EL33TONLINE: News – H33rsay: PlayStation 4 production begins this year, console to include Kinect-like control
According to a report on DigiTimes citing assembly schedules at technology companies Foxconn and Pegatron, Sony plans to begin production of the PlayStation 4 at the end of 2011, in time for a launch of the console in 2012.
The Taiwan-based Foxconn and Pegatron Technology companies together handled the assembly of Sony
Categories: Technology Tags: game industry, microsoft, playstation, playstation 3, rumour, technology companies
2011: The Road Ahead – News at GameSpot
Nobody can say that 2010 was an uneventful year for the game industry. Highs included the launches of the Kinect and PlayStation Move and Call of Duty: Black Ops minting $1 billion. Among the lows were the potentially fatal woes of Bizarre Creations, not to mention the increasingly nasty legal war between Activision, ex-Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella, and now Electronic Arts.
what does 2011 have in store for the industry? several major developments are already known, foremost among them the launch of the 3DS in March. Many of the year’s major game releases have also been announced, from Dragon Age II and Killzone 3 in the beginning of the year to Gears of War 3 and Mass Effect 3 at its end.
However, much of next year is shrouded in uncertainty. will it hold more and more months of sales declines? how will the new motion systems fare during the first year of their life cycles? will the PSP2 launch next holiday season, as is rumored? To help dispel the mists shrouding next year in mystery, GameSpot caught up with three leading game analysts–Douglas Creutz, Jesse Divnich, and Michael Pachter–and asked them to offer up some predictions for 2011.
Douglas Creutz–Vice President, Cowen and Company
Retail software sales declines finally abate. US console/handheld software sales grow slightly in 2011 after two consecutive years of declines. With the music bubble fully deflated, Wii software sales already well off their peak, and handheld sales reinvigorated by the 3DS, continued growth in PS3/Xbox 360 software sales is enough to tip total packaged good software growth back into positive territory.
Call of Duty sets another record; Activision begins offering subscription service. The 2011 version of Call of Duty continues the franchise’s number-one streak with another record-setting performance. Continued growth in the PS3/Xbox 360 hardware installed base drives an increase in total sales vs. Black Ops as the power of the Call of Duty brand more than offsets any issues with last year’s personnel turnover at Infinity Ward. Additionally, Activision debuts a subscription service for Call of Duty that offers “all-you-can-eat” downloadable content plus an even broader online play experience (even more MMOG-like), without changing the basic play experience that has historically been included with the retail purchase.
Nintendo continues to play coy about Wii successor despite falling to number two in console hardware sales. in 2011, sales of Xbox 360 hardware edge out the Wii as Microsoft matches Nintendo’s midyear $50 price cut (to $149) with one of its own. Nintendo continues to downplay speculation about a new console, however, preferring to stay on-message about its lead in the overall installed base and the strong initial performance of the 3DS.
Money continues to pour into social/casual gaming, but economics worsen. Companies building games for newer platforms such as Facebook and the iPhone/iPad receive significant venture funding in 2011 as the space continues to be perceived as high-growth, and several significant merger and acquisition transactions take place. However, low barriers to entry drive increasing competition, with lots of “copycat” titles flooding the marketplace. As a result, marketing costs start increasing significantly as companies strive to differentiate their product, while increasing monetization for social/casual games continues to remain somewhat elusive. As a result, there is at least one high-profile writedown/failure in the space in the second half of the year.
Some AAA titles released at lower retail price points
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Categories: Technology Tags: creutz, game industry, infinity ward, jason west, psp2, sales declines
THQ's Farrell: Cloud Computing Could Bring Gaming 'Roaring Back'
Despite the game industry’s recent financial hit, THQ CEO Brian Farrell believes “gaming can come roaring back” with emerging technologies like cloud computing, as well as the opportunities in downloadable games and the brand extension potential offered by social gaming.
Cloud computing-based gaming, by which real-time graphics are rendered remotely and streamed to the player’s screen rather than generated locally by a PC or console, has not yet reached mainstream consumers, but competing firms like OnLive and Gakai are racing to get the technology into players’ homes.
“We like this idea of games in the cloud,” Farrell said in an IGN interview. “Why do consumers need to pay for that computing power [of a dedicated console]? If the consumer is comfortable with digital delivery, why doesn’t that concept work where we can deliver great games and lower hardware investment in a digital world? I like that world, frankly.”
Farrell acknowledged that such a world would still need to involve retail in some way, and noted that the major console hardware manufacturers may resist such a move, but he remains convinced that whatever the future may hold, the “traditional cycle of massive upgrades for graphics…is over.”
“If we can get the hardware away from the TV and in the cloud and then start delivering small- to medium-sized bites for the right price point, gaming can come roaring back,” he said.
He said THQ is also keeping a close eye on the “hyper-casual” world of Facebook — but not with the intention of giving up its core game business. rather, one of THQ’s plans is to use social games as brand extensions, bringing its intellectual property into the social world to broaden the company’s reach.
“It’s just a matter of keeping that gamer engaged with your brand in each of those environments,” he explained.
And THQ is already known to be increasing its focus on the downloadable game space. Earlier this month, the company said it would significantly scale down two studios and reorient them towards downloadable games, with Farrell more recently indicating Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC will be the main targeted platforms.
“There’s a lot of things to like about digital. Piracy can be more effectively dealt with. Used games, which has been a huge threat to the industry, you know. [If] you own it digitally, hopefully at a lower price point, everybody can win,” he said.
“We’re doing it obviously on Steam now with all of our PC games. If first parties allow that, we’ll certainly embrace that, because if that’s what gamers want, that’s who we’re going to serve.”
- Related news:
- THQ Liquidates Finnish Mobile Games Studio Universomo
- THQ Opens Major Testing Facility At SMU’s Guildhall
- DICE 2010: Darksiders Creators find Success in Chaos
THQ's Farrell: Cloud Computing Could Bring Gaming 'Roaring Back'
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Categories: Technology Tags: brian farrell, downloadable games, game industry, great games, ign, social gaming
