PS3 Price drop and 40GB SKU confirmed *

[scooby_dooby]

If they strip ot down to such a huge extend they totally lose the point of offering an entertainment device. Most of the most important functions will be gone including functions that are directly related to Home, media center and media distribution functions, connectivity with other devices etc.

Really the should better release a PS3 as it is with a 20GB HDD than one with 40GB and everything else cut off.

I d buy the latter for sure. I am interested on the ton of functions the PS3 offers. And I am waiting for a price drop to get THAT PS3. Not a stripped down version. I bet there are many like me who wouldnt get that cheap PS3.

On the other hand who knows? Next gen visuals, BR functionality and motion sensors priced a bit more than Wii? People who care only about gaming will buy it for sure.

But they will be splitting the userbase. Developers who want to add extra features in their games that are critical for the gameplay experience will be unsure what to do. And they will throw all their original plans on making the PS3 a complete system for entertainment away.

After that why bother adding features that a great deal of gamers wont be able to try?

What features??

It still has RSX, CELL, BluRay and a 40gb HDD. Everything else(card reader, wifi, BC) is just fluff AFAIC.

Their not gonna lose the USB ports, that would just be silly.

 

[djskribbles]

I agree as 1 million in December in the US is a pretty average amount of console to move. However, I imagine that 1.5 million at the $499.00 is possible for the PS3for both November and December and 1.5 million in the US for November and December for the PS3 at $399.00 will be kind of disappointing.

However, going in and during to holiday season 06, I believe the 360 had a much better lineup than the PS3 going into 07.

i wouldn't say much better, but thats just me. Gears of War, Kameo, Viva Pinata, Perfect Dark Zero, Project Gotham 3, DOA4, GRAW1, Dead Rising, Saints Row vs. Resistance, Uncharted, UT3, NGS, MotorStorm, Ratchet & Clank, Heavenly Sword, Haze, Warhawk.

 

[Nesh]

What features??

It still has RSX, CELL, BluRay and a 40gb HDD. Everything else(card reader, wifi, BC) is just fluff AFAIC.

Their not gonna lose the USB ports, that would just be silly.

It says in the link they might cut the USB ports

Personally I find all the other stuff you mentioned as fluff important at least to me. (I have lots of PS1 and PS2 games), wifi is important for wireless online connectivity and for communication with other devices (I think this is also needed for local PSP remote play too). I dont know if there are any other features they might cut off.

Then again I could be wrong, they are unimportant and really benefit with that strategy

Come to think of it....chances are high they will.

 

[dobwal]

i wouldn't say much better, but thats just me. Gears of War, Kameo, Viva Pinata, Perfect Dark Zero, Project Gotham 3, DOA4, GRAW1, Dead Rising, Saints Row vs. Resistance, Uncharted, UT3, NGS, MotorStorm, Ratchet & Clank, Heavenly Sword, Haze, Warhawk.

For the the 360 you talking one hugely hype and marketed title along with alot of titles that were known commodities that performed well previously.

The PS3 library will strongly dependent on Uncharted, RC, Haze and HS being pretty well received as of right now thats a unknown.

 

[scooby_dooby]

It says in the link they might cut the USB ports

Personally I find all the other stuff you mentioned as fluff important at least to me. (I have lots of PS1 and PS2 games), wifi is important for wireless online connectivity and for communication with other devices (I think this is also needed for local PSP remote play too). I dont know if there are any other features they might cut off.

Then again I could be wrong and they are unimportant and really benefit with that strategy

Their sources only indicate that there is a new SKU, which is recieving a pricedrop.

It references another article, by Skynet, who is reporting USB ports will be cut. (As discussed on page 1, this part of the rumour is a little far fetched)

Wifi isn't going to open any new 'features' for developers, nor is a media-card reader, or backwards compatability. So I'm really not sure what your rant is about.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Their sources only indicate that there is a new SKU, which is recieving a pricedrop.

If that's all they have got; that doesn't even really guarantee a lower pricepoint than $499. Are they just guessing with everything?

 

[Nesh]

For the the 360 you talking one hugely hype and marketed title along with alot of titles that were known commodities that performed well previously.

