Speaking to reporters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas yesterday, Sony Computer Entertainment Chairman Kaz Hirai reiterated Sony Computer Entertainment President Andrew House’s declaration that the company has no plans to unveil its new gaming console at E3 this summer.

“Andy is absolutely right in that we are not making any announcements at E3,” Hirai said. “I’ve always said a 10-year life cycle for PS3, and there is no reason to go away from that.”

Ten years? If Sony’s sticking to that cycle, we may not see the PS4 until 2016.

According to research outfit Media Create, which closely tracks the Japanese console gaming industry, Sony sold just 72,479 Vitas during the crucial shopping week before Christmas. That’s a massive decline in sales following the device’s debut — well over 75 percent.

In fact, at 72,479, the Vita actually sold fewer units that its predecessor, the PS3.

So what happened?

That’s not at all clear. Certainly, inventory issues could be to blame. The decline could also have something to do with early reports of problems with the device. While Sony was quick to refute such allegations — which ranged from laggy gameplay to freezes and crashes, it wasn’t able to stamp them out before reports echoing them appeared in the broader tech media.

Could such negative chatter have put this big a damper on holiday sales? Maybe. A more likely explanation, though, is the Vita’s high price, its underwhelming lineup of games at launch, and Nintendo’s decision to debut its wildly popular Monster Hunter game at the same time. Knit those three things together with reports of software glitches and you’ve got a pretty big wet blanket.

Either way, those hiccups will be well behind Sony when the PS Vita hits the U.S. and Canada on Feb. 22, with a pretty impressive lineup of launch titles.

(Media Create chart courtesy of Neograf)

That designation comes from Web video tracker Visible Measures, which says the official upload from Apple, plus unofficial uploads and derivative clips (parodies, “responses,” etc.), generated 28 million views this year.

Runners-up for the “most viral” title, according to Visible Measures: Ads featuring Lady Gaga, the International Space Station, PlayStation 3 and YouTube gaming god Freddie W. (One of these things …)

It’s worth noting that Visible Measures’ methodology and classifications for this one are a bit particular. For instance, it includes ads for videogame platforms, but not the games themselves. There’s some logic to that, because while videogames have many, many more views, the bulk of them come from “game play” videos that players upload themselves.

Which is fine, but that also means that straight-up ads like Jonah Hill’s Call of Duty spot don’t make the list. And that one has racked up  a minimum of 17.7 million views this fall.

But at the very least we can say that these are five very, very popular Web videos from the past year.

Google Chrome’s “The Web is What You Make of It” Campaign: 22 million views

YouTube/Spacelab: 17 million views

Sony PS3 “Michael/Long Live Play” ad: 15.8 million views

YouTube star Freddie W’s Samsung “Gamer Commute” ad: 11.5 million views

Vita, the upcoming handheld device, is hoping it’s in a class of its own, says John Koller, Sony’s PlayStation director of hardware marketing.

It better be.

In the three years the device has been under development, smartphones and tablets have become mainstream and the need for dedicated portable gaming devices has been weakened.

And if Nintendo’s 3DS is any indication, Vita’s prospects aren’t good. The 3DS struggled after missing the holidays last season, and Nintendo was forced to cut the price drastically almost immediately.

“This is a larger game experience. We think we are insulated from the competition,” Koller said. “We love mobile games. Mobile and tablets games are additive.”

As an example, while an HD game on the iPad is large, a game on the Vita could range from 2GB to 4GB. That would take up a substantial amount of the iPad’s memory, and take an awful long time to download.

The horizontal device is large and fits in your hands comfortably.

There’s a touchscreen on the front and a touchpad on the back, there are both forward-facing and rear-facing cameras, there are dual analog sticks to support first-person shooters, and there’s integration with the PS3, which will allow game makers to provide the ability to start playing the game on the console, leave the house and pick up where you left playing on the Vita. If developers allow it, users will also be able to stream games that they bought for the console to their handheld using Wi-Fi.

The Wi-Fi version starts at $249 and the 3G version costs $299, not including a data plan with AT&T.

As with any new connected gaming device, it will also experiment with things such as augmented reality, social features — such as Twitter and Facebook integration — and location-based services.

Koller described the demand as robust. Of the current PlayStation Portable owners, 60 percent have said they will upgrade in the next 18 months, and of the console owners, 63 percent said they would buy one. Of course, those two markets have a lot of overlap.

Initially, the device was expected to come out before Christmas, but after it was announced at E3 in June it faced delays. Recently, Sony announced it would come out in Japan first, and then hit the U.S. and other areas on Feb. 22.

Koller said the delay was due to meeting demand and that pre-orders are “substantial.”

He added, “We’ve increased production materially since E3. We learned our lesson to make sure you have enough product.”

Koller argues that the PSP launched in March 2005 and it still sold one million units in the first week, so missing the holidays is not detrimental.

He believes with more than 100 substantial games in development worldwide, there will be plenty of reasons for people to buy it right away. That’s where the Nintendo 3DS faltered: Not enough 3-D games at launch to justify buying it.

Today, Sony is announcing a special bundle that will launch a week early for those who are particularly anxious to get their hands on the device.

The PS Vita First Edition Bundle will be available for pre-order starting today. For $350, consumers will get the 3G version of the device, a 4GB memory card, a travel case, and the game, Little Deviants. The devices will be available for pick-up on Feb. 15.

Phew! The NFL kicks off tonight, on schedule, on NBC, when the Saints play the Packers. Which means that some of you, for various reasons, are going to watch it on the Web.

And you can! Even better, you can do it legally, for free: Comcast’s broadcast unit is offering a complete stream of the game, via NBCSports.com, along with additional camera angles and other digital goodies. From the press release:

Sunday Night Football Extra employs a full HD-quality player, which includes a draggable picture-in-picture feature for any of the online-only cameras, plus full DVR functionality allowing the user to pause and scroll back-and-forth – even review plays in “slo-mo.”

