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.
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.
Stock router firmware sucks. It doesn’t have good quality of service functions and sometimes may even cause your router to crash randomly. That’s why the Epileptic Gaming team has put together a tutorial showing you how to install DD-WRT replacement firmware on your router. What’s DD-WRT? Watch the tutorial below:
We’ve just released Up All Night: Army of Two featuring Janina Gavankar. Up All Night is a reality tv-style review show that shows real-time reactions of gamers as they go through the game. This time around, we reviewed EA Games’ Army of Two, a new third person shooter that centers on co-op.
In this review we ask three pivotal questions:
1) Is this game worth your money?
2) How does it compare to others in the genre?
3) Does Robert Summa suck at videogames?
The entire team worked very hard at getting this review out, so check it and leave us some feedback.
Epileptic Gaming returns today with news, segments, and ranting. What more could you ask for? See below!
Today:
1) News of the week!
2) An unorthodox review of God of War: Chains of Olympus for PSP!
3) Twee Nguyen of Air Guitar joins us for a live product demonstration.
4) Bukaku episode 3: Effeciency is God!
5) How to create a Japanese PlayStation Network account.
In order to play exclusive Japanese downloadable content on your PlayStation 3, you need to create a Japanese PlayStation Network account. It’s not rocket science, but pretty tough until you figure out how to speak Japanese…or watch a tutorial like djWHEAT’s below.
Our own djWHEAT has finalized the schedule for Faces for Radio, the informal 1v1 talk show spun off from Epileptic Gaming.
FFR will now air live through the usual Stickam and uStream channels Fridays at 7PM ET, 4PM PT, and midnight GMT. FFR lasts two hours long.
For those of you in bed already, FFR goes to video on demand on the right column of GGL Wire, the GGL Wire video page, and the EG site in a reasonable time thereafter.
Summa is at GDC this week, so Cami will take his spot.
This explosive episode takes place at a several-million dollar house in Marina Del Rey, CA, with the cast of Marcus “djWHEAT” Graham, Robert Summa, Hogan “kam-RA” Carter, Cami and of course Janina figuring out if Burnout Paradise is worth a buy. Shenanigans, including an extended crash mode-like session, ensue.
We mourn the loss of Robert Summa, who is missing in action at Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco. Last we heard, he was involved in a gang war between three rival sets. Here are the talking points and previews of the day, but not in this particular order:
1) Army of Two special preview
2) Rainbow Six Vegas 2 special preview
3) Up All Night: Burnout Paradise teaser (show release today at upallnight.ggl.com)
4) We’ll attempt to establish radio contact with Summa in San Francisco, probably in the midst of a firefight between five rival gangs.
5) Discussion: Are PC games really dead? We hear from one of the guys working on Spore, who makes a convincing argument…but does it hold water?
We’ve just released 
Epileptic Gaming returns today with news, segments, and ranting. What more could you ask for? See below!
Today on Epileptic Gaming:
Our own djWHEAT has finalized the schedule for Faces for Radio, the informal 1v1 talk show spun off from Epileptic Gaming.