SonyRumors

Editorial: Playstation Move to be Profitable from Launch

by Sohrab Osati | Oct 2, 2010 | 0 comments

The Playstation 3 has been a milestone in gaming and home theater. Helping drive Blu-ray and now giving users the option of 3D movies and games, the PS3 is the most powerful game console to date. However, with all of this might behind it, the PS3 needed to compete with everyday gaming systems that didn’t offer HD or came with only DVD players and this meant pricing it at a level that would sell. What Sony considered a low launch price, one of $600, was still higher then what gamers wanted to pay Therefore, with each console sold, Sony was losing hundreds of dollars. Finally, 4 years into the cycle and now with a starting price of $299, depending on who you talk with, Sony is either breaking even or make a few dollars on each console. During the years, as Sony tried to balance its supply and demand and lower its production costs on the PS3, the company’s gaming division would go deeper into the red, losing billions of dollars. With each quarterly loss and movement further into the red, this made it harder for Sony to put money into advertising and other areas that would need funding in order to sell more PS3s and help the company lessen its gap with Microsoft and Sony. Thus, the catch 22 had started.

Finally, 4 years into the cycle, Sony is looking at the PS3 and Playstation Move to make a profit from. When the Sony Worldwide Studios boss, Shuhei Yoshida, went on record about the Playstation Move, he said “We are pricing Move as if we are launching a new platform.” He went on, “So because the install base of Move will help third party studios create games for it, we benefit by helping those third-parties. But we are not losing money with each one we sell.”

This shift in Sony’s capability to launch the Move and make money on it will hopefully be the halo effect that the company needs. With each PS3 and Move unit now sold, Sony can bring in a higher profit level to their game division, thus allowing them to invest more into future R&D and current system features like the recently added native Hulu app for the Playstation 3. But the positives are not only for Sony; they are for the consumer as well. The more Sony can invest in their product and give users more compelling content and bring them under the Playstation umbrella, the more units they can sell. With a higher sales volume, Sony can make a shift in their supply and demand strategy and offer the Playstation 3 at a lower price, thus bringing in even more users in. That is a cycle that Sony is looking to Move towards. I love puns…

[Via Develop-Online]

Editorial: Xbox Kinect Setup = Won’t Work For You

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 29, 2010 | 8 comments

Microsoft, you have got to be kidding me. When Sony set out to make the Playstation Move, their goal was simple. Give the users the most flexibility when it comes to space and light, while keeping the same level of quality and precision so that everybody’s experience would be the same. The Playstation Move has certainly shown that and the telltale sign has been during all the events like E3 and PAX where anybody could just get in front of the PS3, grab a controller and begin a game. Kinect users unfortunately won’t be able to achieve this same level of ease and it seems more and more that Kinect just will not work for the majority of people. Again, this can be seen during events like E3 and PAX where Microsoft has to keep the Kinect in a bubble, so the demo can go right.

In order for the Kinect to not mess up during press previews, MS has to bring its bubble with them.

Now Microsoft has posted a video for the requirements of Kinect and it can cannot be more ridiculous. While everything they talk about would be great if you also owned one of the above pods that Microsoft carries around, it’s becoming more and more apparent that for a technology that costs more then the Playstation Move setup ($150), it’s not ready at all for prime time. Here are some highlights,

You will need at minimum need to be 6ft from the Kinect if it sits on top of your TV and 8ft if it sits in front of your TV and have another 3-4ft of space in width. Other games can require more. Again, remember that these are the minimum.
Your light setting cannot be too low or too high or a mix. It has to be just right. The Playstation Move? Can work practically in the sun.
Kinect has to sit in middle of your TV. Top or bottom. Cannot be at an angle while with the Move, just have the Playstation Eye pointed at you.
You need to have a clean floor. I kid you not, if there are items on the floor, like clothes, it will throw off the Kinect. No coffee table either.
For mic controller and setups, there cannot be any noise of sorts. Ironically, MS does not want you to set your Kinect near your 360…because, you know, of the noise.
Other limitations we have pointed out is that there cannot be movement from other people in the background when playing, including your pets or Kinect can accidentally track them, throwing things off.