After tonight’s game, NBC will offer the free streams for every game it broadcasts this season, every Sunday night.

It’s the fourth season in a row that NBC has done this, and I’m always surprised that more people don’t make a big deal out of it. NFL TV rights are the most valuable thing in video, and they only get more expensive each year — Disney just agreed to pay nearly $2 billion a season for Monday Night Football rights.

So the notion that a broadcaster would put this stuff up for free on the Web at the same time seems counterintuitive. (Note that Monday Night Football, for instance, is one of the only things you can’t watch via ESPN’s excellent new iPad/iPhone app.)

The only conclusion I can draw is that there just aren’t that many people watching the live streams — because really, if you have the option, you want to watch this on your big HD set, right?

OK. So what about the rest of the season? Well, you can watch that on the Web, legally, too. But it will cost you: Head over to DirecTV to see how much they’re charging for access to their “Sunday Ticket” package, which now includes unlimited access on your laptop, as well as iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, etc.

(FYI: If you’re willing to shell out for Sunday Ticket but don’t want a two-year DirecTV commitment, and you have a Sony PS3, try out the game device’s new service, which will let you order a season’s worth of football for $340. Pricey, but it will give you more flexibility and you don’t have to worry about installing a dish. Hint: When it asks you if you are able to receive DirecTV where you live, say “no.”)

I don’t condone stealing this stuff off the Web, of course, and those of you who want to do that don’t need my advice, anyway.

I will note, however, that readers who live outside the U.S. and want to stream the games can buy what appears to be a very reasonably priced package directly from the NFL. It looks like $150 for a basic package with all the games, though that may change depending on what country you live in.

*I’m not supposed to do this, because it violates some serious ethical rules, but here goes: Go Pack Go! Except when you’re playing the Vikings. And if you think I’m the only Minnesotan with conflicted Wisconsin loyalties, well — you’re wrong.

According to NPD Group, Nintendo sold more than 620,000 hardware units in the U.S. in April. This includes more than 257,000 units in the Nintendo DS family, and only 194,000 Nintendo 3DS units. Nintendo also sold more than 172,000 Wii consoles.

Nintendo attributed the gap between the two handheld game units to the staying power of the original DS family–and avoided any implications that the 3DS was not selling well.

“With a rich library of games, Nintendo DS has something for everyone. The system’s staying power is exemplified by the recent launch of the Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version games,” Nintendo said. Those two games sold an impressive 2.8 million units or more combined during their first 60 days of availability.

After the 3DS went on sale March 27, Nintendo was eager to report that the glasses-free 3-D device broke sales records. However, the original DS still appears to be benefiting from having a deeper catalog of games available for sale. Additionally, sales may have been hurt by concerns of younger players viewing 3-D images over long periods of time, or complaints that 3-D images made people dizzy, or gave them headaches.

Overall, NPD Group said that the videogame industry saw very strong sales for hardware, software and accessories in April, compared to the year-ago period.

NPD’s Anita Frazier wrote that all three categories experienced double-digit dollar growth compared to April 2010, reversing a negative downward trend.

“Easter purchasing occurred in April this year as opposed to March last year,” Frazier wrote. “The Easter timing shift could explain about $60 million of the growth, but even accounting for that shift, sales of new physical product realized a notable increase versus last year.”

Hardware sales were strong across the board with the PS3, PSP and Xbox 360 platforms all seeing an increase in unit sales versus April last year. The Xbox 360 platform was the best-selling device of the month in terms of unit sales, followed by the Nintendo DS.

Software performed even better in April. It was the first month that new physical retail sales of content showed growth in both units and dollars since November of last year.

In March, Microsoft said it had sold 10 million Kinect sensors in the first four months. But it was evident that sales could be slowing after a huge spike during the holidays.

The two accessories are slightly different but serve the same purpose of extending the life of the videogame console by widening the audience it serves from the hardcore segment to the more casual player.

The Xbox Kinect uses a camera to track the movements of players, so they don’t need to use a controller at all. Generally, the best use case for it so far are games that mimic dancing, but recently, Xbox has started integrating the technology into other services, such as Netflix.

In contrast, the PlayStation Move, which uses a camera and a controller, is more similar to the Nintendo Wii.

Because the player must hold a controller, Sony claims, actions can be much more precise, making the system appropriate for a wider selection of games. There are also peripherals for the controller, such as the Sharp Shooter, which allows a user to simulate shooting a gun. Sony said despite limited supply, 40 percent of the time the Sharp Shooter accessory sold alongside Killzone 3 at key retailers.

During the holidays, Microsoft had a difficult time meeting demand for the Kinect, but supply has since caught up. Today, Sony also reported shortages of the Move.

In a statement, Bob McKenzie, SVP of merchandising for GameStop, said: “Due to the demand for the PlayStation Move motion controller, we’ve been struggling to keep units in stock in our U.S. GameStop stores. With big franchise titles set for release throughout the year for the PlayStation Move, we expect the remainder of 2011 to be a period of continued sales growth for PlayStation Move.”

Sony also said the PS3 has now sold 50 million units worldwide and has more than 75 million registered accounts for the PlayStation Network, which offers downloadable games and entertainment.

The Nintendo 3DS, which allows players to see 3-D images without special glasses, will go on sale in the U.S. on Sunday for $250.

Amazon is already claiming that the Nintendo 3DS was the biggest console launch ever on Amazon.com. It sold more units on January 19–the day it was announced–than any console had before, including the slimmed-down versions of the Xbox 360 last year and the PS3 the year before.

