The SIXAXIS Report 01.29.2008

Posted by Dan Owen on 01.29.2008

Guest writer Dan Owen stops by to bring you some of the biggest news of the New Year! Is the 80 GB PS3 going to become a thing of the past? What does this mean for the future of the PlayStation franchise? Plus, some good news on the next-generation DVD format war.

Hey there Sony faithful. Expecting someone else? Well, Mark is off taking a short vacation, so here to fill you in on all the latest from the world of Sony is your friendly neighborhood Sports Editor.



Sony News of the Week

Looking to buy an 80 GB PS3? Better get one soon

Last week a Best Buy employee sent a copy of an internal letter to a PS3 fansite, stating that Best Buy will no longer be stocking the 80 GB (which has backwards compatibility, something the 40 GB does not have) model of the PS3. Just days later, the 80 GB model disappeared from Best Buy's website, giving credence to the leaked letter. Soon after, a reliable source reported to ps3.qj.net that Gamestop/EB Games appear to be doing the same thing.

Mike Hickey, an analyst for Janco Partners, speculated that this could be a sign that Sony is planning to discontinue the 80 GB model due to disappointment in meeting sales expectations. He also said that the 40 GB model seems to be taking a hold in the market. However, according to sales trackers, the 80 GB PS3 is outselling the 40 GB one, which raises more questions. Speculation is that Sony may have a 120 GB model in the works, which may explain why Sony recently filed with the FCC for a white PS3 model. Others believe that Sony has decided to drop backwards compatibility on the PS3.

That Sony is gearing up for the release of a brand new system appears to be the most likely scenario. While Sony has yet to release a comment, a company insider has leaked that Sony is in fact phasing out the 80 GB model, and intends to release 120 and 160 GB that will include the Dual Shock 3 Controller. These are all still rumors, but it is looking more and more likely that these rumors are true. There is, however, no word, rumor or otherwise, about whether or not these new models will have backwards compatibility. I'm sure Mark will have more on this in the coming weeks.


Blu-Ray player beginning to pull away in sales?


What's that? We're gonna be on Blu-Ray now? Yippie-Ki-Yay!

Following on the heels of Warner Bros. announcement that they will now be releasing all of their movies exclusively on the Blu-Ray format, the sales figures between HD-DVD players and Blu-Ray players saw an interesting change. Before the announcement, weekly sales were usually split about 50-50 between the two players. However, this week saw the balance shift to about 90% of the sales go to the Blu-Ray player. While it is only one week's worth of data, it is a very positive sign for Blu-Ray supporters. Toshiba, probably the largest manufacturer of HD-DVD players, believes that it is more of an anomaly, as they just ended their post-Christmas discount and there were deals out there that gave a free Blu-Ray player with the purchase of certain TVs. However, their actions seem to indicate something else, as the price for their most basic HD-DVD player dropped from $299 all the way down to $149.99.

If this turns out to be the start of a new trend, it could have an enormous impact on the console wars. Stay tuned, as the next month could be telling for the future of the PS3.


PlayStation Store update for the week of January 25


Can't wait to start playing this game!

Another very good week of releases in the PlayStation store. At the top of the list is the release of the Devil May Cry 4 demo, which wasn't expected to be out this week. Rock Band owners will also be happy to hear that they can now download an Oasis track pack for $5.49, which includes Wonderwall, Live Forever, and Don't Look Back in Anger, or you can just download a single song for $1.99. I've never heard any of the songs by Oasis, but I've heard about them, which means they can't be terrible.

Other releases include 10 new maps for Stranglehold and 21 new multiplayer player skins, which will run you $14.99 for the whole thing. You'll also be able to download the winner of the Create-a-Creature Contest for Folklore for the always nice price of Free. Speaking of free, you can also download The Club demo and a trailer from Tony Hawk's Proving Ground called Stevie's Skater Story at no cost. Finally, you can pick up the PS1 game Jet Moto 2 for $5.99.


Sony Quick News!

• Rockstar Game's Jeronimo Barrera said in an interview with MTV News that Grand Theft Auto IV, which was originally slated to be released in October 2007, was delayed in part due to difficulties in developing the game for the PS3. However, he confirmed that those problems have been ironed out and that the game will be identical to the one released for the Xbox 360.
  
  
• Some new details on Saint's Row 2 were confirmed this week. Headlining the list is that there will indeed be an online co-op mode. The developers also confirmed that the game will have various weather effects, more responsive citizens, and vehicles such as helicopters, motorcycles, and even planes; as well as customizable options such as your character's age, crib, voice, and genre. Personally, I love this news, as this competition should make GTA IV even that much better, plus this sounds like an awesome game.
  
