Australian PS3 launch underwhelming

16. SlyTheBoss wrote:
Don't know if you guys are aware of it but the minimum wage is $12 and the average salary is over $50,000 down there, so take this into consideration when saying the PS3 over there is more expensive than here...
18. Raikage wrote:
@16 thats more double than it is in America so that would mean that the Austrailians got the better deal (but had to wait 5 months)!
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Good grief. Write anything that casts the USA as inferior to any other country and people just gobble it up without question. I find it very odd that the people of Australia can have an income double that of Americans when the per capita GDP for Australians was $32,900(USD) in 2006 while in the USA it was $43,500(USD). (See www.cia.gov)

Then we have an amusing post from NoHitHair who obviously just eats anti-Americanism up without question (gotta be a know-it-all college student). Look at post #20 everyone:


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20. Actually, the tepid response to the PS3 overseas doesn't illustrate their disregard for the system launch as much as it makes Americans look like complete idiots. If anyone remembers, it was our launch that filled the streets and retailers with rabid and violent fanboys, armed robberies and notoriously greedy Capitalists with a love for eBay.

Sometimes I wonder if it's not simply the Iraq war that has caused the world to question American culture.
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First off, anyone who proudly waves blogs as naive as your MySpace blog around has no right to call others idiots. The blog about Africa and its use of male circumcision as a way to slow AIDS is laughable. It makes a tiny good point then overflows with misplaced blame and myopic socialist ramblings. I was going to write a rebuttal but it wasn't worth my time.

Anyhoo, the "greedy capitalists" statement is idiotic. Capitalists get their wealth by producing goods and services others choose to pay for. Gee. How terrible! I suppose it would be better to

adopt a socialist economy. Socialists get their wealth by using the police power of the government to steal goods and services from others. Yup, stated in that truthful way socialist sound very greedy don't they?

NoHitHair, anyone who can completely ignore 20th and 21st century history with its consistent display of economic stagnation occuring as nations adopt more socialism is the very definition of idiotic. But John Lennon had some catchy songs on the subject so I guess that's better than actual history.

Then like a sheep you close with a ranting against Americans and the Iraq war. First off, if you want to be an al-qaeda toady that's your business. A post here on this BBS is not going to change an opinion formed for you by countless celebrities over the past few years. But I can show how idiotic it is with how it relates here. First off, Australian *is* one of the nations in this "unilateral" war. Therefore Australia's role in fighting your celebrity allies in Iraq would play just as much of a role there as it did here in the US: NONE! Why would it? Sony is a JAPANESE company! I don't even think Microsoft is having any problems with the XBOX down there!

Now, NoHitHair, dust off your thinking cap and use it for a second. Isn't it far more likely that the 4 months of ho-hum reactions towards the PS3 by Japanese and American consumers may have caused Australians to reconsider the urgency of a PS3 purchase? Don't ya think that maybe, just maybe, the widespread availability of the PS3 just weeks after its JPN/NA releases may have caused Australians to think "Gee, I don't need to buy it launch. It will be there when I feel like buying it" What about the news in the past few months of numerous formerly Playstation exclusives popping up on the 360? Might that play a part? And, gee, do you think that maybe, just maybe, the lack of an uncoming major gift buying holiday has anything to do with a lower launch demand?


It's amazing. Your post was so pompous and it's obvious you have an incredibly inflated view of your intelligence, yet you completely missed extremely obvious things in your zeal to sound as "wise" as Barbra Streisand.

This does not bode well for Sony.

I've said this a bunch of times, it's not the hardware, it's not the software, it's the cost. It's too expensive. Hello? Earth to Sony, what were you thinking?

Lower the cost by $200 and sales will pick up dramatically.

Right now, I'm in wait and see mode, hoping the price comes down.

Wow, and I kept hearing over and over and the Sony launch in EU and AU would blow the 360 and Wii out of the water! Spin Sony Fanboys Spin!!!

The 360 set the record for the biggest launch ever for a console in AU.. Until the Wii, which isn't even in the same league so for the higher cost of the 360 and still have a launch like that is excellent.

I love the boat with "XBOX LOVES YOU" floating thru at the French launch. I don't think it will convince the 12 people in line but still great PR!! That boat and message seems to be getting more press than the whole PS3 launch. Oh and the beer!! Brilliant! That's what you get when you focus a game console on getting your Blu-Ray format out and not great games. Enough typing I'm off to play Armored Core 4!!

