If you haven’t heard about the Sony press conference yesterday, you’re sorely out of the loop. The big S revealed the pricing structure for the PS3, which a lot of people had speculations about. The rumors of a huge price hike ran rampant, while dedicated Sonyers held tight to the hopes that the price would sail in under the smoothly affordable mark.
And then, of course, Sony shit all over those hopes. The price point for the two versions of the PS3 are as follows:
- PlayStation 3 w/ 20GB HDD – US$499
- PlayStation 3 w/ 60GB HDD – US$599
Mind you, the “cheaper” PS3 is about as complete as 99% of the Rubicks cube’s ever purchased, but it sure is nice of them to offer us a nearly-completely crippled option for a hundred bucks less. Aside from the 40 Gig drop, you’re also dropping memory stick, Wi-Fi, and 1080p support. Why not just sell us a white racing stripe to put down the side of the PS2 instead, because considering all the hype surrounding those features, that’s what you may as well be playing.
Then you’ve got the revolutionary (irony coming in a second) controller design. Thank God, they finally realized that we didn’t want to play with a miniature boomerang. But of course, it’s the third console and about time to revamp that archaic design, right? What can we expect for our hard-earned shekels?
Brilliant. And no rumble functionality either. Sony states that this is due to the intereference with the Bluetooth, but there are a few other theories on its exclusion.
All in all, a totally underwhelming (and slightly angering) opening from Sony. After you pay for taxes and buy a single game, the console is going to cost a MINIMUM of $720 just to get started. Meanwhile the Xbox 360 is pretty much identical, has Xbox Live already up and running, and a slew of games by the time the PS3 hits the shelves. Then of course, you have the Wii, which actually looks like it might have some fun games for a cheap price. Somehow Sony is setting itself up for a severe kick to its tiny Japanese balls, and I’m just wondering why the “visionaries” who retooled the industry are now busy playing catch up.
*sigh*
I’ll still buy one though. Miserable cocksuckers.
blue rayAt least you get the only correct format for HD dvd with the PS3 and it’s still coming in a well under the price you’ll pay for other systems. That controler has been great so changing it seems silly to me personally, but meh.
controllerit’s less the fact that they changed jack shit, and more the fact that they said it was going to be a huge and excellent change. they pretty much stole the revolution’s motion sensetivity and took away the rumble. *clap*
Well wait 6 monthsWho buys a system right at launch anyway? The machines are always built like crap (PS2, Xbox360) and the first gen games are usually nothing spectacular. Wait a few months and pick it up after the first price drop.
well..This level of pricing is nothing new. If you remember the PS1 launched at $500, I waited 2 years and a $250 price drop to pick one up.The Sega Saturn was $400 at launch…
i do rememberand no they didnt, at least not the PS1. both PS1 and PS2 launched at a $299 price point. Saturn was $399, and it sold like shit because of it. Dreamcast was $199 as a result, but people no longer cared.
YeahI’ll wait a while for any of the new consoles. Hopefully they (ps3, Wii) have a very limited release, I learned my lesson from the 360, I’m going to buy one or two and sell them on Ebay to the dumb fuckers who can’t wait.
pricehow differnt is 299 back when the PS1 launched and 599 now? That was a lot of money back then! Hell wasn’t the SNES like 200, mind you with 2 controlers and a game.
yeah, about that$300 in 1995 and $600 in 2006 are very different, bob_hits. The US hasn’t experienced 100% inflation over the past 11 years.
gasWell, in gas prices maybe.