So here are scenarios where the Kinect won’t work:

Messy room
Small room
Low/High/Mixture lighting
More than 2 people in front of it
Placing Kinect at an angle
Not having room in front or on top of your TV
Less than 6-8ft of room
Coffee table (unless moved out of the room, again there cannot be items between you and the Kinect or on the floor)
Wandering pets
Noise, including your 360 near the Kinect (for times when trying to use Voice Commands)

Watch the official video from Microsoft and ponder why they are even releasing a half-baked product.

Top 10 PS3 Games…so far.

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 16, 2010 | 7 comments

IGN.com is a great site and have made numerous “top ____ lists” but recently they had their top PS3 editors get together to create the ultimate PS3 games list. I thought this was a great list that I wanted to share with our readers at SonyRumors (they made a top 25 list but I will share their top 10). This inspired me to make my own top 10 list of my favorite PS3 games so far. I say that because for the rest of 2010 there’s a bunch of new games coming out, some of which I’m sure will replace games on my list right now. So here you go; my top 10 followed by IGN’s. I would love to see what games would make your list. Share and comment away.

10. Warhawk

9. Pixel Junk Monsters

8. God of War III

7. Uncharted

6. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

5. LittleBigPlanet

4. Batman Arkham Asylum

3. Modern Warfare 2

2. Modern Warfare

1. Uncharted 2

I just want to talk a little bit about my number 2 and 3 choices. I know both games are ‘similar’ in the type and in the same series but they are my favorite to play on PS3. Uncharted 2 became number one for the unique and action-packed story which I will explain further down. I must admit though, I’m in love with the Modern Warfare franchise and what it did for FPS games. Modern Warfare 2 is the second top selling game of all time. The story mode is amazing, realistic and challenging. As for the online gameplay…I’m hooked. I think it’s so entertaining, intense and just the best, especially when I’m online with friends dominating matches. To those not a fan of the games, I bet I sound lame but that’s all I have to say about that. I have yet to find another FPS game that keeps my attention and interest like MW; I always come back to it.

Now moving on to IGN’s top 10 list, with a little bit about each game. Some of these made my top 10 list, but I wish Star Wars was on here.

IGN’s top 1o:

#10 – God of War 3

Kratos returned this year in the final chapter of the series to defeat Zeus and the Olympian Gods for revenge. This highly anticipated game for PS3 received incredibly high ratings and reviews as did the others in the series. I would say GoW is one of the most loved and popular franchises of Playstation. I own the complete collection of GoW and can say the graphics on GoW 3 are phenomenal with challenging puzzles and great gameplay. We are also reintroduced to Pandora’s Box in the third game and it’s pretty wicked cool. I also really enjoyed the ending where….don’t worry, no spoilers. 🙂

#9 – Metal Gear Solid 4

I have only heard amazing things from the Metal Gear Solid franchise. I admit I have not played any of these games because I’m just not a fan of the stealthy gameplay. Clements from IGN said this about the game, “The Metal Gear Solid games were exceptional efforts that blended stealth gameplay with a gripping story. Action, intrigue, amazing boss battles and more — Guns of the Patriots had it all. And the amount of collectibles and customization included in MGS4 were the figurative cherries on top.”

If you like what you see please continue on for the rest of the best.

Dead Rising 2 Swag Giveaway!

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 14, 2010 | 19 comments

Zombie week continues over here at SonyRumors. First, we attended the Dead Rising 2 LA party and got to score some cool swag and hang out with Playstations The Tester Season 1 candidate, Amped. Then, Sony scored big with the 4th Resident Evil movie, having it become the number one movie in the US. So what better way to continue the week? Why not give away that swag!

Contestants, all you need to in order to be a winner is to show us your zombie pride in a picture. Get creative. Whether it’s your Resident Evil collection (games and movies), you as a Zombie, you as a Zombie with your Resident Evil and Dead Rising games and action figures. Dosent matter! Just show us some zombie love.

