Monday, October 29, 2007

PS3 Price Drop Coming & It's A Good Move

The PlayStation 3 is getting another price drop.

Last week, Sony announced a 40-gigabyte model that will sell for $399 and come bundled with the new "Spider-Man 3" Blu-Ray disc.

The 80-gigabyte model is dropping $100, to $499.

Sony needs to do something to kick-start sales of the PS3, which struggled in September. According to the NPD Group, which tracks the videogame industry, Sony sold only 119,000 PS3s last month.

By comparison: Bolstered by the excellent "Halo 3," Microsoft sold 528,000 Xbox 360s last month, up 50 percent from August. The Xbox unit got more affordable recently; it's now $349.99 for the regular 360 unit and $449.99 for the Elite model.

And Nintendo moved 501,000 Wii units, which run out of stores for about $250.

Overall, I think Sony is making a smart move with its new pricing model.

Although I'm often branded a "Sony fanboy" by some posters at my blog (http://langstonwertz.blogspot.com), I truly believe the PS3 is the best of the newest consoles. Sure, Sony needs to improve its online service, which cannot touch Xbox Live. But it is the most powerful of the current consoles and provides the most eye-popping graphics, which help games seem even more realistic.

Sony plans to release a rumble-enabled controller in the U.S. early next year, which is smart, and there's potential in the Wii-mote-like motion-sensor feature that hasn't been tapped yet.

One caveat? While the 80GB version will have backwards-compatibility with PS2 games, the cheaper PS3 model will not. I'm sure Sony is counting on one of either two things: 1) Most people who will have interest in a new PS3 already have a PS2 to play those old games on; or 2) they are new Sony PlayStation customers who don't have any PS2 titles.

The cheaper PS3 will, however, maintain the Blu-Ray player, the built-in hard drive, integrated Wi-Fi, an Internet browser and Sony's Cell Broadband Engine.

(By the way, the Blu-Ray player on the machines is as good as any high-definition DVD player you can find, and could make the unit appealing to members of your family who don't game. Watching Blu-Ray -- or HD-DVD on so-equipped 360s -- is a totally different experience from watching standard DVDs. The movies almost appear in 3D, with eye-popping color and better sound.)

So whereas the original PS3 seemed to be making consumers pay a premium for bells and whistles like Blu-Ray, the new lower price gives the distinct feel that consumers are getting some great features as a bonus.

Finally, Sony appears poised going into this holiday season and next year to make up some ground in the number of titles available, which has been disappointing.

Jack Tretton, president of Sony Computer Entertainment, said the company's big upcoming games include "Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction," "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" and "Assassin's Creed."

It looks like Sony is finally trying to get it right.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Call of Duty 4 and Assassin's Creed are being released on the 360 as well. Sony will gain nothing with these titles. In fact, both these titles will probably help the 360 sell even more units. Sony's days are numbered.

Anonymous said...

I dont think you are a sony fanboy...lol...


great price yes... time will tell..
PS3 will beat out competition soon...

did they not say the same thin with ps2 using the DVD format, forcing people to switch from VHS to DVD and whatnot.they criticized everyting about PS2 and it is still the number one selling console... the nintendo DS is not a console..lol

all ihave to say is rather than talk about games on multtiple platforms.. talk about PS3 exclusives Sony and others...

MGS4, Killzone2, Socom, etc...

I myself will only purchase PS3 exclusive games with my my hard earned cash... (asside from certain sports games)

HAZE looks like a great title comming out next mongh :) i hope its not delayed

Anonymous said...

You wonder why you get labeled a Sony fanboy, then talk about how it's the most powerful console (which many developers say it's far from). How about providing facts so that you don't look like your pulling things from your rear end?

Anonymous said...

Langston, I have called you a Sony fanboy, but I have to be honest, you're fair. When 'Soft has news, you write it and you've said some great things about the Box, like in the paper last week. I have both systems. I am a Box guy and a Live guy but I will admit that PS3 games generally look better. There just ain't enough of 'em and Sony's online service SUCKS!

Anonymous said...

