Topic: The War Begins...

[Mouldingo]

PS3's French Debut- A Total Disaster: 95% of Consoles Left Unsold



Oh, Sony, Sony where art thou? Europe apparently doesn’t want Sony’s expensive PlayStation 3, with the French organizers describing the Paris launch of the PS3 a “non-event”.

As expected, Sony fans here in Europe turned out to be not so “true-blue” to their favorite brand, some of them starting to bash Sony for its “infatuation” and for the high price established in the PAL areas for the PS3.

Although they are receiving the PlayStation 3 six months later than the Americans or the Japanese, European gamers get a more expensive and less powerful console (with reduced backwards compatibility).

If Americans are (still) able to buy a high-end PS3 for $599 and the Japanese gamers can even acquire it for ¥49,980 (US$412)- the low-end version- Europeans have to pay for it € 599 (US $779) or £425 (US $840) respectively, while Australians and New Zealanders will pay at least A$1,000 (US $785) or NZ $1,200 (US $839) in their respective markets (I have seen a New Zealander who said he paid NZ $1500). By comparison, PlayStation 3 with the 60 GB hard drive costs ¥59,980 (US$494) in Japan…

The cheaper version, which is available in Japan and the U.S. for ¥49,980 (US$412) and US$500, respectively, won’t be offered in PAL countries due to "retailer and customer demand," according to SCEI.

Apparently Sony had everything prepared for a massive and impressive debut of the PS3 on the French market, but company officials’ worst expectations came true: the failure was “sounding”.

Yesterday, in the evening before the launch (March 22) more than 200 journos gathered underneath the Eiffel Tower, but soon realized something was wrong: the streets around the tower were empty, and, as the time passed by, Sony officials began to worry. A little late, I might add…

The only faithful French fans of Sony are truly amazed to find themselves alone (in the dark…). Serge, 31, tries to come up with an explanation: “It’s true that it’s expensive, but with a HD player, it’s worth it”. Frank, 19, who’s been waiting for more than 7 hours, begins to feel the regret: “I’m disappointed, there’s nobody here. I could have waited tomorrow [March 23]. Moreover, they’ve promised us animations and nothing happens”.

Next to the launch site are Kevin, 21, from Montfermeil, with his two friends Céline and Michel. Kev has been a Sony fan for 10 years and is now the happy owner of a PS1 and a PS2, but surprisingly he was pushed back by the security forces when he tried to approach PS3’s “ground zero”. “I come from the suburbs, probably my face is repelling”, he jokes.

About 40 police officers were mobilized for protection, although there was about the same number of persons gathered at the Eiffel Tower to celebrate Sony’s event. “We were told to prepare for at least 3000 persons” said one of the officers, who also declared that they were instructed to permit only those who had a means of payment to pass (cash or credit card).

Sony had previously announced the projection in HD of SCEI’s Casino Royale, the latest installment in the James Bond series, but instead the OSS 117: Le Caire nid d'espions, was projected. OSS 117 is a 2006 French film directed by Michel Hazanavicius, and is a parody of the spy film genre. The film follows the exploits of a French secret agent, OSS 117, in Cairo in 1955. It was sort of a metaphor for an evening literally deserted.

Close to 22hrs the journalists receive an SMS from the French Xbox marketing team: “the Xbox team wishes you a good evening” ("la Xbox team vous souhaite une bonne soirée"). Soon after that a small military boat flanked with “Xbox loves you” messages appears, carrying a group of Microsoft employees who defy “the enemy”. The world around them laughs but not the Sony employees.

All they wait now is probably the end of this nightmare. A FNAC responsible (the co-organizer of the event) enumerates the possible causes for this failure: “Wii’s success, bad weather, badly chosen launch date and finally the price of the console have made this evening a non-event”.

At 23hrs, a FNAC store-boat reaches at last Seine river’s shore, accompanied by a huge inflatable PS3, which is lit by an immense projector situated on the other shore. The giant screen now presents images with PS3 games, but nobody gives a d**n, because of the Arctic cold outside.

Finally, midnight. Without cheers or applauses the first buyers are invited to step on the store-boat, and soon the first happy PS3 owners in France are interviewed by the crowd of journalists, who are more numerous. Only about 50 consoles were sold from the 1,000 available…

Not far away, on Champs Élysées, the FNAC store specially opened for the PS3 launch- just like other 12 stores of the group in the entire France- sees its PlayStation 3 consoles stalling on the shelves. Here, from the 1,000 consoles available, less than 300 found their owners…

[pchin]

Nah it's just a day event so far & it's in French. Probably more consumers will buy in other parts of Europe later...after all Europe consists a lot of countries you know. I'll give PS3 the benefit of doubt for the time being. Let's wait & see what's the reaction from other Europe countries... 