First place winner will get a Greens Hardware box that includes a T-Shirt, “I Am 8-Bit” sticker and newspaper add. showcasing weapons from Dead Rising 2 (perfect for framing and displaying your zombie love!). Second and Third place will receive a hug and a Greens Hardware box. So go ahead and email us your Zombie Love at SonyRumors@bebicorp.com

Sony Zombie Weekend: Resident Evil: After Life 3D and Dead Rising 2 Community Event

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 10, 2010 | 14 comments

This weekend, Sony is releasing the fourth movie in the Resident Evil series, titled Resident Evil: After Life 3D. For those who have followed the series, this is a continuation of Alice’s story; expect to see cameos from Jill, Chris and Claire in the movie. For those who still need to catch up, there is a pretty good deal on the Resident Evil Trilogy on Blu-ray. What excites me about this movie besides them being creepy and fun is that this entire film was shot in 3D. That means no post conversion; everything from the start of the cycle was filmed and planned in 3D so expect to see some amazing action sequences. Also, the film is currently sitting on a 8.7/10 on IMDB.

But if thats not enough zombie fun for you, Sony is also hosting a Dead Rising 2 event here in Los Angeles. As the Playstation Blog reports:

In addition to being able to play Dead Rising 2 prior to release we’ll have prizes, food, music, contests and more. Be sure and get there early as we’ll be giving away some cool, exclusive Greene’s Hardware t-shirts too.

What: Greene’s Hardware Super Sale (Dead Rising 2 Community Event)

Where: 2147 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

When: Friday 8PM – 12 Midnight

Our gang is going to be there as well so expect both me and Domino to be there and we hope to catch you as well. So feel free to stop by and say hi. Also, feel free to follow us on Twitter as I’ll be Tweeting away. Hopefully I can get you guys some cool swag while I’m there.

Again for those who want to get some Resident Evil Trilogy on Blu-ray, if you guys buy it from this link, it helps our site out as well!

Update 8:04:
Just got here. Line is long as fuck. Store looks tiny…not sure how we are all fitting in.

Update 9:15:

So the place is actually much bigger then it appears. We just also had our first break dance contest of the night.

Update 10:45:

Look at all the lovely Playstation 3s

God of War: Ghost of Sparta Winner

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 8, 2010 | 22 comments

After spending the better time of the weekend sorting through the emails we received from you, I finally narrowed it down to a top 5 and from those, our winner, Joe Belette, was chosen. Rocking it as the man himself, Kratos, and casually sporting Pandoras Box, it’s easy to see the passion Joe has for this series and we think this means he deserves the God of War: Ghost of Sparta demo a little earlier then everybody else. 😉

So, congratulations Joe! We also want to thank both Sony for providing us with a Demo code to give out, and our new wonderful friend Raychul from Raychul.com!

Xbox Live Gets More Expensive; PSN Still Free

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 6, 2010 | 1 comment

Click for a full sized comparison.

It’s really crazy how the internet works. Every few months, there are rumors that Sony might start to charge for PSN and the internet goes up in arms and gets crazy about it and starts to bash Sony for it. Well, four years into the cycle and you can still access all of this for free:

Online play
Web browser access
Playstation Store (Games, Movies [Buy and Rent]) & Comic Store
Video Chat
Social network via Playstation Home

There is then all the little things like Facebook and YouTube integration which are, of course, still free. Unfortunately for those on the Xbox side of life, Microsoft continues to take a different path and everybody just kind of shrugs and goes along with it. In the US, UK, Canada, and Mexico Microsoft will charge Xbox Live users starting November 1. A single month will go from $7.99 to $9.99, three months will go from $19.99 to $24.99, and the yearly sub will now be $59.99, up from $49.99. In terms of the business side, more power to Microsoft. Their setting up and maintaining those servers and services costs money and is a testament to how locked down they have their users. But from the users’ standpoint, there goes more money towards a service that is being offered for free from Sony.

