix capability, but the lack of built-in wi-fi (in addition to the reliability issues) pushed me over to PS3.
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