PlayStation Hits 100 Millionth Shipped 38
Thanks to Yahoo/AFP for its story noting global shipments of Sony's original PlayStation console have exceeded 100 million, explaining that "overseas sales of PlayStations jumped after the company launched its lightweight 'PSOne' model in 2000." Although sales are slowing (though not by as much as GamePro is claiming), since: "In the year to March 2004, the company produced and shipped 3.31 million PSOne units", the PlayStation 2 may be on course to beat its predecessor, as it "has shipped 70 million units... since March 2000."
How many dupes? (Score:5, Interesting)
I still remember having a model 1000 series PS1 that had to be turned upside down to get games to play, since the plastic rails supporting the CD drive would warp if the system go too hot.
Re:How many dupes? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:How many dupes? (Score:2)
It worked great for them untill a large book fell of a shelf and crushed the poor thing.
Re:How many dupes? (Score:1)
Re:How many dupes? (Score:4, Interesting)
That's illogical. Being #1 in sales is no guarantee of quality. For the sake of the Microsoft Windows fanboys, I'll spare them from the obvious comparison. Instead, I will happily point out that McDonald's sells more hamburgers than anyone else in the world.
Disclaimer: I deal in used games hardware, from handhelds and consoles to (soon, hopefully in the next year) arcade cabs, joysticks, monitors, etc. It's a small side business so far, and I only run it out of the house right now.
Playstation hardware has *always* been of inferior build in comparison to pretty much any other console hardware imaginable. It's not provable except with anecdotes, so I'll simply say that this is the conclusion I've come to after seeing a WHOLE lot of faulty Playstations and Playstation 2s with the same (laser/PUH/motor/chassis) problems. OTOH, I've never seen a single broken N64 (a system which sold ~35 million units). Not a single one - and that thing tended to run pretty hot. And of course, among other popular systems like the Saturn, the Dreamcast, the PC Engine Duo, I see broken units, but not at the same high broken:functional ratio that I do with Sony goods.
If Sony's on top, fine, but it's not because of build quality. Be assured of that.
Re:How many dupes? (Score:1)
Re:How many dupes? (Score:3)
Actually, the failure rate of the absolute worst hardware is 100%. As is the failure rate of the best. It's just a question of time.
I like video games because of the replay value (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I like video games because of the replay value (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
70 million PS2s (Score:2)
I've always been skeptical of that rumour.
Re:70 million PS2s (Score:3, Interesting)
Heh. Yeah somebody's been reading the "Facts of Gord" or whatever it's called. The big difference is in how you do the math. Sony spent like $2 billion dollars researching that system. Even if on a per-component level they made money, it still took them a while to break even. There was still the "we need to sell 4 games per system" quota initially.
Re:70 million PS2s (Score:1, Interesting)
Is this why... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Is this why... (Score:4, Informative)
Sadly, I was one of those people... picked up a copy of "High School League Dodge Ball" or something (not the good one from about a year ago), was pleasantly surprised to see it was an anime-styled game, and then got disgusted with the awful play control and sold it back two weeks later for $7.
Re:Is this why... (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd be surprised if it has beat the original gameboy. It was ages after it came out until the gameboy color was released, and I think a while after that until there stopped being new non-color games. Anyone have numbers/ years available on this?
Re:Is this why... (Score:1)
Re:Is this why... (Score:2, Interesting)
Of course, you had to pay lots of money (hundreds of dollers per game), but they had a decent following, although it never had the success of the PSOne. They're still [search.ebay.ca] quite expensive. Gabe [penny-arcade.com] from Penny-Arcade is a collector.
Re:Is this why... (Score:2)
Re:Is this why... (Score:2)
Its a vicious cycle... (Score:2, Interesting)
Hopefully Sony realizes this and get as many PSPs out the door as possible (with a low price point), which is really the key to success for any console. The GBA ("classic") is really a horrible system (the screen...), but theres so many out there, it makes developers bring more good games to it, making it an awesome handheld (especially now that the screen is fixed).
Environmental Concern (Score:3, Funny)
Sony Playstation was a Milestone Technology (Score:1)
Re:Sony Playstation was a Milestone Technology (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Sony Playstation was a Milestone Technology (Score:1)
Re:Sony Playstation was a Milestone Technology (Score:2)
Depends on what you mean by 'games.'
If you're looking for Japanese RPGs, PS2, no contest. If you're looking for platformers, PS2 or Xbox. If you're looking for Zelda, Mario or Metroid, GC. If you're looking for new or inventive gameplay, DreamCast or Xbox. If you're looking for sports, I believe it's PS2, at this point. If you're looking for online, Xbox.
I've had an xbox for years, now, but I finally got around to picking up a PS2 for the .hack series, Final Fantasy X and X-2, and I plan to get Lif
Re:Sony Playstation was a Milestone Technology (Score:1)
Have either of you or anyone else actually put together a history of gaming for the last 25 years?
One of the first computer games I ever played I wrote from a magazine - it was written in Basic on a Sorceror PC, in around 1980. There were no graphics of course.
Are there any good books on the history of gaming?
Sadly... (Score:3, Funny)
Come on Sony, sell them for $10 so I can not eat for a day, and then pick one up.
And I've "chipped" at least four of them! (Score:2)
Or, um, perhaps I should just say I've ensured fair use rights for my friends and their game collections.