EU Release of Price Cut 40 GB PS3 Confirmed

sinister rouge writes "The BBC has a story confirming a cut price PlayStation 3 with a 40GB hard drive and no backwards compatibility with previous consoles. The console is set to go on sale later this month in Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and New Zealand. No word yet on that particular SKU for the North American market. '[Ray Maguire, head of PlayStation UK,] said: "The people who want to get into new technology early are prepared to pay a premium. We want to get the console to the next level; we have re-engineered the machine to bring the price down. We have invested a lot of money in reaching this price point." Sony is still losing money on each console sold, said Mr Maguire, but would lose less money on the 40GB machine. "We are in an investment phase," he said.'"

Comments

Re:Inaccurate title

[DrXym]

Releasing a crippled device at a lower price is not a "price cut" in any dictionary.

Isn't it? Whereas the PS3 cost 599 at launch, you can now buy it for 399. If BC means so much to you, buy the 60Gb bundle or hang onto your PS2.

What is more, the compatibility was just a software emulator in the European consoles anyway!

No it wasn't. It was software assisted since it still contained a GS chip. And the BC was very good indeed.

but from a marketing point of view, Sony continues to baffle me.

I expect their reasoning is that for the sake of a few periphery features they can deliver a console at a price that makes it very attractive to a great number of people in time for Christmas. If lack of BC bothers you or any other consumer, then buy the 60Gb bundle which is also 100 cheaper.

Sony keeps changing its mind

[rbarreira]

Sony keeps changing its mind... I'm paraphrasing from memory but Sony has said something similar to all the following quotes:

1: Sony: It sucks that the 360 doesn't have full BC

Now Sony releases this model

2: Sony: Rumble is last-gen

Rumble controllers will be launched soon in Japan, and in Spring 2008 in the rest of the world

3: Sony: 360 has too many models, it's ridiculous!

So far I count 4 Playstation models: 60 GB (discontinued in America but still being sold everywhere), 20 GB (discontinued), 80 GB, 40 GB. Also, notice that these models are not necessarily better as disc space increases. For example, the best one is the 60 GB (with full hardware PS2 compatibility)...

Maybe there are more, but at least these three show how unstable the Playstation brand is lately. I'm counting on a big flop (and it's already happening).

Re:Sony keeps changing its mind

[gamer4Life]

1. Sony needed to cut costs. They still have BC, but you need to buy the premium model. With the 360 you have no such option.

2. What did you expect them to say? It's called marketing. It's not like Microsoft (or any other corporation for that matter) has never tried to turn a negative into a positive). I don't think for a second that they once felt that rumble was last gen, but they had to say something other than "Microsoft is making it hard for Immersion to license us Rumble technology cheaply".

3. They only have 2 models at a time, except when one is being discontinued. Microsoft has the Arcade, Premium, Elite, Halo version out, with the Core being phased out. At least they didn't leave out a hard drive in one of them and all work more or less the same with current PS3 games.

If people would engage their heads a bit more, none of this should get anyone riled up about.

Re:Sony keeps changing its mind

[rbarreira]

1. Sony needed to cut costs. They still have BC, but you need to buy the premium model. With the 360 you have no such option.

They just said the 60 GB model is discontinued in Europe, check it out at kotaku.

And remember this quote:

"Backwards compatibility, as you know from PlayStation One and PlayStation 2, is a core value of what we believe we should offer. And access to the library of content people have created, bought for themselves, and accumulated over the years is necessary to create a format. PlayStation is a format meaning that it transcends many devices -- PSOne, PS2, and now PS3" - Phil Harrison, Sony, December 2006.

Microsoft never promised full compatibility on the 360, they just said it would improve with time... And guess what, it has improved! But that's off-topic here anyway, one company's mistakes don't justify the other's.

2. What did you expect them to say? It's called marketing. It's not like Microsoft (or any other corporation for that matter) has never tried to turn a negative into a positive). I don't think for a second that they once felt that rumble was last gen, but they had to say something other than "Microsoft is making it hard for Immersion to license us Rumble technology cheaply".

I certainly didn't expect them to lie, nor did they have to... Any proof that Microsoft was responsible for Sony's problems with getting Rumble licensed? Even if that's the case, it still doesn't excuse such a stupid lie.

3. They only have 2 models at a time, except when one is being discontinued. Microsoft has the Arcade, Premium, Elite, Halo version out, with the Core being phased out. At least they didn't leave out a hard drive in one of them and all work more or less the same with current PS3 games.

The halo version doesn't confuse anyone, I'm sure... Only Halo fans will want it. If you believe current rumours, Sony will have the 40 GB coming out in the USA pretty soon, so there you have your 3 simultaneous models. In any case, they ARE releasing multiple and confusing SKUs. Having criticized Microsoft for it, egg is now on their face for that...

If people would engage their heads a bit more, none of this should get anyone riled up about.

If people were a bit more honest, they'd call a spade a spade, and a lie a lie. Why don't you?

Oh, I think I know why... Because you're desperately trying to convince us of how Sony can do no wrong?

