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40GB PS3 Heading to Japan, With Price Cuts and Color Change
Wired's Game|Life is reporting on the movement of the 40GB PlayStation 3 across the 'other' pond, to Japan. The Japanese 40GB will retail for 39,980 yen (about $340). This backwards-compatibility-less unit will come in the current black color, as well as 'Ceramic White'. The two current models will get price cuts as well, with the 20GB version marked down to 44,980 yen ($383) and the 60GB to 54,980 yen ($468). "This will be the first official price cut the PlayStation 3 has received since it launched last year, although Ken Kutaragi actually cut the price of the unit before it launched at Tokyo Game Show. Also on November 11, Sony will release its Dual Shock 3 controllers in Japan for 5500 yen, in white and black colors. They will not be bundled with the PS3 hardware, all models of which will continue to pack in the Sixaxis controller."
If it is pink with PONIES I am so buying one :-)
While I'm in the camp that thinks axing the backwards compatibility is idiotic for Sony (like everything these days...), if you can indicate it with a color that would be very helpful for customers.
I know they are using the 40GB/60GB/80GB markers to indicate what version you have, but you can't see that by looking at the system. If they made them different colors, it'd be easy to see which ones were backwards compatible or not. Something tells me that "I have a black/white/pink PS3" will be less confusing than "I have the 40GB non-backwards compatible PS3" to most people.
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Reliable sources state that sony has been able to harness the energy of Cory Doctorow's ego for use in the PS3. Look for a new SKU in November.
I've come to the conclusion that BC isn't that important (for the majority). Sure, the hardcore gamers or those that spent a ton of money on old games might like it. (In fact, I thought it was something I would use tremendously... but I found out I only put my games in to see if they would actually work and never touched them again.) For the majority, a new system needs new games. They've already played the crap out of all those old titles and it's time to move on. Removing BC to reduce the price is going to go unnoticed or "uncared" by the majority of the people looking for a "Playstation" brand gaming console for HD games. They will only notice the sticker on the shelf.
It's the same reason people upgrade software on their PC when they get a new OS. The old software clashes with the new and groovy look.
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
I doubt you'll see that happening if their prices remain as they are. The consumers who really DO care that much about playing PS2 games would either stay happy with (or buy) a PS2 (which happens to be selling decently at the moment, btw) and save themselves over 200 dollars which can be used on better things, like a DS ^_^
Indeed, aren't the DS and PS2 outselling everything else in Japan for real, or is the Wii doing about as well as the PS2 at this point? In any case, I just don't see backwards compatibility being all that critical for the average PS3 buyer. (And certainly most of the buyers I personally know, who either already have PS2's or don't care that much about PS2 games because otherwise they'd probably *have* a PS2 already cause they've been out forever and are pretty cheap.)
I like basketball!!1!
Let me guess that most of those other buyers you know are fairly hardcore gamers.
For the rest of us, backwards-compatibility is a must. We still play PS/1 games on our PS/2 and will continue to play both sets of games on a PS/3 if we ever buy one.
If backwards-compatibility is implemented in the PS/3 the same way it is in the PS/2 (by including the PS/1's chipset on the PS/2 motherboard), how much can this cost? I'd guess a few dollars per device at most in quantity. And, if backwards-compatibility is implemented in software, then it costs essentially nothing.
If anything, this seems to be a way of making a lot more profit for Sony. Many people would prefer having just one PS device (especially in space-challenged Japanese apartments), so I'm guessing a lot of people will pay the premium for backwards-compatibility.
Most people who play videogames are not "gamers." For them, a single device with backwards-compatibility is a clear winner.
Actually most of the PS3 buyers I know are NOT hardcore gamers at all, since the PS3 is sorely lacking something a hardcore gamer would be looking for -- games :-P On the contrary most of these guys are older (28+) IT folks who own maybe an Xbox or something but don't generally play too many games. They buy a console for something particular -- Spinter Cell 5, an F1 racer, whatever.