[pchin]

Australia's PS3 launch also got a very poor response 

http://kotaku.com/gaming/ps3-launch/australian-ps3-launch-shindig-246437.php

Here's a summary links to all the PS3 launch on PAL countries 

http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/ps3-launch/european--australian-playstation-3-launch-roundup-246511.php

[pchin]

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy coming soon to HD-DVD! 

[Munskie]

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy coming soon to HD-DVD! 

paul......link?   or are these just p'shopped? 

[pchin]

Marvin, ops forgot to mention. Got the pic from Amazon. No release detail yet. But I do hope the actual set will have a better art work.

Frankly, I'm quite sick seeing the same design (with different color) for so many years na. Hope they can be more creative noh 

Other than the Matrix Trilogy, I guess many HD-DVD fans are also very eager to get this set...pls don't let us wait too long!!! 

[pchin]

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Got this from an Int Forum dated last year:

When the trilogy will be released in HD, it's not going to be big. It's going to be MASSIVE!   

------------------------------

The news broke on Monday that director Peter Jackson will likely not be returning to the land of Middle-earth to direct the proposed Lord of the Rings prequels as a result of the lawsuit between the helmer and studio New Line. One can't help but wonder then where that leaves the proposed high-definition DVD set of the LOTR trilogy that has been rumored for some time now.

Coincidentally, IGN just interviewed Jackson's DVD producer and documentarian Michael Pellerin last week about the new King Kong extended edition release. Pellerin is Jackson's point man when it comes to DVD, and while he was careful to explain that he doesn't know when or how the high-def LOTR set might come about, he was able to give us a preview of what such a set will likely contain.

"On Lord of the Rings, we have always saved stuff for the inevitable HD box set," says Pellerin. "We've saved some really critical [bonus materials]. A long time ago, we knew that they were eventually going to release this thing as a box set on HD. This is going to happen, so that's that. You know the studio's going to do that anyway, because that's how they make money. So on Lord of the Rings we have this whole treasure chest, war chest, of material. Some of the coolest and funniest stuff we saved for the inevitable box set. Really, Lord of the Rings the final chapter is still waiting to be written."

Chief among those new bonus features will be a documentary directed by Jackson himself.

[pchin]

Lord of the Rings in Dolby TrueHD 7.1!! Found this news posted on 17 Jan 2007:

"During their TotalHD press conference at CES, Warner announced that New Line was working on the Lord of the Rings trilogy for both HD DVD and Blu-ray. While they did confirm that the titles were in the works, no details were given.

A source close to the matter gave us a few details of the upcoming release, these include:

*Main feature will be a single DL disc on both HD DVD and Blu-ray.   (no word if it will be a TotalHD disc)
*The movies will be the Theatrical Versions of each film. Yes you heard it right.  :'(
*Both discs will be encoded using VC1
*These will be the first titles to use Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Audio  *crosses fingers for 24bit* 
*Due to bandwidth constraints, as of now there will be no IME like features.

It's a real bummer that New Line is forcing us once again to double dip by releasing the theatrical versions, not that it was unexpected." 
 
Link: http://hd-insider.com/2007/01/17/lord-of-the-rings-hd-dvdbluray-details-trickling-out.aspx

A reader's reaction:

Lynn wrote:
"Oh, for godssake -- put out the extended editions! Who do you think is going to be buying the HD versions? The diehard fans! And most probably haven't watched the theatrical versions since the extended ones came out.

New Line used to be great when it came to LotR. The put out award winning, standard-setting extended edition box sets three years in a row. Now it seems they have totally lost their minds when it comes to anything to do with LotR." 

[john5479]

i need a date for that release...make sure its for 2007 hehe how about harry potter?

[Munskie]

I wont get any if they wont release them in extended editions.........

[pchin]

Yeah then we are in the same boat Munskie & may have to wait eternally...at least we are not alone 

[Munskie]

My sentiment is, if Im gonna watch the whole trilogy again......let me watch them in the extended route......

[pchin]

For me, the only temptation in LOTR is the first Dolby TrueHD in 7.1 channels!!

I already have a 7.1 system setup & currently there's no HD-DVD that offers the awesome THD 7.1... hmm...temptation indeed. Anyway, it's a long short. Meanwhile, we'll focus on Matrix Trilogy first 

[barrister]

PS3's French Debut- A Total Disaster: 95% of Consoles Left Unsold

Australia's PS3 launch also got a very poor response 

I don't get it.  I thought that there would always be more people than those who attended who would be willing to line up for prestige items such as the PS3, regardless of price.


=========================================================


At the UK release, ecommercetimes.com reports that outside the Virgin Megastore on London's Oxford Street, Microsoft handed out free beer to journalists.  For gamers standing in the queue prior to midnight, the company handed out folding chairs with this web address printed on them:

http://www.shkyw.org/

The site contains nothing but a welcome note to Sony.