Re:Sony keeps changing its mind

[rbarreira]

1. We're talking about Europe, there's no 80 GB unit. There may be one in the future, but that'd be another lie (kotaku has the details)
2. Why didn't they say "legal problems" then? I'm sure all the fanboys would be sympathetic
3. How are you sure the Halo model is still in production? Again, I stress. This is not about about Microsoft, it's about Sony's sayings and de-sayings.

BTW I'm not a raving fanboy, I don't even have a next-gen console yet. And don't be patronizing, I am just looking at things and saying what I think, not everyone is brainwashed!

Re:Sony keeps changing its mind

[captain_cthulhu]

how did this get modded as 'informative'? it's riddled with opinion and factual inaccuracies.

#1: go over to the joystiq site and read up - Sony saves $27 by removing the BC feature. They must be in dire straits to need that $27 per console. Also, this 40Gb model can NEVER do BC while every 360 is capable when an HDD is present.

#2: Sony absolutely thought rumble was last Gen... because they said it specifically in those words multiple times. Also, what makes you think MS made it hard for Immersion to license to SOny? MS settled with Immersion over the infringement while Sony fought tooth-and-nail and ultimately lost. No, only Sony can be blamed for that fiasco.

#3: you are right on this point except you left out the part where 360 games perform the same when an HDD is present (games use it when it's there), so the only ones who suffer are the ones without the HDD. regardless, I agree the core 360 hurts the platform but this can be worked around while this decision by Sony has irreversible consequences.

for you to say that people are not using their heads because they disagree with you, is not only UNinformative, it's staight-up ignorant.

Re:Why no backwards compatibility?

[wamerocity]

In case anyone is wondering WHY, here is the official explanation from Ray McGuire, some Sony hotshot:

"As we come to our first Christmas with the PlayStation 3 there's going to be about 65 games in the marketplace, so we feel now that there's sufficient choice in the marketplace and that we're still better off using that money that we'd put into backwards compatibility in either investing in new games or using that money to help support bringing the price down so that people can get into the franchise." (From www.qj.net)

I don't know if I'm in the place to comment on how true this could possibly be, because I have no clue how difficult it is for backwards compatibility programming, because I don't program...at all.

However, if you read the lines and in between them, they are taking engineers away from backwards compatibility, which means that people who still have the SOFTWARE versions of the still BC-enabled PS3's are going to be getting less and less updates for games that still struggle to work, because they are throwing less personnel at it. So, I can truly say that this is one of the first times in History, that the early adopters didn't get screwed (at least from the BC perspective, ignoring the original high price and lack of games for the first year part of that statement....) :)

Re:I don't understand the tiny hard drives...

[Carnildo]

The consoles are using laptop hard drives. It also doesn't help that the specs were set two to three years ago: three years ago, a 80GB laptop hard drive was fairly expensive, and there's still no such thing as a 500GB one.

Retail prices for OEM laptop hard drives from Newegg:
250GB: $180
80GB: $55
40GB: $50

Even if you assume the manufacturers are able to get the drives for half of what we pay for them, that's still a difference of $65 between the production cost of a high-end model and a low-end model.

Re:Too little, too late

[Gravatron]

We still have most of the 3rd party games that did't use UT3 engine, as well as all the first and second party stuff. This month alone brings Rachet and Clank, Folklore, Eye of Judgement, and Guitar Hero 3. Rachet should be awesome, Folklore has mixed reviews (obviously some are from the import, and dodge the story elements) Eye looks interesting and GH 3 should well, rock. I'm sure there are others comming this month, but those are my main buys.

A common myth...

[rbarreira]

VAT: 17.5%
Import tax: 10% (right?) since the PS3 comes from outside the EU
Retailer margins higher than in USA
EU recycling fees.

Add the above together and you'll probably see that Sony is getting about the same money they get in any other territory... Maybe a bit more, but not nearly as much as just doing a currency conversion makes it seem like.

Re:Why no backwards compatibility?

[antek9]

You don't have to re-download anything if you properly backup all of the contents onto an external HD (must be FAT32 formatted) and then restore after swapping disks. You will have to do the linux install from scratch, though.

Re:Just two things...

[ToasterMonkey]

What, in your opinion is wrong with Sony then? How bad have they gotten?

For a 46" 1080p Bravia, you can pay anywhere from $2,500 to $3,900 MSRP.
$3,900 KDL-46XBR5
$3,600 KDL-46XBR4
$3,000 KDL-46W3000
$2,800 KDL-46V3000
$2,500 KDL-46V2500
They can be had for about 20-25% ) cheaper online.

Samsung has two 46" 1080p models. Here are Best buy prices (probably MSRP)
$2,700 LN-T4665F
$2,500 LN-T4661F
Probably just as discounted online.

The only spec (and it doesn't mean much) that you can really compare them with, that both vendors give, is dynamic contrast ratio. The Samsungs are 10,000:1 and 15,000:1.
The closest Bravias to those are the $2,800 and $2,500 models with probably under 10,000:1 and 13,000:1 listed. The $2,800 and up Bravias also have 10bit displays. The higher you go up Bravia models the more "luxury" features you get that people who 'just want to watch TV' don't need.

Anyways, Samsung and Sony are priced VERY close, you don't know your HDTVs. They could have spent half as much on a Sony also and got a 720p set, or hell, go buy a damned Magnavox if your real cheap. When the hell did "bad" include making high end products?