Of course, for Sony, there are also plenty of costs in running PSN but they eat it internally, instead of passing on the costs to you. Don’t think for a minute that if they could charge you, they would, because that is not what their business strategy calls for. I just hope that Sony can turn this difference into more of a campaign and let others know of all the great things that PSN offers, like playing MAG online with 256 players, for free.

Sony Accidentally Leaves the eReader Market

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 3, 2010 | 24 comments

Although the headline itself may seem a bit misleading, it ultimately isn’t too far from the truth. During this week, Sony has unveiled a new set of eReaders that it will be releasing soon. The entire series (Pocket, Touch and Daily edition) will all be gaining a new Pearl e-ink displays, designed to give much more clarity and less glare then previous models. With this, all units gain a stylus as well to be able to jot notes right on the screen. From there on, the entire series is also gaining 2GB of built in memory (expandable up to 32GB via Memory Stick or SD) and a new responsive touch screen. The only major difference between the screen size of these three units is that the Daily Edition also boasts built in Wi-Fi and 3G.

The PRS-350 Pocket Edition is now $179 and weighs 159 grams, measuring 8.38mm thick, the PRS-650 Touch Edition is $229 with a 224 grams weight and 9.65mm thick body, and the PRS-950 Daily Edition is $299, and weighs 254 grams. So where did Sony go wrong when it was on the right track before? Well the Pocket Edition has gone from the current $149 to $179. The Touch Edition has gone from $170 to $229 and surprisingly, the flagship Daily Edition has stuck to its $299 price point.

When compared to other competitors like the Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook, the Sony Readers are better built with aluminum while staying lighter and thinner, sport longer battery life and are superior specs but that also comes at a price. Sony is betting on two things; that the higher end consumer will support it and that people will compare spec for spec and go for their product vs the others out there. The problem is that the consumer votes with their wallet and time and time again we have seen Sony release better products, but at a higher end price than their competition and the likes of Samsung, Apple and Nintendo eat away at their market share. We need not look further than Apple to see this. Everybody expected such high prices for the iPhone (and yes, the original launch model was) but from then on, they have set the bar for offering some of the most advanced features from prices of $99-$299. They set the bar for the industry at the magical $199 smartphone price. They again did it with the iPad. While everybody was expecting a starting price of $999, they started their units at the $499 and thus caused Amazon and the rest of the eReader makers to adjust their prices. They know how to make a fantastic product, market it and set a price to bring people in.

Sony unfortunately only knows how to make a great product. They seem to be clueless on how to market their product as most people know of the Nook and Kindle but what of the Sony Reader? And pricing that the consumer wants? Look no further than the PSPgo. By setting a higher price when Amazon has just announced their new Kindle at the price of $139 with plenty of commercials on air and Borders is going to be announcing their own $99 eReader, Sony is doing the opposite. Making a higher costly model with no advertisement of their product…I wonder how it’s going to do in sales.

Contest: God of War: Ghost of Sparta Demo

by Sohrab Osati | Sep 3, 2010 | 9 comments

As you know, we recently attended the Playstation God of War gathering in LA where for the first time, all five God of War directors sat down together and discussed the game, industry and answered fan questions. Those in attendance were some of the biggest God of War fans but we bet there is more. Our beautiful friend Raychul Moore from Raychul.com has easily proven why she is a badass chick and a ultimate God of War fan. Do you think you are too? If so, go ahead and Email Us with the subject “GoW Contest” and send us a picture, showing us why you are the Ultimate God of War fan. The lucky winner will get an exclusive early access to the God of War: Ghost of Sparta demo for the PSP and PSPgo. We will announce the winner this Tuesday.

Kotaku Bias Revealed. We Just Called it a Year Ago

by Sohrab Osati | Aug 15, 2010 | 11 comments

Surprise. This is the top post on Kotaku. It's part of their gallery photo contest yet for no good reason, there is some PS3 bashing going on.

