PS3 Slim Hardware Confirmed

[Phil]

Damn, you're right!

Over here, it's 1x PS3 + 1 PS3 game for 149 CHF ~= €100.

It's really a damn shame I still need my old PS3 for the backwards-compatibility...............

PS: And trading in my old PS3 with 1 PS3 game for that price (I save 300 CHF) and use that to buy another (original) PS3 is kind of overkill.......... and I'm not even sure you can still get PS3 with backwardscompatibility overhere.... Thanks for the hint though...

 

[ShadowRunner]

If your considering buying a slim and keeping a BC model why not just get a PS2 for BC?

 

[Phil]

I would if I could, but I don't for the same reason of not getting a cheap X360: I also devote myself to one console only, for one because of limited space, secondly, I couldn't bare using wired controllers again (besides, since I use a beamer, I'm too far away from the console anyway), thirdly - my connectors to the beamer are somewhat limited too.

With only one HDMI and my compontent used for something else, it's a lot easier to just have one console running. I also believe PS2 games (the ones that work) look better on a HD display using the PS3 than using a PStwo...

I know, having two PS3s doesn't make a whole lot more sense, but at least there, I would only have to switch the HDMI plugs....

 

[jonabbey]

I would if I could, but I don't for the same reason of not getting a cheap X360: I also devote myself to one console only, for one because of limited space, secondly, I couldn't bare using wired controllers again (besides, since I use a beamer, I'm too far away from the console anyway), thirdly - my connectors to the beamer are somewhat limited too.

With only one HDMI and my compontent used for something else, it's a lot easier to just have one console running. I also believe PS2 games (the ones that work) look better on a HD display using the PS3 than using a PStwo...

I know, having two PS3s doesn't make a whole lot more sense, but at least there, I would only have to switch the HDMI plugs....

Do you have any idea how the wireless controllers for the PS3 work if you have multiple PS3s in a single residence? It's tempting to pick up a slim PS3 for a media extender/blu-ray player upstairs, but I'd be concerned that one or the other system would need to be USB-connected to avoid Bluetooth confusion..

 

[Gradthrawn]

Do you have any idea how the wireless controllers for the PS3 work if you have multiple PS3s in a single residence? It's tempting to pick up a slim PS3 for a media extender/blu-ray player upstairs, but I'd be concerned that one or the other system would need to be USB-connected to avoid Bluetooth confusion..

I haven't run into any controller problems with multiple PS3s in the same house.

 

[jonabbey]

I haven't run into any controller problems with multiple PS3s in the same house.

Hm. How do the two PS3s know which controller is intended to connect with each system?

Is there a mating process when you first introduce a controller? It's been awhile since I've bought one..

 

[Cornsnake]

Hm. How do the two PS3s know which controller is intended to connect with each system?

Is there a mating process when you first introduce a controller? It's been awhile since I've bought one..

I've used the same controller between different PS3's. Everytime I switch between them I have to connect the controller with the PS3 using the USB cable. That will link the two together and then I can use the controller wireless again.

 

[jonabbey]

I've used the same controller between different PS3's. Everytime I switch between them I have to connect the controller with the PS3 using the USB cable. That will link the two together and then I can use the controller wireless again.

Ah, duh. Sorry, it has been a long time.

Guess there's little to stop me picking up a slim, then.. :smile:

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Hm. How do the two PS3s know which controller is intended to connect with each system?

Is there a mating process when you first introduce a controller? It's been awhile since I've bought one..

Yes (only it's pairing, not mating, which would have bizarre consequences! ). You connect the controllers via USB to assign them to a particular PS3. They won't activate/control any other PS3s they're not paired with.

 

[TheWretched]

nwm

 

[patsu]

Financial Times interview

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bcfa43f2-8ce6-11de-a540-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

Mr House said Sony had plans for more social networking features and would not rule out a tie-up with popular sites such as Facebook. He said the online network had become critical to the business.

