Playstation 3: Hardware Info and Price

[Hardknock]

Does anyone have pictures of both ends, or just the bottom (when it's vertical) of the new casing? I'm trying to see if the HDD bay is still accessible or if they changed it so the HDD is no longer removable. I can't imagine they'd do that but after the gimping of the $500 version I put nothing past them anymore.

scooby, it's definately not just the cable as there are PR pics of the two different versions available and the $500 does not physically have the port on the back.

Yeah, the wording really bothered me. "pre-installed" HDD? What does that mean exactly? Shouldn't it be obvious that it would come installed?

I guess we'll find out soon enough.

 

[DemoCoder]

What percentage of the userbase do you think actually wants HD-DVD, wi-fi, hdmi and xblive? most might just want to game.

Well then, buy the $499 PS3 and then the price differential between XB360 and PS3 is $100.

But if you want to watch HD movies and play online, the price differential is smaller, not larger.

Either way, the XB360 ain't a whole lot cheaper.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Either way, the XB360 ain't a whole lot cheaper.

When you compare HDD-version to HDD version, and assume 360 won't have a pricedrop it's $100. However, if you look at the minimum pricetags on the shelf, it will be $299 to $499 so there's 2 ways of looking at it. I agree it's essentially a $100 difference, and think that MS should do a pricedrop to increase that difference.

 

[wco81]

Launch lineup and through the first 6 months may need to be more compelling than in the past.

And even having some big Blu-Ray movies would help justify that $600 price tag.

Would be nice if the EA Sports titles supported the gyro.

 

[Deepak]

These prices are above my expectations , they should have been 399 and 499.

 

[rendezvous]

Does anyone have pictures of both ends, or just the bottom (when it's vertical) of the new casing? I'm trying to see if the HDD bay is still accessible or if they changed it so the HDD is no longer removable. I can't imagine they'd do that but after the gimping of the $500 version I put nothing past them anymore.

scooby, it's definately not just the cable as there are PR pics of the two different versions available and the $500 does not physically have the port on the back.

There seems to be something that very well could be a HDD Bay on the bottom/left.
http://www.scee.presscentre.com/imagelibrary/detail.asp?MediaDetailsID=28989

Br,
/rendezvous

 

[Carl B]

Well, this is the first chance I've had today to post and I'm just tied up in general, but thought I'd post some thoughts.

At first I was disappointed with the 2 SKU situation, but at the same time I understand where Sony can see the justification for these prices. If we were to remove the names Sony and Microsoft from these machines, we'd almost see a progression of four consoles within the same line, at $100 increments with improvements at each stage.

$300 buys a console
$400 buys a console with 20GB HDD
$500 buys a console with 20GB HDD + Blu-ray
$600 buys a console with 60GB HDD + Blu-ray + I/O Features and WiFi

In this context I see Sony's pricing as wholly justified, but the 'sweet spot' pricing of the MS consoles has to be acknowledged. How $300 and $400 have become sweet spots tells you something of our present trends.

I'll get myself a $600 PS3 at launch - just because - but I mean, I can see it becoming a psychological wall at some point after launch. We'll see when the first price drop comes and for how long the consoles will continue selling out upon hitting shelves.

I wonder what sort of effects all of this will have on games; will key exclusives be able to move PS3's among the poorer teen/college set? Will reverse-engineering that logic cause developers to more strongly consider 360?

I don't know, I may have posted some stuff that others have already mentioned... and sorry if I did, but I don't have the luxury of reading through at the moment unfortunately.

 

[RobertR1]

The xbox 360 controller beats the Dual Shock controller by a large margin. I DO NOT care about the wireless technology being used and which is superior when I'm holding the controller. The xbox 360 controller is by far the best controller I've ever used. Why do I care so much? because anytime I'm on the console, I'm using the controller. It's my input device and makes me feel part of the game. The Rumble effects are really nice also, along with the headset (i saw no mention of this).

I'm less than impressed and I have no idea why people are hoping so much from Sony's "online" piece. I bet it'll be a hack job at best. Will I buy a PS3? at some point, likely but I certainly won't be marking the release date on my calendar.

 

[Platon]

It is a bit pricey but not totaly unexpected. What do you know, even analysts have a break sometime:smile: .

Anyway the issue of the HDD beinf removable or not is what needs to be cleared up. That would be a major blow if it is not removable. Of course it would also be nice to get all the juice on the final specs. When will they talk about them?...

 

[pipo]

I didn't expect the pricing already, but I guess they wanted to get the 'bad' news out as soon as possible.

