Well, if you're Kaz Hirai you will probably have been the only Sony head of section to have been taken out on Sony CEO Howard Stringer's boat and not dangled over the side by your heels this week. Why? Because the company's Game division is the only one to have shown an improvement in Quarter 1 of 2008 over the same period last year (both of which end on June 30th).

Sony's report explains that its Game business segment did well, "due to an improvement in the operating performance of the PS3 business as a result of PS3 hardware cost reductions and increased sales of PS3 software, as well as strong sales of PSP hardware."

In fact, it looks like a very good quarter for the PS3 indeed - compared to PS2 - in both hardware and software sales.

The PS3 managed to sell more 'software units' than PlayStation 2. Yes, PS3 sells more games than PS2 for the quarter. A feat it also managed with hardware units.

In terms of year-on-year 'Operating income' - Electronics fell from 2007's first quarter of ¥103.5 billion to ¥44.4b this year; Sony Pictures dropped from a ¥4.6b profit to a ¥8.3b loss; even Sony Financial Services drooped (yes, drooped) from ¥33.8b to ¥30.6b. What Sony calls its Games Segment, however, went from a loss of ¥229.2b to a positive ¥54.1b (£25.3 million year-on-year).

The figures are based on revenues - for the Game section of the company - of ¥229.6 billion compared to ¥196.6 for the same period last year. That's roughly £1 billion.

The hardware sales figures - which, since June 2007 have been calculated in terms of 'sold' (into retail)' rather than 'shipped' (out of the factories and into storage or retail) are as follows:

PlayStation 2 sold 1.51 million units (down 1.15m year-on-year).
PlayStation 3 sold 1.56 million units (up by 860,000).
PSP sold 3.72 million units (up 1.59m).

In terms of software (Exactly what this means is not explained in detail. However, it's safe to assume first-party games play a very large part).

PS2 software unit sales were 19.3 million (down by 11.8m).
PS3 software unit sales were 22.8 million (up by 18.1m).
PSP software unit sales were 11.8 (up by 2m).

Comments to the Forum please.