The launch really wasn't hyped up here at all. The PS2 had a huge amount of launch hype from what I remember, the Xbox and GCN had almost none. The 360 had a bit, so it sold quite well early on, the Wii once again had pretty much none but still sold better than anything while the only PS3 stuff I've seen are commercials for a single store, nothing from Sony themselves. Nor have I really seen any news reports about it or anything.

Well Australia isn't the only place; the blogs paid off by microsoft are trying to mislead people with posts like this.

Here are lines in Europe that they are showing on the blogs in Europe.

http://www.jeux-france.com/news19695_la-playstation-3-sort-en-europe.html

Well this doesn't surprise me at all.

We have a show down under called "Today Tonight". It's basically A Current Affair or whatever you yanks have, but so biased and one sided it isn't funny. Besides always showing off some segment of a show (Dancing with the stars) that their station is showing that night to create publicity, it is a very opinionated show. It's stupid, basically.

Anyway, the other week they had a spot about the PS3 and how it shit over everything, even the pope. It shit on the pope.

So on comes some "Game Guru" whom I've never heard of, who starts going on about how good the PS3 technically is. He shows off Motoracer or whatever it is, you know, the CGI trailer they had going at E3 that they claimed was in-game. I think they showed about 3 seconds of collective shots with in-game footage.

During this, they kept saying how awesome it was, all a load of garbage *money under table* type of transaction.

Sony used to hail down here, Aussies loved it, but now it's Wii and Xbox 360. For the better I say.

Unrelated: Today Tonight, my favourite quote ever, with hatred:

"So that's what is happening on Dancing with the Stars tonight, some excitement... and tomorrow, find out what popular general ingredient you could be using can KILL you, look forward to your company then."

I hate that show.

Ok people, just a few things.

The minimum wage rate in Australia for an adult (21yrs and above) working full time is $AU13.27 This is $US10.69 at todays rate.

The $AU999.99 price of the PS3 here includes a 10% GST Tax. It is illegal in Australia to quote a price without including ALL applicable taxes and charges.

For comparasin sake, the average 600ml Coke will cost you around $AU2.30 from a supermarket

From all this i hope Sony change the way SCE does business. Give us what we want, not tell us what we need.

It's not so bad everywhere else.

http://www.jeux-france.com/images65_4_19695.html

hey jessejames. try translating that french...


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Even the Aussie Gray Market has PS3s going for hundreds below retail. I feel bad for anybody that paid over retail for a PS3. No wait I don't. You should have waited a week or two then you could have gotten all the ps3s you wanted when the scalpers returned the unsold units to the stores.

Any idea when Joystiq is going to report on the rest of the PS3 launches throughout Europe as well as in Kiwi land aka New Zealand.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/775/775302p1.html



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@Steve

I agree with most everything you said.. except: "Then like a sheep you close with a ranting against Americans and the Iraq war. First off, if you want to be an al-qaeda toady that's your business."

Al-queda and Iraq are unrelated.

But good rant otherwise.

xe.com > ur mac son

slackware > ur mac

omg and windows xp > ur mac

I work in a games store and one guy came in today wanting to trade three PS2s and an old xbox, as well as a bunch of games, and he still had to fork out about 300 shmackers on top of that. We were both surprised when I told him that.

He still got it. I guess someone who had three PS2s was a bit of a fan...

We also had a light problem that ended up involving the security, but it wasn't by gun-toting fans. Just a couple of douches who wanted to jack the store for the $12k earnings we had made by midday. It all ended uneventfully, thanks to the enhanced security.

And yeah was a pretty dismal launch. We didn't do a midnight launch (because of security reasons :P) and when we opened up at 9.30 there weren't many people at all (I went home early after the expected crowd never showed).

Oh and you can probably guess how many PS3s we sold ($1000 units and we had $12k by the time I left...)

I work in a chain games retailer in a relatively small shopping center that is currently under-going major reconstruction (they are doubling the size of the store). This is in Australia. It's a bitch to get in and out off so many people are staying away.

We had a midnight launch for the 360, the PSP, the Wii and Burning Crusade. The smallest of these was probably the BC launch (largely due to the construction), yet we had more people for that, than Pitt St Syndey (the "official" launch) had for the PS3.