[pchin]

How nice of Microsoft giving a warm hospitality to those who lined up. Hopefully their hearts will be touched & may convert to Xbox 360 in a last minute ditch 

Probably (IMO) the poor PS3 response could be a silent protest due to the "paying more but getting less" scenario where SONY has removed a chip in PS3 that cause a compatibility issue with older PS2 games. Also this BD-J issue that also affect PS3 (the link posted by Krazy). http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6427147.html?nid=2705

[krazy]

The removal of the EE+GS chip (which provides PS1/2 compatibility) was planned all along by Sony for all versions of the PS3 since the start.  The only reason why the US and Japanese versions of the PS3 have the EE+GS chip was because the emulation software was not yet ready at the time of the US and Japanese launch of the PS3. The future batches of the Japan and US PS3 will not have the EE+GS  chip as well and will go the emulation route to lower costs.

Edit: even with software emulation on the Euro PS3, it's still much better than the XBOX360 situation where a lot of original XBOX games still can't be played on the 360

[pchin]

Edit: even with software emulation on the Euro PS3, it's still much better than the XBOX360 situation where a lot of original XBOX games still can't be played on the 360

Hey...let's just stick & focus on the PS3 Euro launch & its console issues without comparing to Xbox 360 noh

The future batches of the Japan and US PS3 will not have the EE+GS  chip as well and will go the emulation route to lower costs.

Hmm...it doesn't seem like a good strategy. It can back fire and create more protest. But in return of such cost cutting measure, consumers will get the BD-J implemented? Any other improvements?

[Munskie]

The Matrix Trilogy will have Dolby TrueHD...(click).....nice!!!!    And its also up for pre-order in Amazon....

[pchin]

Yep that's right. It's been discussed here: http://pinoydvd.com/board/index.php?topic=64356.0

*Wish we had a separate section for HD only to avoid all the chop-suey 

[pchin]

From a member named SoulOnice from another forum wrote:

April 15th - Buy HD DVDs from Amazon Day!
Over 200 people have confirmed participating in this event!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The idea is to show support for HD DVD by buying movies on a specific day. There is no better way to show support for HD DVD than by backing it financially. That is the language the movie studios understand best. If there is a strong demand for HD DVD software, then hopefully Blu-ray only studios will at least go neutral.

I would also add that the point is to also have a little fun and to try to see how high we can spike sales for one day.

I have e-mailed Universal and Amazon to see what, if anything, they can do to promote April 15th. I will be e-mailing others as well.

The date has been confirmed as the one year anniversary of the launch of HD DVD in the U.S."

**Hopefully Amazon will give a 50% pric ecut similar to the recent BD sales 

[barrister]

Toshiba Sets New Low with $400 HD DVD Player Pricing
Thu Mar 22, 2007 at 04:06 AM ET

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Toshiba/High-Def_Disc_Marketing/Hardware/Toshiba_Sets_New_Low_with_$400_HD_DVD_Player_Pricing/534

[krazy]

Hey...let's just stick & focus on the PS3 Euro launch & its console issues without comparing to Xbox 360 noh

Hmm...it doesn't seem like a good strategy. It can back fire and create more protest. But in return of such cost cutting measure, consumers will get the BD-J implemented? Any other improvements?

By the time the revised PS3 (without EE+GS) rolls out in the US and Japan, the emulation software would have probably already advanced enough that most people won't notice the difference.

The PS3 is already technically capable of the BD-J features like PiP, IME and BD-Live as it already has the memory requirement (256MB), the powerful Cell processor, and a spacious hard disk to store downloaded content, all it would take is a firmware update which I'm guessing would be in time for the October 2007 deadline of the BDA to make all new (after that date) players BD-J capable

Edit: DVD upscaling on the PS3 is also said to be in the works as well

[Mouldingo]

By the time the revised PS3 (without EE+GS) rolls out in the US and Japan, the emulation software would have probably already advanced enough that most people won't notice the difference.

The PS3 is already technically capable of the BD-J features like PiP, IME and BD-Live as it already has the memory requirement (256MB), the powerful Cell processor, and a spacious hard disk to store downloaded content, all it would take is a firmware update which I'm guessing would be in time for the October 2007 deadline of the BDA to make all new (after that date) players BD-J capable

Edit: DVD upscaling on the PS3 is also said to be in the works as well

And hopefully Warner finally gives us BD supporters the Matrix Trilogy

[Moks007]

From a member named SoulOnice from another forum wrote:

April 15th - Buy HD DVDs from Amazon Day!
Over 200 people have confirmed participating in this event!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The idea is to show support for HD DVD by buying movies on a specific day. There is no better way to show support for HD DVD than by backing it financially. That is the language the movie studios understand best. If there is a strong demand for HD DVD software, then hopefully Blu-ray only studios will at least go neutral.