GameStop, which will open 800 of its stores worldwide at midnight on sales day, said pre-sales were strong. “Demand has been so strong that, literally, we are working every day with Nintendo to ensure that we have sufficient product. And they have been very good partners on this, and we fully expect to have sufficient product at launch; the demand is very strong,” said GameStop’s President Tony Bartel during the company’s earnings call yesterday, according to a SeekingAlpha transcript.

Nintendo expects to ship about four million 3DS units worldwide by the end of March, and said 1.5 million of those will likely be in Japan. The device went on sale in Europe today.

The original DS has been insanely popular over the years.

Nintendo has sold more than 47 million portable video game systems in the U.S. since the original model launched in November 2004. By its own measures, it says, that makes Nintendo DS the nation’s best-selling video game system of all time.

Still, it’s unclear whether the 3-D mechanism will draw a new audience, or whether it’s enough to encourage current users to upgrade.

In other words, can the 3DS repeat history? There’s a handful of reasons why this could be game over.

Nintendo warned that children under the age of six should not view the 3-D images due to health concerns, although optometrists have since largely dismissed the worries.

Another concern is price.

The device costs $250, which is $100 more than the original. The games are also $10 more expensive at $39 each.

Finally, there’s the competition.

The Nintendo products are attractive because they don’t require a monthly fee. Increasingly, however, smartphones are offering an equal gaming experience. Apple’s iPad and iPod touch also don’t have monthly fees, and those devices have thousands of games for much less than $39. If 3-D is important, two smartphones were unveiled this week at CTIA with 3-D capabilities–without glasses.

Katie Boehret of The Wall Street Journal and All Things Digital gave the device a mixed review, calling out its clunkiness and remarking that the images sometimes made her dizzy.

However, the device offers a lot more features than the old model. In May, it’s expected to get a software update that will enable downloadable games and add a Web browser.

On launch day, users will have a choice of dozens of game titles, including several created by Nintendo, such as Pilotwings Resort, Nintendogs + Cats: Golden Retriever & New Friends, and Steel Diver.

Typically, the launch of new hardware spurs a spike in game sales.

It’s Ubisoft’s intention to launch more 3DS titles than any other third-party video game publisher this week to ride that wave. It has four titles ready at launch, including Asphalt 3D, Combat of Giants, Dinosaurs 3D and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon. In all, it has more than 15 games in development for the platform.

All of Ubisoft’s games at launch will be in 3-D; however, a toggle on the device allows you to convert the images to 2-D. The games also take advantage of other new features, such as the accelerometer, which in Asphalt 3D allows you to steer the car with motion control.

Ubisoft SVP of Sales and Marketing Tony Key said the goal is to be No. 1 on the platform. “The thing is going to be hot. Our initial prediction is that it will be hard to get your hands on one. It’s going to sell out. All kinds of people will be trying to buy one, ranging from the core gaming men to tweens to every gamer segment out there,” he said. “As fast as Nintendo can make them is as fast as they will be able to sell them.”

Both Amazon and GameStop are providing incentives for current DS owners to upgrade. They are offering $50 to $100 in trade-in credit on old gaming units, depending on the device.

Nintendo, which is based in Kyoto, Japan, has previously said that there’s been no apparent damage to its headquarters after the recent earthquake, and that business operations, including future product shipments, haven’t been affected.

Meanwhile, Sony released a similar accessory for the PlayStation 3 called the Move, which sold 4.1 million during the first two months.

The two devices signal a wave of new gaming techniques by moving your body and arms — and brings what the Nintendo Wii started to the next level.

All three motion-controlled platforms help introduce gaming to a new demographic, who would have never envisioned themselves being comfortable picking up a controller that has a dozen or so differently colored buttons.

For Sony and Microsoft, it also breathes new life into their aging gaming systems, by creating new reasons to buy games, or even the console.

Sony charges about $100 for one controller and one game; and Microsoft charges about $140 for the Kinect plus one game.

So, is it a fad?

Richard Marks, who created the Sony Move, said no we’ve just gotten started.

“I don’t call it motion-control, even though Sony does. We are adding a level of finesse to gaming that hasn’t been there before. By calling it motion-control, it’s selling it short,” he said.

While most of the popular titles for the platforms so far are centralized around dancing or sports, Marks said the technology has the ablity to add a lot more to the gaming experience.

In fact, that’s one big difference between the Move and the Kinect.

“The traditional controller is intimidating, so this is addressing that audience, but it is also addressing the same core gaming audience.”

With the addition of a gun attachment, players can then use it to participate in hard core games, such as Kill Zone 3, where users pull a trigger to shoot someone and physically duck behind obstacles, so they don’t get shot.

At first, he said they didn’t know how traditional gamers would react to adding Move to these games, but as it turns out, it makes the game feel much closer to reality. ”People don’t want to die as much, so they end up playing the game slower. It personalizes it more,” he said.

But adding Move to both casual and hard core game titles is just the beginning.

He says the technology has the ability to be so precise, you can imagine reaching your hand into a 3D world and picking up an object to inspect it. Or, in an intense fight scene, you could create a shield to defend yourself, by grabbing two sides of a imaginary fabric and stretching it to block a shot — using both hands.

He argues that’s a much more better experience than pushing a button. “It’s not a fad and it won’t replace the controller, but is good for when you want a special input.”

Where he thinks the technology will stop short is when it comes to bringing it to other devices.

The images in Minority Report, where Tom Cruise is moving around objects in thin air is not the best use case. “Doing that for eight hours a day is not practical. It’s being oversold because it’s cool. There’s more natural interfaces for that…The Move is a game controller, it was never desinged to be for the desktop.”

