well the price cut was there for the 20gigs.

97gsx

Xbox 360 is back over the PS3, but Sony still did quite well with all of it's platforms. Nintendo is still dominating beyond their wildest dreams. Everyone should be pretty happy with this month's numbers. Next month will be a big boost for the 360 but in the end, it really is a fight for second place between Microsoft and Sony.

Buttah

@MrBionic:
I think the biggest reason is that the majority of people out there either own a PS3, don't know the BC is gone, or just don't give a rats ass about the system. I'll bet the 2nd one will apply to more people then the other two.

Darkest Daze

So I guess I was right, the 360 will outsell the PS3 for the rest of the year. Perhaps for a while even. Sony should drop the price, but we all know they won't. I think they'll do it the following spring though as they will be losing a lot of the ground they were gaining these past few months. Even Japan is going to be trouble for Sony with the 360 price cuts.

LittleBigPlaneteer

Good numbers for all.I have the totals on my work computer,but MS will need a few more months of these to overtake the PS3 sales lead(it's around 250k consoles at the end of last month)

enewtabie(wants a job at Insomniac Games in NC)

@lionkitten: There are quite a lot of PSP games, but nobody appears to buy them. I think the answer is probably that people are buying PSPs to (a) play pirated games, (b) play old Nintendo games via emulator, (c) other homebrew type stuff, (d) multimedia uses/PS3 compatibility...?

Usually people massively overestimate the importance of piracy/hacking; for example, the vast majority of DS owners do not own one of the cartridges that let you play pirated games - even though quite a lot of people within certain groups do own them, so it sometimes seems to those groups like everyone does. So, maybe I'm guilty of that in this instance. I know it's easy to hack a PSP but it's not that easy (and also, iirc the new ones are harder).

But it does seem hard otherwise to explain how well PSP hardware sells compared to the software.

(Or am I out of date and PSP software has been selling decently too of late?)

quen

@Laughin_Caulk: PS2s are still $120 here. That's still far too pricey to get both a PS2 *and* a BC-less PS3 for $500.

I just can't believe that Sony suckered everyone into not caring about BC being removed. There should have been an absolute uproar, but... nothing. A few whimpers here and there.

What the hell?

MrBionic

@eggnog007: Those numbers are for august the price drop didnt happen till september

Stevetrop

I'm still confused as to who the hell is buying PSPs. What the heck are they playing on them?

Stormrider

Nice numbers for a slow month. September'll be interesting.

alfredofroylan

If they stopped making PS2s, would more people buy PS3s w/BC?

Laughin_Caulk

@eggnog007: The 360 price cuts were done in September. These numbers are from August.

Rectangle

@eggnog007:I don't think the August numbers reflect the price drop.

homernoy

@CockroachMan: So's the 3DO!!!

GrrSnort

@Cueil:
"Change" doesn't always mean "wrong".

DustySword

The PS3 is getting there!

CockroachMan

Are those the US numbers? even with the price cut to the 360 bundles the PS3 is that close in the US to the 360 sales? wow.....

eggnog007

Wow at Playstation family! ;P

Barbara

it will be interesting to see the numbers for September. i already have a PS3, but me and a friend of mine both got 360's last weekend due to the price drop. I have a feeling that if Sony doesn't swallow their pride and try to get competitive with Microsoft on that price-point, we could see a repeat of last year's holiday season- even if they do have the slightly stronger holiday game line-up.

laser beams

Shit just got real.

MrMister

@MrBionic:
If they drop it $100 and give me PS2 BC, I'll definitely get one...somehow I don't see me getting one for a long time.

Darkest Daze

Wow, he actually said "now-gen" instead of "next-gen"?

HikariOblivion

If the PS3 dropped $100, I'd be *rushing* to the store to get one, no word of a lie. At its current price point, however, I just can't justify the purchase.

I'd probably even seriously re-consider for a $50 price drop.

Ah well, if Sony likes it, and other people like it, then that's where it'll stay, and I'll just wait.

MrBionic

Who is buying all the PSPs? And what are they doing with them? There just doesn't seem like there is that much content for them. Are people using them for the PS3 compatibility? But they are outselling the PS3. I like my old PSP fat okay, but I don't know that I would buy one today based on how much I use it.

I am corn-fused.

lionkitten

I wondered when things would start to right themselves... of course this month starts the holiday season and for the first time ever (that's I've seen) Xbox Arcade units are selling like crazy. Xbox 360 with Wii numbers... thing could turn crazy

Cueil

@mind in rewind: I already put $200 on a trifecta in Vegas.