I would also add that the point is to also have a little fun and to try to see how high we can spike sales for one day.

I have e-mailed Universal and Amazon to see what, if anything, they can do to promote April 15th. I will be e-mailing others as well.

The date has been confirmed as the one year anniversary of the launch of HD DVD in the U.S."

**Hopefully Amazon will give a 50% pric ecut similar to the recent BD sales 

yup gonna order a lot on this day hehe..Go hddvd

[pchin]

And hopefully Warner finally gives us BD supporters the Matrix Trilogy

Warner is bias against BD & usually will give a better treatment in the HD-DVD audio department... since you're neutral, get HD-DVD na lang

[Clondalkin]

Eur599 is simply too bloody expensive for a game console (and that's probably not　including the hefty sales taxes in Europe yet).   For that price, I can already buy a 20GB PS3, a WII and a DS Lite in Tokyo, or even 2 sets of 20GB PS3s.  I have to sympathize with the European gamers.  However, perhaps many of them already own a US or Japan version in the first place.

Backward compatibility, in my opinion, is really nothing more than a feel-good and convenient feature.  I think that feature is appreciated better by, and finds good use to very very young gamers instead of the more matured ones. Once you start playing top-tier next gen games, it's no longer that interesting to pop-in old games with clearly inferior graphics no matter how great the gameplay is. 

[pchin]

Opss...my mind was playing tricks on me again. Tnx, I've corrected my post 

So even if they already have the DTH files for their HD DVD, why spend more on using DTH on BD with a higher license?  Even if they did, until BD-J is implemented under version BD 1.1, Warner would not be able to release both formats on even keel.

That's the point...not everything is being equal at the moment when Warner releases a movie in both formats. Hence, in my previous post (meant for NEUTRALS only) instead of waiting for BD Matrix to be released which can be a long wait, they can buy HD-DVD Matrix as it offers the better THD audio track & nothing to lose (I hope so). 

For example, look at Happy Feet BD vs HD-DVD review:

"Warner continues to give Blu-ray short thrift when it comes to audio. It's been a sorry trend, with the studio failing to offer Dolby TrueHD tracks and/or comparable DTS-HD or uncompressed PCM mixes on their A-list Blu-ray titles, while their HD DVD counterparts boast high-resolution audio.

Unfortunately for audiophiles, this just can't compare to the full-blown Dolby TrueHD mix on the HD DVD."

But then again, not everyone concerns with the audio quality. It's just a matter of preference

[Clondalkin]

But then again, not everyone concerns with the audio quality. It's just a matter of preference

and for those who are so concerned about audio quality, it would be quite a significant investment in HT equipment in order to fully appreciate HD sound.  Personally, I couldn't care less (yet) if the audio quality is just old-gen DTS quality, or whatever new acronym the audio engineers invent (it's probably part of aging well...he he he).   Pretty much satisfied with my current HT set-up as it is, which is definitely more than decent enough to double as hi-fi audio system.  The latest HD sound technologies should be better if I purchase the right and new equipment, but what I don't know won't hurt me anyway.

In my opinion, hi-def video coupled with DD/DTS audio is enough for most HT loving families!...if the sound is weaker compared to DVD, then just boost the volume as you please.   Developments in "lossless" technologies are welcome of course, but honestly thinking, did we really care about how "lossy" DD and DTS audio are for the past 9 years?   I don't remember so.  I just re-watched the Eagles (Australia) and Tina Turner's (Amsterdam) concerts in DVD/DTS and I am still blown.
     

[john5479]

anyone preordered at amazon for the matrix?

[pchin]

Yes that's very true Clondalkin. The regular DD or the higher bitrate of DTS would satisfy most folks at home. However, for some HT enthusiasts (minority anyway ) both PQ & SQ are taken into consideration for an overall HT experience & enjoyment. Imagine this, not only we are seeing high resolution movies but also we can feel as if we are inside or part of the action.  

Boosting the volume on lossy tracks isn't the same. The HD audio is dynamic, crispier, clearer, etc. even at a lower volume and then again you're right: we will need a significant investment in HT equipment (no wonder our moms always warn us to stay away from the TV!). By getting into HD bandwagon is already expensive: we need HD player + HD movies + HDTV plasma or LCD... :'(

Nevertheless, it's nothing wrong to get our HD movies in TrueHD or uncompressed 5.1 today as to future proof our HD collections as 10 years from now, in case we do upgrade our HT equip (hopefully I'll win the jackpot lotto ) when the HD tech matures & HT equip prices become affordable...we can look back & enjoy out our favourite movies once again in HD audio!  

**my response is in reference to the earlier post I made on Matrix HD-DVD vs BD. Since you're a HD-DVD supporter the choice is clear hehe