Here’s a video of Marks, who elaborates on his vision for the future of motion-controlled gaming, or uh, whatever he wants to call it:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110303/sony-move-creator-richard-marks-on-the-future-of-motion-control-but-he-doesnt-call-it-that/feed/ 3 http://allthingsd.com/20110301/boxees-backers-bet-big-on-web-video-with-a-16-million-round/ http://allthingsd.com/20110301/boxees-backers-bet-big-on-web-video-with-a-16-million-round/#comments Tue, 01 Mar 2011 13:00:44 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=30327 Here’s that big funding round for Boxee I told you about last fall: The Web video software company has raised another $16.5 million. Previous investors General Catalyst, Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures are all back, joined by new money from Softbank and Israel’s Pitango.

Boxee, which makes software that makes it easier to get video from the Web to your TV, is a buzzy company in a buzzy industry. But I wrote about Boxee’s efforts to raise $10 million to $15 million back in November. What took so long?

My hunch is that in between then and now, the startup had to figure out if it really wanted to raise more money, or sell out to a big fish. For a long time, I figured the company was eventually headed for option B, and that a cable giant like Comcast or a box-maker like Cisco would be the buyer.

And that could still happen! But now the stakes have gotten a lot higher: Boxee has now raised $28.5 million, so in order to please its investors it’s going to need a significant payout.

Which means it really will have to build a real revenue stream, which it doesn’t have yet, and won’t have until it has a significant audience. As I wrote a few months ago:

Boxee’s real plan is both clear and a bit undefined: It wants to get its software on as many devices as possible–not just the Boxee Box but everything from Sony’s TVs to Microsoft’s Xbox 360s to Samsung’s Blu-ray players. And then it wants to build some kind of business based on advertising, consumer payments or both.

So Boxee isn’t trying to make money by licensing its software to hardware companies, any more than Netflix or Pandora is when they get their apps installed on different gadgets. It’s giving D-Link, the company that’s actually making the Boxee Box, its software for free. And it will do the same for other hardware companies.

Here’s a quick interview I conducted last fall with sleep-deprived CEO Avner Ronen, going over the same territory, back in November. Note that Ronen’s plans to bring Hulu Plus to the Boxee Box have yet to pan out. What’s up with that? “As you know these things take time,” he said via email yesterday. “But we are on it.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110301/boxees-backers-bet-big-on-web-video-with-a-16-million-round/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110228/lg-announces-customs-agent-chaos-for-ps3/ http://allthingsd.com/20110228/lg-announces-customs-agent-chaos-for-ps3/#comments Mon, 28 Feb 2011 21:58:37 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=58471 LG Electronics has made good on its threat to block the import of PlayStation 3 consoles into Europe. The Guardian reports that the Hague has granted LG a preliminary injunction against Sony, which it claims has unfairly built some of its patented Blu-ray technology into the product.

Evidently, customs officials seized “tens of thousands” of PS3s in the Netherlands earlier this week and will do the same to any further shipments that arrive there for the next 10 days. Sony, which ironically begat these hostilities by filing patent-infringement claims seeking to block LG from selling mobile phones in the United States, is said to be frantically working to have the ban repealed.

Reached for comment, Sony had very little to say on the matter. “We’re investigating the situation, but cannot comment on it at this time,” said Dan Race of Sony Computer Entertainment America.

Meanwhile, LG is plotting its next move, which could include a play to have the 10-day import ban extended–or a court order to have the consoles destroyed.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110228/lg-announces-customs-agent-chaos-for-ps3/feed/ 2 http://allthingsd.com/20100721/heads-up-apple-and-hulu-netflix-pushing-hard-into-streaming-tv-shows/ http://allthingsd.com/20100721/heads-up-apple-and-hulu-netflix-pushing-hard-into-streaming-tv-shows/#comments Wed, 21 Jul 2010 21:34:17 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=21747 Netflix has always offered plenty of TV shows to its subscribers, but over the years it has primarily marketed itself as a movie-rental company. That’s going to start changing, the company announced today, as it expands its Web streaming service, which gets bigger every month: The company says that 61 percent of its 15 million subscribers are now streaming video over the Web, up from 37 percent a year ago.

Check out these prepared remarks from CEO Reed Hastings’ Q2 commentary (emphasis added):

In terms of streaming content, we are rapidly expanding our TV shows available for streaming and since our last call we have added thousands of TV episodes from new deals with Fox, MTV Networks and Warner Television. These shows include all seasons of “24,” “Futurama,” “Lie To Me,” “The Chapelle Show,” “Nip/Tuck” and “Veronica Mars,” and in a few weeks all seasons of “The Family Guy” will be available to stream as well. We see TV shows as equally important to our franchise as movies.

More here, as Hastings hammers it home: We want deliver more TV shows via the Web, and we’ll pay up for the privilege:

As we evolve from DVD by mail into streaming, the role of exclusive content changes….At this point we can start to afford some major TV shows and movies on an exclusive basis, and plan going forward on a mix of more-expensive exclusive content and lower-cost non-exclusive content. Our willingness to license some higher-priced exclusive content will open up new licensing opportunities for us…[we] are looking for more exclusive deals, especially on TV shows, as well as non-exclusive content.

So. Pay attention, Apple (AAPL), Hulu and anyone else who wants to make money selling Web access to TV shows–and every studio that has rights to sell: Hastings has a checkbook open.

Meanwhile one other nugget for the gaming crowd, or at least those that own Sony’s (SNE) PS3–Netflix (NFLX) says it will deliver on its promise to provide a streaming service via Sony’s game console that doesn’t require a disc within the next few months. Hastings: “Before our next call in October, we expect to be launching a major new version of our Sony PS3 user interface which doesn’t require a disc and is dynamically updated continuously with the latest Netflix UI improvements.”

