Rumor: PS3 to get a price drop on March 22nd

[Zeus]

According to 2old2play, the PS3 is set for a price drop on March 22nd, their source of the news comes from an EB employee who reportedly let this one slip...



Last night one of community members was in an EB Games store and an employee mentioned a PS3 price drop occurring Sunday March 22nd just in advance of the Game Developer's Conference (GDC). He went on to say that Sony will be issuing a press release on the Saturday before the drop and that EB was already prepared for the upcoming price-drop.

The current "rumor" is that the PlayStation 3 80GB console will retail for USD $300. That would be a $99 price reduction in the console, bringing it closer to reach for many gamers. However, be prepared for Sony to refuse to comment or straight out say this is untrue, it wouldn't be the first time they've pulled that stunt. It's in Sony's best interest to hide the price drop from gamers because we'll halt purchasing of the PS3 until the price drop occurs.


News Source: <A href="http://www.2old2play.com/News/PlayStation_3_Price_Drop_Rumor__March_22nd_is_The_ Day" target="_blank">2old2play</a>

[ando2k5]

about time....

[tech3475]

It may be too late for a price cut to affect many people....they would probably have 360's by now.

[cinten99]

Unless it has backwards compatability then it is still to expensive.

[EL_CAD]

It may be too late for a price cut to affect many people....they would probably have 360's by now.

If they had this price back before Xmas, I think I would have got one, but I got 360 pro instead.
My 9 year old has been dying to play Little Big Planet, but right now we have a huge back log of games so I should be set for a while. Let me know when they start putting features back in and I may consider getting one this summer.

[Cue]

Let me know when they start putting features back in and I may consider getting one this summer.

This price argument is so redundant that I sometimes wonder if there is even an ounce of intelligence left in people. You cannot have your cake and eat it too.

1) People: complain about price
2) Sony: we have more features built into our machines
3) People: we don't need these extra features
4) Sony: OK. we'll cut some out. here is the new lower price.
5) People: it's too expensive, Why have you cut features, tell me when you start putting features back in.
6) Sony: ...? get lost.

[Snaileater]

phail
______

[manufan4eva07]

phail
______

hardly... thats what happened. he cant phail on fact.

[danight]

about time....

+1... to be a strong game console it has to be priced comparable to other game consoles. Smart move by sony and sales should go up because of this.

Sales might not be as good as they could have been had a price cut hit before xmas. But still should go up a lot. Now it will also attract blu-ray people again as its in the range of stand alone players as well.

yes sony may lose a little money but the bluray market will grow as well as sonys player base and that should make 3rd party devs happy. Consumers win with a cheaper price.

[drwoogie]

This "price drop" as it's called is just for Gamestop. Also this is just for the one week for their weekly add. It's not $99 off the price. You have to buy 1 game valued at $59.99. You get $50 back on a gamestop gift card and an instant savings of $49.

System $399.99
Game $59.99 Total $459.98

Instant $49 off brings price down to $410.98
Gamestop gift card that you can only use in gamestop $50 new total---
$360.98

They give you $50 back but you have to spend it back in gamestop. Not a real deal at all. Dell had these for $319 a month or 2 ago. That was a better deal. And as far as hwo do i know this info about gamestop. Lets just say i know PERSONALY this is true.

[Da Man 10]

Apparently
Sony should bring back the 60Gb with Backwards capability but without wifi, any memory card readers, 3 usb slots, remove the rechargeable battery from the control and use the cheapest parts available and charge 350 for it and everyone will be happy


($50 more for the blueray drive which is the equivalent to the $50 live subscription fee)

if you dont have the money shut up and get the wii or x360

[gooki]

Yeah because one more SKU is exactly what the market and Sony needs.


1) People: complain about price
2) Sony: we have more features built into our machines
3) People: we don't need these extra features
4) Sony: OK. we'll cut some out. here is the new lower price.
5) People: it's too expensive, Why have you cut features, tell me when you start putting features back in.
6) Sony: ...? get lost.

Yet every other console for god knows how many generations have had their prices drop over time, and maintained their launch features. IT's how the business works.

Start high attract the dedicated users.
Reduce price to get mass adoption.

If Sony doesn't want mass adoption of the PS3 that's fine, it's their loss.

[msanchez]

Again? what so every 2 - 3 weeks some random guy, at some random place, at some random time of the day, will randomly start talking about a ps3 price cut, and it should be considered news? I don't want to sound ungrateful, but people have been saying this for how long now? just give it a rest Zeus, let me know when sony announce it; the and only then will I believe or even pay any attention to this topic.

[Ichijoe]

This price argument is so redundant that I sometimes wonder if there is even an ounce of intelligence left in people. You cannot have your cake and eat it too.

1) People: complain about price

And rightfully so!!


2) Sony: we have more features built into our machines

Wi-Fi is kinda humph I use a Negear Adapter from my Xbox1 days and that gets the job done with most things. Barring that a USB-Wi-Fi Key would also do the trick. Nobody needed nor cared about BRD this is hardly a "Feature" this is just about S0NY c*ckblocking HD-DVD. Which was about the only thing that seemed to workout for 'em.


3) People: we don't need these extra features

Again Nitendo and Microsoft seem to be doing just fine w/DVD


4) Sony: OK. we'll cut some out. here is the new lower price.

Killing BC was a stroke of bloody fecken genus there Pocko!
First off the system still has a limited catalog of Games and it's been like what 2 years now! At least when BS was available you could play your back catalog or at the lest pick up some older PS2 Games. but no sadly you can't do that!