As long as all three continue performing well, I'm happy.

budash2

I still wait for a Wii price drop. I think I'll be waiting a long time.

RaptureScientist

Hmmm, hopefully all three console manufacturers will seem pleased.

mind in rewind

I got my Wii stuck in my 360 and some DS had to help me PS3 it out!

RetroGamer79

I'm interested in seeing how many 360s get moved because of the cuts. It'll be interesting September NPD charts. good news for the PSP, now all it needs are some more big games I say

fragilenin

They still print money.

Roc-Thul

Pachter just won't guess one will he?

Well that $50 drop on the 20GB model certainly helped MS to beat Sony at last. I suspect even greater gain in September with its full $100 drop on the new 60GB model.

Alex_Mexico

@LittleBigPlaneteer: WTF? How are you proved right? Yes the 360 will increase sales from here on in, but don't be a moron and take the August NPD data as indicative of the PS3s current strength:

Sales of the PS3 plummeted in late July and August after Sony announced the 80GB + DS3 was coming. The 40GB immediately dropped like a stone from the Amazon chart (quickly out of the Top 100), with only the last stock of the MGS4 80GB bundle (with BC) left in the chart until that sold out. For a good two weeks not many PS3s were sold, relatively speaking. Now look at it: the 80GB + DS3 pack consistently in the Amazon Top 10 since launch a few days before the end of the month.

Yes, you can try and claim the rumoured price cut halted 360 sales too, but that is bullshit.

DelSource

Well, it seems that further digging reveals that the base 80GB hardware is $399, but they aren't actually physically available for sale in any of the stores here.. only the $100 more expensive MGS4 bundle is.

Can't win either way, me. lol

MrBionic

I'd like to see these numbers reenacted.

First as pornography and second involving socks filled with horse manure.

All participants should be wearing mortarboards.

Nightshift Nurse: Mile High Colonic

@sirpilf: It depends on where you are. 80GB PS3s are $499 here. I payed $349 for my Halo Edition 360 which came with HDMI, the play n charge kit, and a headset. Wifi isn't important. I don't move my non-portable systems around. So, in my case, the PS3 *is* still too pricey. Bring it down to $399 and I'm there.

MrBionic

@sirpilf: I know I just dont get it. Looks like Sony is going to have to pull something outta the woodwork to compete hey they did in january, maybe they can do it again.

TotaleeAwesome

@LittleBigPlaneteer: Sony is gaining ground globally (overall Europe and Japan) and matching momentum in the states with 360.

However, a price drop would definitely put them ahead versus just at the same pace as 360 in America.

Unfortunately, this is a 'bigger picture' deal that we won't know for several years.

I think it's safe to say that PS3 and 360 will both be around for many years to come and succeed at their own pace.

sascha23

@Darkest Daze:

Exactly. The typical consumer doesn't know that PS2 BC is gone, and franly don't give a damn that it's gone. Most people on here fail to realize that most people are buying PS3's..to play PS3 games. That and to watch Blu-ray movies. Most people don't want to play PS2 games on their new systems, they want to play some new HD games, and contrary to internet memes, the PS3 has a good amount and plenty more to come.

LittleBigPlaneteer

@quen: Because they had the biggest increase compared to 360's increase over the previous month.

sascha23

@MrBionic:

$400 for the 80gb ps3... much better deal then the elite 360. i bought a 360 premium 20gb for $400 and it was pretty bare bones, no wifi, 2 usb, only dvd drive, so did millions others, yet people continue to claim ps3 is to pricy.

sirpilf

pk who in the hell are still buying ps2's.

thegriefer

@MrBionic: Um, why would people want to play old PS2 games? Who has time for that?

(I mean, that's a rhetorical question, I'm assuming you do - but I don't. I have a Wii, I've never put a GameCube game into it, and never will. Yeah I liked GameCube games but that was back when I had a GameCube. We've moved on, even if the technology hasn't much... and in the PS3's case vs PS2, the technology most certainly has.)

So the answer to your question is probably that when you combine the proportion of people who are like me and don't give a fuck whether they can play PS2 games on it, with the proportion of people who are okay with keeping their old PS2 anyway, you end up with a vast majority who don't care about backward compatibility.

one other thing I forgot to mention about the article:

1) 'PlayStation 3 seeing its three month streak of dominance over the Xbox 360 broken'

2) 'The PSP and PS3 systems achieved the greatest percentage gain of all now-gen systems'

Is it me or do those two facts not fit together? If PS3 had a greater percentage gain than other systems (except for PSP) then how come it lost the lead to 360?

quen

Once again, I hope sony drops the PS3's price soon in a counter act to M$'s drop. I want to buy one before LBP. Do you hear me Sony? PLZ? :)

R3load

@Rasz-42: Nothing about the PS3 is yet justifiable from a business standpoint by far. Probably in 2 years from now it will be.