No word on if they’ll ever have something comparable for Nintendo’s Wii, which launched this year but requires users to install a disc. Netflix via Microsoft’s (MSFT) Xbox 360, meanwhile, is a software-only proposition.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100721/heads-up-apple-and-hulu-netflix-pushing-hard-into-streaming-tv-shows/feed/ 3 http://allthingsd.com/20100624/hulu-subscription-for-some-of-you-could-come-next-week/ http://allthingsd.com/20100624/hulu-subscription-for-some-of-you-could-come-next-week/#comments Fri, 25 Jun 2010 02:28:50 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=21011 Some of you may finally get a chance to pay for Hulu. The video Web site is finalizing plans to launch its subscription service, and people familiar with the company say a beta test of “Hulu Plus” could launch as early as next week.

If you’re in a select group, that is. One person familiar with the site, owned by a joint venture of broadcasters and Providence Equity Partners, says the initial test could be limited to 10,000 people.

The Hulu Plus pitch, as I’ve previously reported: $9.95 a month for access to a deeper catalog of shows than the free service currently offers, plus the ability to watch it on devices other than a laptop or PC, including Apple’s (AAPL) iPad. Other reports this month indicate that the service may also be available on Microsoft’s (MSFT) Xbox and Sony’s (SNE) PS3 game consoles.

I’m also told that Hulu’s network owners–GE’s (GE) NBC, Disney’s (DIS) ABC and News Corp.’s (NWS) Fox–are still hammering out rights deals for particular shows. So it’s possible that the launch could be pushed back or that the service will have weird gaps in its catalog when it does launch.

One example of a possible programming stumbling block: Viacom’s (VIA) “Comedy Central” has rights to older episodes of NBC’s “30 Rock.”

Hulu says it is already turning a profit from ad sales and is on track to generate more than $200 million in revenue this year. A successful subscription service would beef up those numbers.

It would also accomplish an equally important goal for CEO Jason Kilar: Mollifying his network owners, who worry that Hulu is cutting into their existing businesses, including licensing fees, DVD sales and conventional TV advertising. Hulu and its network partners would split the $10-per-head fee, I’m told, though I don’t know the formula the JV will use to split up the dollars.

No comment from Hulu. The Wall Street Journal is also reporting on Hulu’s plans.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100624/hulu-subscription-for-some-of-you-could-come-next-week/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100601/sony-ps3-games-to-hit-next-3-d-dimension/ http://allthingsd.com/20100601/sony-ps3-games-to-hit-next-3-d-dimension/#comments Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:00:36 +0000 Daisuke Wakabayashi http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=25625 As more TV makers roll-out 3-D televisions this year, it highlights the electronics and content industries’ chicken-and-egg problem. Without 3-D content, why should consumers pay the extra money for a new 3-D set? Without a consumer base of 3-D-ready home electronics, why should content makers make 3-D content?

Sony Corp. (SNE) sees its 35 million-plus PlayStation 3 game consoles as one way around the problem. In April, Sony released a software update for the PS3 so it can start playing 3-D videogames. Starting June 10th when Sony’s 3-D televisions go on sale in Japan, the first four 3-D titles for the PS3 will be available for download from the PlayStation Store. The games will only be available in Japan at first with the U.S. and other markets expected to follow shortly.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100601/sony-ps3-games-to-hit-next-3-d-dimension/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100514/videogame-sales-crater/ http://allthingsd.com/20100514/videogame-sales-crater/#comments Fri, 14 May 2010 13:50:08 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=40620

April was another lousy month for the videogame industry. With overall revenue down 26 percent and hardware down 37 percent, it was the worst monthly year-over-year sales decline since last July, according to research house The NPD Group. It was also the 10th time in the last 13 months that sales have fallen year-over-year.

• Nintendo sold 277,2000 Wiis, down from 557,500 in March and 340,000 a year ago. The company sold 440,800 Nintendo DS’s, down from 700,800 in March and 1.04 million a year ago.
• Microsoft sold 185,400 Xbox 360s, down from 338,400 in March, but up from 175,000 a year ago.
• Sony sold 180,800 PlayStation 3s, down from 313,900 in March, but up from 127,000 a year ago. And it sold 65,500 PSPs, down from 119,900 in March and 116,000 a year ago.

What’s driving the drops? Blame the portable gaming industry, which contributed more than its fair share to the industry decline, said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

“The portable business across hardware, software and accessories accounted for 25 percent of total industry dollar sales in April,” Frazier explained. “But declines in portable sales compared to April ’09 accounted for 61 percent of the total industry decrease.”

That’s just abysmal, even if April is traditionally the slowest month of the year for videogame sales. Consider this: At 440,800, sales of the Nintendo DS tanked by more than 50 percent from more than one million last April.

So what’s going on? Perhaps consumers are postponing new portable game system purchases in anticipation of Nintendo’s new 3DS. Or perhaps they’re finding that their smartphones make fine gaming devices.

It’s not yet clear. But what is clear, and painfully so, is that the hardware refresh promised by Sony (SNE) and Microsoft (MSFT), which are adding new motion technology to their players, and Nintendo, which is debuting the 3-D version of its DS handheld, can’t come soon enough.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100514/videogame-sales-crater/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100303/how-to-watch-video-wirelessly-on-your-tv-set/ http://allthingsd.com/20100303/how-to-watch-video-wirelessly-on-your-tv-set/#comments Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:03:34 +0000 Walter S. Mossberg http://ptech.allthingsd.com/?p=1202 An increasing number of people are watching video, including TV shows and movies, on their computers, instead of via traditional TV sets.

Many young people don’t even bother with a cable or satellite subscription and just use their PCs or Macs to get their video fix.

But computer screens are small, so some folks hook the computer up to the TV for their viewing sessions. The problem with this is that it can be complicated for the technically challenged. And it can involve long cables stretching across the floor, or leaving a computer you might want for other tasks permanently connected to the TV. So companies have been working on ways to beam Internet video wirelessly from your computer to your TV.

