With the Nintendo Wii and DSi selling like crazy all over the world and a surge in sales for the Microsoft 360 in Europe and America, Namco Bandai and Konami are both bringing out former Sony PS3 exclusives to the Microsoft 360 – Tekken 6, Soul Calibur 4, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid among other companies and games are “defecting” from the Sony-exclusive camp.

Sony bucked the rumors of a lower price for the PS3 at the E3 and then went on to announce the Sony PSP Go that despite not having an optical drive is more expensive than the existing Sony PSP, which costs $249.00 in the US and some $350.00 in Britain if you pull a currency exchange. Of course, once again Sony had to declare that “It’s not that expensive…” in defense of their pricing (yet again), read more here.

Sony’s sold 23 million compared to Microsoft’s 30+ Million for the Microsoft 360 versus the Wii sitting at 50 million or so. So Sony is in third place with the most expensive to manufacture console that’s quickly losing some exclusives that it’s enjoyed in the past. Now enter Activision to compound Sony’s problems…

I’m getting concerned about Sony; the PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and they don’t make it easy for me to support the platform. It’s expensive to develop for the console, and the Wii and the Xbox are just selling better. Games generate a better return on invested capital on the Xbox than on the PlayStation…When we look at 2010 and 2011, we might want to consider if we support [PS3 and PSP].

Ouch. And if Activision does this, what other company is thinking this? If Sony doesn’t do something very soon – pricing seems to be the main complaint, deeper down it seems like licensing is an issue too as well as the costs associated with producing games becoming an issue too – then the Sony PS3 might actually be doomed. Especially when stuff like this comes out:

Ubisoft CEO Yves Gilliemot mentioned that development costs of top class title for Xbox 360 and PS3 is around US$20 – 30 millions, and he expects the costs of next generation titles to be around US$60 millions.

And not every game that comes out is a blockbuster. But Activision and Ubisoft both have high profile games that have sold extremely well and it seems like the bottomline just isn’t enough.

Sony… drop your prices, change your licensing scheme, pay attention to your customers. Or else the PS3 might stay in third place – like the Sega Dreamcast.

By Evan Ackerman

It’s unclear where exactly the line between netbook and small laptop is, but the Mouse computer LB-F1500W certainly blurs it by including an optical drive. Not just a CD drive, either… They’ve crammed a DVD burner in there. The rest of the specs are fairly bland, including a 1.6 GHz Atom, a gig of ram, a 160 gig HD, 10.2″ 1024 x 600 display, and Windows XP Home.

Is this a useful feature to have on a netbook? I have my doubts. There are certainly specific instances where having an optical drive comes in handy, but is it something that’s necessary to a computer that’s designed to be (generally) minimalist and efficient? It would be nice for, say, being able to watch a DVD while on the plane or something. But I’m sure battery life takes a pretty significant hit and the computer has got to weigh more and have a larger case, all things that netbooks were designed specifically to avoid. A much better solution would be to just get a little external USB powered DVD drive to have when you want it… And even with that, you’ll still probably be saving money over the 9 price of the LB-F1500W if you get yourself something better. Like, oh, I don’t know, maybe an MSI Wind?

VIA [ CrunchGear ]

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