5) People: it's too expensive, Why have you cut features, tell me when you start putting features back in.

LOL I keep wondering about this too!


6) Sony: ...? get lost.
Np S0NY I bought an XBOX360 and I'm very happly playing GAMES! W/it

GAMES YOU DO REMEMBER WHAT THOSE WERE RIGHT??
Naghhh of course not you are all to busy trying to pimp that BillyRay BS!
Comics on the PSP, securing an unsecure Firmware, adding everything, and the Kitchen Sink for every possible thing.

Save for Gameing...

[Cue]

@ Ichijoe & gooki

If you two are not the people who complain about unnecessary features hiking the price then look bemused as to why unnecessary features are cut then turn around and walk away if not then you two are exactly the type of people I was referring to.

Which do you want unnecessary features cut out to reduce the price or a higher price with all the bells and whistles? You can start arguing about well "why did they cut this why not that" then some other guy will instead say the opposite. They cut unnecessary features to lower price yet everybody complains about how they shouldn't have "gimped" it. Go on another thread and the same people complain about how the PS3 has features unnecessary for gaming. It is fallacy at its worse.

You can still pretend that it has "a limited catalogue" and that "they
are all to busy trying to pimp that BillyRay BS!" but the truth of the matter is they have one of the largest stable of first party developers who have made or are making games on their system.

[EL_CAD]

Again? what so every 2 - 3 weeks some random guy, at some random place, at some random time of the day, will randomly start talking about a ps3 price cut, and it should be considered news? I don't want to sound ungrateful, but people have been saying this for how long now? just give it a rest Zeus, let me know when sony announce it; the and only then will I believe or even pay any attention to this topic.

Sony has always dropped features. The PSone lost the standard AV ports and serial port after a few years. PS2 lost firewire ports, so people could no longer play system linked games, and they lost the ability to use a hard drive.

The Gamecube lost the extra AV port that was used for progressive scan.

[zecht]

It may be too late for a price cut to affect many people....they would probably have 360's by now.

Word, I gave up and bought a 360 about 3 weeks ago. Sorry Sony, maybe if your console was hackable people might be interested in it.

[Cue]

Word, I gave up and bought a 360 about 3 weeks ago. Sorry Sony, maybe if your console was hackable people might be interested in it.

No need to apologies to Sony I'm sure they are happy they lost a "Customer" like you.

[gerbilboy]

It may be too late for a price cut to affect many people....they would probably have 360's by now.

they're probably on their 3rd 360 by now:o

[KingPepper]

According to 2old2play, the PS3 is set for a price drop on March 22nd, their source of the news comes from an EB employee who reportedly let this slip.

I hope this is only happening in the USA, as i just bought mine, just 2 days ago, here in the UK, i would be pretty pissed off, if this is the case!!!!

I must say Killzone 2 is NOT all its cracked up to be, especially online, great graphics, but that does not make a good game alone, single player is the only good thing i liked about it.
Oh man, what a disappointment............Resistance 2 is way more fun Online.

[msanchez]

I hope this is only happening in the USA, as i just bought mine, just 2 days ago, here in the UK, i would be pretty pissed off, if this is the case!!!!
...

I never quite understood this though process. Sure it's ok to feel a bit stupid, but there's something incredibly non-constructive about wanting a console you own to not sell more for whatever reason.

[GT-RRR]

22nd March?

That's mine and my GF's first year together!! me thinks she can get a PS3 ;)

[kneehighspy]

the problem is sony cut features that really didn't cost alot to add in the first place. the B/C for ps2 and the usb ports and / or memory card slots. trivial items that didn't really cost alot to keep in the first place.

the main item they couldn't cut to reduce cost is the bd drive, since the decision to make all ps3 games on bd, there is no way to cut that added expense.

so they removed a $10 chip, $10 memory card reader and $10 usb ports, or they could remove a $10 wifi chip and $10 antennae.

the only major item to cut costs is the bd drive, but that's not possible. so either sony has to suck it up and eat the costs or live with the expense.

[pwntendo]

There is a new sku with two new pack-in games. That is the likely reason for this rumor. Doesn't mean there will be a price drop, though.

[Xenogears V]

Finally.:mad:

[ThreeDog]

they're probably on their 3rd 360 by now:o

Still unable to stick to the topic huh?


the problem is sony cut features that really didn't cost alot to add in the first place. the B/C for ps2 and the usb ports and / or memory card slots. trivial items that didn't really cost alot to keep in the first place.

the main item they couldn't cut to reduce cost is the bd drive, since the decision to make all ps3 games on bd, there is no way to cut that added expense.

so they removed a $10 chip, $10 memory card reader and $10 usb ports, or they could remove a $10 wifi chip and $10 antennae.

the only major item to cut costs is the bd drive, but that's not possible. so either sony has to suck it up and eat the costs or live with the expense.

My thoughts exactly the myth that a reader ports and a chipset = £125 is just sillyness, the chips just got stuck in pstwos since sony could actually sell them.
The wifi chip should be removed i can't count the amount of noobs i've met using crappy wifi routers disconnecting every 2 mins, the only joy gained from it is crushing their reputation in games that punish leavers, wake up people ethernet = king :D

If sony price-cuts they should really consider making a second slightly more expensive bundle like the 360 pro, the official mic needs to ship with the unit im tired of loosing matches because people cannot communicate or are not set-up to take team orders.

[crypysmoker]

Yeah...
on a sunday. before summer even gets here...
there going to drop it by $100.