I’ve been testing two of these wireless PC-to-TV solutions. Both require a secondary device that remains connected to the TV to receive the wireless signal from the computer.

One product is a new system from Intel (INTC), several major laptop makers and the networking equipment company Netgear (NTGR). It’s called Intel Wireless Display, or Wi-Di for short. The other is a software product called PlayOn, from a company called MediaMall. It beams video to your TV through popular game consoles such as Microsoft’s (MSFT) Xbox 360, Sony’s (SNE) PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii. Both of these products only work on Windows computers.

In my tests, both systems mostly worked as advertised, but each had some downsides. The Intel system works with any video from any site you can play on the computer, but the video disappears from the TV if you are playing it in full-screen mode and get the impulse to use the computer for any other purpose while it is playing. And it only works on a handful of new, specially equipped PCs.

The PlayOn system will work on an existing computer, and it keeps showing a video even if you choose to use the PC for some other task. But it can’t beam just any old video to the TV, only those from services PlayOn has enabled. For instance, you can watch TV shows and movies from Hulu (partly owned by News Corp., which also owns The Wall Street Journal and its Web sites) but not from your favorite random Web site.

Intel’s new Wi-Di system is so far only available on three specific laptop models, one each from Toshiba, Sony and Dell (DELL), that range from $900 to $1,050. And these laptops are so far only available from Best Buy (BBY). It also requires a small $100 adapter called Push2TV from Netgear, which comes free with these laptops.

Wi-Di requires computers equipped with Intel’s brand new 2010 Core processors, Intel’s graphics chips and Intel’s wireless chips. Netgear and Intel say the feature will be available on other PC models later in the year.

I tested Wi-Di with the $900 Toshiba E205, a capable laptop with a 14-inch screen. Setup was a breeze. I just plugged the Netgear box into my TV and pushed a special Wi-Di button on the Toshiba. I typed in a code number the first time I used it, and I was in business.

Instantly, anything showing on the Toshiba’s screen was wirelessly replicated on the TV screen, even though I was eight feet away.

I tested the system with YouTube, Hulu and many other Web sites with no hitches or glitches. I also played videos stored on the PC’s hard disk.

Video mostly played smoothly over Wi-Di, though the quality on the TV was a bit degraded from that on the laptop screen, and HD videos didn’t look nearly as good as normal HD TV broadcasts. Also, the system isn’t satisfying unless you are streaming a video that can be viewed in full-screen mode on the PC.

I tested PlayOn with a Lenovo ThinkPad laptop and a PlayStation 3. After hooking up the PS3, I installed the $40 PlayOn software, which runs in the background. I then navigated to the Video section of the Sony’s menu, found PlayOn listed and used the Sony’s remote control to select from supported services, which include YouTube, Hulu, Netflix (NFLX), CBS.com (CBS), Amazon (AMZN) Video on Demand, CNN.com,and ESPN.com.

PlayOn also allows third-party plug-ins to add other Web video sources, such as NBC.com, but the company admits that the plug-in process can be clunky.

Video quality was about the same on PlayOn as on Wi-Di, and most programs played smoothly. With PlayOn, you don’t see the actual Web site, and you’re limited to the navigation system and options of the game console you’re using. So, I had to tediously find shows on the Sony by trolling through long lists.

PlayOn failed to display videos and photos stored on my PC, though to be fair the company lists this as a beta feature. And it displayed brief error messages frequently, even when it proceeded to play my chosen video properly.

PlayOn costs $40, and can be downloaded from www.playon.tv. You also must own or buy a game console, or one of a smattering of less- well-known TV adapters that the system supports.

Watching Internet video is a better experience with no wires to get in the way. But it can cost a lot, and needs some work.

Find all of Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos online, free, at the All Things Digital Web site, walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100303/how-to-watch-video-wirelessly-on-your-tv-set/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100301/sony%e2%80%99s-ps3-suffers-massive-outage/ http://allthingsd.com/20100301/sony%e2%80%99s-ps3-suffers-massive-outage/#comments Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:00:57 +0000 Jennifer Valentino-DeVries http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=21850 Gaming sites were abuzz this morning with the news that Sony’s (SNE) PlayStation 3 has a bug that is preventing users from being able to access PlayStation’s Internet network and in some cases blocking games from being played altogether.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100301/sony%e2%80%99s-ps3-suffers-massive-outage/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100211/break-media-makes-another-gaming-move-acquires-filefront-networks/ http://allthingsd.com/20100211/break-media-makes-another-gaming-move-acquires-filefront-networks/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:00:22 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=16191 Another move into gaming for Break Media, the dudecentric Web network. The Los Angeles-based company has acquired FileFront, a network of videogame sites.

The companies haven’t disclosed a purchase price, but a person familiar with the transaction said it was a cash deal in the “low- to mid-seven figures.” I assume, but don’t know, that there’s an earn-out clause as part of the deal.

Last month, Break announced plans to start developing its own lightweight Web games, following a path blazed by the likes of Zynga and Playfish, a unit of Electronic Arts (ERTS). FileFront comes at gaming from a different perspective–like News Corp.’s (NWS) IGN and CBS’s (CBS) GameSpot, it is heavy on videos, reviews, and guides, etc., to big-budget videogames, typically played on Sony’s (SNE) PS3 or Microsoft’s (MSFT) Xbox 360 consoles.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100211/break-media-makes-another-gaming-move-acquires-filefront-networks/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100115/strong-christmas-not-enough-to-save-2009-for-video-game-industry/ http://allthingsd.com/20100115/strong-christmas-not-enough-to-save-2009-for-video-game-industry/#comments Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:24:04 +0000 Lauren Goode http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=20227 The videogame industry eked out strong December sales, with higher prices of portable devices overcoming a decline in sales for all other categories, according to a new report from The NDP Group.

