Cracky Hacker

Posted by : Shekhar™ Friday, 27 May 2011

Cracky Hacker

Sony at Work on PlayStation 4
Online Ad Revenues Jump 23% to New Record
Witchville [BETA] (PC Game)

Posted: 26 May 2011 03:38 PM PDT

Don't expect an official announcement or unveiling anytime soon, but Sony has admitted that they are working on the PlayStation 4 (or whatever they'll be calling the PS3's follow-up).
The news came during a fiscal call yesterday from Sony's Executive Vice President and Chief financial Officer Masaru Kato. Kato owned up to the fact that work on the next home console from Sony is already underway.

Of course, most would assume that Sony's been at least considering their next step in the console competition for the last few years. It's only natural for a company amidst an industry of constant rivals to be considering their next move while their current move is still playing out. Kato speaks about that, too. Here's what he said, from Eurogamer:

"For the home equipment the PS 3 still has a product life … but this is a platform business, so for the future platform – when we'll be introducing what product I cannot discuss that – but our development work is already under way, so the costs are incurred there."

The PlayStation 3 "still has product life." Understand that the company is not ready to push away from their still well-stacked console. The PS3 was built with a longer life-cycle in mind, and that fact definitely contributed to its initially large price point. News that Sony is working on the PlayStation 4 and committing a budget line to it does not take life away from the PS3. Perhaps it was Kato's way of placating investors during a financial call concerning the recent problems Sony and the PlayStation brand have had.

I don't expect the PlayStation 3 or even the Xbox 360 to go anywhere within the next two or three years. That said, it's interesting that companies are already talking about the work being done. We all know that console manufacturers are always working on the next big thing, it's just strange to hear their employees and representatives talking about it before official announcements.

What would you like to see from the PlayStation 4?

Online Ad Revenues Jump 23% to New Record

Posted: 26 May 2011 08:56 AM PDT

Internet advertising revenues hit $7.3 billion in the first quarter, setting a new record, the Interactive Advertising Bureau reports

The figure is a 23% jump over Q1 2010, which had been a first-quarter record as well.

In April, the IAB reported that online revenues for 2010 were $26 billion, a 15% jump over 2009, which had seen a 3.4% drop during the recession. The big category movers for the year included sponsorships, which grew 88%. Classified advertising also rose 15% over 2009.

The lion's share of digital advertising revenues continue to come from search, which accounted for 46% of such revenues last year.

The IAB didn't outline how various categories within digital advertising performed in Q1 2011. The organization provides such data for six-month periods, not quarters.

The IAB doesn't break out figures for Facebook's share of the display advertising market, a $9.9 billion business in 2010. ComScore estimated that Facebook took 31.2% of all display ad impressions in Q1. ComScore doesn't estimate revenues.

Witchville [BETA] (PC Game)

Posted: 26 May 2011 02:10 AM PDT