Can I please have whatever drugs you have been smoking?
EDIT--
After reading more..
First off.. I work at gamestop/FYE... there is no price drop coming on a day that we close at 6pm. There has been no "secret memo" going about of anything sony wise price being dropped.

This is one of the more ridiculous, unresearched things I have seen zeus post.

Also.. there maybe what 4 real EB game stores left in the US, they are GAmestop now

[crypysmoker]

22nd March?

That's mine and my GF's first year together!! me thinks she can get a PS3 ;)

lol thats my daughters first birthday, I'll use that as an excuse.

"but honey, if we get hre one now she will have it when shes ready to play it"

tee hee

[yourM0M1]

Which do you want unnecessary features cut out to reduce the price or a higher price with all the bells and whistles?

Backwards compatibility is an unnecessary feature, where as WIFI isn't?? BS your just defending $ony and wont wake up and smell the roses.....$ony cut BC to continue to sell the money making PS2 and guess what the PS3 has been hurt by doing so....a price drop at this point is little too late imho.....the only thing the PS3 is worth anymore is a blu-ray player....the fews games that are good have fallen by the way side due to lack of replayability since the "free" online commmunity is lacking

[msanchez]

Sony has always dropped features. The PSone lost the standard AV ports and serial port after a few years. PS2 lost firewire ports, so people could no longer play system linked games, and they lost the ability to use a hard drive.

The Gamecube lost the extra AV port that was used for progressive scan.

I don't get what this has to do with anything I said, but those are all facts just in case anyone tries to argue them.

[NewBeginning]

This price argument is so redundant that I sometimes wonder if there is even an ounce of intelligence left in people. You cannot have your cake and eat it too.

1) People: complain about price
2) Sony: we have more features built into our machines
3) People: we don't need these extra features
4) Sony: OK. we'll cut some out. here is the new lower price.
5) People: it's too expensive, Why have you cut features, tell me when you start putting features back in.
6) Sony: ...? get lost.

Wrong. No one ever said they wanted backwards compatibility cut-out. That was 100% Sony.

[Cue]

Backwards compatibility is an unnecessary feature, where as WIFI isn't?? BS your just defending $ony and wont wake up and smell the roses.....$ony cut BC to continue to sell the money making PS2 and guess what the PS3 has been hurt by doing so....a price drop at this point is little too late imho.....the only thing the PS3 is worth anymore is a blu-ray player....the fews games that are good have fallen by the way side due to lack of replayability since the "free" online commmunity is lacking



Wrong. No one ever said they wanted backwards compatibility cut-out. That was 100% Sony.


which part of



You can start arguing about well "why did they cut this, why not that" then some other guy will instead say the opposite.

did you two not understand?

I do not use my BC PS3 to play PS2 games. It is useless to me, whereas wifi is essential. Does that make sense you may not want a certain feature but another person might not want another. capiche?

Yes I smell roses in the morning it's better than smelling unnecessary sh*t :rolleyes:

[Ichijoe]

Backwards compatibility is an unnecessary feature, where as WIFI isn't?? BS your just defending $ony and wont wake up and smell the roses.....$ony cut BC to continue to sell the money making PS2 and guess what the PS3 has been hurt by doing so....a price drop at this point is little too late imho.....the only thing the PS3 is worth anymore is a blu-ray player....the fews games that are good have fallen by the way side due to lack of replayability since the "free" online commmunity is lacking


LOL: The P(os)S3, fails @ beeing a BR Player too. You could ~if you wanted~ pick up a Samsung Player for less then half the price of a PS3!~

And given the choose between Wi-Fi or BC. I'd rather have the BC!

But, then the Fanboies know that the P(os)S3 is simply a CDI Player w/a nice ßetaray to make it supper (and needlessly), expensive.

Face it S0NY have fallen from grace, this is not the same S0NY that gave us the PSX or PS2.

I almost have to laugh when I think about it, and that by the time this "Gen." ends, that Nintendo will have likely taken the top spot again.

Who'd have thunk it?!?! :confused:

[Cue]

the problem is sony cut features that really didn't cost alot to add in the first place. the B/C for ps2 and the usb ports and / or memory card slots. trivial items that didn't really cost alot to keep in the first place.

the main item they couldn't cut to reduce cost is the bd drive, since the decision to make all ps3 games on bd, there is no way to cut that added expense.

so they removed a $10 chip, $10 memory card reader and $10 usb ports, or they could remove a $10 wifi chip and $10 antennae.

the only major item to cut costs is the bd drive, but that's not possible. so either sony has to suck it up and eat the costs or live with the expense.

I assume that was referring to my post. hardware BC was by far the most cost effective thing to cut.

A single chip does not magically fall on a PCB and give extra features. The majority of cost savings in manufacturing any electronic device is the simplicity of the circuit, the less components on the PCB the cheaper it is to manufacture and that's not just due to the price of raw materials but the total MOH cost. So yes I assume the BC did not help in circuit simplification at all and was a huge burden.

I presume that translated to a rather good saving for Sony from which they could offer a lower price. You can argue that they did it because they didn't want to cannibalize their own PS2 market but at the end of the day anything they gain from that market translated to offering a better PS3 price cut at the time.

Where do you get these prices for the wifi and antenna costs (in fact all your costs) they seem to be pulled out of thin air and do not really relate to the cost that Sony incurs by including them. Cutting the card reader was a good thing to do since I suspect royalties were also involved. You can start arguing about "they should have cut Wifi" but that's only your personal opinion but no doubt it will be save money as well.

