Sony to sell 80GB PS3 at 40GB price Sony is to leave its 40GB PlayStation 3 by the wayside, in favour of a cheaper 80GB model. That’s despite only recently stating that it has no plans to fiddle with the console’s prices. The firm yesterday announced at the E3 gaming conference in Los Angeles that from September it will sell an 80GB model in the US for $399 (£ …
They've just annouced a new PS2 package, and more games, they don't really care about BC anymore as they make more keeping the product lines separate.
And last night the online Video Store suddenly opened, so the PS3 users will potentially be needing more HD space (though you can of course just swap it out easily).
Also, factor in the Xbox live membership, and the PS3 80GB and Xbox 60GB are now the same price. MS won't be happy.
...against companies blatantly making a false statement. If a company says it isn't going to drop prices then many consumers who might have been holding off for a lower price decide that they aren't going to wait that much longer and off they toddle to buy said product. To find the very next week the company announces a price drop. Especially evil if the consumer has been deliberatly waiting months for such an eventuality.
I've been stung like this two or three times, once even by Sony. Its a despicable practice and yes I know its 'marketing' and 'strategy' but it freaking blows. If they don't want to say they are dropping the price for damaging sales, then at least don't outright lie about it beforehand.
The AC at 11:17 GMT has sussed it perfectly. This is how one reads Sony press releases. The words that are there are less important than the words that are not there. "We have no plans to" means "We haven't agreed yet on when or if we're doing this. Maybe after tomorrow's meeting." "We are not changing the price" means "We are changing features." "We are not changinge the specifications" means "We're going to bundle stuff with it."
So their nasty attitude towards their customers continues unabated. I know there really isn't any such thing as customer loyalty as far as corps are concerned these days, but PH-ONY seemed to have developed "two-fingers up", into an art form that can only be admired!
Sorry to say I'm with UK:Resistance on this, the PS3 really has been a complete farce from start to it's ultimate end, in the not too distant future.
"Sony runs around like a headless chicken trying to find something, anything, that will help it sell its failing games console."
Wooooah!! Ultimate biased there!! Don't think it's failing - sure it's been taking a kicking from the ney-sayers, but side by side the Xbox and PS3 are excellent machines. You might need to be reminded that the sales of the PS3 are actually very strong compared to the XBOX.
Or are you one of the "Black is white and white is black" brigade who can not under any circumstances admit that .. gosh darn it.. you might be wrong??
As for Mark - I'm sure "they" will be along shortly; but who knows which one will appear first!
Anyway, back to the pricing. People have asked for a price drop, and they've got it.. Bet someone will complain about SOMETHING.. "Moon on a stick.."
Nice one Sony.
Simple - they are adding 80gb drives because production of teeny weenie 40gb drives is winding up - it would be cheaper to buy 80gb drives than 40gb because there is more demand for 80gb drives across all markets, hence economy of scale.
80gb is still fairly pants, but an upgrade to 320gb is fairly cheap and easy.
***"Or are you one of the "Black is white and white is black" brigade who can not under any circumstances admit that .. gosh darn it.. you might be wrong??"***
Gosh, why is winding up fanbois so much *fun*. I know I shouldn't do it, but I just can't help myself. Very sorry, and all that.
Off to get some professional help, now.
As an early adopter I picked my Japanese PS3 up in Singapore a few months before the UK/EU release.
Back compat is there, apparently, but it won't play UK PS2 games anyway...
Still, never mind, that's not why I bought it and as time goes on, who really cares about PS2 games? I mean, until 2020 when we all have a nostalgia kick.
The new 80GB system is functionally identical to the 40GB unit, with the inclusion of a bigger HDD and DualShock3. It's not the same model as the existing 80GB PS3. That PS3 has more USB ports, and PS2 compatibility, to name but two of the distinguishing features. There was no indication what would happen to the existing 80GB.
This is not a price drop of the 80GB system, at all. It's an increase in the specification of the existing 40GB system, with no change in price.
"You might need to be reminded that the sales of the PS3 are actually very strong compared to the XBOX."
Says who? Sure VG Chartz claims that they are, but Sony themselves stated yesterday that they're only very near shifting 10 mill units, or, to put it another way, they're not even at 10 million units yet.
That means VG Chartz is completely wrong and that the PS3 hasn't in fact been outselling the 360 in Europe and the US and may only have barely been doing so in Japan.
I'm sure fanboys will find an excuse for this but the fact is it came from Sony's own mouth so it'll be a hard one for them to excuse because put simply, there is no excuse. The PS3 is in last place and has failed to keep pace with even the 360, let alone the Wii and with a slow start in the first place this is really, really not good for Sony. The PS3 now clearly, backed up by Sony's own statements has no chance of coming anywhere but 3rd place for the lifetime of the current generation of consoles.
Some of us still care about PS2 backwards compatibility: while games such as GOW2 are still being made. It's a lot of hastle to add my old PS2 to the myriad other connections I have set up.
Sony aren't just PS3. Consider the PS2 and PSP and MS can't even pretend to be anywhere near equal.
Posters laughing about "PS3 fanbois" sound just like XBox fanbois. Truly objective posters don't revert to childish name calling.
I'm still laughing about FF13 being multi-console, when for so long the three hardcore PS3 fanbois I know IRL were insisting it would only be for the PS3, Square Enix is sticking with Sony, there's no way it could be...
And then BAM! It's announced that it'll be for 360 and PS3! There are so many PS3 owners moaning and whinging who bought the PS3 just for FF13 that I can't help but laugh.
I don't own any of the newest generation of consoles yet, and I'm playing my PS2 right now so I'm hardly AGAINST Sony, but still, I do take schadenfreude in other people's pain.
I will admit, though, that I'm most interested in the 360, if only for Blood Bowl this October. The principle use for the PS3 is as a Blu-Ray player that a person might sometimes want to play games on; other than that it just has shinier graphics and shiny graphics do not equal good games.
If nothing else, twenty-five years of playing games has taught me THAT much.
"Says who? Sure VG Chartz claims that they are, but Sony themselves stated yesterday that they're only very near shifting 10 mill units, or, to put it another way, they're not even at 10 million units yet."
Sony said they are close to shifing 10m units THIS FISCAL YEAR...
Sales to date are about 14m, and should be about 18m by the end of the fiscal year.. (March 09)
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