PS3 600 dollars? Sony is on crack

All the reviewers I read are whitewashing this but I think Sony is making a HUGE mistake. A PS3 for 600 dollars, when the X-box 360 sells for 400 (and when even Sony only claims the graphics will be 5% better) is like saying "hey Microsoft, want some marketshare? you do? thanks!"

And you have to love their excuse that well, Blue Ray DVD players are expensive. So I hate Blue Ray anyway, since their goal seems to be another Betamax-VHS war and a way to sell me my entire DVD collection AGAIN, then they pile on with a 600 dollar PS3 and are saying the games "won't be 100 dollars".

Aww really, thanks Sony! You guys are tooooo nice.

They will, reportedly, be about 80 though. Oh and the reason? Blue Ray technology is more expensive than the DVD based tech they use now.

http://www.gamepro.com/community/ask_pros.cfm?action=view&question_id=3521

http://www.gamepro.com/community/ask_pros.cfm?action=view&question_id=5621

The thing is, you are comparing the $600 model to the $400 360.

When the $500 PS3 has everything the $400 360 has (20 gig Hard drive, wireless controllers, etc). So that's what you should be comparing it to. And when you consider you get basically the same the 360 has, plus the Blu Ray player, it's not that bad.

The $600 model has a bigger hard drive, plus Wi-Fi (which you'd have to pay another $100 for if you want in the 360).

And in both cases, AFAIK, you will be able to hook it up to the PC without shelling out $150 for the Media Center version of XP. (Assuming it will work the same way the PSP can hook up to the PC)

Also, if the rumors are true that the PS3 will run Linux, then that is huge. You will be able to get all sorts of homebrew apps and such. (Just rumors at this point, though).

Except that the last thing I want is a Blue Ray DVD player (or HD DVD for that matter).

Saying that it has a Blue Ray player makes it a bargain is like the Mafia telling me "sure we broke your arm and you're paying us 50 bucks a week but at least your store didn't burn down".

Blue Ray is just a scam as far as I've seen. They want the upgrade dough and they want more DRM. Yay, just what I need, another DRM scam.

And when you compare the two models, if the 500 dollar PS2 is just as good as the 400 dollar X-Box, that still doesn't wow me, especially when developers are worrying (in one of the links I provided) about the fact that these games might need to be 60-80 bucks to be profitable.

Just... blech.

I dunno. I don't have a HD-TV myself, so right now Blu Ray is useless to me as well. But in a couple years when I do get one, I can imagine using that feature. I mean, I thougt DVDs were kinda pointless when I had a perfectly good VCR. Until I saw movies on my PS2.

And plus, I really do think developers might use the added storage. There were a number of double DVD games for the PS2. Considering the higher resolutions of the PS3, they'd have to come on 4-5 DVDs.

And in some cases, companies wanted to leave in both English and Japanese speech, but had to leave one out due to space restrictions (Or so Sega said about their recent Yakuza game). Given the region free nature of the PS3 (for games anyway), that could be important.

I personally have faith that crackers will be able to bypass the DRM in both HD and BR quickly enough, and it will be interesting to see just what resolutions of video the PS3 will be able to play back from its hard drive. (Part of what has hurt UMD Sales for the PSP is that it's easy to simply rip a DVD to video and put it on the PSP's memory card and play that back. The same will probably be true of the PS3...)

I imagine games will be the same price as the 360 (which is what your link said, the higher prices were for collector's editions, which also exist on the 360. And even other consoles, like the $80 Arc the Lad collection for the PSX). But I remember the SNES/Genesis days - some games sold for $100-$120 for those (RPGs mostly).

Anyway, I do think the price tag is hurting Sony PR wise (not to mention they keep putting their foot in their mouths. And their ad agencies have some serious problems), but in the long run, they are basing their plans on what they learned from the PSP launch and the 360 launch.