They're not including the PS2's graphics chip (hardware) in the newer PS3 model. PS1 emulation was done entirely in software, but PS2 emulation wasn't.
Anyway, a single device with backwards-compatibility is only a clear winner if you want to play PS2 games and you want to also for some reason spend $350 on a blu-ray player while you're at it; alternately if you want to play PS3 and PS2 games but you don't already own a PS2. *If you already own a PS2* (like very many Japanese who are going with a PS3 over the Wii do), then it's no longer *that* easy of a choice since you DO get a smaller hard drive and DO pay $50 more on top of that! Jp apartments might be small but believe me one of those slim PS2s isn't going to make life any worse than it would be if you just had a PS3 by the tv. And if it will, then by golly that apartment must be truly tiny and they probably should save that $50 towards a down payment on a larger apartment! ^^
This is what I don't get -- if you already have a PS2 that you are playing enough games on that you care about backwards compatibility on a PS3, then a) how do you NOT consider yourself a gamer, and b) what makes you think others in your situation wouldn't just save $50, end up with a 2x larger HD on their newer PS3 model, and just keep their PS2 handy? If I were a betting man, I'd say the latter will be more frequent.
I like basketball!!1!
To answer your question, PS2 was outselling all home consoles until mid-April, if I remember correctly. The Wii has topped Japanese and US sales charts for home consoles since then.
Buying a PS3 seemed like a bad idea before, now it takes a PhD and a few hours browsing fanboi websites that use terms such as "SKU".
So, is there a model that has good backwards compatibility, a large disk and built-in Wifi? How do I recognize it?
In this case they aren't saving $200. They're saving 5000 yen, which is like $40. Also consider that multiple consoles jammed into an entertainment center is not ideal in Japan where space is at a premium.
While I can agree choice is a good thing, and its nice to have high-end, mid-range, and low-end options... but it seems to be getting a little ridiculous. There's what, more than 7 different version of the thing to this date? xBox 360 has had about 5, the Wii has one.
whats the world coming to, honestly? I doubt most people, myself included, have the patience to select between more than three logically different units of what is essentially the same damn thing.
other examples:
Vista: too many editions, eek
XP: Home or Pro, simple
OSX: one version, easy
Ubuntu: desktop or server, excleent
So, if sony wants to aim at non-hardcore gamers, they need cheaper games/more games. I mean, look at how poorly the 360 "core" version is doing, it's the "casual" system, and everyone still mocks it and has always mocked it. The same will go for this gimped system.
Whether or not there is some sort of god, I'm not supposed to say/god is a word and the argument ends there-Smog
I would rather buy an object knowing that it will not have backwards compatability than buy something (like the early ps3s) that claims to be compatable but has something like a 40% chace of a game not playing correctly.
If they reduce the price, get rid of a feature that did not work correctly to begin with and up the specs I would be happy with that. Not that im going to run out to spend 400$ on just the playstation. Hell my motorcycle is only worth about 400$
Except it's a bad deal for those who might buy a PS3, but haven't owned a PS2. There's a lot of good games for the PS2 around, and they're cheaper too. I know that if I buy a PS3 (in a few years or so), I'd like it to have compatibility.
True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
with Japanese-region games that had been translated and unlocked for use in a US market (region).
You can never have enough giant sword-wielding hentai.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
give us what we want: 80GB PS3, backwards compatibility, Dual Shock 3, HDMI. END OF STORY. Why does every single version have to be broken in some way?
Jp apartments might be small but believe me one of those slim PS2s isn't going to make life any worse than it would be if you just had a PS3 by the tv.
I think in a case like this the issue is not a literal lack of physical space, but rather a dislike of clutter. A general lack of space and crowded environment tends to emphasize the desire for things to be neat and streamlined, and having multiple console units (along with the inevitable rats' nest of cables) is just annoying and clumsy.
The result isn't going to be as clear-cut as "ma, the xbox won't fit through the door!", but it's definitely a negative, and Sony really, really, doesn't need any more negatives right now...
We live, as we dream -- alone....
