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PS3 Price Up In The Air, Demos In 02/2006
Gamespot is reporting that the price for Sony's next-gen console is still something being worked out. Additionally, we're not going to get the chance to play demos for the system until February of 2006. From the article: "When asked why there were no playable PS3 games at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show, as previously promised by SCE president Ken Kutaragi, Saeki revealed that there was a long discussion inside Sony before the show opened. While many executives argued that it would be good for the public to play demos, eventually the decision was made to only show E3-style trailers, as it was the first time the PS3 was being shown publicly in Japan. When asked if there would be any changes to the February PS3 event where playable demos will be on hand, Saeki did not respond directly. However, he did say that SCE is planning something for the event that is sure to be a 'major' surprise. "
A boomerang shaped wireless remote that senses movement of the hand and distance from the console in 3D sapce, entitled the Sonylution.
Somehow, I doubt that the price is going to be any cheaper than the 360. If Sony knows that they can price the PS3 for significantly less than the 360 without losing too much money, they wouldn't be debating the pricing internally, but would rather be trumpeting their lower price publically.
My gut feeling from all the news bits read here and there is that Sony is really having a hard time even _matching_ the 360's price, hence their hesitation to say anything publically.
But regardless of the price, I have to agree with you that it's the games that will most influence my decision.
That's why it's called a "surprise."
Celebrate the finer things in life
I'm really surprised that no one's already mentioned this, but at the beginning of this week it looked like Sony's Blue Ray disk format was going to be the hands-down victor in the up and coming format wars. Then, a day or two ago both Microsoft and Sony announced support for the competing HD DVD format, and suddenly Sony has real competition in a fight that looked to be a foregone conclusion in their favor. Loss in the format war would be horrifically expensive for Sony. As such, I really don't think it's too great of a stretch to assume that they'll be more willing to take more of a loss on the hardware than they otherwise would have. Cheap PS3's ensure that millions of homes will be equipped with Blue Ray players (PS3's will play Blue Ray movies out of the box), giving Sony an instant customer base for their Blue Ray movies. Couple this with news this week that MS's X-Box division is currently 4 Billion dollars in the hole after its 4 years of existence and is experiencing increasing pressure both internally and from shareholders to turn a profit, and it starts to look reasonably likely that the PS3 and its superior hardware could retail for less than the 360 throughout the consoles' lifecycle. I don't think that a PS3 launch price point of $349 or even $299 are at all out of the question.