It's a yarn we've seen spun just a few short months ago in Japan, and now it seems North America is in for the same pleasant surprise -- Sony's upcoming PSP replacement, the Vita, will offers discounted pricing on games sold digitally versus those bought at retail. The news this time comes from Thrifty Nerd, by way of the Potomac Mills Mall in Woodbridge, VA, where Sony is offering shoppers an early hands-on with the device.

A third-party Sony rep (read: not internal to Sony) confirmed to the site that Vita's digital game offerings would cost less than those sold at retail outlets, even ballparking the discrepancy at around 40 percent. We've reached out to Sony to confirm that price difference, as Japanese Vita games are showing a much more realistic price difference (around 20 percent). As Sony depends on retail to sell its hardware, it... (Continue Reading...)

When Kaz Hirai takes over as CEO of Sony on April 1st, he's going to have to roll up the sleeves of his $10,000 suit and get in a good cry before figuring out the future of the struggling giant. The company announced a loss of ¥159 billion ($2.1B) for the third quarter ending December 31, 2011, with an expected loss of ¥220 billion ($2.9B) for the year. We imagine every meeting between Hirai and outgoing CEO Howard Stringer begins with a sarcastic "Thanks, buddy!"

The consumer products and services division, which includes TVs and PlayStation, had an operating loss of over a billion dollars with sales down 24 percent from the same period.

This is likely due more to the declining sales of Sony's TVs, video cameras and PCs, than it is of the PlayStation brand. PS3 sales are staying level with last year,... (Continue Reading...)


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