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Sony Readying for Larger HDD PS3 ?
Bloomberg reports that Sony may be considering a new SKU for the PS3 with a larger hard drive. This follows closely on the heels of the announcement of the Xbox 360 Elite and the 120 gig Xbox HD. No other details are provided, in a story primarily about news of increased profits as PS3 sales continue to rise. " Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer targets an operating profit margin of 5 percent by March 2008, about double the current margin. Tokyo-based Sony confirmed today that it will only sell a more expensive version of its PlayStation 3 game console in North America, a strategy it adopted for the European market to bolster margins. 'Profit margin will probably exceed 5 percent if Sony doesn't lower the price of PlayStation 3,' Hitoshi Kuriyama, an analyst at Merrill Lynch & Co. wrote in a report dated yesterday. He rates the stock a buy. Shares of Sony gained 28 percent this year, compared with a 0.8 percent advance in the Nikkei 225 Stock Average."
Are they starting a mortgage division also, so more people can afford them?
What's with the need to refer to different models as SKU? Do people think it makes them sound hip and informed?
Even the original article doesn't refer to this new model as an SKU. I'm not in the industry, I don't do marketing, and I don't run a store so please stop using the damn term.
I've stopped caring about what Sony does about 4 months ago.
"Sony also indicated that additional changes may be on the way, not all of them good. Users may want to gobble up PS3 units now, for fear that Sony actually starts to make some electronics cutbacks to curb their current $1.7 billion (yes, with a 'B') loss currently on the books for PS3. Sony stated that it would not pull back on the Cell processor or BD (Blu-ray Disc) drive or networking ability - but nearly everything else is fair game for either enhancements (plan on premium costs) or removal/downsizing (think memory/cache and possibly secondary chipsets.)"
y -adds-larger-drive-to-ps3.html
Source: http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/son
I'm sorry, but I don't see why Sony is wasting their time on this. The hardware on the PS3 has *never* been the problem. Every complaint about the PS3 has been related to the games themselves and how there isn't really a single "killer app" for the system.
a new SKU for the PS3
This just goes to show you, kids. If you believe in yourself, drink your SKU, stay in drugs, and don't do milk, you can get work!
If you want to download games large enough to fit onto CDs, and if they still want that thing to be an entertainment center to download television shows and movies, then yeah, I'd consider having a hard drive a bit larger than 60 Gigs.
I thought that the 8 and 10 gig drives in the original xboxes were big.
The fact is that the game studios have had the ability to extend their games add new maps, allow users to create their own race tracks and all that stuff with the xbox but it never happened.
Other than game saves and music for in-game listening, what were these hard drives used for?
I understand people running Linux on their PS3 to do things like web browsing or other casual use. The only people who would really want a bigger hard drive are will figure out how to upgrade their hard drive anyway just like they did on the xbox.
Personally, I think it is kind of a bad idea for Sony to put a hard drive bigger than a Blu Ray disc in their system for pirating reasons. Not that you couldn't mount a network drive and store the movie on another computer anyway.
It's a done deal (I think) that they'll remove PS2 hardware emulation to cut costs.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
Sony are rumoured to be going to an 80Gb model which is hardly a great leap. Who knows why they have a new model but probably because they're getting the 80Gb drives at the same prices as they used to get the 60Gb models for so they're switching. Perhaps some other OEM is providing the drives. How is that bad for the consumer if you get an extra 20Gb for the same price?
You are all aware that you can drop any SATA HD into the system right? So making a new unit with nothing but a bigger HD would be counter productive. They'd have to add something like a sony memcard reader and maybe include 3 controllers to make it worth while.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
What's left to pull?
We know that the PS3 over in Europe already lost its PS2 hardware in favor of a software emulator for PS2 game backwards compatibility. It's only a matter of time before that change shows up in PS3s elsewhere. However, I would think the next things to go would be the useless card reader (really now, does ANYONE plan on using their PS3 as a photo album?) and the WiFi addon. Sony could charge separately for those while still keeping the price of the PS3 the same.
Furthermore, I'm confused by the article's insinuation that Sony could actually *change* the PS3's core specs by removing memory or cache. This isn't a generic PC we're talking about here. Games developed for consoles are very tightly tied to the underlying hardware. This allows them to get better performance because you don't have a full blown OS doing hardware abstraction. At best, such a change to the hardware like this would result in an unacceptable loss of performance in a game, and at worst, might prevent the game from working at all
This isn't even addressing the issue that the PS3 is already arguably starved for RAM, AND has a slower media drive on top of that.