It’s nice to see the web finally catchup with what I have said sense over a year ago; that Kotaku has always favored Microsoft and loves to bash Sony any chance it gets. Some websites are beating around the bush and others are lightly touching up on it but finally, there is more proof to go with it all. As far as our end goes, I have no problem calling it out and say that the bias level on that site is beyond disgusting. They might call themselves journalists but they are a bunch of clown fanboys who like to bash away anything they do not agree with and for some reason, the Playstation 3 has always been in their crosshairs.

Website SMGamers has been the one who has really done all of the detective work on this piece, finding a video posted by Kotaku for the up coming PS3 game, Grand Turismo 5. SMG went on to say:

Kotaku titled the video “Video Shows Gran Turismo 5 Has Painfully Slow Load Times” and goes on to comment “With a couple months left and GT developer Polyphony Digital still hard at work, there is hope that these horribly long load times can be significantly reduced.”

As you will note from the following video, the first video is from Kotaku while the following is from an independent source.

It’s kind of sad when a large site like this with so many readers has to get it’s kick from being bias towards one mega corporation vs another. In this case, they alter a video to make a game and platform look faulty. The gaming community as a whole has a big enough problem with fanboys bashing each other every chance they get, the last thing we need is a well organized leader to lead the charge. Instead of embracing gaming as a whole and culture and noting that the demise of one company or game is not good for the industry or its followers. Of course, this comes as of no surprise that Kotaku is ran by the same company who runs Gizmodo, the site that had purchased and paid for the stolen iPhone 4 and sense is being investigated by the police and has been banished from all Apple media events.

Why the Playstation 3.41 Firmware Update is Important for Sony and You!

by Sohrab Osati | Jul 27, 2010 | 9 comments

Last night, Sony released a new firmware update for the PlayStation 3. The now-live 3.41 update adds store recommendations to PSN store. From Sony:

Firmware update 3.41 will add recommendations for games and videos on PlayStation Store. When you’re browsing through the details of a particular title, you’ll see a new “You May Like” section on the right-hand side. This section lists additional items based on the purchases of other PlayStation Network members who have purchased the item you’re currently looking at.

I’ve heard on several sites, including Sony’s own Playstation blog where this was announced that this is such a useless update: why doesn’t Sony work on (insert your own craving) instead of these types of updates? While from the user’s end it might not be a very exciting update, these types of update are critical to the PlayStation Store for a few reasons. If anybody remembers when the store launched with the PS3, it was basically an HTML site. The speeds were slow, there was no video network on it, and the layout was hard to find content with. Fast forward to today, and we now have the capability to rent, buy, and transfer our movies to a PSP. The store has a ton of avatars, dynamic backgrounds, content is usually easy to find under the new structure, and as of recent, we can even rate content. For a lot of these updates, rating content and getting recommendations is important for a few key reasons. First, these options allow the user to more easily purchase content because they have more power in their hand. They won’t be afraid to purchase content because they will have an idea about if it’s good or not. Also, as the network expands and new users come on board, they don’t have to just scroll through categories to find content; they can see what others have purchased and discover new titles.

Playstation Store, early on.

So yes, this helps people navigate more easily and find content, but to those who are onboard with the brand already: why is this important to you? The more robust, functional and used the Playstation Store becomes, the more developers want to bring content over to it. Traditionally, unless you had a big budget for your game, you would not be featured on the store and now, we have access to all sorts of small and indie games. The Minis are a great example. This gives the players access to content that we didn’t have before unless we were on a iPhone or other type of device, and gives those developers a new audience and powerful platform to create content for. The same is also true for the big developers like EA and Activision. The more compelling a platform is, as in the more users interact with, purchase and use their content, the more likely they are to listen to your needs and wants and just offer more content in the future. This also means that Sony can have a greater leveraging power so we do get Demos at the same time as Xbox Live or when DLC is released, the PlayStation does not get it on a 6-month delay.

Last but not least, we have to remember that Sony is not just fighting Microsoft and the Xbox Live platform. There is the App Store from Apple, the Android Market, the Windows Marketplace coming soon on the Windows 7 phones which will have Live incorporated into them, and Steam on the PC. The more successful the PlayStation Store is, the more Sony can then invest in other area’s of its platform, like the (insert feature) that you want.