Discussing whether they should cut BD is like me saying they should cut out ANA from the 360 and used a less powerful GPU. it's part of the specification of the system used for games and what you are essentially saying is they should have made a different cheaper lower spec system altogether. It should not even be in this discussion if you ask me.

[kneehighspy]

I assume that was referring to my post. hardware BC was by far the most cost effective thing to cut.

A single chip does not magically fall on a PCB and give extra features. The majority of cost savings in manufacturing any electronic device is the simplicity of the circuit, the less components on the PCB the cheaper it is to manufacture and that's not just due to the price of raw materials but the total MOH cost. So yes I assume the BC did not help in circuit simplification at all and was a huge burden.

I presume that translated to a rather good saving for Sony from which they could offer a lower price. You can argue that they did it because they didn't want to cannibalize their own PS2 market but at the end of the day anything they gain from that market translated to offering a better PS3 price cut at the time.

Where do you get these prices for the wifi and antenna costs (in fact all your costs) they seem to be pulled out of thin air and do not really relate to the cost that Sony incurs by including them. Cutting the card reader was a good thing to do since I suspect royalties were also involved. You can start arguing about "they should have cut Wifi" but that's only your personal opinion but no doubt it will be save money as well.

Discussing whether they should cut BD is like me saying they should cut out ANA from the 360 and used a less powerful GPU. it's part of the specification of the system used for games and what you are essentially saying is they should have made a different cheaper lower spec system altogether. It should not even be in this discussion if you ask me.



to note, my post was not referencing any of your posts, so to clear the air on that assumption.


my costs may not be factual, but at wholesale pricing that sony gets their components at, the prices probably aren't far off, or perhaps too high.

since the initial costs involved in b/c was chip design, i'm sure that the traces were still there on the ps3 mainboard after sony removed ps2 b/c, so the removal of one or so chips isn't gonna drop console pricing by very much.

too many people get too serious trying to defend their black box (or white box). i purchased my ps3 3 weeks after the north american launch, i must admit that i don't feel i've gotten my moneys worth out of it. i'm not gonna defend it, my 360 or wii to the ends of the earth either to try to justify my purchases.

noone is saying sony should have made a cheaper spec system, but even before the ps3 price was announced, sony said people would pay whatever to get one, work two jobs to get one (now people can't even get one job or losing the one they have), buy one even with no games available. sony's arrogance, right out of the gate killed them and the ps3 momentum. then once that $599 price tag was announced, they pretty much announced their interest in the casual gamer was gone.

and since sony decided to include everything but the kitchen sink in the ps3 at the start, and charge an enormous amount for it, people still can't understand why it's not doing well? and then they started cannibalizing it slowly to try to get costs down? the only thing they did by removing b/c was keep the ps2 market alive, kill off many potential ps3 owners and pushing them to the cheaper alternatives.

now with the world markets the way they are, sony has the slimmest chance ever to regain their once dominance. it would take a drastic price cut to get any consumer interest going. with people losing jobs and money, the last thing anyone wants is a $400-$500 game machine when they need to eat or put a roof over their families head, and families seeking some form of entertainment to get them through the hard times are gonna look at the cheapest alternatives, that's just facts of life.

the fanboy quote "the only people who bash the ps3, can't afford one" is complete bollocks. but their are the diehards that will still defend their gaming choice to the utter ends of the world, but with alot of the posts i see now from the same ones who were saying that kz2 would be the end all, whom are now saying that it's not the end all and sony needs to get their **** together, makes me think that finally some of the diehards are coming around and realizing there are choices and no one console rules the world.

[grapeape]

This price argument is so redundant that I sometimes wonder if there is even an ounce of intelligence left in people. You cannot have your cake and eat it too.

1) People: complain about price
2) Sony: we have more features built into our machines
3) People: we don't need these extra features
4) Sony: OK. we'll cut some out. here is the new lower price.
5) People: it's too expensive, Why have you cut features, tell me when you start putting features back in.
6) Sony: ...? get lost.

I dont know of anyone who was hoping backwards compatabilty was cut out...I know plenty who didnt care about the media card reader or wifi though.

[cinten99]

I do not use my BC PS3 to play PS2 games. It is useless to me, whereas wifi is essential.


Wifi is more important that backwards compatabiliy? your not only a sad fan boy but you are an idiot too.

[msanchez]

I dont know of anyone who was hoping backwards compatabilty was cut out...I know plenty who didnt care about the media card reader or wifi though.

Ideally sony should have just sold ps3s without BD movie playing capabilities (I believe you've mentioned this yourself more than once). Of course, it would not have been a huge difference, but coupled with the things they've already done it would have probably been quite noticeable at this moment. As kneehighspy said, doing away with the BD rom stopped being an option the moment they forced devs to use them, well even if they didn't force them they still probably wouldn't be able to get rid of them, or could anyone imagine buying a ps3 and not being able to play some of it's games because your ps3's drive can't read it? Same principal behind MS refusing to let anyone release games on HD-DVD probably, well I don't know if anyone tried actually.

To make things easier on devs they could have allowed them to release games on DL DVDs though, but maybe if they would have done that the ps3 would be cracked by now; sure it's good for us, but not for devs. Well actually out of the 3 consoles in which piracy seems to be more widespread (DS, PSP, 360) 2 of them have pretty good software #s.

[wpc]

I can see a price drop/pomo during X'Mas... until then I dont believe anything until is official:D

[gerbilboy]

LOL: The P(os)S3, fails @ beeing a BR Player too. You could ~if you wanted~ pick up a Samsung Player for less then half the price of a PS3!~

And given the choose between Wi-Fi or BC. I'd rather have the BC!