The core 360 is gimped purely because of it's lack of an HDD. All other differences are irrelevant. It's a simple performance issue. for PS3 games, there are no performance improvements applicable to PS3 games that could be brought to bear between the 40 and 60/20/80 gig versions. Big difference. The core system, given that MS is forcing the vast majority of games to be playable w/o major differences between core and non-core, will in the long run, seriously hamper the 360's performance.
30 year old IT guy here, with a PS3 (and PS2). One thing I've noticed amongst the younger generation, is that they tend to consider my type "non gamers", just because we play 1.5 to 3 hours at night, instead of 4+ per day while skipping games like a channel-surfer on a TV set. I think the folks currently making this generalization will readjust their thinking once they have a full time career, and commence to be annoyed at the younger generation calling them non gamers. :) To me, a non gamer is the guy who leaves his previous-gen console sitting around gathering dust, maybe dusting it off once a week at most.
:)
Anyway, I (and my various other 30ish PS3 buddies) tend to play through games completely, rather than just hop and skip from game to game. The current release rate of PS3 titles is actually just fast enough that I don't end up without a game to play at any given time.
On a side note, I'm not sure how the various gamer generations view co-op. To my crew, split-scree co-op action is a huge seller. Dynasty Warriors Gundam is awesome.
My 229 is all the Sig I need http://thegunwiki.com/
you can get a system that plays japanese ps3 discs in any electronic store in alabama
...you can swap it with a different 2.5" laptop harddrive.
You can swap it out for a SATA 2.5" hard drive. Regular old IDE hard drives won't cut it.
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
T_T if they buy a PS2, they save $200. Space in Japan isn't *that* horrible that the multiple argument is at all legit. Most folks would rather spend 5000 yen on something other than the opportunity to get rid of their PS2 to make more room.
I'm surprised no-one brought up what I think is a reasonable argument -- buy the backwards-compatible PS3, sell your old PS2+controllers and maybe save money over the 40-Gig PS3 in the end!
That is a hassle, though...
I like basketball!!1!
Unless of course, they're like me and value the price difference and some white plastic higher than backward compatibility. I need to keep my PS2 around anyway, as it's modded and I have games from all three regions. Plus there's the question of Guitar Hero.
Mainly, though, I like my consoles in white, which is one reason I don't have an Elite.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
Japan's Nintendo wins exclusive deal for Capcom's Monster Hunter 3 title
Nintendo is eating the PS3 alive in Japan... The PS3 is looking more and more like an epic flop.
Get your act together Sony, and stop lying to your customers!
The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
30 year old IT guy here, with a PS3 (and a Wii60). Ok, I will say local Co-op rocks, but one of the draws for me to get the 360 was the increasing prevelance of online co-op. Even though local co-op is more personal and in many ways more fun, most of my college buddies scattered to the wind and local play is very rare / impractacle with them.
What I don't really understand is the lowering of disk-size.
The difference in cost between a 40GB drive and a 80GB drive is a few dollars.
There is no cost-reducing reason at all for Sony to reduce from 80 to 60, 40 or 20.
Maybe if they'd gone from 160 to 60... But this? It's ridiculous.
/.Mattsson - My native language is not English, so please don't whine over linguistic errors. (That's lame anyway...)
PS3 is way bigger than Xbox or 360, heh. Sony needs to work on cutting down the size of that thing, and really trying a better form factor because good grief it's like the Ford F-350 of consoles when it comes to looks.
I like basketball!!1!
That means about 300$ CAD right?
Not only that, there's still PS2 games coming out. I'd wager a lot of people won't realize the BC is missing until they put a PS2 game into the console, after all the PS2 and the early PS3 were backwards compatible so the Playstation name is kinda synonymous with BC (hell, some people thought the PSP was BC with PS1 games!).
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
I think "non-gamer" refers to people who don't play anything more gamey than Solitaire or Bejewelled (and may have had an Atari or NES but nothing more recent). Owning a console and playing games that are sold at retail for full price definitely puts you outside the non-gamer demographic.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.