  
• My Canadian readers will be happy to hear that you can now pick up a 40 GB PS3 from Best Buy with two Tom Clancy games (Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 and Rainbow Six Vegas) and the Spider-Man3 Blu-Ray movie for just $399.99.
  
  
• Turok hasn't even been released yet and it's already receiving a patch. Apparently, on the day the game is released (February 5), their will be a patch released that will remove the Team-Kill feature that was part of one of the game's Accomplishments. Honestly, I think that the original "kill your teammate" idea was one of the worst a game developer has ever come up with. Oh well, it's gone now, so good riddance.
  
  
• Bad news for European gamers. The anticipated release of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue may not be as soon as you think. An SCEE spokesperson has said that the announced March 28 release is not ready to be confirmed.
  
  
• Namco announced three more characters for their upcoming game Soul Caliber 4. The trio are all returning characters from earlier editions of the series. Who are they, you ask? They are none other than Maxi, Seong Mi-Na, and Hong Yun-Seong. I've never played the series other than with friends, so I've got no idea whether or not this is great news or not. Namco also debuted two new stages, one of which appears to be Maxi's pirate ship and the other which is an icy cave highlighted by a wooly mammoth in the background!
  
  
• Not really Sony news, but it was my favorite game from this past year. It was announced that Call of Duty 4 took the title as best-selling game for the year 2007, moving more units of software than games such as Super Mario Galaxy. Given that the game only came out in November, I'm sure there is still more sales for it, but I must say this is well-deserved. If you haven't picked it up yet, I'd highly recommend it.
  
  
• The president of the SCEE, David Reeves, said that they are now projecting that the PS3 will overtake the Xbox 360 by this summer in all PAL territories (pretty much this means in the European market, for those of you who don't know what the PAL is). This is a pretty bold prediction, but Reeves has evidence to back up these claims. Last week, the PS3 outsold the 360 across the entire PAL by a ratio of 3 to 1. He also said that the PS3 is already in more households than the 360 in France, Spain, Germany, and Italy.
  
  
• Good news for gamers everywhere. Game Connection has confirmed that over 160 exhibitor's will be present at the upcoming Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco. It should be a great time for anyone in attendance, unfortunately I'm stuck here on the frigid tundra of Minnesota.
  
  
• Finally, some excellent news for PS3 owners who have gotten tired of seeing the Xbox 360 pull in exclusive title after exclusive title. According to a representative from Ubisoft, Haze is still a PS3 exclusive title despite all of the rumors flying around that the game will also end up on the 360.
  

Video B3yond!



Here's an interview with Todd Slepian, the producer of Alone in the Dark 5, where he talks about the game's story among other things.



Here we have an interview with the developers of the highly anticipated Star Wars: The Force Unleashed talking about the physics behind the game.



Our last video this week shows off the weapons of Turok, which bring warm fuzzy memories from the original game on the N64.


The One Man Water Cooler~!

With some of the news I've shared with you this week, it should leave a Sony fan with high hopes for the coming year. For quite some time I had negative thoughts about the direction of Sony and the PlayStation name specifically. This past year, though, the PSP won my heart over, as I really feel like they've taken the console to the next level in terms of the quality of games available for it. Still, though, I was completely under whelmed with the PS3. I felt like the 360 had better games (I still do, by the way), and that the PS3 wasn't going to be able to overcome its late start in the console wars. I also thought that the HD-DVD would be the winner of the next-gen DVD race. I guess I wasn't the best choice for the Sony news report fill-in guy, huh?

However, with the recent announcement that Warner Bros. would be going exclusively Blu-Ray and the sales figures to show some definite change, I'm starting to think that Sony is going to take that battle. With that, we'll see a sort of domino effect in the console wars. More and more people will buy the PS3 because it will provide them with a Blu-Ray player as well as a video game system.

With the PS3 firmly entrenched over the Xbox 360 in Japan, and it becoming apparent that the PS3 will overtake the 360 in Europe, it is looking more and more likely that the U.S. will be taken by Sony in due time.

This will be made all the easier by what appears to be the coming announcement of a brand new, 120 or 160 GB PS3, complete with a shiny new Dualshock 3 controller. The buzz created by that, combined with the fact that the 360 has no big news on the horizon (at least as far as I know), and this could give Sony a nice boost in sales. All in all, it looks like it should be a pretty good year for the PS3.



Well, that's all for us this week. As far as I know, next week Mark will be back to bring you your regular does of Sony-centric news. As for me, who knows when I'll be back in the Games Zone, so drop me a line at [e-mail] or leave a comment letting me know what you thought.