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."

Comments

OMG...OMG..OMG ...Colors

[svendsen]

If it is pink with PONIES I am so buying one :-)

Re:OMG...OMG..OMG ...Colors

[p0ss]

actually, my gf refuses to let me buy one until it comes out in pink.

Color a good indicator

[Endymion]

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.

20 gig more expensive than the 40 gig & No Wi

[trdrstv]

It will be interesting to see the trends. I hope the 20 gig outsells the 40 gig, despite being 5000 yen more, to illistrate customers value the PS1/2 compatibility more than the extra space & Wifi (and of course the price difference).

Re:20 gig more expensive than the 40 gig & No

[nschubach]

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.

Re:20 gig more expensive than the 40 gig & No

[flitty]

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.

Re:Thanks for the mess Sony

[trdrstv]

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?

Get the US (or Japan) 60 gig model while they last. It is the best of all configurations, offering both PS2 chips for near perfect BC, WiFi and the 60 gig HDD will last you quite a while (really, there isn't much content on PSN yet), and if/when you eventually run out of space, you can swap it with a different 2.5" laptop harddrive.

Re:Too many versions?

[Intellectual Elitist]

> There's what, more than 7 different version of the thing to this date?

There have been four, not counting color variations.

20GB - 4 USB, no card slots, full hardware BC, $499
40GB - 2 USB, no card slots, no BC, $399
60GB - 4 USB, card slots, full hardware BC, $599 (later $499)
80GB - 4 USB, card slots, hybrid hardware/software BC, $599 (later $499)

The 20GB and 60GB versions are now discontinued, so there have never been more than 2 versions actively being marketed at one time.

Backwards compatability

[cpt.hugenstein]

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$

Re:Backwards compatability

[ToasterMonkey]

like the early ps3s The first PS3s had full BC hardware, did you pull that 40% out of your ass?

$400 for a brand new, high end, consumer electronics, entertainment device isn't quite the same thing as a fifteen year old $400 motorcycle. Besides, cheap, new dirtbikes might go for ~$4000, real motorcycles mostly start at the high end dirt bike prices and go all the way to $15K or even higher. What exactly are you comparing?

Re:20 gig more expensive than the 40 gig & No

[fbjon]

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.

Re:20 gig more expensive than the 40 gig & No

[KDR_11k]

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!).