It'll probably cost $300.
They're getting a little lame with the updates and upgrades lately, aren't they?
This just in: Sony is releasing an official PS3 Trademarked CHROME sticker available as an add-on. This attachment retails for $50 and SHOULD be available by mid-fall at select retail outlets.
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
You say that like it's a negative thing. I wish they'd announce whether the older units were going to support the newer software emulation. It actually *adds features*, and when the compatibility improves it will probably become the preferred emulation. I won't buy a PS3 right now, since there's a chance I may end up stuck with the non-upgradable, non-upscaling hardware emulation. (Well, that and there are no good games for the PS3 yet.)
It sounds like Sony is getting more and more desperate to get units out the door, that now they're threatening to stick their customers with inferior hardware if they don't buy soon. That's practically blackmail.
For one thing, people remembered the Dreamcast-era FUD that Sony slung against Sega Dreamcast; the PS2 wasn't as much of a graphical leap over the DC as Sony had claimed. By the time Microsoft's Dreamcast 360 came out, people became wise to Sony's reputation for alleged false advertising.
But perhaps more importantly, people bought PS2 because the PS2 was priced such that one could buy a DVD-Video player ($200) and a replacement for your worn-out original PlayStation system ($100) and get compatibility with the PS2 game library for effectively free. So why aren't people buying a PS3 for use as a cheap Blu-ray Disc player? For one thing, fewer killer titles are available because the PS3 was introduced earlier in BD's life than the PS2 was introduced in DVD's life; even Casino Royale 7 is no Matrix. For another thing, there isn't nearly as much of a convenience advantage of BD over DVD as there was of DVD over VHS.
Another issue to consider is that with so few games currently available, the number of affected games will be relatively small in a few years. Publishers won't target the original console, because they need to get maximum exposure for the game. They'll target the reduced console.
Umm, a few points need to be made here:
I would think the next things to go would be the useless card reader (really now, does ANYONE plan on using their PS3 as a photo album?)
The card reader is actually quite helpful for transferring files to and from your PSP and PC. When you download the PS1 games from PSN, how are you supposed to get htem to your PSP? Via the card reader, of course. You can also move movies and music this way as well, unless you want to sit down and design a website that both consoles can view to download music and movies individually, but that sounds annoying.
This isn't even addressing the issue that the PS3 is already arguably starved for RAM, AND has a slower media drive on top of that.
Arguably being the key word here. I haven't seen any developer familiar with the PS3 actually complain about the amount of memory available to them. Obviously, Linux performance suffers a bit under the hypervisor, but that's because Sony is hiding the graphics chip, not because there isn't enough RAM available. The claims of lack of memory came out of the revelation that Oblivion was caching to the hard drive to improve load times, I believe, but Bethesda said that the same thing was done on the 360 as well.
What about what's in development right now?
More Twoson than Cupertino
If Sony has plans like this, they've probably notified the major development houses already.
Besides, it's still pretty early in this console's lifetime. We won't see many games that stretch the console's limits for a few years, yet.
Current games are truly not using the full capability of the system, but it's probably not because they are failing to use enough memory, etc. It's probably because they consume the resources inefficiently and exhaust them needlessly. That means any move to reduce resources will only exacerbate any performance issues they may see today.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Does the software emulator actually upscale the graphics? I know that originally, Sony wanted to use a software emulator, and that it was planned to upscale the PS2 game graphics.
When they couldn't get adequate performance from the emulator in time for the launch, they switched to the hardware solution. With the European launch they switched back to the emulator but I haven't heard it does anything for the games.
Even if this were true, you're still looking at a trade off: Better compatibility (hardware solution) or better graphics (software emulator). Currently the emulator only supports a small percentage of the total number of titles available. Depending on how you count, it's even worse than the Xbox 360's emulator. Even then, the PS3's hardware solution still had problems with many PS2 games.
Either way, it really seems like people will be holding on to their PS2s a lot longer than they did for their PS1's.
For me it's not a tradeoff. I already own a hardware PS2 (Same one since release day), and I don't see any reason to buy another one. The only incentive for me to "upgrade" is if it adds features. Otherwise "PS2 support" is just text on the packaging.
You'd have to show me some numbers to convince me it's "worse than the Xbox 360's emulator". The only numbers I've seen that could suggest that compared the European support list against the US release list to create a meaningless statistic. The official number from Sony is 72%.
As for upscaling, it's supported on a subset of the supported PS2 games, and supposedly additional support will be added with future firmware updates. The hardware PS2 "emulation" doesn't upscale *any* PS2 games.