The PS3 library will strongly dependent on Uncharted, RC, Haze and HS being pretty well received as of right now thats a unknown.

It depends on everything just like the 360. If some PS3 games arent received as well as what 360's games were received in 2006 thats because of different conditions existing.

 

[scooby_dooby]

If that's all they have got; that doesn't even really guarantee a lower pricepoint than $499. Are they just guessing with everything?

A £300 pricepoint strongly suggests a $400 USD pricetag.

Currently it's ~£400:$500.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

Well the Wii will remain sold out, which is no different than last year.

?? It's much different than last year. There will be a much greater absolute supply of Wii this year. This time last year, Wii "brand" was still an unknown quantity...the Wii brand this year is pretty danred strong.

And 360 faced the competition of 2 brand new consoles.

Yes...with one of them priced higher. PS3 is competing against two lower cost consoles...it's closest competitor with what is widely regarded as a "killer" software line-up. (Combination of high value prop AND lower price.)

Of course the landscape is different, we could go on for pages analysing every last difference, but the point is that the 360 with a significantly weaker brand name, and smaller userbase, moved over 1million units, in the face of new console launches by both Sony and Nintendo at $400 USD.

One could quite reasonably argue that the Playstation brand is significantly weaker this year.

I would be fairly surprised if the PS3 was not able to match that.

Personally, I would not be surprised either way.

 

[Nesh]

Their sources only indicate that there is a new SKU, which is recieving a pricedrop.

It references another article, by Skynet, who is reporting USB ports will be cut. (As discussed on page 1, this part of the rumour is a little far fetched)

Wifi isn't going to open any new 'features' for developers, nor is a media-card reader, or backwards compatability. So I'm really not sure what your rant is about.

New features were directed towards USB and WiFi. The PS3 was supposed to work like a media device that is supposed to have exchanges with other devices in your home. PSP was also supposed to be able to interact with some future games. PSP remote play is one very good feature that unites the two devices

Now since you provided a link that refers to the absence of USB in this thread its natural that I would comment on that.

Lastly BC was not mentioned at all in my first post as being relevant to any new features (although I am a little bitter with that as well)

 

[scooby_dooby]

Personally, I would not be surprised either way.

Well isn't that interesting and thought provoking analysis.

One could quite reasonably argue that the Playstation brand is significantly weaker this year.

Weaker than the XBox brand in 2006? Would be a very ridiculous argument IMO. Sony still has a much stronger brand than MS, not to mention over 200million units in the market, as opposed to the ~30million for MS.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

Well isn't that interesting and thought provoking analysis.

So, um, "thought provoking analysis" is predicated on reaching the same conclusion that you have?

Weaker than the XBox brand in 2006? Would be a very ridiculous argument IMO.

Agreed.

Which is why if you bothered to read my response instead of just take roll-eyes pot-shots, you would understand that my main point is that Sony's competition this year is stiffer than X-Box's competition last year. Specifically, I was saying that Playstation brand this year, is weaker relative to the playstation brand last year.

Or are you going to make the "very ridiculous argument" that Microsoft's competition last x-mas is greater than Sony's this X-Mas?

So, if you look at Sony having a relatively stronger brand, but at the same time having tougher competition...in the end it won't surprise me either way (Sony does better or worse this X-Mas than MS last x-mas.)

Excuse me if that conclusion isn't "thought provoking" enough for you.

 

[dobwal]

Current sales paint a much different picture.

At only 130k/month, PS3 is far below 'average' sales. generally you'll see a 2x bump in Nov, and another 2x in Dec.

Using that rule of thumb, I would say anything over 250k for Nov, and 500k for Dec is overly optimistic.

Pointless argument anyways, as Sony seems to have realized that they do indeed need to cut their price for this holiday, that install base should be their priority over short-term revenues, as I also believed, and now it's just a matter of time until it's announced.

The xbox had a 130K and 150k Augusts then moved 1.5 mil over the following holiday seasons. August is a terrible month to guage holiday sales especially for second tier consoles since the 2x and 4x is usually more in line with Oct numbers, which don't always track the same as August numbers.