Sony didn’t suprise…People are missing a few huge points. Sony is the master of big expectations. Let us all not forget about the \”Emotion Engine\” and the super life like facial expression and movement demos that EVERY game was supposed to look like for the mega hyped PS2. It didn’t happen then and it isn’t going to happen now for the PS3. Then factor in that they are dealing with a brand new format that nobody else has any experience dealing with and trying desperately to add features that other systems are already implementing and/or have to give the ILLUSION that the ps3 is the super game machine. The gyrosphere in place of the rumble feature is pretty lame. Not to mention the carbon copy of Xbox Live they are trying to pull off. Being an avid modder, I can tell you sony has NEVER had a playstation that was quality built. It’s no secret that they have a short shelf life. Now factor in the amount of crap ps3 is trying to add, and I don’t think it’s gonna get any better. I will spring for a PS3 just like I have for every other system. That is when they show me that they can have quality games. Hyping the system with nice cgi movies and renders then releasing a system with Fantavision, Orphen, Rayman and Evergrace isn’t going to sell me. I won’t fall for another PS2 letdown. And for those wondering, the core PS3 doesn’t come with HDMI compatability. This also means that Blu-Ray movie playback would be impossible. Wow, way to go Sony.
and before I forgetAlso forgot to mention that seemingly there is no more 7 players per system. Also with no HDMI on the core system and only 1 HDMI slot on the premium system, that also means that the fantasy world of hooking up to HDTV’s for use as one monitor is also impossible. Nice job with the ole’ bait and switch method.
dudeget over it.
Shit!No more vibrating controllers? WTF! Isen’t this exactly what the manual is for? Explaining over and over how anything you do to hurt yourself is your own damn fault? :SBut why ban those 40 PSgames? To many shakes..? 😀
hdmiThe cheaper PS3 also lacks a HDMI port, so it’s likely that later hi-def Blu-ray titles won’t display in anything higher than 480p (or maybe 720p) without the encrypted video channel.
ughErorus, that’s what I said in the last part of my first post. To clear things up for people that don’t know about the format, here you go. \”Another aspect of compatibility is more problematic. Due to AACS copy protection, the Blu-ray players will only output HD content via HDMI and DVI-D connections, meaning that older HDTV models with Component, RGB D-Sub, and DVI-A inputs (currently, majority of HDTVs in US) will only display video at standard definition or not at all.The situation with computer compatibility is even worse. In order to display HD content on a computer monitor, both monitor and video card must be HDCP compliant. Although there are a few HDCP compliant monitors on the market, there are no HDCP compliant video cards. Even the latest cards from ATI and nVidia, labeled HDCP ready, are not HDCP compliant (as of April 2006).\”No HDMI means standard signal resolution IE 480p. That also means that the lower end PS3 is useless as a next gen hi-def machine. Sony has already went on record and said ALL games will be solely on the Blu-Ray format. Being that I have worked in game retail for close to 10 years, this is the dumbest thing I have ever heard of.
….Sony had to fuck themselves in the ass sooner or later.But you know, maybe the Japs realized we were paying near $3-4 (we at $5 yet?) per gallon of gas, and just wanted to toss us a big middle finger. Why not? The radiation effects from the 40’s has infected all the higher ups who are now in charge, and they want vengence. Capitalist style.
quit moaningyou’re forgetting the $50 bill microsoft charges year-on-year for xbox live. sony’s \”live\” rip-off will be free.roll on november, i say.
…Dude, do the math. It’s less then $4.20 a month to pay for Xbox Live. No one really notices that out of their pocket.And with news of $720+ for the PS3 with a single game isn’t going to look good, especially when Microsoft drops the price on their 360 when PS3 comes out. It ALWAYS happens.And who knows, they could change their minds on the free online service. Probably a yearly charge of some sort.Raping you in front of your house in broad daylight is Sony’s new plan. And they will all enjoy a good laugh while eating sushi and cumming all over your girlfriend.
too soonIt seems to me that sony is simply launching this system a year before it’s ready. The HD format isn’t even being accepted by the majority of the market. The games won’t look better without HD. Essentially the majority will be buying this system to get the benifits of it a few years down the road. It apears the BIG reason to push the launch of this system now is to try and take hold of the HD DVD market with their blue ray format. I think that’s what they’re after, not the gaming market. I think they are banking on their name selling the system and hoping the consumer will upgrade because they bought an expensive system.Now the real question comes in if HD DVD ever actually even catches on in the US. There’s a very very good chance that another format will be ready before people switch over and since most films weren’t shot in digital the HD quality differnce won’t really matter right now. Either way I’ve never bought a system the first year it was out so complaining over prices now seems silly.