I wonder how long before we start hearing the stories of Sony PR ppls jumping off bridges. I know I'd be updating my CV if nothing else...

I've finally managed to find a Wii (in australia).

I've also got a 360 (which I also had to wait for because they sold out).

I toyed with the idea of a PS3, but honestly, They retail for the same cost as a 360 and a Wii put together, and there isn't enough reason to spend that much money on a console that is at best, marginally better than the 360, even though no evidence of that has shown.

to #56 Anthony

I don't know about you, but I just drank a 1.25 litre bottle of pepsi, which costed me $0.75 (granted it was on offer). Somehow I think your supermarket's seriously overcharging you. (if you want the location where I got this bottle from, Berwick Market Safeway)

JesseJaames, if you read the article with the pictures (or listen to the podcast), you'll see they said that at the Eiffel Tower, only about 20 persons went and at the FNAC, about 4 or 5. Nothing to write home about...

@24.. 360 did its stuff right, they broke the world record for biggest water baloon fight (target was 3600 people) with 2800 people, and everyone who showed up got PDZ, Kameo or PGR3. fingers crossed the ps3 6 million dollar marketing budget does something cool....... NOT!

We may be convicts but we can smell shit from a mile off where puritans run straight through it and stab eachother.


flame away on that comment

There was a PS3 launch? I'm not being a smartarse.
I dropped by a gaming store on the way home from work and didn't even notice any signs for the PS3. The Wii had noticeable displays and was sold out everywhere I went when it launched.

$1000 is about 4 days wages for me after tax and I make more than $75k a year. Nearly a weeks wages for something that has no killer app and has backwards compatibility neutered after Sony kept ripping on Microsoft about it? No thanks, I think I'll keep my PS2 for a couple more years. At least I know my PS2 is compatible with PS2 games.

Putting the price in perspective, I traded in my old xbox and some games and got a new 360 for around $350.

OMG, It looks like Sheppy can't tell the future!!! I wonder where he is now?

Hey Shep, just because you are a blind fanboi, doesn't mean the rest of the world is too. I think people are a lot smarter than you give them credit for, thus they stayed away from getting fooled by SOny again! (Emotion Engine, 4D graphics, blah, blah, blah)

#67 to Psaakyrn,

Yah i know, hell 2L of coke is usually cheaper than 600ml bottle. Check the little fridges near the checkouts for the ones i mean. Tried to pick a product most people would be familiar with.

99% of the time the Pepsi / Schweppes (sp?) 1.25L bottles are dirt cheap at less than $1

The guys at my local store in Wollongong had 5 people show up to the midnight launch.

5.

The real slap here? 2 of them were there together, to pick up a copy of Tetris 64 they ordered in specially. :D

God damn, I nearly shit myself laughing.

Moneywise, our dollar is slightly less valuable than the US dollar, but we get taxed up the shitter on everything. EVERYTHING, usually several different taxes at once - in the PS3's case, import duty and GST. Even with those gone, however, the actual price tag Sony chucked on pushes it over US$750, depending on current exchange rate.

I think the real reason for dismal sales is the fact that people here can smell bullshit a mile away and recognise a massive rip off when it waits around for 5 months to try and gut punch them. They've tried to sell on reputation, insulted the public and their customers... And they wonder why no one is buying an expensive product that nobody wants?

Nah, maybe I'm just a pessimist. >;D

For the currency exchange, in Australia 1.25L bottles of Coca Cola can be found for $1.30 and off the top of my head a Large Bic Mac meal costs $5.95 or $6.95, half the average hourly wage.

@16 Why is it that people throw around annual wage figures, but never bother to consider things like living costs and tax. Yes, our average weekly earnings may be just over AU$1000 (see http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6302.0 ), but that is BEFORE tax and BEFORE the rent, mortgage, bills, food have been paid for.

Average National disposable income sits at approximately $9000 per capita (http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/subscriber.nsf/log?openagent&52060_dec%202006.pdf&5206.0&Publication&2945ECECB60ECB87CA257296001C1001&0&Dec%202006&07.03.2007&Latest).

Allow for savings (which is unfortunately on a decreasing trend), then subtract beer costs [;)] and I'm sure you'll find people aren't exactly excited enough to spend $1000 on a gaming console, especially with the lackluster launch lineup. Not to mention an extra controller and one game will set oyu back another 180 dollars.