 

[Carl B]

When watching the conference, you see the first slide mentioning PS3's specs as saying a 'removeable hard drive.' Not sure where the confusion is coming from - to me it's pretty clear.

@Robert: I personally do not like the 360 controller, though I recognize I'm not in the majority per se there. I actually bought a wired one for my PC, and it just doesn't feel comfortable to me. That said, Dual Shock isn't my #1 either. I was hoping for a new controller - I actually never minded the boomerang look, but alas I'll never know how it would have felt.

Rumble will be missed though.

 

[Titanio]

I paid 2700 dkr for my x360 (premium) 1 week after launch in Denmark. Thats :

360 Euro. Or 247 £.

PS3 is 499 Euro, thats 3800 dkr and then there is the VAT....

That should include VAT. I'm pretty sure in any European country, prices quoted to consumers must include VAT, unless you're selling to a business?

Also, the HDD is removeable.

All I'll say on the price is, I'll quote myself from a couple of months back (when I was laughed at )

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showpost.php?p=732800&postcount=31

"I said it after the Business Meeting a few weeks ago - you'll be very lucky to walk away with a PS3+HDD for less than $500/€500, IMO. I've put aside €600. Oh, and I would expect any price conversion to be $1 = €1, as has been Sony's (unfortunate) habit.

I wouldn't take this as confirmation of the price however, but the suggestion is in line with my expectation."

 

[pipo]

I'm also wondering why the final specs aren't up.

Did anybody find those yet?

 

[Carl B]

Specs like, CPU speed and such? No reason to expect a change IMO. Final dev kits are at 3.2 GHz, right?

 

[Platon]

When watching the conference, you see the first slide mentioning PS3's specs as saying a 'removeable hard drive.' Not sure where the confusion is coming from - to me it's pretty clear.

Ok, haven't checked the conference yet. It would be really dumb otherwise.

Rumble will be missed though.

Yep, that was one of the best things when I went over from PC gamming to console gamming, that feedback you get when paying a game is really great, atleast when implemented correctly...

 

[Platon]

Specs like, CPU speed and such? No reason to expect a change IMO. Final dev kits are at 3.2 GHz, right?

It would just be a nice confirmation, but mostly it is about RSX, what is there and what is not...

 

[pipo]

Specs like, CPU speed and such? No reason to expect a change IMO. Final dev kits are at 3.2 GHz, right?

The final final ones?

I did miss that if you're serious. So cheers.

But I still think it's strange, Sony has always been very generous when it comes to press releases and specs.

 

[Brimstone]

Well, this is the first chance I've had today to post and I'm just tied up in general, but thought I'd post some thoughts.

At first I was disappointed with the 2 SKU situation, but at the same time I understand where Sony can see the justification for these prices. If we were to remove the names Sony and Microsoft from these machines, we'd almost see a progression of four consoles within the same line, at $100 increments with improvements at each stage.

$300 buys a console
$400 buys a console with 20GB HDD
$500 buys a console with 20GB HDD + Blu-ray
$600 buys a console with 60GB HDD + Blu-ray + I/O Features and WiFi

In this context I see Sony's pricing as wholly justified, but the 'sweet spot' pricing of the MS consoles has to be acknowledged. How $300 and $400 have become sweet spots tells you something of our present trends.

I'll get myself a $600 PS3 at launch - just because - but I mean, I can see it becoming a psychological wall at some point after launch. We'll see when the first price drop comes and for how long the consoles will continue selling out upon hitting shelves.

I wonder what sort of effects all of this will have on games; will key exclusives be able to move PS3's among the poorer teen/college set? Will reverse-engineering that logic cause developers to more strongly consider 360?

I don't know, I may have posted some stuff that others have already mentioned... and sorry if I did, but I don't have the luxury of reading through at the moment unfortunately.

What boggles my mind is the lack of HDMI on the $500 version. I figured it would go 1xHDMI for the $500 SKU and 2xHDMI for the $600 SKU. How much can HDMI ports really cost?

After all the talk about 1080p being the true HD resolution for Blu-Ray movies, if you get the $500 SKU you can't get 1080p output. Unless there is some esoteric work around I'm not aware of.

 

[Carl B]

Yeah the HDMI just seems like a gimme, and a great tie-in for selling Blu-ray movies and HDTVs. I don't know, maybe there's some steep licensing involved that makes the effort on the margins worth it. Maybe one of the AVS crowd here can posit a theory?

 

[Colourless]

License fees for HDCP?
Something to avoid pissing off other Blu-ray movie player manufactures?