Late Night Consoling

Last month, Sony Computer Entertainment America co-chairman Jack Tretton made headlines when he stated that Sony's planned PlayStation 3 shipments of two million units worldwide in 2006 and six million units by March 2007 were only targets, and may potentially fail to be achieved. SCEA president and CEO Kaz Hirai painted a different picture in a Reuters interview this week, however. The executive stated that not only is Sony continuing to work towards those targets, it will "hopefully exceed those numbers."

Hirai also reiterated his confidence in PS3's announced United States price points of $499 and 599 US dollars. "We are very comfortable with the pricing we have announced and have gotten tremendous support from retailers for that price point. So it is full steam ahead with the pricing of $499 and $599," Hirai said at the Dow Jones VentureWire Consumer Technology Conference. He did not make any mention of Ridge Racer.

This week, internet detectives noticed that various retailers had changed the release date on the PlayStation 3 version of Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion to Q1 2007. Previously, Bethesda had announced the game as launching with Sony's upcoming system, but today the company issued a statement confirming the delay. "Oblivion PS3 is now a Q1 2007 title," said a company rep.

Given the nature of launching a modern console, manufacturers frequently make last minute software updates to their machines running right up until launch. PlayStation 3 is no exception, and Sony's Japanese operation has revealed that as soon as the system is available to consumers it will have a downloadable firmware update available to bring the machine from version 1.0 to 1.1. Shortly thereafter, the company plans to release a PSP update bringing the machine up to version 3.0, which will enable its PS3 connectivity features such as the ability to transfer PSP-enabled PlayStation games and other PSP content from PS3 to PSP.

Peripheral manufacturer Nyko today announced its PlayStation 3 accessory launch lineup. On November 17, 2006, the company will release its Dual Charger AC, HDMI Cable, and Charge Link. The Dual Charger AC ($24.99) plugs into a standard wall AC outlet and charges two PlayStation 3 controllers with standard mini-USB outputs. The HDMI cable ($29.99) is a standard HDMI cable, allowing 1080p output. Finally, the Charge Link ($14.99)--apparently a USB-to-mini-USB cable--allows players to use a PlayStation 3 controller while simultaneously charging it through the PS3; it will also charge any other USB device.

Shacknews has also spoken with Nyko about producing Wii accessories. Nyko has officially announced its intention to provide controllers for PlayStation 3 and 360, and divulged to Shacknews that it has Wii projects in the works but is unable to comment on them at this time.

Gaming hardware manufacturer Performance Designed Products, of which Pelican is a subsidiary, today announced that it plans to bring a "full line of gaming accessoriers" to support Nintendo's upcoming Wii console at launch and into 2007. The company did not specify what products it is developing. Speaking to Shacknews, a company representative indicated that some of PDP's Wii accessories previously planned for launch may have been pushed back to 2007, and promised that a clearer list would be coming within "a few days."

Despite strong recent financial earnings from major publishers such as Electronic Arts and Activision, NPD Funworld's video game industry sales tracking data for the month of October showed game sales almost stagnant over the same month last year, rising only 1% to drastically undercut expectations. Overall performance was up 16%, thanks to a 56% growth in hardware sales again fronted by Nintendo DS.

On the hardware front, things were nearly identical to last month. Nintendo DS continued its long running domination of the charts, moving 360,000 units. As usual, PlayStation 2 was next in line, netting 235,000 this time around. Xbox 360 grabbed 218,000 sales. Once again, Game Boy Advance managed to beat out PSP, selling 169,000 units to 130,000 for Sony's portable.

Despite this month's unremarkable results, November should prove a significant turnaround with two major hardware launches and major titles shipping on all three next-gen systems.

The last several years have been essentially financial disaster for Infogrames-owned game publisher Atari. Earlier this year, the company announced its intention to take drastic cost-saving measures including offloading its internal development studios. It appears that Atari's efforts have paid off, as the publisher finally posted a positive quarter after a long streak of losses. General expenses were reduced by 31% year over year and R&D by 52%, meaning that even with revenue down 25% the company managed to post profits of $311,000, a huge upswing from net losses of $25.2 million in the same period last year.

"Atari continues to execute on its plans," said recently appointed president and CEO David Pierce. "First and foremost, we have secured a three year $15 million credit facility with Guggenheim Corporate Funding, LLC, a prestigious financial partner. This facility will provide Atari with flexibility on our short-term working capital needs. Secondly, with the sale of the Shiny development studio, we have completed the divesture of our internal development studios streamlining our development operations." A high percentage of the company's upcoming game lineup consists of third party rather than internally developed titles.

Sony today issued a brief media bulletin proclaiming that dedicated consumers have already begun queuing up to purchase PlayStation 3 units as soon as they go on sale in North America on November 17. The company's claims are no doubt in part inspired by a highly circulated online photo album that appeared earlier this week, showing fans lining up outside a Burbank, California Best Buy a full ten days before launch.