However I disagree; Sony is a very wealthy company and can "afford" it. Doesn't mean they like it.

Candlejack

Well, 2008 won't be the year the Wii bubble bursts.

Any takes on bets of it happening in 2009? *snicker*

Avrum

@DelSource:

"Yes, you can try and claim the rumoured price cut halted 360 sales too, but that is bullshit."

hahaha man, what a ridiculously biased statement. Why is it *not* bullshit when it happened with the ps3, but it's "bullshit" if we argue that its what happened with the 360?

aKed

@sascha23: My only real question is if they can actually drop the price. The PS3 sells for about as much as a regular Bluray player. Factor in the additional components (wifi/video game parts ^_^) and they have to be taking a decent hit on each PS3 sold. So another price-drop would be nice as a consumer, but I find it hard to justify on the business side after they've already lost billions. Sony just doesn't have the money to burn like Microsoft can.

Rasz-42

Yay for dual duck taped gamecubes.

Nexus6

I hope the 360 dominates next month due to the price cuts......that would prompt Sony to do the right thing and drop the damn price for the PS3.

LeLoi

@R3load: I thought they already said there won't be a price drop in 2008.

@Zhemos: They only thing they change between the models is the HD capacity. And it doesn't really matter since you can easily change the HD yourself if you want something bigger.

Narishma

@aKed: Easy. An official company announcement about a new SKU during a keynote speech at a globally-watched conference, which was even reported by the likes of the BBC and the FT, is stronger and more likely to influence buying habits and consumer behaviour than a few rumours and blurry photos which appeared mostly on gaming and tech blogs, genius.

See, not biased but rational, logical, and based on fact. Now off you go.

PS And look up "bias".

DelSource

@MrBionic: I care A LOT about BC, but then again, I already got an 80 gig with BC, so no uproar here! (Just wish they'd fix Odin Sphere, MGS3 and Hitman 2's issues).

CHunterX

I think I'll buy a PS3 when they quit changing the model every damn month.

Zhemos

Sony and Microsoft could both quit putting out new versions of their systems and I would like it. I can't stand the Wii, but at least they only have one version of their system.

captainapplesauce

@Rectangle: lol but the xbox360 had a price cut right around E3 as well ( at least a few SKUs ) so a price drop of sorts is reflected in Aug numbers...only Sept will be the " real " deal of 360 price cut Vs PS3 ( I would hope the 360 could outsale the PS3 by at least 40K in Sept in the states yet strange things do happen so who fully knows ). Nintendo sales are just freaking insane hahah and I dont expect a change...sigh or yay depending on your prespective.

spacecoffin2

@LittleBigPlaneteer:Incorrect. I've had to deal with a crapload of people who very well know the PS3's BC is gone and are pissed about it. PS3 60 and 20 gig units, preowned go for as much as new 80 gig units on the preowned market.

@MrBionic:Just because the waters are quiet does not mean there's not a lot of shit breaking loose under it. Even causal gamers know that BC was axed and that's having a effect on PS3 sales. In some cases, it's the factor that makes people decide to pick up a 360.

Foxstar Sixtail

@LeLoi:And pigs will fly too.

Foxstar Sixtail

@captainapplesauce: "New versions" suggests that there are three or more different PS3s and 360s. A bigger hard drive does not mean you have a new version of a console. You could reasonably argue that there are two versions of each: PS3s with/without BC; 360s with/without a hard drive, but don't talk as if every SKU or bundle or HDD size means a different machine.

And remember that Nintendo have given us as many versions of the DS as Sony/MS have given us of the PS3/360. And two versions of the GameCube.... ;o)

DelSource

@captainapplesauce:

Who cares how many versions they put out, they still play the same games.

EnigmaNemesis

@captainapplesauce: It's to the point where new version pretty much just means bigger hard drive. Which is good.

Wolfers

@Narishma: If we have a penny for everything companies have said we would have a bajillion pennies. Now I have no idea how many dollars that is because I have no idea what a bajillion is, I hear that word doesnt exist, but it sure as hell is a lot in my world, Lol.

R3load

@DelSource:There's been 2 versions of the DS. Colors don't count, hardware config does. Hard drive is part of that you know. And cute GC comment.

@EnigmaNemesis:Not if your looking to play PS2 games!

