Another PS3 price drop rumor, plus a "slim" version coming...?

[ONUOsFan]

$100 PS3 price drop expected in August ? Video Games Reviews, Cheats | Geek.com

http://www.gamespot.com/news/blogs/...box-360-elite-replacing-pro-in-september.html

I've seen this mentioned a bunch of places, and also rumors of a new slim version coming, possibly bundled with Madden 10...

With that and a strong slate coming this fall, could the PS3 finally start to rebound some? Or do the also rumored 360 SKU changes negate anything Sony does?

(Also, check out the linked article they slip in there about the 360 already being maxed out - take that for what it's worth, which is probably not much, but it is interesting...)

 

[Van]

Naw it won't rebound till its priced evenly with 360 and that won't happen till they rework the units to similar configurations of no hard drive and no hd hook ups and no blue ray drive. For what sony wants for the 80gig units you can build a decent gaming pc or buy a dual core laptop and for $200 more you can buy a dual core gaming laptop right now through newegg.

 

[pro96]

Didn't they say the same thing was gonna happen last April.. and nada

 

[meStevo]

Couldn't happen soon enough, though the biggest slap in the face will be if this ends up reintroducing backwards compatibility. They filed for a patent in December for a software solution to emulate the emotion engine using the cell processor so there's new speculation there.

Bundling Madden seems strange, that will probably actually make my friends NOT buy it if they would have otherwise, since we're already planning an online franchise on our 360s.

 

[ONUOsFan]

Naw it won't rebound till its priced evenly with 360 and that won't happen till they rework the units to similar configurations of no hard drive and no hd hook ups and no blue ray drive. For what sony wants for the 80gig units you can build a decent gaming pc or buy a dual core laptop and for $200 more you can buy a dual core gaming laptop right now through newegg.

Gaming laptop? Isn't that kind of an oxymoron? And of course that is only good for about 6 months, when you'll have to upgrade it again to play the newest games.

And taking out Blu-Ray would be kind of a problem since all the games are on BD's. I think the point is that the PS3 would finally be on par with the "equivalent" 360, which is the high end model.

Couldn't happen soon enough, though the biggest slap in the face will be if this ends up reintroducing backwards compatibility. They filed for a patent in December for a software solution to emulate the emotion engine using the cell processor so there's new speculation there.

Bundling Madden seems strange, that will probably actually make my friends NOT buy it if they would have otherwise, since we're already planning an online franchise on our 360s.

I don't like the bundle idea, either, but if nothing else, you can trade it for $25 and get some additional "savings."

 

[Heavie]

PS3 overpriced? Is Activision crazy? The only reason the Xbox 360 is so cheap is because very little comes standard. Once you add the Wire-less add-on and a rechargable batteries, as well as Xbox Live fees, your payng as much as it would cost to buy a PS3.

Sony shouldnt drop their price, i would hate them to make a console like microsoft with so many after purchases. Its the wrong way to do business. Sony do business as sony. Despite the economic crashh and despite the weak yen. I bet if you worked it out, their wouldnt be much difference in profit between them and microsofts xbox dept. (considering the billions they put into repairs. It would be interesting to see. I respect your opinions though i really dont agree with them. Time will prove who is right or wrong in 3 years where the consoles and their owners stand.

 

[meStevo]

You do realize you're advocating for the console that uses Bluetooth so that you have to repurchase all of your accessories and doesn't even come with an HDMI cable right?

The one that made their console play fewer games so that you'd buy the newer more expensive titles, since people were enjoying the success of their previous generation and they felt the 65 titles on the market were enough for their early adopters who just paid $599?

The 360 has outsold the PS3 2:1 in the US because it has given gamers a choice... I don't need wireless, or batteries (thanks, play and charge kits). Incorporating Blu-Ray and wireless is very nice, but you are making 100% of customers pay for a technology 100% of customers do not need. They should have dropped wireless before they dropped backwards compatibility.

By not packing in a HDDVD drive and wireless, Microsoft has created a successful console (despite setting aside $1b for console repairs and going above/beyond for even non-RROD service for many), something Sony can't quite claim yet this generation. But hey, at the end of their '10 year plan' a few years after their 'look we can make a waggle stick too, just costs you a couple hundred more than a Wii' comes out.

I wonder if Sony would be in a better or worse position had Blu-Ray not delayed the PS3's release 6 months.

Sony shouldnt drop their price

Just wow. You realize how poorly Sony sw sales are doing now right? It's all because of install base. What do you propose, just more commercials? Their #1 title this year is Killzone 2 at ~750k units. Wii and 360 are just crushing it.

 

[Van]

Sorry but when Sony decided to make an elitist console is when I decided not to buy it. As much as I am not a fan of microsoft they did look at more than one income bracket of consumer and created a system that could be paid for by most everyone while sony built what amounts to a ferrari that only a few could afford that came loaded with features that most still can't fully utilize such as the hd capabilities of the blue ray drive and features that no one needs such as the hard drive or wireless or net connectivity. Sony got greedy after the success of the PS1 and PS2 and they lost the vision they had in building the PS3 and the poor sales of the product tell the story.

 

[televisionarchives]

I don't think the PS3 is overpriced at all. The XBOX is overpriced. You get one of the best Blu-ray players on the market with a PS3. And it's very reliable . Can't say that about the XBOX.

 

[meStevo]

If you want everything the PS3 has to offer, it is appropriately priced.

If you just want it to play games, it is very much overpriced.

Guess which category most people on the fence are in.

It was said recently by a developer I think that just 30% of HD consoles are connected to a HDTV. Yay, good thing a bunch of them have a Blu-Ray drive, eh?

 

[lakebum431]

To me (and only to me as I can't speak for anyone else) the PS3 is worth every penny. I do use every aspect of it. I use it to play games, I use it to play blu, I use it to stream music, movies and pictures from my PC. That is a dman powerful machine that fits into my home theater setup very well.

