News hit us this week that Sony has halved the price of the software development kit that designers use to make games for its PlayStation 3.

If you, like the rest of the game industry thought Sony had no cards left, you were wrong! They certainly saved this one up their sleeve and a few more are a possibility considering Sony's recent nature.

Sony's PlayStation 3 so far has found it hard to follow in its predecessor's footsteps. One of the reasons for this is the Nintendo Wii.

Sony's technological superiority over the Wii can also be a fall. Its technology is so advanced that it makes game developers jobs far harder to develop games for it than other consoles such as the Xbox 360 and the Wii.

PlayStation 3 sales are particularly important not just for the gaming aspect but also for the home entertainment industry. With a built in Blu-ray high definition DVD format, Sony hopes it will become the first choice high definition format over rival HD-DVD format.

There is promise though. Sony stresses the sales of PS3 have improved since its price cut from $599 (£292) to roughly $499 in the US, Europe and Japan. That's not all; sales in Japan have overtaken the Wii for first time on the week beginning 5th November.

Sony explains that the software price cut will hopefully tempt more developers to design games for the PS3.

Tags : Blu-ray : Developement kit : HD-DVD : microsoft : Nintendo : PlayStation 3 : Sony : Wii : Xbox 360

Comments

By: Dragonfly On: 01:55 Nov 22nd, 2007 Offline	Wow. Ummm... wow. o.o Seriously, that's pretty crazy. Half the price? Middle-ware (software developed by people for use by multiple companies) is becoming increasingly popular as the cost of developing games continues to rise. This is a surprising but very smart move on Sony's part. Now all we need are some decent exclusives.

By: deanogee On: 02:09 Nov 22nd, 2007 Offline	i have to say this is pretty impressive news - it must be pretty crazy as its the first time ive heard of a game console doing it especially if its the first in the last 7 years...

By: Corrine On: 09:08 Nov 23rd, 2007 Offline	I have to cheer them on for this. Wooo! That's great news. My biggest complaint about the whole PS3 issue - that Sony wasn't doing much to secure a good collection of games for the system - is basically done, because they did this. Very smart on their part, finally. Let's hope we see some good stuff come of this... and that the writer's strike doesn't last too long.