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Sony Officially Dropping 20GB PS3 in North America

Posted by Zonk on from the get-thee-behind-me dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Sony has just announced they're officially ditching the 20GB model of the PS3. 'Due to the overwhelming demand for the 60GB model from both retailers and consumers, we have ceased offering the 20GB model here in North America. In addition to the larger internal hard drive, the 60GB PlayStation 3 features added storage media slots and built-in Wi-Fi not found in the 20GB system. Based on retailer and consumer feedback, we have decided to focus our current efforts on the more popular 60GB model.'"

8 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. Makes sense to me by alvinrod · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think that most people who would be willing to shell out $500 for a console wouldn't mind having to pony up another $100 for built-in wireless (I think that's usually about $100 to add on, at least that's what it is for the Xbox 360), an extra 40 GB of room on the HD, and some media card slots (not sure how useful these are).

    Makes me wonder when Microsoft is going to axe the $300 version of the Xbox 360, which in a way is kind of crap since it doesn't come with any way to save games on it by default without shelling out at least enough for a memory card or a special HD (since you can't plug your own in as far as I know). With the new Elite version coming out in the future, why bother having this lowend version take up shelf space?

  2. Re:i wonder if... by Scottoest · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Although the PS3 sales are hardly strong, I honestly think the 20GB PS3 was more or less vaporware, from a practical stand-point. I swear to the Lord that I have never seen one in any store. Ever.

    I've come across mountains of 60GB PS3's, but never the lesser one. Which makes me curious about this whole "more demand for the better one" thing. How would they even gage something like that, when it's seemingly impossible to find the goddamn things in the first place?

    It's like General Electric making five toasters, selling out of them, and then saying demand was too low to justify building them because you only sold five at retail. What planet am I on?

    - Scott

  3. What's crippled about it? Was superiour. by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The 20GB model has:

    GigE networking

    A Hard drive that is user servicable and replaceable

    The same AV connections

    Anything else used to actually play games, lacking only a media reader for things like CF cards.

    I was going to buy the 20GB model, and put a larger HD in it. So I personally think it was the superior option as it was more configurable and it did not have wireless if you did not need it. Lots of things are coming with wireless built in now which is nice, but I was going to wire it up anyway so as not to have the possibility of interference.

    I can kind of see why they did it but I'm annoyed they are removing that option.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  4. Different company by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The company with the rootkits is Sony Music, not Sony Games. If your brother robbed a bank should you go to jail too? Truly large companies are really lots of smaller companies that make their own choices.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Different company by calbanese · · Score: 3, Insightful

      There is only one Board of Directors for Sony. There is only one Chariman and CEO of Sony. They are responsible for every last employee from both the Games and Entertainment divisions. The responsibility is with them, whether or not they approved the actions or not.

  5. Re:i wonder if... by HappySqurriel · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I love how they decided to drop the 20GB model because of the "overwhelming demand for the 60GB model from both retailers and consumers" when I can walk into any retailer and buy a 60GB PS3 whereas the 20GB model has never been in any store or online.

  6. Responsibility but nopt the choice by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Do you think the Board of Directors approved the rootkit? Or even the president? Hell no. That was up to the division. That division made a bad call, and the Board is responsible insofar as they hired the doofus that made that choice for Sony Music. But they are not directly responsible, and Sony Games being yet a step further removed is less responsible.

    Again I ask, if your brother rob a bank should you go to jail? Your father raised both of you, why shouldn't he go to jail? You talked to your brother at some point, surely you are to blame. All of these statements are as silly as what you are trying to say.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Responsibility but nopt the choice by asdfghjklqwertyuiop · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Do you think the Board of Directors approved the rootkit? Or even the president? Hell no. That was up to the division. That division made a bad call, and the Board is responsible insofar as they hired the doofus that made that choice for Sony Music. But they are not directly responsible


      And I wonder, after the rootkit scandal broke, did the board of directors or the president use their vast power to do anything, so as to discourage their other subordinates from making equally bad decisions in the future? Nope:

      The uninstaller for the DRM had security problems of its own.

      Thomas Hesse, president of that division, who said "Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?" still has his job today.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Sony_BMG_CD_copy _protection_scandal

      It is their responsibility of those people to keep the company in line and fix quickly when it isn't. That's why they have so much power get paid tens of millions of dollars a year (supposedly). By continuing to delegate their power to somone who wonders why people would care that their machine had been rooted, they clearly approve of those actions.

      Again I ask, if your brother rob a bank should you go to jail? Your father raised both of you, why shouldn't he go to jail? You talked to your brother at some point, surely you are to blame.


      And I ask, are you given power to control your brother's actions? Are you his legal guardian? Is he under 18 or mentally retarded? If so, yes, you might in fact go to jail. With power comes responsibility.