Last note: although the firmware is live, you won’t see the recommendations kick in until the end of this month, so in the next 4-5 days.

[Via Playstation Blog]

Editorial: Sony Offers A Good Customer Support Experience

by Sohrab Osati | Jul 14, 2010 | 17 comments

I have to say that I don’t overall have much experience with Sony and their customer support staff. The reason for this is that I’ve never had any of their equipment break down on me. First, this is truly due to the quality of products they make and I have tons and tons of their equipment and second is the user I am. I don’t abuse my equipment in any shape or form. The one time I did use their support was almost 7 years ago when I bought one of the first Vaio Centrino units. These were hot items back then, sporting a nice 15″ screen with wireless card and fantastic battery life (back then, being 3 hours). But I didn’t get past an hour and half with my unit. Quickly, I called Sony to see what the issue was and we tried some things and it was a no go. The following day, I had a new battery behind my door and I just had to put my battery in the box and send it back. Later on, I came to realize that I just had to change some settings, hah!

But all of this brings me to a newer tale. I had purchased a Cybershot W330 for my sister some time last year for either Christmas or her birthday. I myself had no clue when I had gotten her the unit and neither did she. She just enjoyed her Cybershot. Yesterday, I get a call from her that the lens has stopped working. The W series have a physical lens that extends in and out of the camera and if the gears in there stop working, there goes your camera. First, I was disappointed that the unit had picked up an issue with a year of its life but more so, her wedding is approaching in just a little over a month. The budgeting for a new camera isn’t really in and more so, she wants to capture every minute that she can so down time is also not good. I advised her to call Sony anyways and see what solution if any they had for her. The following was the Facebook post I woke up to today:

I LOVE sony. They are going to repair my camera free of charge, even though I’m not sure when I got it and I don’t have a receipt to prove it! Woohoo for amazing costumer service. =D ♥

Short story, Sony is just having her ship the unit to them and they will fix it for her and have it back to her ASAP. In a time where a lot of companies want to just weasel out of providing you that extra service due to the costs, this insures that not only will she be happy, but for somebody who isn’t into brand names when it comes to equipment, Sony will now always stand out for her and be part of her next purchase. The only bummer is that it will take around 2 weeks for all of this to happen. Luckily, we have 3 other Cybershots around here so we are sending one to her in the mean time (She lives in Michigan and I’m in California).

My E3 Experience and Sony Highlights

by Sohrab Osati | Jul 2, 2010 | 5 comments

E3 ended two weeks ago and I am very delayed on writing about my fantastic experience there. Well, through my work (mOcean) I was able to attend E3 on Wednesday for a good half day. Granted that’s not a ton of time, I still got a great look at some upcoming products and games and had an amazing time. Below I’ll talk about some of my Sony Highlights and games from that day. Entering E3 I was in total awe. My eyes and mouth were wide open and I was on sensory overload. LCD screens, music, characters, displays, lights and colors filled the room.

Of course my first stop was the Sony exhibit. Here at SonyRumors we love writing about 3D. I was very impressed at the 3D gaming and played “Wipeout” and “Motorstorm” in 3D. The movements in the smooth gameplay are very enhanced; everything just popped. The only drawback so far is that 3D gaming darkens the image a lot like in most movie theaters.

Next I checked out “Killzone 3” but unfortunately did not get the chance to play with the line being over an hour wait. That was one thing that bugged me, everyone playing games just hogged the screen forever. When I check out a game I play enough to get a good feel of how it will be but don’t need to sit and beat the entire demo. That was frustrating when I wanted to try out so much. The gameplay I observed was action packed and I can’t image how a FPS would look in 3D.

Continue on for more photos and captions from my amazing day!

WTF: Why Do Digital Copies Expire?