But, then the Fanboies know that the P(os)S3 is simply a CDI Player w/a nice ßetaray to make it supper (and needlessly), expensive.

Face it S0NY have fallen from grace, this is not the same S0NY that gave us the PSX or PS2.

I almost have to laugh when I think about it, and that by the time this "Gen." ends, that Nintendo will have likely taken the top spot again.

Who'd have thunk it?!?! :confused:

How is it failing? Is Sony going broke? NO. What about the Wii? NO. What about the 360? YES, it fails literally;)

[EL_CAD]

How is it failing? Is Sony going broke? NO. What about the Wii? NO. What about the 360? YES, it fails literally;)

Sony’s 4th quarter net profit dropped 95 percent, 95 percent!!! (http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/01/29/sonys-4th-quarter-net-profit-dropped-95-percent-95/)


Microsoft’s Annual Revenue Reaches $60 Billion: Fastest annual revenue growth since 1999 fuels 32% increase in earnings per share
(http://www.microsoft.com/msft/earnings/FY08/earn_rel_q4_08.mspx)


One more:
Nintendo game sales soar but profit outlook revised; Sony reports loss (http://venturebeat.com/2009/01/29/nintendo-game-sales-soar-but-profit-outlook-revised-sony-reports-loss/)

[gerbilboy]

Sony’s 4th quarter net profit dropped 95 percent, 95 percent!!! (http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/01/29/sonys-4th-quarter-net-profit-dropped-95-percent-95/)


Microsoft’s Annual Revenue Reaches $60 Billion: Fastest annual revenue growth since 1999 fuels 32% increase in earnings per share
(http://www.microsoft.com/msft/earnings/FY08/earn_rel_q4_08.mspx)


One more:
Nintendo game sales soar but profit outlook revised; Sony reports loss (http://venturebeat.com/2009/01/29/nintendo-game-sales-soar-but-profit-outlook-revised-sony-reports-loss/)

I said literally, as in the 360 fail all the time, as in the one I bought and lasted 5 days.

[ThreeDog]

I said literally, as in the 360 fail all the time, as in the one I bought and lasted 5 days.

Your imaginary 360 died? omg! :rolleyes:

[gerbilboy]

Your imaginary 360 died? omg! :rolleyes:

No, my real one died, but if I had an imaginary one, it would probably die too.

[Rotmm]

No, my real one died, but if I had an imaginary one, it would probably die too.

What's your gamertag?

[gerbilboy]

What's your gamertag?

XxgerbilboyxX

[ThreeDog]

XxgerbilboyxX

0 Gamerscore Locked previously played? :rolleyes:

[gerbilboy]

0 Gamerscore Locked previously played? :rolleyes:

Yeah like I said I only had it for 5 days! It got the rrod when it was downloading the update in order to make a live account.

[Rotmm]

Yeah like I said I only had it for 5 days! It got the rrod when it was downloading the update in order to make a live account.

So, you had it 5 days and didn't play any games in that time, you got "the rrod" and somehow haven't quite managed to get it back to the retail establishment and replaced since then.

Yea, that makes sense.

[Cue]

to note, my post was not referencing any of your posts, so to clear the air on that assumption.


my costs may not be factual, but at wholesale pricing that sony gets their components at, the prices probably aren't far off, or perhaps too high.

since the initial costs involved in b/c was chip design, i'm sure that the traces were still there on the ps3 mainboard after sony removed ps2 b/c, so the removal of one or so chips isn't gonna drop console pricing by very much.

too many people get too serious trying to defend their black box (or white box). i purchased my ps3 3 weeks after the north american launch, i must admit that i don't feel i've gotten my moneys worth out of it. i'm not gonna defend it, my 360 or wii to the ends of the earth either to try to justify my purchases.

noone is saying sony should have made a cheaper spec system, but even before the ps3 price was announced, sony said people would pay whatever to get one, work two jobs to get one (now people can't even get one job or losing the one they have), buy one even with no games available. sony's arrogance, right out of the gate killed them and the ps3 momentum. then once that $599 price tag was announced, they pretty much announced their interest in the casual gamer was gone.

and since sony decided to include everything but the kitchen sink in the ps3 at the start, and charge an enormous amount for it, people still can't understand why it's not doing well? and then they started cannibalizing it slowly to try to get costs down? the only thing they did by removing b/c was keep the ps2 market alive, kill off many potential ps3 owners and pushing them to the cheaper alternatives.

now with the world markets the way they are, sony has the slimmest chance ever to regain their once dominance. it would take a drastic price cut to get any consumer interest going. with people losing jobs and money, the last thing anyone wants is a $400-$500 game machine when they need to eat or put a roof over their families head, and families seeking some form of entertainment to get them through the hard times are gonna look at the cheapest alternatives, that's just facts of life.

the fanboy quote "the only people who bash the ps3, can't afford one" is complete bollocks. but their are the diehards that will still defend their gaming choice to the utter ends of the world, but with alot of the posts i see now from the same ones who were saying that kz2 would be the end all, whom are now saying that it's not the end all and sony needs to get their **** together, makes me think that finally some of the diehards are coming around and realizing there are choices and no one console rules the world.

Why do you go on about unrelated things and start talking about fanboys?
Yes your prices for adding wifi are to high which is why it will never save as much money as cutting BC.
fair enough you was not referring to my post but look at this board which is the initial US PCB

http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/11/playstation-3-dissected-drive-upgraded/

and this one the European one which still has BC (so therefore still has some PS2 components) but not full.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/24/europes-playstation-3-motherboard-on-display/

look how many components have been cut out on the left. no traces.
Look, if you weren't refering to my post I have no problem with that but there is absolutely no need to start ranting about fanboys as if to imply I'm one.

