GameStop’s CEO said Thursday that the price Sony’s PlayStation 3 may be a bit too high. According to the retailer’s Chief Executive Daniel DeMatteo, the PS3 is a “great machine,” but for the current economic environment, it is just a bit pricey. With hardware sales led by the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox 360, DeMatteo said that consumers are flocking to video games because they see value in them, as titles are relatively cheap entertainment due to the amount of hours gamers can get out of them. GameStop’s buy-sell-trade business has picked up amid the recession, posting a record number of consumers trading in used games. DeMatteo said he thinks video games will hold up fine looking forward into 2009, but that “no one could be absolutely totally optimistic.” Read the full article

As Microsoft enters 2009, its video game console may be the “X factor,” as the Xbox 360 represents software giant at its best, according to a new report. “Microsoft delivered a reasonably solid and full- featured product ahead of rivals,” said Christopher Saunders of InternetNews. “With the Xbox 360, it cultivated publishing partners, kept hurdles relatively low for software developers, remained aggressive in pricing and managed to adjust the platform to evolve with the times -- most recently upping its focus on downloadable video and Wii-like avatars.” “Sure, there were some problems, such as the so- called Red Ring of Death reliability issues. But overall, the Xbox 360 represents Microsoft at its best: leveraging its tremendous resources to deliver a product that fits the needs of next-gen console users. And it did this after brute- forcing its way into the game console space.” “But a look at the Vista operating system experience also threatens to make the Xbox success an exception to the rule,” he said. Read the full article

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is currently the most buzzed about video game console, topping Sony’s PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii, Nielson Online reported. According to the Internet media and market research service, the 360 garnered the largest share of online buzz among the top game consoles, with 41.6 percent of messages mentioning Xbox, Wii, or PlayStation between November 1 and December 9. Wii and PlayStation ranked number 2 and 3, with 29.8 percent and 28.6 percent of game console messages, respectively. Read the full article

Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) today announced that its highly anticipated PlayStation Home Beta service for PlayStation 3 (PS3) will become available for all PS3 users around the world on December 11, 2008. Following the successful completion of the closed beta service, PlayStation Home's open beta service will continue to evolve with new features and functionality. PlayStation Home is a ground-breaking 3D social gaming community available on PS3 that allows users to interact, communicate and share gaming experiences. By leveraging the power of PS3, PlayStation Home delivers overwhelming visual graphics and rich gaming social experiences only possible on the PS3 platform. Within PlayStation Home, users can create and customize their own unique avatars and explore virtual community in real time where they can communicate freely through text or voice chat. PlayStation Home users will not only be able to enjoy variety of entertainment content such as mini-games, videos and special events along with their friends, but will also be able to create their own community by using the Club feature to create clubs with other PlayStation Home users who share the same interests. PlayStation Home, available as a free download starting December 11, will launch directly from the PlayStation Home icon on the PlayStation Network column of XMB (XrossMediaBar) on PS3. Users will be able to experience basic features and services of PlayStation Home, free of charge. PlayStation Home will allow open interaction among users, business partners and SCE, and will evolve with additional features including dedicated game spaces, special events and exclusive themed items, to further enrich the entertainment experience on the PS3 platform. "PlayStation Home is truly a promising network community service on the PlayStation platform, made possible with the powerful combination of PS3's overwhelming computational power and PlayStation Network that covers many countries around the globe," said Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO, SCE. "We are committed to providing PS3 users with exciting gaming experiences with PlayStation Home and together with our partners and users, expand the new world of interactive entertainment as we move forward." Read the full article

Sony’s announcement Tuesday to slash 8,000 jobs worldwide and shut down some plants is “not expected” to hit the company’s video game sector. The electronic giant’s latest move is aimed at cutting costs by $1.1 billion a year amid a global downturn and stronger yen battering profits. “Particularly within its electronics business, where Sony has been most affected by the acute downturn in the economic climate, the company has already undertaken certain short-term measures, including adjusting production, lowering inventory levels, and reducing operational expenses. Going forward, Sony intends to adjust product pricing to mitigate the impact of the appreciation of the yen, curtail or delay part of its investment plans, and downsize or withdraw from unprofitable or non-core businesses. Furthermore, Sony plans to realign domestic and overseas manufacturing sites, reallocate its workforce and reduce headcount,” the company said in a statement. Sony’s PlayStation video games division, along with the Sony Pictures movie business, is reportedly “not expected” to be affected by the cost-cutting drive. “Through these measures, Sony will aim to establish a corporate structure capable of delivering estimated total annual cost savings of more than 100 billion yen by the end of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010.” Read the full article