 

[BlackHitachi]

To me (and only to me as I can't speak for anyone else) the PS3 is worth every penny. I do use every aspect of it. I use it to play games, I use it to play blu, I use it to stream music, movies and pictures from my PC. That is a dman powerful machine that fits into my home theater setup very well.

Agreed!:up

 

[stimpson]

To me (and only to me as I can't speak for anyone else) the PS3 is worth every penny. I do use every aspect of it. I use it to play games, I use it to play blu, I use it to stream music, movies and pictures from my PC. That is a dman powerful machine that fits into my home theater setup very well.

Ditto!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Van]

And I'm not disagreeing with you guys but your in the minority just like anyone that has an hd set. Yes it does a good job doing the things you mentioned but again it is overpriced for those who wont need it for hd movies and music/movies/pics streaming and running a folding client. If sony had went the same route the microsoft did with the option for add on's then the ps3 would have a larger market share compared to what it has now and you can't deny that. I love sony products and love the consoles but I wont buy this console at this price because they want to force features on to their customers that they dont want and dont need and if anyone was going to do that I had thought it would have been microsoft not sony.

 

[meStevo]

And I'm not disagreeing with you guys but your in the minority just like anyone that has an hd set. Yes it does a good job doing the things you mentioned but again it is overpriced for those who wont need it for hd movies and music/movies/pics streaming and running a folding client. If sony had went the same route the microsoft did with the option for add on's then the ps3 would have a larger market share compared to what it has now and you can't deny that. I love sony products and love the consoles but I wont buy this console at this price because they want to force features on to their customers that they dont want and dont need and if anyone was going to do that I had thought it would have been microsoft not sony.

Agreed!:up

Ditto!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ONUOsFan]

If you want everything the PS3 has to offer, it is appropriately priced.

If you just want it to play games, it is very much overpriced.

Guess which category most people on the fence are in.

It was said recently by a developer I think that just 30% of HD consoles are connected to a HDTV. Yay, good thing a bunch of them have a Blu-Ray drive, eh?

And I'm not disagreeing with you guys but your in the minority just like anyone that has an hd set. Yes it does a good job doing the things you mentioned but again it is overpriced for those who wont need it for hd movies and music/movies/pics streaming and running a folding client. If sony had went the same route the microsoft did with the option for add on's then the ps3 would have a larger market share compared to what it has now and you can't deny that. I love sony products and love the consoles but I wont buy this console at this price because they want to force features on to their customers that they dont want and dont need and if anyone was going to do that I had thought it would have been microsoft not sony.

I think the assumption both companies made is that HD gaming the foundation of this generation - even the 360 outputs games in HD, regardless of the drive. So to say the PS3 is targeted at people with HD sets and the 360 isn't is inaccurate. If you look at the Blu-Ray drive simply as a movie-playing feature, then you could argue that particular feature is targeted at HDTV owners, and I think it has helped them sell some consoles (although probably not as many as they hoped it would).

The other thing to remember, though, is game storage. One of the things mentioned in that article about the 360 already being "maxed out" was that there are going to be more and more games for the 360 that will require multiple discs, and that was always part of Sony's strategy with the BD drive.

Now, if you want to argue that the delay caused by the inclusion of Blu-Ray hurt Sony in this generation, I'd completely agree with you.

I think their hope is that they'll make up for it on the back end of this cycle as the power of the system is still largely untapped and that of the 360 is virtually used up, so you should (in theory) start to see PS3 games surpass those for the 360. I'm not saying that's the case, just saying that's their hope... only time will tell.

 

[meStevo]

Good post. The EA VP who said that the 360 was maxed out was called silly by Criterion - Criterion: Nobody's maxed out PS3/360 News // None /// Eurogamer - Games Reviews, News and More Either way, just means a particular engine can't go much further, PS2 games continued to get better and better for that reason.

I brought up the HDTV stuff because the ps3 proponents before you say that because of Blu-Ray it's not overpriced. For it's target market, it is.

 

[ONUOsFan]

Good post. The EA VP who said that the 360 was maxed out was called silly by Criterion - Criterion: Nobody's maxed out PS3/360 News // None /// Eurogamer - Games Reviews, News and More Either way, just means a particular engine can't go much further, PS2 games continued to get better and better for that reason.

I brought up the HDTV stuff because the ps3 proponents before you say that because of Blu-Ray it's not overpriced. For it's target market, it is.

I don't really trust much of anything EA says these days, because they don't seem to want to develop anything more out of any of the consoles they support.... here's an idea - how about you wait two years to release the next Madden (release roster updates next year as DLC for $19.99 or something) and then actually make some real improvements to the game....

Anyway, I see both sides of the price issue. It's definitely too expensive to compete with the 360 and the Wii in this economy - anyone who thinks it's not isn't paying attention. However, I agree that it's worth the cost for all you get... sounds duplicitous, I know, but I think both points of view are valid. In the end, though, the market determines what something is worth, and the market is clearly not on board with the value of the PS3 at this point....

 

[Derwin0]

In the end, though, the market determines what something is worth, and the market is clearly not on board with the value of the PS3 at this point....

And the market really doesn't have much more love for the 360, as the Wii continues to trounce both the 360 and PS3.

 

[meStevo]

It's not really the same market. There's overlap, but every Wii sold is not a 360 or PS3 that wasn't sold.

The 360 is the only one of the 3 consoles to show growth so far in 2009, the Wii has declined since it's hit it's demand plateau and is in plentiful supply, and the PS3 has sold 400k fewer units compared to the same time last year. The 360 on the other hand has increased sales 20% over the same time period.

The 360 has outsold the PS3 2:1 in the US, there's plenty of love.