Playstation 3: $500 and $600 Packages

[Melf]

I wonder, will we see a repeat of the Sega CD? Releasing computer game hardware that is ahead of it's time and suffering for it has happened before and I get the feeling that people won't like Bluray much. Right now, it actually doesn't DO anything apart from play the Playstation 3 games; no other items use Bluray format at present, which has jacked up the price of the console for no other reason then to help duel Son'y little battle between Bluray and HD-DVD.

Next Gen has a great article on how Blu-Ray may not be as big a factor in driving hardware sales as some people think.

[Drixxel]

And how much are those discs going to cost? "Free" online sounds dubious to me, too. Either companies are going to set their own costs or ads are going to be plastered over it. My favourite bit of the entire E3 week was when they came out with that Kutagari interview where he said it's probably too cheap. Priceless. That and the whole "six degrees of freedom" thing.

I have yet to see any actual figures pertaining to the costs of Blu-Ray, but as a first-generation technology, it's going to be fairly expensive to manufacture. Like every other technology, though, it'll become cheaper as production increases, and apparantly the manufacturing process for Blu-Ray is simpler than that for DVDs, so the costs of Blu-Ray are expected to level out fairly quickly. ...that is, if Blu-Ray is a success and demand/production picks up. Otherwise, that's a big whoopsie on Sony's behalf.

The PS3 will sell far better than any stand-alone Blu-Ray player and definitely represents Sony's best chance at rustling up public interest in Blu-Ray movies. That being said, unless PS3s come bundled with a $500 off coupon for HDTVs, I don't think the PS3 alone can carry Blu-Ray. Even on a crappy television, the difference between an aging VHS tape and a new DVD is notable. I look forward to Sony's marketing campaign, trying to compare DVD to Blu-Ray through the grain of broadcast television.

Does anyone honestly look forward to the day when you can buy the same movie on VHS, DVD, UMD, HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray? Anyone?

[Kikoskia]

Not me. Of course, by then there will also be XVD, YU-HQ-DVD, Alpha GX-Beta DVDs, QWVD and any other small combination of letters that they can come up with as a format.

Ultimately, one of the formats will win and will take precedence over the others. That format will endure while the others will die. Over-saturation of a certain merket from multiple types does little but confuse the consumer and cause people to spend far more on marketing against each other for little potential gain if the consumer's buying power is spread too thin.

[Melf]

From Gamespot:

Sony Computer Entertainment UK has confirmed that the retail price of the 60GB PlayStation 3 is currently planned to be £425 ($799) in the UK--although there is still a possibility that this will change before November's launch. SCEUK MD Ray Maguire told industry magazine MCV that the "60GB version looks like £425 in the UK at the moment".

However, there is no guarantee that the cheaper 20GB console will be launched in the UK. "The lower-end 20GB version of PlayStation 3 has no Wi-Fi, no HDMI, and none of the other slots in it, so it's really a question of where we would position it. It's more likely that we will only launch the 60GB version," Maguire told MCV.

A price point of £425 would, at current exchange rates, make the UK console over £100 more expensive than a direct conversion from the $599 US retail cost, and about £10 more than a direct conversion from the European price of 599 euros announced at E3. The 20GB version will retail for $499 in North America.

Online retailer GameStation has closed its preorders for the 60GB console "until Sony are in a position to confirm initial allocation volumes".

The PlayStation 3's chief rival, the premium Xbox 360, currently sells for £279 ($525) in the UK. The same unit costs $399 in the US.

[Joe Redifer]

I agree with Kutagari. The PS3 is far too cheap. I'm moving to the UK so I can pay more!

[Melf]

LOL!

[j_factor]

SCEE CEO: "We have built up a certain brand equity over time since the launch of PlayStation in 1995 and PS2 in 2000 that the first five million are going to buy it, whatever it is, even it didn't have games."

[David J.]

I don't think it'll be the first five million, but I swear atleast that many people will buy it, just becuase it's a Playstation.

[Obviously]

SCEE CEO: "We have built up a certain brand equity over time since the launch of PlayStation in 1995 and PS2 in 2000 that the first five million are going to buy it, whatever it is, even it didn't have games."

Ladies and gentlemen, it's official. Sony is completely full of itself.

[Drixxel]

Yeah, that is quite a sickening display of pomp. I don't want the PS3 to fail, but Sony doesn't deserve to win with that attitude.

[Cless]

[Melf]

LAWL!

[David J.]

Man, for that much I could pay off the classes I "failed" this semister.

[j_factor]

This better not be true:

"High street games shops have been told by Sony that there will be no PS3 pre-owned sections in their stores as it will be illegal for customers to sell any next-gen PlayStation games that they've bought"

[Joe Redifer]

What the hell is "High street"?