Overall, sales for the year were down eight percent, with revenues of close to $19.66 billion compared with $21.4 billion in 2008.

Nintendo held gaming court as it took three of the top ten best-selling game spots. The top-selling game in December 2009 was New Super Mario Bros. for Nintendo Wii, with 2.82 million units sold, followed by Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort with Wii Motion.

Runner-up was Activision’s (ATVI) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which sold 1.63 million units for Xbox 360, and 1.12 million copies for PS3. The game set all-time sales records in November 2009 when it raked in $310 million on its first day of sales in the U.S. and U.K., garnering the game its current spot as the fourth best-selling of all time.

Analysts had hoped that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 might help the industry post a mild gain after a dismal October report. Instead, the November 2009 NDP report said videogame console and game sales combined dropped 7.6 percent from a year-ago to $2.69 billion.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100115/strong-christmas-not-enough-to-save-2009-for-video-game-industry/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20091208/the-abcs-of-wii-xbox-and-playstation-3/ http://allthingsd.com/20091208/the-abcs-of-wii-xbox-and-playstation-3/#comments Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:47:12 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://solution.allthingsd.com/?p=953 With holiday shopping comes anxiety about getting the right gifts. Does Dad already own a copy of “Frank Sinatra’s Greatest Hits”? Was Mom expecting a new pepper mill, or was that Aunt Carol? It’s even worse for people shopping for the video gamers in their lives: Understanding the technical specifications of each console can seem as difficult as getting to the highest level in a game of Halo.

This week, I’ve done the dirty work for you: I’ve amassed a collection of vital details about the three most popular systems—Microsoft’s (MSFT) Xbox 360, Sony’s (SNE) PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii—so that you can get a handle on what each offers and what it will cost you.

Nintendo Wii

Nintendo recently dropped the Wii’s price, for the first time, to $200 from $250. The Wii Console comes with a controller, an additional controller called a Nunchuk, and the Wii Sports game, which includes baseball, tennis, golf, bowling and boxing. It holds 512 megabytes of flash memory, but you can increase this by inserting SecureDigital memory cards. It also accepts high-capacity SD cards, or SDHCs, of up to 32 gigabytes.

The couch-potato world of videogamers was shaken up when the Wii, with its motion-sensitive remote control, was introduced about three years ago. Users can play Wii Golf, for instance, by swinging the remote like a golf club. In September, Nintendo added to its lineup a $20 remote-control accessory called Wii MotionPlus that was designed to add more precision to game motions. I tested this snap-on piece and found that it did make the Wii’s motions feel more realistic. But it works only with Wii MotionPlus games—and there are only six of them; 10 more are planned for 2010.

Wii encourages users to move around in more ways than just waving a remote: Its Wii Balance Board, which comes with the Wii Fit Plus game in a $100 bundle, works like a digital exercise step. It records the body’s weight shifts and movements for activities from yoga to wake-boarding.

The Wii accesses the Internet and lets users compete online against others. About 655 packaged games are available for between $30 and $50. Also, you can use pre-purchased Nintendo Points to buy and download about 150 WiiWare games and over 325 titles from the older Virtual Console library. Each game costs between 300 and 1,500 points, or between about $3 and $15.

WiiConnect24 can send messages from one Wii to another over the Internet, as long the two users exchange “Wii numbers.” Users can also surf the Web with Wii’s Opera browser. But beyond this, no other Web features—like downloadable movies, social-networking applications or streaming music—will work on this system.

Parental controls can be set on the Wii to restrict kids from using the Web browser, playing games that have a certain rating or communicating online.

Microsoft Xbox 360

Microsoft recently stepped up its game by adding features to its $200 Xbox 360 that make it well-rounded rather than strictly geared toward serious gamers. People who buy the Xbox LIVE Gold membership, for $50 a year, get applications for Facebook, Twitter, the Last.fm music-streaming service, online multiplayer game play, video chat, Netflix (Netflix subscription required), photo sharing via the Xbox, and movie or photo “parties” that allow users to watch a movie simultaneously with seven other friends.

Xbox LIVE Silver membership is free and includes basic features like voice and text chat, as well as access to the Zune video library’s 20,000 TV shows and movies to buy or rent. The Xbox also allows media-streaming over a home network. To wirelessly connect to the Internet on your Xbox, you’ll need to buy a $100 Wi-Fi adapter. By contrast, the Wii and PlayStation 3 have built-in Wi-Fi.

Anyone who owns a Microsoft Zune media player can buy a TV show or movie and download it to an Xbox or PC as well as the Zune. Zunes can be plugged into the Xbox to play music, as can Apple (AAPL) iPods.

The base Xbox comes with a wireless controller and 512 megabytes of memory. For $100 more, the Elite Holiday Bundle includes a 120-gigabyte hard drive, headset, wireless controller, and two games: “LEGO Batman: The Videogame” and “Pure.” More than 1,200 games are available for the Xbox, mostly costing between $29 and $60. About 350 of the games can be downloaded from the Xbox LIVE Arcade (costing 400 to 1,600 points, or $5 to $20) or the Games on Demand library.

Microsoft confirmed plans to introduce Project Natal, a system that lets people operate games with gestures and body movements rather than remote controls. Natal will work with all Xbox 360 consoles. Microsoft won’t confirm a date.

Family settings let parents control whether their kids play games online and with whom they play, as well as the ratings of the games. A Family Timer regulates how long kids play.

Sony PlayStation 3

Sony’s PlayStation, like the Xbox 360, is designed with serious gamers in mind. Its base version costs $300 and includes a 120-gigabyte hard drive and a DualShock 3 wireless controller; $50 more buys a version with a 250-gigabyte hard drive. Both systems can be upgraded with any standard 2.5-inch hard drive. The PlayStation is also a Blu-ray disc player.