250K Nov and 500K Dec only happened near the EOL of last generation consoles. The Xbox hit over 1.4 million for its first four years and the GC hit over a mil for its first 5.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

New features were directed towards USB and WiFi. The PS3 was supposed to work like a media device that is supposed to have exchanges with other devices in your home. PSP was also supposed to be able to interact with some future games. PSP remote play is one very good feature that unites the two devices.

Any dependency on Wifi for title features will be very marginal. eg. GT5 could have the PSP as a wing-mirror. For that you'd need a PS3 and PSP, and if you've got a PS3 and a PSP, are you really likely to buy a gimp'd version of the console? The 20GB version had this limitation. Though IMO losing Wifi is a very bad move. Wifi networks seem more popular in the EU, and they'll be the connection method of choice I expect.

 

[Carl B]

Remote Play isn't premised on Wi-Fi as far as the PS3 is concerned, simply on it being connected to the Internet.

Anyway this topic is getting too heated for too little reason; can we try to ramp down the hostility a little?

 

[dobwal]

It depends on everything just like the 360. If some PS3 games arent received as well as what 360's games were received in 2006 thats because of different conditions existing.

If you go back to Sept 06 there are a lot titles that performed well prior to holiday seasons, you don't have the same scenario with the PS3 as its hope lie in a titles that we don't know if they will be received well. For PS3 titles like Resistance and MotorStorm you have titles like 360 titles like PD, COD2, Oblivion, FN3, Dead Rising, Saints Row and GRAW.

 

[scooby_dooby]

The xbox had a 130K and 150k Augusts then moved 1.5 mil over the following holiday seasons. August is a terrible month to guage holiday sales especially for second tier consoles since the 2x and 4x is usually more in line with Oct numbers, which don't always track the same as August numbers.

250K Nov and 500K Dec only happened near the EOL of last generation consoles. The Xbox hit over 1.4 million for its first four years and the GC hit over a mil for its first 5.

All this at $199.

There's no chance in hell of Sony moving 1.5million units at $500....just my humble opinion

 

[scooby_dooby]

So, um, "thought provoking analysis" is predicated on reaching the same conclusion that you have?

Not at all. But if you're just gonna cop-out, be completely non-commital as to what you think will happen, then what are you adding to the conversation?

Which is why if you bothered to read my response instead of just take roll-eyes pot-shots, you would understand that my main point is that Sony's competition this year is stiffer than X-Box's competition last year. Specifically, I was saying that Playstation brand this year, is weaker relative to the playstation brand last year.

Your original post made no such distinction. Maybe next time don't be so vague. Don't give me the 'read my response' BS, this was your response: "One could quite reasonably argue that the Playstation brand is significantly weaker this year."

Either you are arguing that it is weaker than Xbox in 2006, or you're stating the blatantly obvious. It goes without saying the PS brand is weaker now than it was a year ago...

Or are you going to make the "very ridiculous argument" that Microsoft's competition last x-mas is greater than Sony's this X-Mas?

I agreed that competition is greater, and it's a very different landscape.

So, if you look at Sony having a relatively stronger brand, but at the same time having tougher competition...in the end it won't surprise me either way (Sony does better or worse this X-Mas than MS last x-mas.)

Good for you, then you have no problem with my argument. I was replying to RancidLunchmeat's argument it would not sell well at $400 due to lack of games.

Again you cop-out. Arguing why the PS3 would sell less than 360, but then saying you 'wouldn't be surprised' if it does not. In the end, you have no position, and are simply arguing for the sake of it.

 

[Vic]

Ehh.

$400 would be a great start, but they need more and better games available to compete head to head.

The crown is still Nintendo's until someone takes it.

The crown belongs to nobody, since this gen is still in its infancy. People are just in a rush to make rash judgments.

 

[dobwal]

All this at $199.

There's no chance in hell of Sony moving 1.5million units at $500....just my humble opinion

If the 360 can move 1.5-1.6mil at $400.00 with no price difference from the following holiday season, I don't find it impossible that a $500 PS3 can't move a similar number.

The 360 did better than the Xbox in its second Christmas even though it came at 2X the Xbox1's price tag, so I don't think its impossible that the PS3 can sales as half as many consoles as the PS2 in its second Christmas at 2.5X the price tag of the PS3.