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 29, 2010 | 23 comments

So you might have seen the post about my PSPgo experience. Well during that time, the movie we wanted to watch on Blu-ray was The International, from Columbia (aka Sony) Pictures. To my surprise, when I opened the box, there was a digital copy of this movie as well. I have actually owned this movie for a very long time, but this was the first time I had opened it. I always like to have digital copies because I can load up my PSP, iPhone or iPad with some legal movies and take them around. So it came as a bit of a surprise when I typed in the code into iTunes and discovered that my code had expired. I checked the date inside of the movie and it states, 6-2-2010. Of course I would just miss it by a month when its been siting on my shelf for over a year.

Now sadly, this is not the first time this has happened. Warner Brothers’ “The Matrix” comes with a digital copy which also expired on me, meaning this is not a Sony issue. But seriously, wtf? Isn’t the point of a digital copy to detour illegal downloads and give the consumer another reason to buy the Blu-ray? From another perspective, that also means that I paid for that digital copy right? Thats part of the premium price of a Blu-ray. So are they now taking away a feature that I have paid for? Plus, if this copy was sitting on a shelf for a long time, then the consumer finally gets a chance to watch it a year or more later, they are screwed out of a feature they thought they were getting.

How Sony Can Make Blu-ray 3D Work And Draw The Consumer In

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 28, 2010 | 2 comments

We’re on the brink of a new way of enjoying our entertainment and it’s coming fast. After Avatar, it seems like 3D is everywhere. From big Hollywood movies, to the Playstation and Nintendo 3DS, as well as the largest sport event in the world, the World Cup, most everything is in 3D. Slowly more sets are coming to the market as well with Sony, LG, Panasonic and Samsung now releasing sets. Of course, owning a 3D set is completely worthless if there is no content to view and that’s one thing Sony can take advantage of.

First, we have to remember that Sony is really in the best position for this shift. They not only are a movie studio that makes 3D movies, but also supply studios with their camera equipment that are 3D as well. Sony commands respect in the television world with their Bravia series and let’s not forget the 35+ million PS3 units that will be 3D ready with just a firmware update. This means that Sony has access to just about every level that 3D can touch.

In order for the consumer to be willing to turn to 3D, besides the obvious eventual lowering of prices, they need to see content that’s compelling for sets. Sony is already doing a good job with 3D when it comes to the Playstation 3. It’s updating some back catalogue games with free 3D firmware, as well as making sure future blockbuster games, like its Grand Turismo 5 and Killzone 3, will be released in 3D, on the same disc. This is crucial because while the set (the television and equipment) might be made up of premium devices right now, Sony has to make sure that the content is not. So if I purchase “Killzone 3,” I should be able to play it on my 3D TV at home, but take the same disc to a friend’s house and play it on their non-3D tv and should have paid the same price for the game. So far, they are doing this and I applaud them for that.

Sony, though, has to make sure the same is true for their Blu-ray catalogue. If I purchase a Blu-ray movie, both the 2D and 3D version should be on the same disc. The reason for this is if the content is more premium, that will just hold off consumers. People might already not see the worth in paying more for a Blu-ray version vs a DVD version of a movie. If a third tier is created with DVD < Blu-ray < Blu-ray 3D and even a higher entry prices than created, that will make people less likely to want to jump onboard. Also, for the same reason I stated for the PS3, I should be able to take the same disc anywhere I please and not have it limited to just 3D sets. For instance, whats more likely: multiple HDTVs with Blu-ray in the house or multiple 3D TVs in the house? Also, if a consumer knows that the Blu-ray movies they buy now have 3D, this will make the jump to 3D much easier for them in the future. I myself currently dont have a 3D TV, but my Blu-ray collection sits at 197 discs. If I continue to buy movies and by year’s end, 25 of them are 3D, I will much more likely be willing to buy a 3D set as opposed to purchasing a 3D set and now having to rebuy the same movies just to have them on 3D.

So while I believe Sony is on the right track, they need to take a very aggressive stand with 3D and make it a very easy transition for those who want to come in. For those who are not yet ready, they need to supply the content capable of compelling them to join in the near future.