PS3 600 dollars? Sony is on crack

[drothgery]

FWIW -- news from the Tokyo Gaming Show this week

- The 360 will be getting a software update to enable 1080p, so it can show high-res graphics when not much is going on, too (mostly a feature checkpoint; neither console can handle complex graphics at that resolution)
- The 360 HD-DVD player add-on is launching around Thanksgiving, and in Japan will go for 19,800 Yen (xe.com says that's ~$170, but I'll bet it's $199)

 

[TwistedBishop]

A rare piece of good news from Sony via their TGS press conference: The $500 PS3 will have an HDMI port.

 

[trancejeremy]

Also in Japan, they dropped the price of the cheap PS3 to $420 or so. (Wouldn't expect a similiar cut in the US though)



Here's a pretty good recap post of what's going on at TGS

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=120120

(That message board is sort of like the RPG.net of video games. Only much worse. But they have good info)

 

[drothgery]

Also in Japan, they dropped the price of the cheap PS3 to $420 or so. (Wouldn't expect a similiar cut in the US though)

Not too surprising; the cheap 360 is debuting this fall there for ~$250. And they're bundling a game with it.

 

[reanjr]

A rare piece of good news from Sony via their TGS press conference: The $500 PS3 will have an HDMI port.

Yes, but isn't that the same show they dropped the news that Gran Turismo HD will cost $400+ to get the whole game?

Edit: I suppose I should explain this for people who may not be aware. Gran Turismo HD will be release with two different SKUs, one Classic, the other Premium. Classic will come with the game but NO tracks and NO cars. Those will have to be purchased separately for approx. $0.75/car and $2.00/track. The premium package will come bundled with 30 cars and some amount of tracks it was announced but I do not remember). Now word on price for the games. If Classic isn't free, it's likely dead in the water. I could see them releasing it as a free download, though, allowing you to start playing the (limited) game for as little as $3.

We'll see, somehow I think they're probably going to release it for about $30-40 and expect you to pay for more to actually play the game.

 

[reanjr]

Also in Japan, they dropped the price of the cheap PS3 to $420 or so. (Wouldn't expect a similiar cut in the US though)

Sony rep confirmed to 1up.com that the price drop is NOT effective for North America.

 

[TwistedBishop]

Yes, but isn't that the same show they dropped the news that Gran Turismo HD will cost $400+ to get the whole game?

Edit: I suppose I should explain this for people who may not be aware. Gran Turismo HD will be release with two different SKUs, one Classic, the other Premium. Classic will come with the game but NO tracks and NO cars.

There's been a lot of misunderstandings about that game. The real deal is there's one game called Gran Turismo: HD and it will come with two sections. One is Gran Turismo 4 with a high-def graphic upgrade and some online stuff. On that same disc will come the demo of GT5 that was shown at E3.

So it's just a pretty meh title instead of being a total microtransaction scam.

 

[reanjr]

Here's yet another report (citing "multiple information sources") of PS3 games costing more than current gen. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=10992

This story places prices for PS3 Japan games at $75-$84. I know hardware tends to be cheaper in Japan, but I'm sure of software, so I'm not sure of the correlation to the U.S. market.

Sony's only official word so far has been that games will be under $100. Which doesn't really say much. Sony has also recently changed their Japan strategy to push the low end PS3 as the primary model, adding HDMI to the $500 version.

Guess they're feeling the pressure from gamers over releasing a ridiculously priced item.

 

[Rackhir]

Here's yet another report (citing "multiple information sources") of PS3 games costing more than current gen. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=10992

This story places prices for PS3 Japan games at $75-$84. I know hardware tends to be cheaper in Japan, but I'm sure of software, so I'm not sure of the correlation to the U.S. market.

There is pretty much nothing that's cheaper in Japan and hardware is no exception. A used slimline ps2 I bought there a couple of months ago was about $160, iirc. The PS3 game prices you are quoting are more expensive than past games, but by about the same amount that xbox 360 games are in the US.

 

[TwistedBishop]

Sony has also recently changed their Japan strategy to push the low end PS3 as the primary model, adding HDMI to the $500 version.

The funny thing about that is, I'm pretty sure AACS doesn't let you display 1080p movies over component. They'd be able to show games at that resolution, but anyone trying to play a Bluray film would get bumped down to 1080i.

I guess someone at Sony finally woke up and realized the huge backlash that would result from them pushing that resolution bulletpoint so heavily.