To add to that I do not think sony dropped the low price alternative for the casual gamer. the PS2, it still sells in numbers almost comparable to the 360 selling more than the 360 last christmas and only dropping in sales recently this Christmas past. since I would assume that the "casual market" does not care for system specs they would be more than happy to buy a PS2 not to mention that even with such a crisis and a high price the PS3 is outselling the Wii in japan for almost a month now. Do not unnecessarily predict that they are stupid and it's all doom and gloom because it is somewhat naive that is all.

[Cue]

Wifi is more important that backwards compatabiliy? your not only a sad fan boy but you are an idiot too.

:rolleyes: I'm guessing you're a kid right? well you are a retard and my dad will beat your dad up.


Just because you want BC in your PS3 doesn't mean I do (even though I already have it) because I have a PS2 with a DMS4 installed and a 250GB HDD. so my PS2 is better for playing PS2 games. No CD/DVD changes, just a huge list of games but I forget you are probably a 360 user and will argue about how changing DVD's is "so much fun and good for your health". compared to having a PS2 on your TV stand.

[Cue]

I dont know of anyone who was hoping backwards compatabilty was cut out...I know plenty who didnt care about the media card reader or wifi though.

Thanks grapeape for keeping the discussion civilized. I know people were hoping that BC was not cut out, they probably wanted nothing cut and a lower price but the truth is that if they wanted to cut the price of the PS3 by any significant amount BC was what offered the most savings for Sony to be able to give the consumer the lower price they expected. I suspect that may not be the only reason either, as I said in my earlier post this may have also been because they wanted to keep the PS2 market alive for profit with which they can still support the PS3 price cut.

you are also probably aware that Sony cut the licensing fees (LF) for the PS2 platform, so you can release games on the PS2 platform without having to pay for a license. now that makes sense because Sony are probably in the black (profit) when they sell a PS2 system but if a user buys a PS3 with the intention of playing mainly PS2 games and devs continue to release PS2 games instead of PS3 ones (which would make sense since you not only have the advantage that you are paying no LF but have a very large user base of both the PS3 and PS2 owners.) then Sony would have set themselves up for a big loss since Sony will not make the money they lost in selling the PS3 by selling PS2 games.

[gerbilboy]

So, you had it 5 days and didn't play any games in that time, you got "the rrod" and somehow haven't quite managed to get it back to the retail establishment and replaced since then.

Yea, that makes sense.

I don't care if you don't believe, I wouldn't make up a stupid story to argue about in an internet forum :rolleyes:

[Rotmm]

stupid story

It is indeed.

[gerbilboy]

It is indeed.

Yes, it is very stupid, it's stupid that a machine that was perfectly working before, stopped working all of the sudden during normal operation.

[grapeape]

Thanks grapeape for keeping the discussion civilized. I know people were hoping that BC was not cut out, they probably wanted nothing cut and a lower price but the truth is that if they wanted to cut the price of the PS3 by any significant amount BC was what offered the most savings for Sony to be able to give the consumer the lower price they expected. I suspect that may not be the only reason either, as I said in my earlier post this may have also been because they wanted to keep the PS2 market alive for profit with which they can still support the PS3 price cut.

you are also probably aware that Sony cut the licensing fees (LF) for the PS2 platform, so you can release games on the PS2 platform without having to pay for a license. now that makes sense because Sony are probably in the black (profit) when they sell a PS2 system but if a user buys a PS3 with the intention of playing mainly PS2 games and devs continue to release PS2 games instead of PS3 ones (which would make sense since you not only have the advantage that you are paying no LF but have a very large user base of both the PS3 and PS2 owners.) then Sony would have set themselves up for a big loss since Sony will not make the money they lost in selling the PS3 by selling PS2 games.

I understand their choice, I just think it was a poor one. I really think Sony's current marketing and financial decisions have been so bad it borders on sabotage. If a console is so expensive that it cant engage in competitive pricing after more than 2 years in into the generation its going to have problems. The average consumer cares little about the feature bloat that makes it a "bargain" what they care about is that madden loads and looks good. While in the short term the PS2 strategy may have worked year to year sales on the PS2 are down over 60% yet the loss of sales on the PS2 isn't being overshadowed by increased sales for the PS3 while sales of the PS3 didn't really go down (less than 1% year to year loss) they didn't go up either. Backwards compatibility was a golden handcuff, people that already had a ps2 had an incentive to get a ps3 since all their old games would work having a new console and only 1 or 2 games isn't much fun after a couple weeks. Without the BC what is there other than brand loyalty to keep the previous generation of Sony gamer from jumping ship this generation? Exclusives? None so far have managed to really push sales up for any measurable amount of time. The only real advantage now for those simply wanting to play games is free online play but now Sony's even managed to bungle that.

Their latest strategy is to charge publishers for any downloadable content (this was started at the end of last year but for some reason it was mostly overlooked). Right now its 16 cents a gig which sounds small but in relation to downloads for quality DLC it really adds up, btw it even applies to free content so expect that to dry up pretty quick. IMHO moves like this will do nothing to bolster Sony's position in fact I would bet that you will see far less free content and probably less DLC in general, what little is left will be more expensive. 16 cents a gig doesn't sound like much but when the publisher is on the hook for not only the initial download, re-downloads, aborted downloads, etc. Just hope it doesn't apply to Demos or those would surely be first to go. In the meantime Sony's comment was that they didn't see it having any effect on the quality or amount of content offered.