If you are baffled by this acronym, as i was just moments ago, take a second to read this fantastic post.
Can we cut this shit already?
It works quite well so I wouldn't sweat the change. I agree you should pick up the hardware BC model if you have an obscure and large collection of titles that you still play. Otherwise software BC works very well. I've seen some minor texture glitches in some of the games I've tried for the most part they play exactly like they do on the PS2 - better in fact since you get 576p. Most major titles are supported and even demanding ones like God of War appear to work very well. I expect that subsequent firmware updates as well as introduction to the US & Japanese regions will make the BC even better.
The FREE 1/2 High Definition episode of South Park to promote the new season took up a GB of space. HD South Park? I know, I thought it was funny too, but man did those edges look clean. Game trailers can easily be a few hundred MB each, and free game demos (which are almost complete games in and of themselves Phantasy Star Universe) are often a GB. To say nothing of being able to download other random crap if one so chooses.
Me I'm off to rip a bunch of Marvin Gaye CDs onto my 360, pick up a bottle of Jergen's lotion and rent Dead Or Alive Extreme 2.
Hey sony, how about instead of making a system with a larger hard drive as an option you try to find ways to cut down on the manufacturing costs so you can lower the price of the current 60 gig model? Who knows, mabye you will get more people like me who aren't buying the PS3 primarily because of the price...
It's not that I can't afford it, it's that I can't justify it.
Living With a Nerd
I haven't either. I've seen lots of XBox 360 fanboys complain though. Fact is that the PS3 has 512Mb, it's just segmented into video and main memory. Additionally some memory is reserved for the OS, but the amount is quite conservative and probably anticipates what Sony *might* need for the OS not what they actually use. They may loosen the reserved memory TRC for future games as it becomes clear what functionality to expose through it. It certainly hasn't stopped the PS3 from already having games which have massive levels - games like Motorstorm & Resistance have some enormous areas in that wouldn't often see in PC titles let alone in a console. And like you say Oblivion works just fine despite what the naysayers would have people say before release. I expect in time we'll also see all the Oblivion expansions appear too including Shivering Isles.
It's really all I use the PS3 for at the moment. Quite often, friends come over to play Wii. I usually take pictures of them jumping and flailing around, and we then watch them using the PS3.
That argument is nonsensical. The fact that games don't use 100% of the PS3's capabilities does not mean that they still run after Sony removes caches or RAM. They won't remove anything connected to playing PS3 games.
And that would be because the 360 is starved for RAm as well :-)
Which means that Sony is turning a profit off of the units now? Good thing I can keep on waiting, as if they've turned a profit after losing money hand-over-fist on these things, I'm guessing that a price cut is foreseeable in the notsodistant future for the existing models.
(Obligatory disclaimer: I own both a PS3 and a Wii)
Yes, there are Wii games that are "gimmicky" (in that they don't offer much depth, but rely on the novelty of the controller). Kororinpa would be one of these. But most games aren't gimmicky at all. Games like "Godfather: Blackhand Edition" show that the controller isn't a gimmick. It's a legitimate successor to the "old" gamepad. In fact, it ads so much to the game if used correctly that it can turn a mediocre game (such as the "traditional" version of Godfather) into an utterly awesome experience.
This sounds like hyperbole, but it's true. Play Godfather. This is the game that convinced me that the Wii is for real, and that it will win this generation.
As I've said somewhere else in this discussion, the PS3 has been relegated to the position of slideshow server for pictures taken during sessions of Wii gaming. The PS3 is a great console, but the games quite simply aren't there. Motorstorm is great entertainment for a week, and I don't really like FPS, so I'm fresh out of PS3 games. The Wii games, on the other hand, just keep on coming.
I hadn't thought about the PSP... However, the card reader for the PS3 does not cover PS1/PS2 memory cards - that's a separate product that isn't even included with the $600 model. The card reader only supports things like Sony Memory sticks, SD cards, etc. - not Playstation Memory Cards (TM)
;) With the 360, games can't assume they have a HDD to use for caching purposes, whereas every PS3 will have a HDD available. I've heard that Oblivion on the PS3 has faster laodtimes than the 360 because of this, but neither are as good as a good gaming PC which seems to be a better buy than a PS3 nowadays :-)
(yes, I realize the term "memory card" is severly overused here.)
As for memory in the system, my understanding is that the 360 has twice the memory of the PS3, although the PS3's memory is faster. However when you couple that with the PS3's slower media drive, it seems to me that more memory would have helped. (then again, isn't more memory always a GOOD thing?