Honestly third party games look better 90% of the time on the 360 or the PS3 has frame rate issues. I would agree that Sony's in house games tend to be top-notch, but even so far this generation they've been mediocre aside from Resistance and Warhawk (Haven't played Ratchet and Clank yet, didn't like Heavenly Sword). He's fair in coverage recently, but not so much in facts-(mind telling us how he's the only person to have a complete definitive answer as to which is more powerful). He listens to sony propaganda just like the other fanboys, THE CELL, BLU-RAY.....has translated to squat in terms of making the PS3 a better purchase.

Anonymous said...

I have to be honest. Langston is pretty good. I think most times Ps3 games look better. He reports the news. Sony is smart to drop picing on the playstation. it's too high. i dont' buy his argument about blu-ray vs hd-dvd, but that's largely opinion. like teh blog, though. it's newzy.

Anonymous said...

is there a difference in 40 or 80gb? is it necessary to have soo much memory?

Anonymous said...

I think the fanboy comments have been somewhat deserved. For the price of the PS3, the vast majority of gaming reviews have specificly stated that there is little to no difference in the graphics between a PS3 and a 360.

As for Blu-Ray, I still maintain that the format wars haven't been decided and that many folks do not buy and/or use their system as a DVD player.

To me, that would make the 360 the better system because of the graphics, better online experience, and more exclusive games. And I don't own one -- I own a Wii (albeit for a completely different set of reasons).

Anonymous said...

I actually thought Langston was a Wii fanboy at first, the way he raved about that. Then i thought Xbox fan boy the way he raved about that. I guess he's been balanced when you think about it. He reports the news. Some of the stuff is personal opinion I guess, as to which games look better. But I did agree with him that NBA Live looked tons better on PS3 than Xbox 360. As for HD-DVD, i have PS3 with Blue Ray and the add on for the Xbox. I hate format wars but I can see anything I'd like.

Unknown said...

"But it is the most powerful of the current consoles and provides the most eye-popping graphics, which help games seem even more realistic."

So much more powerful that last year AND this year's Madden runs at a slower framerate? It's not the only title either...there are several others.

In fact, Gabe Newell from Valve (Half-Life, Team Fortress 2, Portal) recently called it a "waste of time" because it's almost pointless trying to extract power from that paper tiger.

I'm not touting the 360 or the Wii, nor necessarily putting down the PS3. What I am saying is that it is silly to call it the most powerful machine out there, unless you are talking about the specs on paper.

If the developers can't do anything with the superior hardware, it doesn't matter.

Anonymous said...

Michael

the first Madden game for the 360 was at 30 FPS... check out all PS3 sports games after Madden all running at 60 FPS...and most at 1080P some are less...

i guarantee that Madden 09 will run at 60FPS (or more) on the PS3... EA sports was slow in developing it for such an early release...

so dont compare framerates when you dong know the facts...


FIFA 08 NBAlive08 and all others run at 60 FPS on PS3 now...

Anonymous said...

Frame rates have been a notorious issue on the PS3, can't discredit the whole madden situation, though some do run on par with the 360 as of recently. But the fact is shouldn't it be doing more than the 360, since it did come out a year later at a higher price point. All indications, visually and from developers point to the two being graphically equal. This is why I find it frustrating when people choose sides, if you do that you just lose out on the overall quality and selection of games. There's no reason on this earth to ONLY be a fan of the PS3 at this point. It hurts Langstons credibility when he chooses a side that has little that seperates itself from the others, because many people that come here base their preferences off of reasons not loyalty.

Anonymous said...

You miss the point completely, as does Sony. How is a price drop going to help without games to go with it? Unbelieveable how Sony continues to feel that this is a pure hardware sale. By the time 3rd party developers get the hang of the PS3, Microsoft will probably have the next generation console ready to go. Like you, I used to be a Sony "fanboy", until this latest generation. History may show the PS3 as one of the worst product launches in history.

Anonymous said...

To the person asking about the difference between the 40 and 80 GB PS3 models. The 40 GB comes with spiderman 3 but does not have the capabilities to play PS2 games. The 80 GB comes with Motorstorm and can play most PS2 games through emulation since only the old 60 GB actually had the emotion engine. Yes the drive size matters, I've noticed most game installs to be around 1 to 2 Gigs and out of the box you really only have about 80% capacity anyways. Add in Demos, Downloadable content and games, and the 40 GB would start to struggle in a few years. You can always upgrade to another Hard Drive if you so wish tough, it's fairly simple.