Foxstar Sixtail

It's still rather awesome to see Sony have 3 platforms on there still selling PS2's and the PSP is really catching on. PS3 is still holding on strong but I think another 50 to 100 dollar price cut is in motion for the PS3. As much as the big wigs can't foresee it, its the truth. The PS3 needs a price cut, and backwards compatibility.

element7

@Foxstar Sixtail: Er, that's what I was saying. There are two versions of the DS (Phat; Lite), two PS3s (with BC; without BC) and two 360s (with HDD; without HDD). As I clearly stated: "Nintendo have given us *as many* versions of the DS as Sony/MS have given us of the PS3/360".

DelSource

@MrBionic: @Darkest Daze:

$100 off and BC is asking too much.

Don't bother hoping for it. And Sony won't even care if you won't buy a PS3.

It's just sad that people are still complaining about the loss of BC, how much are the PS2s now ? $120 ? hell you can even get a $90 PS2 on ebay.

I don't want to stressed out the blu-ray drive of my PS3 just to play PS2 games.

But hey, to each his own right?

theEnemy

@theEnemy:
I bought my PS2 for $90 on eBay 3 years ago....I don't have the room for both systems, and wouldn't mind the upscaling provided by the PS3. Unfortunately, it looks like this may actually be the generation I don't get a Sony system. I know I say it every generation, but this time I'm really underwhelmed and they keep making it harder for me to justify getting one.

Darkest Daze

@DelSource:

Right...a globally "watched" conference...who's news was reported on the same blogs and websites that had the rumored 360 price drops, which means the news was reaching the same audience. You're telling me if you heard a rumor of a price drop with substantial evidence towards it being legit, you'd ignore it and go ahead with a purchase anyway? Bullshit.

And, apparently you looked up "bias" and read the wrong definition, because you can't tell me my use of it in your case isn't relevant. You're completely biased towards the ps3 and against the 360...so please, spare me your attempt at superiority.

aKed

@DelSource:
Well, there's the PS3 systems that have backward compatibility, there's different versions of backward compatibility within those versions, there's versions that don't have backward compatibility, there's two versions of the 80 GB one with and one without the backward compatibility....

The 360 isn't as bad, but there are four versions of it.

It's not a problem for most of us who are looking on pages like this, but the average consumer can be confused by this nonsense. It's true that for the most part they all do the same thing, but just the other day I had some hick asking me if he could put a bigger hard drive in his PS3 to make it run faster, and like it or not hicks are consumers also.

captainapplesauce

And two versions of the GameCube.... ;o)

Haha! I missed that at first. Good one.

captainapplesauce

who saw it coming that PS3 sales were this low? We all thought that it would be another PS3 over 360 months. NPD always surprises us. (just like july, when we thought 360 would go over PS3 because of temporary price cut)

mcool93

360 + PS3 < Wii

Now that is what i call amazing. :D

Fauxe

@Foxstar Sixtail:
"Even causal gamers know that BC was axed and that's having a effect on PS3 sales. In some cases, it's the factor that makes people decide to pick up a 360."

I can pretty much believe that (casual gamers) consumers are this stupid, but to use this as an argument is just poor...
To make my point clear: Someone wants PS2 BC, can't have it in the "new" PS3s and then decides to buy a 360 with also no PS2 BC. Come on!

Superuser

That pic makes me laugh old people are so amused by this it's like they are stoners.

MURDERFACE

@Foxstar Sixtail:

Not if your looking to play PS2 games!

Then you would not be looking to buy a PS3, or you would have already had a launch one, or if you are itching for PS2 play, you would been had a PS2.

I swear, if it isn't one complaint for ones to try and say they don't want a PS3, it is another.

Just say you don't want one, and be done with it, not hide behind seriously meaningless things. Especially when this current console gen is 3 years old already.

EnigmaNemesis

@sascha23: Okay, but if PS3 sales were higher than 360 last month, and this month 360 sales are higher than PS3, then by definition, the increase (in both real terms and percentage terms - where 360 increase will be slightly exaggerated because the percentage is of a lower initial number) is higher for 360 than PS3.

Right?

Or did I still misunderstand...

quen

Was anyone really NOT expecting this? For gods sake I swear people just thrive on the fact that Nintendo is actually on top once again, what's the big deal? I didn't know it was so bad for them to be appealing to the audience that they are now when the "hard core" audience basically said "FUCK YOU" to their faces when the Gamecube finished 3rd. I'm sorry to say it, but it's your own fault that Nintendo isn't catering to your every whim, and lets face it, casuals aren't going to ruin the industry.

Shaoko