Sony has announced it expects to post a $2.9 billion loss at the end of the fiscal year. This is a reversal of its October 2008 prediction of a $2 billion profit by the end of the fiscal year.
How does a projected swing of nearly $5 billion happen in four months? Let me count the ways.
1) Low sales. 2008 was one of the worst years for sales of…pretty much everything, owing to a bad economy. This was expected, but no one really knew how bad it would be until after Christmas. Most of Sony’s products command high prices to begin with, which wasn’t helped by…
2) The yen’s value has gone up relative to other currencies, raising the export prices of high-end consumer electronics like Bravia TVs and PlayStation 3s. This undoubtedly caused low sales in certain markets. (The yen has now reached a 13 1/2 year high vs. the dollar).
Imagine a loop of failure, increasing in scope until the fail encompasses a $5 billion swing. I’m hardly an economist, but that’s just how I see it. Feel free to chime in if you think I’m wrong.
In any event, Sony will increase its layoffs past the original number of 16,000. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe does not expect to lose any of its (undoubtedly huge) staff, while Sony Computer Entertainment America remains mum on the matter.
Read:Sony Expects to Lose $2.9 Billion, Axes More Jobs
It looks like it’s time for crappy MMO developers to pay the piper. First we heard about the shutdown of Tabula Rasa in February, and now Age of Conan developer Funcom is merging servers to account for low populations across the board.
When it’s all said and done, the total number of AoC servers will sit at 18, a far cry from the original 49.
It just goes to show that most of the companies trying to get a piece of the MMO cash cow are failing miserably after the release of Wrath of the Lich King. I’m going to throw out Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning as the next victim of Blizzard’s juggernaut. Flame away.
Read: Age of Conan Losing 63% of Severs
Here are your Digital Games gold medal winners!
These gold medalists displayed not only superior skill and finesse at their game of choice, but had the endurance and flexibility to beat a series of tough opponents. It’s this kind of consistent excellence that separates gold medalists from everyone else.
Congratulations to all of you, and to everyone who stepped up for their chance to go for the gold.
WC3 PC Europe - FuRy[SWE]
WC3 PC North and Central America - madisonstreet
TMNF PC North and Central America - G2_Wolf
TMNF PC Europe - dignitas.skyward Read more »
While the official deadline for Digital Games bracket completion has passed, some matches haven’t been reported yet. Let’s have a look at the medalists so far!
European Counter-Strike 1.6 is complete, and The Skurvels have taken gold after a win over esuba.HAL3000.cs1.6. Congrats to the Polish powerhouse!
In North American of Duty 4 (PS3), meanwhile, DeathB4Dishonor dishonored the memory of Teflon Hearts and took gold! They’re followed by Xbox 360 NA counterparts Team OMG, who defeated Hellz Remedy. Multi-gaming team LowLandLions KO’d TeamDruidz in PC European CoD4. And last, but most certainly not least, #1 seed Ready to Kill Clan completed a rout of the South American PC bracket with a win over Nex Impetus.
On the RTS side of things, KhuFu_Ownz won the North American C&C3:Kane’s Wrath bracket, defeating KiFireLedius. [x17]Pill dropped ~FireFly~ on his head 3-0 to win the Asia/Oceania C&C3:KW bracket, and knolz sealed victory in Europe by topping golfplayer.
Next up: StarCraft: Brood War. This classic title’s North American bracket was overrun by Brol1’s Zerg swarm. LML did the same to the European SC:BW bracket. Read more »
For the first part of the DG bracket update, hit this Wire post.
Heated battles in the Digital Games brackets continue, and some of the best players in each game are getting ready for a major slugfest.
In the FIFA European regional bracket, dragua has already advanced to the third round after a victory over Winzzz. He’ll play the winner of droter vs. icantplaygood. beLu finds himself in the same position, awaiting the victor of Zaraza1 and pavjke.
In South American FIFA, the field has been whittled down to four players! Teruliro will battle franklinsoto for a chance at supremacy, while maryfer faces off against pclloh in the bottom portion of the bracket. Who will reign supreme in South America?
Lastly, in North American FIFA, only three remain. caleb1984 is in the final already, and awaits the winner of KiFireLedius and Mojo.ca. Read more »
After a tumultuous first round of bracket play in the Digital Games, things are falling into place for the second round.
In Counter-Strike: 1.6 Europe, first-seeded emulate look to drop #16 peXg.young.cs, while #2 neP face off against #15 LowLandLions.cs. emulate are already world champions in a different tournament, so it should come as no surprise that they are heavily favored to have their way with this bracket. We will see, however, if a lower seed can upset them.
The North American Call of Duty 4 PS3 bracket sees #1 ONEARMYONELIFE matched against DeathB4Dishonor, while #2 Fear is Better Than Respect will fight#15 Hippo Attack force. I haven’t run into any idle speculation about who is best in this segment of the competition, so the field seems open to all! Read more »
The deadline for the first round of the Digital Games Regional Final Brackets have been extended to Saturday, August 9, to give players/teams who have not played a bit more time.
We won’t be able to extend the brackets again, so if you do not play your match by Saturday you will be forfeited out of the competition.
If you have played a first round match, please re-report the results, as some of the results were erased in the process of extending the round.
The universal appeal of golf has come to the Digital Games with World Golf Tour, a free web-based title set at the Bali Hai golf course!
Click here to play now!
World Golf Tour features realistic wind simulation and true to life replication of the world’s best golf courses.
Best of all, WGT keeps track of your progress on a global leaderboard. This allows players to one up their friends without having to leave their homes.
If you’re like most people and can’t partake in a real life world golf tour, hit up World Golf Tour to get started.
GGL and Bosch are proud to announce the launch of the Virtual Racing Season, featuring ladders for five different racing games across three platforms to allow gamers to experience the thrill of the race!
The grand prize winner will receive a trip to the 2009 Daytona 500, while ten runners up will receive trips to a Sprint Cup race worth approximately $1,000.
Games
The five games included in the Virtual Racing Season are:
- TrackMania Nations Forever (PC) - download here
- Forza Motorsport 2 (Xbox 360)
- Need for Speed ProStreet (Xbox 360)
- Burnout Paradise (Xbox 360)
Players are encouraged to compete on as many different ladders as they want, but in order to reach the grand final, and win the grand prize, ladder leaders must compete in the Trackmania Nations Forever Last Chance ladder.
Visit vrs.ggl.com to get started! You will need to be a GGL member to register. Hit this registration link if you aren’t already a member.
Read more »
With the conclusion of the Digital Games ladders, we’ve switched the tournament over to a bracket format for the Regional Finals.
The regional brackets pit national medalists against one another in a fight to the death to determine who is best in the region. In addition, if you are a participant in the Digital Games brackets and want to be featured in a new video show GGL is developing, please save your demos and replays (where applicable)!
GGL rules stipulate that all replays should be saved for dispute purposes regardless, but there could be some very interesting coverage opportunities for you and your team in the future, so please save replays!
Good luck to all competitors!
With the end of the Digital Games ladders, GGL is proud to announce the national medalists for all games. These medalists will eventually be preserved on a DG medals page, but here’s the list for your perusal.
Visit the Digital Games news post to see a long-format list of the medalists.
Congrats to all the winners and we’ll see you in the bracket portion of the tournament!
PC World’s Broadband Innovation series just featured the Digital Games, with some backstory on Patrick “Pat Dark” O’Day, who is participating in the tournament.
While the article goes to some length to describe O’Day’s lack of athleticism (as if it matters when it comes to computer games), it ends on a fairly positive tone.
Check out the article at PC World.
