Friday, July 18, 2008

Sony looks to online store to even score

The battle to dominate living room entertainment rages on, and as a result, Sony Playstation is confronting challenges it never faced in the late 90s and early 2000s.
During Sony's best years, Nintendo and Microsoft didn't offer anything different to gamers, but as the game consoles have upgraded their capabilities,the gaming audience has also evolved.

Sony now faces competition from a fourth rival, as Apple now offers games for the Iphone.
Video game companies no longer devote the bulk of their focus to the 8-18 year-old.Since consoles now double as DVD players and, in Sony's case, Blue Ray players, every member of a family, from the grandkids to the grandparents, can entertain themselves.
As Brad's July 14 post mentioned, Microsoft's XBox pinned its flag on Netflix online movie rentals.

Not to be overshadowed by its rival, Sony launched its online store on Tuesday.Similar to  Itunes, Sony's online store will offer games,movies, movie trailers and interactive media to its users. 300 movie sand 1,200 shows are already available, with content from Sony Pictures, Fox Films, MGM, Warner Bros., Disney , Turner Entertainment and Funimation.

Gamers won't find much of price difference compared to Apple,  with Sonny's Movie rentals will starting at $2.99; and $9.99 as price floor for movies.

If Apple,Microsoft, Nintendo and XBox continue to expand their roles in home entertainment, we may reach the point where the term "gamer" is as antiquated as Atari and Pac Man.

Posted By Matt O'Hern at 08:43 AM
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