“The goal is to move from a traditional short, toy-based life cycle to a longer, consumer electronics life cycle. The network allows us to give customers a better sense of value and continuous improvement,” he said.

EDIT:
Adriasang.com article on 700 yen profit for Japanese retailer to sell a PS3 Slim:
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2009/08/24/ps3_retail_profit_margins/

 

[patsu]

Hirai interview with Times UK

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6808050.ece

The Times was the only UK publication at Gamescom in Cologne last week to speak with Sony Computer Entertainment boss Kazuo “Kaz” Hirai. We met up with him the morning after he had taken the stage to announce the new PlayStation 3 Slim, and half an hour before he was due to fly back to Tokyo.

Will PlayStation thinking infiltrate the rest of Sony?

This is one of the things that Howard has tasked myself and Kunimasa Suzuki to do at NPSG, where the majority of the sales and visibility, if you will, comes from the PlayStation business. Since I manage both there's obviously going to be a bit of a ruboff from how I run the PlayStation business. and how that's going to impact how Kuni's going to be running the Vaio business, and because of the cross-pollination that I wanted I've asked Kuni to become second in command at SCE. So there's a lot of cross- pollination going on at management level.

I certainly wanted to make sure that the kind of corporate culture, the atmosphere if you will, the kind of information sharing, the openness that I think I've been able to impart on SCE, I want to make sure that that culture extends to NPSG, and by extension if it's a culture that breeds success, then it should naturally extend into other parts of Sony as well.

 

[Asher]

The most important part of that interview, IMHO, is the confirmation that the PS3 Slim still incurs a loss per unit sold, as expected by many but questioned by some.

 

[TheD]

The most important part of that interview, IMHO, is the confirmation that the PS3 Slim still incurs a loss per unit sold, as expected by many but questioned by some.

Then how can the 70% cut on PS3 costs be right without the PS3 needing to cost a lot more when it was launched than what everyone thought? (it would needed to be around $1200-$1300 USD)

 

[DJ12]

I think that is just a line to excuse the price.

They had already reduced the costs of the PS3 to 70% of the original price even before the slim according to reports.

Even with the top estimate of cost of a launch unit (which was about $600 I think) they were making Fat PS3s for about $200

 

[LunchBox]

I'm just guessing here

Maybe Hirai is taking the "added costs" into account... i.e. the stores has to make some profit from the system (pretty miniscule though), shipping, marketing, import taxes, liscencing fees (NVidia)... etc.etc. It adds up pretty quickly.

 

[LunchBox]

Just wondering... memory is hazy

I think that is just a line to excuse the price.

They had already reduced the costs of the PS3 to 70% of the original price even before the slim according to reports.

Even with the top estimate of cost of a launch unit (which was about $600 I think) they were making Fat PS3s for about $200

Wasn't the estimated price to make a PS3 around over $800 bucks????? can someone confirm???

 

[Shifty Geezer]

They had already reduced the costs of the PS3 to 70% of the original price even before the slim according to reports.

I remember it differently. IIRC the 70% reduction figure was said after the Slim rumours, meaning that the Slim was the version that had costs down that much. And as Lunchbox says, throw in all the other costs beyond building the box and you push up the price and reduce profits/increase losses. So it may not all be so contradictory afterall. They're just talking about different points with each figure. One is cost to make, the other is total cost to get to retail.

 

[Arwin]

Well even if they brake even on the costs of the PS3 Slim, you still need to start making a big profit on them before you'll have compensated for all the R&D that went into it and the subsidizing on the 25 million PS3 Fats that are out there. So inherently, the Playstation business is currently still not setup to make a profit from the hardware and that's not going to change for a long time, and for the PS3 probably never.

 

[BoardBonobo]

Is the electricity produced by your equipment or transferred from somewhere?

We have a ~0.5Kw wind turbine in the garden and 8 PV panels on the roof. These all link in through an Outback system to 12 car batteries for storage.

When the sun shines we even export power back to the grid!