Frankly I'd rather see them offset the console price by going to a paid online service, perhaps then users would also hold them more to task as well since no one complains when its free even if its nearly unusable at times. The way I see it paying for content is better than not having any content to be able to pay for.

[Cue]

I understand their choice, I just think it was a poor one. I really think Sony's current marketing and financial decisions have been so bad it borders on sabotage. If a console is so expensive that it cant engage in competitive pricing after more than 2 years in into the generation its going to have problems. The average consumer cares little about the feature bloat that makes it a "bargain" what they care about is that madden loads and looks good. While in the short term the PS2 strategy may have worked year to year sales on the PS2 are down over 60% yet the loss of sales on the PS2 isn't being overshadowed by increased sales for the PS3 while sales of the PS3 didn't really go down (less than 1% year to year loss) they didn't go up either. Backwards compatibility was a golden handcuff, people that already had a ps2 had an incentive to get a ps3 since all their old games would work having a new console and only 1 or 2 games isn't much fun after a couple weeks. Without the BC what is there other than brand loyalty to keep the previous generation of Sony gamer from jumping ship this generation? Exclusives? None so far have managed to really push sales up for any measurable amount of time. The only real advantage now for those simply wanting to play games is free online play but now Sony's even managed to bungle that.

Their latest strategy is to charge publishers for any downloadable content (this was started at the end of last year but for some reason it was mostly overlooked). Right now its 16 cents a gig which sounds small but in relation to downloads for quality DLC it really adds up, btw it even applies to free content so expect that to dry up pretty quick. IMHO moves like this will do nothing to bolster Sony's position in fact I would bet that you will see far less free content and probably less DLC in general, what little is left will be more expensive. 16 cents a gig doesn't sound like much but when the publisher is on the hook for not only the initial download, re-downloads, aborted downloads, etc. Just hope it doesn't apply to Demos or those would surely be first to go. In the meantime Sony's comment was that they didn't see it having any effect on the quality or amount of content offered.

Frankly I'd rather see them offset the console price by going to a paid online service, perhaps then users would also hold them more to task as well since no one complains when its free even if its nearly unusable at times. The way I see it paying for content is better than not having any content to be able to pay for.



I think that is a common misconception that those that already own a PS2 will buy a ps3 because of BC. If their PS2 recently died on them then yes but somebody who has a working PS2 going out and buying a PS3 to play PS2 games is a little far fetched it's more than likely going to be a feature of the PS3 that allows them to do what they couldn't do before whether that is play a PS3 game or BD playback that makes them buy one. Clearly I don't speak for everybody but the mentality that I'm going to buy something purely or mainly because it allows me to do what I already can do seems somewhat wrong it's going to be something else that pushes them to do it with the added bonus that they can play their old library on it. IMO it's a bonus feature for those with a working PS2 not a selling point but other peoples opinions may vary on this and clearly I do not have any statistics on it but it will seem like common sense that you will not buy an expensive machine to do what you already can.
A single exclusives may not have pushed sales considerably but it is a catalogue of exclusives along with the multi-platform games which sell a system and I think Sony has very good 1st party developers, one of the biggest lists in fact.

It is the fact that MS has a very aggressive strategy that Sony have a more expensive console but in that 2 years the price has fallen considerably. Not any different to other generations I don't think. MS do not only sell blades but shaving cream. it's that strategy which allows them to sell their razors at such a low price. There may even come a point where giving people 360's for next to nothing to increase the amount of people on live becomes viable.

You are complaining about publishers having to pay for bandwidth whereas on the 360 the consumer pays for it anyway, what difference is there here? They adobted a strategy to gain the same type of revenue (the bandwidth may not even be sold at a profit) and cut costs (to perhaps be more competitive with their console price) and you complain anyway.
In fact wouldn't you say that it is more competitive than Live; If a publisher can find bandwidth for a cheaper price they are not forced to use the one provided by the platform holder they can host things themselves, have their own site, offer their demo there, open their own store or download site in-game. If I'm not mistaken that is not an option for publishers on the 360 but it's not a problem for them because MS get their money from the consumer instead at a fixed rate set by them.
It was mainly overlooked because it was not a big problem that is until Totilo heard about it. Nobody complains about the problems with a paid service either they just say/think it's great because they are paying for it or they throw you a mini-game that nobody was buying.

[grapeape]

I think that is a common misconception that those that already own a PS2 will buy a ps3 because of BC. If their PS2 recently died on them then yes but somebody who has a working PS2 going out and buying a PS3 to play PS2 games is a little far fetched it's more than likely going to be a feature of the PS3 that allows them to do what they couldn't do before whether that is play a PS3 game or BD playback that makes them buy one. Clearly I don't speak for everybody but the mentality that I'm going to buy something purely or mainly because it allows me to do what I already can do seems somewhat wrong it's going to be something else that pushes them to do it with the added bonus that they can play their old library on it. IMO it's a bonus feature for those with a working PS2 not a selling point but other peoples opinions may vary on this and clearly I do not have any statistics on it but it will seem like common sense that you will not buy an expensive machine to do what you already can.
A single exclusives may not have pushed sales considerably but it is a catalogue of exclusives along with the multi-platform games which sell a system and I think Sony has very good 1st party developers, one of the biggest lists in fact.