With the PSP in the US they tried out an overpriced lauch - selling them for $250, when the price in Japan was more around $170. For that most part that worked - they didn't sell out, but it sold well enough that it didn't hurt them.

Similarly, thanks mostly to a lack of hardware (presumably), the 360 sold less units in the first 6 months than the Gamecube. See

http://www.videogamecharts.com/page3.html

In the first 6 months, the 360 sold 1.50 million units in the US, while in its first 6 months, the Gamecube sold 1.56 million. (By contrast, the original Xbox sold 2.1 and PS2 sold 2.4 in their first 6 months in the US)

I'm sure Sony is thinking "Since we won't be able to meet the demand for a while, we might as well be the ones making the money off of it, not people on ebay". Which does make sense.

I tend to agree with trancejeremy on his last point. In some aspects, I can see this being a reactionary move to eBay selling when the PS2 came out. Of course, they could do something silly like try and, you know, meet demand?

That said, the whole price point issue has sparked many controversies, and right now I'm of the opinion that they'll only be resolved once the PS3 launches and we, as consumers, can see what actually happens.

LightPhoenix said:

That said, the whole price point issue has sparked many controversies, and right now I'm of the opinion that they'll only be resolved once the PS3 launches and we, as consumers, can see what actually happens.

Click to expand...

I don't think we'll really have a good idea of what will happen until the PS3 is available in volume, which I don't expect to before next summer (and probably not until next fall). But I'm a serious PS3 skeptic; I think that Sony will end up delaying the launch again, backing off a global launch, or availability so low that the 360 availbility launch looks good.

Whoa... confused for a second. Had to look at the post date, since this is old news. Are people still complaining about this?

Vigilance said:

A PS3 for 600 dollars, when the X-box 360 sells for 400

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500, not 600. For a proper comparison.

Personally, I'm stunned that anyone would pay more than $200 for a gaming console.

Wanting me to shell out $600 is like asking me to pay $100 for the Complete Psion.

I'm buying one eventually. It will probably take the new Gran Turismo to get me to bite, but I'm in. I'm looking forward to hi-def DVD. A new format doesn't mean replacing all your movies, Chuck. Just buy your new movies in the new format and enjoy the ones you already have in the normal format.

I'll buy one of your products next time I shop to help you save up for one yourself.

trancejeremy said:

I dunno. I don't have a HD-TV myself, so right now Blu Ray is useless to me as well. But in a couple years when I do get one, I can imagine using that feature. I mean, I thougt DVDs were kinda pointless when I had a perfectly good VCR. Until I saw movies on my PS2.

And plus, I really do think developers might use the added storage. There were a number of double DVD games for the PS2. Considering the higher resolutions of the PS3, they'd have to come on 4-5 DVDs.

I'm sure Sony is thinking "Since we won't be able to meet the demand for a while, we might as well be the ones making the money off of it, not people on ebay". Which does make sense.

Click to expand...

Here's the problem with your first point. In a couple of years, the tech in the PS3 will be obsolite enough that there will probably be another generation of consols out there.

Now, your second point has some validity. Extra storage will eliminate multi-disk games, and potentialy allow for add-ons and bonus material to be included (Heck, think Movie game and the movie on one disk). However, with Highres graphics, everything else will be bigger as well, so you may get less use out of the storage than you think. And that leads you back to point A.

Personaly, I like Nintendo's thinking on the Wii. "Let's ignore what the hardcore gaming comunity wants, because we want to reach out to all audiences." So, launcing at $200-250, the new Wii will have 480P, so will look pretty good even on the new TVs, but you won't be loosing much on an older one, and you're not paying for the high end expensive gear you need to make things look pretty one one. Then, design a controler that will interest the general public, and hopefully make some games more intuitive and engulphing experience. Finaly, let's offer our old library of games to be played on this consol as well.

I think Nintendo is going to rock the market, and Sony is only hurting itself. With the price, and the way people need to stretch their entertainment dollar, I think the Wii is in a position to make a potential killing.