Like the Xbox, the PlayStation 3, or PS3, now offers extra features, but these features are all included in the PlayStation Network, which is free (not $50 yearly like Xbox LIVE Gold). These PlayStation Network extras include Netflix (NFLX) instant streaming, a Web browser, photo slide shows, the ability to stream media over a home network to the PS3, a Facebook application that shares game information with friends and the PlayStation Network video-delivery service, where users can purchase 2,400 high- and standard-definition movies and 15,000 TV episodes.

The PS3 and the PlayStation Portable, Sony’s portable gaming device, are married in many ways. A new feature called Blu-ray Portable Copy lets users make a free standard-definition copy of some Blu-ray movies for transfer to a PlayStation Portable. Remote Play lets people stream media files from the PS3 to the PlayStation Portable in Wi-Fi hot spots or remotely turn the PS3 on or off using the PlayStation Portable. Movies and TV shows from the PlayStation Network can be transferred to either system, so you can start a movie on a big-screen TV and finish it on the PlayStation Portable; the same can be done for games.

About 400 games are available on Blu-ray for the PS3; these cost between $30 and $60. More than 150 titles, costing between $3 and $40, can be downloaded directly to the PS3. Sony confirmed that it will release a motion-sensing controller, but it hasn’t set a date.

Parental restrictions for the PS3 include the ability to restrict games, DVDs and Blu-ray discs with certain ratings. Parents can also limit monthly spending or Web browsing.

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Games: A Cheat Sheet

Here are some of the key differences among three popular videogame systems.

	NINTENDO WII	XBOX 360	PLAYSTATION 3
Price	$200	200 or $300*	$300, $350
Includes	Wireless controller, Nunchuk, Wii Sports	Wireless controller/ Wireless controller, headset, 2 games	DualShock 3 wireless controller
Additional remotes	$40 wireless; Nunchuk is $20	$50 wireless, $40 wired, $20 headset	$55 DualShock 3 wireless controller, $50 Bluetooth headset, $40 PlayStation Eye, $25 Blu-ray disc remote control, $50 wireless keypad
Memory	512 MB, can be increased with SD cards	512 MB, $300 Xbox comes with 120 GB	120 GB or 250 GB
Built-in Wi-Fi?	Yes	No. $100 Wireless adapter sold separately	Yes
Games	1,100	1,200	550
Cost of Games	30-$50; $3-$15 for downloads	Most are $29-$60; $5-$20 for downloads	$30-$60; $3-$40 for downloads
Other features	Web browser, ability to message other Wii consoles	Netflix, Last.fm, movie parties, MSN Messenger, Facebook, Twitter, photo sharing, online multiplayer gaming	Netflix, Facebook integration, photo slide shows, PlayStation Network videos, online multiplayer gaming
Extras	$100 Wii Balance Board and Wii FitPlus, $20 Wii MotionPlus	Xbox LIVE Silver is free, Xbox LIVE Gold is $50/year	Blu-ray disc playing, multiple tie-ins with Playstation Portable
Family Settings	Restrict online browsing, communication, game ratings	Restrict online play, with whom users can play, game ratings, time spent playing	Restrict online play, games or movies with certain ratings, monthly expenses, Web browsing
Relationship w/portable device	Wireless, free demo downloads from Wii Channel onto DS or DSi	Play videos bought anywhere on Zune, PC or Xbox 360	Blu-ray Portable Copy gives free copy of some movies for transferring to PlayStation Portable
Media streamed to console over home network?	No	Yes	Yes
* for Elite Holiday Bundle

Email: mossbergsolution@wsj.com

Write to Katherine Boehret at mossbergsolution@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications

Xbox LIVE Gold costs $50 a year. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated in the second reference to the price that it costs $50 monthly. Also, the Xbox 360 can be connected to the Internet via an ethernet cable for free, as well as via Wi-Fi. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that connecting your Xbox to the Internet would require the purchase of a Wi-Fi adapter.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20091208/the-abcs-of-wii-xbox-and-playstation-3/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20091026/netflix-coming-to-the-ps3/ http://allthingsd.com/20091026/netflix-coming-to-the-ps3/#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:00:39 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=27517

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20091026/netflix-coming-to-the-ps3/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20091026/netflix-ps3/ http://allthingsd.com/20091026/netflix-ps3/#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:22:45 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=27449

“This exclusive partnership offers you the ability to instantly stream movies and TV episodes from Netflix to the television via Xbox 360. Xbox 360 will be the only game console to offer this movie-watching experience, available to Xbox LIVE Gold members who are also Netflix unlimited plan subscribers…at no additional cost.”

– Microsoft on its Xbox 360/Netflix partnership, Aug. 2009

So much for Xbox 360’s game console exclusivity on Netflix streaming. This morning, the DVD-by-mail pioneer said that beginning sometime next month, owners of Sony’s PlayStation 3 game consoles will be able to stream movies and TV shows from Netflix.

The feature, which brings an unlimited amount of online viewing with any subscription worth $9 or more, will initially require an “instant streaming Blu-ray disc” to enable it. Not the most elegant of implementations, but presumably a firmware upgrade will likely follow and bake the feature into the PS3.

For Netflix (NFLX), the deal provides a chance to broaden its subscriber base. About nine million PlayStation 3 systems have been sold in U.S., and more than 25 million worldwide. So the potential for new customers here is substantial. For Sony (SNE), which already offers movies and TV shows to PS 3 users for a $3 to $4 fee, it’s a way of removing an Xbox 360 marketing advantage Microsoft (MSFT) has been lording over it since this past August.

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