It is the fact that MS has a very aggressive strategy that Sony have a more expensive console but in that 2 years the price has fallen considerably. Not any different to other generations I don't think. MS do not only sell blades but shaving cream. it's that strategy which allows them to sell their razors at such a low price. There may even come a point where giving people 360's for next to nothing to increase the amount of people on live becomes viable.

You are complaining about publishers having to pay for bandwidth whereas on the 360 the consumer pays for it anyway, what difference is there here? They adobted a strategy to gain the same type of revenue (the bandwidth may not even be sold at a profit) and cut costs (to perhaps be more competitive with their console price) and you complain anyway.
In fact wouldn't you say that it is more competitive than Live; If a publisher can find bandwidth for a cheaper price they are not forced to use the one provided by the platform holder they can host things themselves, have their own site, offer their demo there, open their own store or download site in-game. If I'm not mistaken that is not an option for publishers on the 360 but it's not a problem for them because MS get their money from the consumer instead at a fixed rate set by them.
It was mainly overlooked because it was not a big problem that is until Totilo heard about it. Nobody complains about the problems with a paid service either they just say/think it's great because they are paying for it or they throw you a mini-game that nobody was buying.

I guess we just will agree to disagree, I bought the 60 when it came out because I knew I could ditch my ps2 that was on its last leg. Outside of game geeks very few people I know are happy with having half a dozen consoles on their TV, when the wii came out I got rid of my gamecube as well, its not buying something because it does the same thing as something I bought before its just convenience and consolidation. Look at it this way if a person had a library of PS2 games and was looking to get into the new generation of consoles, it is an easier decision to go with the PS3 when they know that their old game will work and look better on the new console...when thats not a factor the PS3 looses that edge and all 3 become fair game. I just thought it was an edge that is now lost.

I hope your right about PSN but I dont see how turning into a disjoined mess is a benefit, I have never used the browser on my ps3, dont know many who have, having to chase down demos and content all over the internet just doesnt seem like a path to success IMHO. For live they dont need to find cheaper bandwidth...there is no charge for hosting content. Actually Live does has the option of publisher hosting it was offered as an option back in late 2007, the only one I know using it though is left4dead.

Im not complaining, I like free, im just looking at it from a publishers perspective and cant see the extra fees and hoops to jump through as being very beneficial. BTW its been confirmed now that the demos and patches do apply. I just dont see how it wont eventually effect things at the very least it will bring about the end of free content.

Look at it this way, the call of duty world at war demo on live is over a gig, on live it could cost the developer nothing, on PSN it would cost $160,000 if say 1 milion people downloaded it, do you really think developers wont think twice? What about patches? I guess we could hope that this would cause publishers to be more thorough in their bug hunts before releasing but with smaller devs its more likely that things just wont get fixed.

[Cue]

I guess we just will agree to disagree, I bought the 60 when it came out because I knew I could ditch my ps2 that was on its last leg. Outside of game geeks very few people I know are happy with having half a dozen consoles on their TV, when the wii came out I got rid of my gamecube as well, its not buying something because it does the same thing as something I bought before its just convenience and consolidation. Look at it this way if a person had a library of PS2 games and was looking to get into the new generation of consoles, it is an easier decision to go with the PS3 when they know that their old game will work and look better on the new console...when thats not a factor the PS3 looses that edge and all 3 become fair game. I just thought it was an edge that is now lost.

I hope your right about PSN but I dont see how turning into a disjoined mess is a benefit, I have never used the browser on my ps3, dont know many who have, having to chase down demos and content all over the internet just doesnt seem like a path to success IMHO. For live they dont need to find cheaper bandwidth...there is no charge for hosting content. Actually Live does has the option of publisher hosting it was offered as an option back in late 2007, the only one I know using it though is left4dead.

Im not complaining, I like free, im just looking at it from a publishers perspective and cant see the extra fees and hoops to jump through as being very beneficial. BTW its been confirmed now that the demos and patches do apply. I just dont see how it wont eventually effect things at the very least it will bring about the end of free content.

Look at it this way, the call of duty world at war demo on live is over a gig, on live it could cost the developer nothing, on PSN it would cost $160,000 if say 1 milion people downloaded it, do you really think developers wont think twice? What about patches? I guess we could hope that this would cause publishers to be more thorough in their bug hunts before releasing but with smaller devs its more likely that things just wont get fixed.

I guess we will because apart from my tech geeks very few people I know are happy with having an Ethernet bridge on top of their TV yet alone go out and spend that much on one, why wouldn't built in Wifi be a convenience? I know publishers do not have to pay for hosting on live (thought they still have to pay for the licence as with the PSN too) the consumer pays instead. it is the equivalent of the NHS. Those that pay for a live account cover the costs for everybody else. So even if you don't download demos or buy stuff they have to pay for that expense if they play online.
Now the PSN may translate to private healthcare, those that want the content end up paying for it.
That $160,000 would mean that 1 million people downloaded the demo in 60 days because after 60 days it becomes free for the publisher to host that sort of content. $160,000 seems like much for you and me but that amount for an advertisement(demo) is not much at all, it would have to prove to be poular to get downloaded that much anyway. It's a very similar strategy to googles ads. The problem is publishers do not know what sort of bill they are going to be hit with that is IMO the bigger problem.

As for patches from what I understand very few are hosted on the PSN anyway when you boot up a game it can connect to the publishers server to check for updates not the PSN this is totally transparent to the consumer and is what happens in LBP. It wouldn't even be a garbled mess for the consumer either if publishers truly want to circumvent the system they can offer a download activation file which is very small in size on the PSN but the file itself is downloaded from their server though I doubt it since 0.16/GB is a very competitive price.