You can use any USB storgage device with a PS3 - and that includes attaching CF cards via a USB CF reader (or other kinds of media cards). The media reader truly is a vegistal part of the console.
The USB port was included on all models of the PS3. After all, it's how you charge the controllers...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
However, I would think the next things to go would be the useless card reader (really now, does ANYONE plan on using their PS3 as a photo album?) and the WiFi addon.
Congratulations, you just described the 20GB version of the PS3. The model they just pulled? It would seem to make the changes you suggest rather unlikely.
The media readers may go at some point (you can still attach any USB mass storage device for transfers) but the WiFi will most likley stay to make it easier for customers to hook into networks, which is a step ahead of the 360 in my books. I was disappointed they took out the 20GB model though as I had planned to simply replace the HD and hook into a wired network anyway, reducing the cost substantially. Perhaps 20GB units will be cheaper on eBay.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Right - if you really cared you wouldn't have even entered the threads, let alone post. You obviously care a great deal. Let it go.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The PSP uses memory stick Duo's. The "playstation memory card" is pretty much dead. This is kind of a moot point as the PSP doesn't need to use the card to transfer files. It will act as a USB storage device OR link to the PS3 via Wi-Fi. Also: the PS3 and the 360 both have the same amount of RAM at 512Megs each.
It seems like a person would get tired of a one-note UID powered by hate. Myself, I like all three consoles - you should have more of an open mind. You cant have many friends with a bitter attitude, at least not friends you'd want to keep.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Both have 512 megs of memory. The PS3's memory is split ahead of time into system memory and GPU memory. The memory on the 360 must be used for both system and GPU purposes, but isn't split ahead of time. Microsoft claims this is an advantage, while Sony claims their method is better.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
The reason no one is buying PS3 now, and there rows and rows of them at the store is because everyone out there is holding out for a bigger hard drive!
Where do I sign up for Sony's PR department?
"Slashdot: News for NERDS"
If you can't be bothered to learn a new TLA then maybe you are on the wrong news feed?
Spell cheek you've failed me four the last thyme!
It's a CF card. The Wii only reads SD cards.
Actually it doesn't (well depends on your perspective I suppose). It's around 100 megs. The original PS1 version was larger due to uncompressed audio filling the disk. There are much better codecs available now that allowed Konami to provide equal or better sound utilizing much less space.
While it does not upscale to 1080, it does upconvert all PSX and PS2 games to 480p. REALLY nice feature. The question should not be if its going to upscale the resolution, but rerender 3D models at a higher resolution. If you are rendering graphics at 480i and upconverting them to 1080, its not going to look that well. You can see this now if you try putting in a PSX Final Fantasy game into the PS3, you get 480p resolution, with jagged edges on the 3D models. You do emulation on the PC with the same game, even at 640x480, but have it rendering the video in hardware mode, you get these absolutely stunning 3D models.
:-)
What needs to happen is not a software only emulation, but rather a software emulation that rerenders 3D graphics through the PS3 video processor.
I have had no issues running PS2 games on the PS3. I have had some issues with two PSX games (Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 4) with sound hicups and occassional tearing of video, but as the PSX version of these games were SNES ports to begin with (okay, they rewrote the text), I am not terribly disappointed in it.
As for the image reader, this is an incredibly nice feature. Actually get to look at my images at 1920x1080. Granted, I could use the hdtv breakout box on my pc for this - wait, I already do. What is annoying is that the PS3 does not support NTFS formats. So while it will read my thumbdrive, it will not read my usb2 500gig drive that I have everything stored on. Wow, it sure would be nice to sit on the couch and go through my pictures with a wireless controler. Too bad they do not make wireless keyboards or remotes to control the PC
I find the webbrowser to be practically useless. Unless you have a 70 inch screen, you cannot read a webpage rendered at 1920x1080.
It does not support enough video formats and does not seem to like stuff recorded at non-standard resolutions and framerates. Sticking in a CD of old MPEGs, while it did upconvert, which looked nice, resulted in tearing around the edges and choppiness. It will not read TS streams burned on a CD, and the only way to get HD material from your computer to the PS3 is to render it in some strange MP4 format that I have never heard of before. And unfortunately, all the utilities I have found on the net that do this for you for some odd reason downconverts all audio to MP3 stereo sound. As it stretches old dvd movies into 16:9 format, this makes the PS3 useless as a video player for anything other than BluRay (my main function of it) and the trailers you download from sony.
576P?
Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.