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PlayStation (Games)

80 Gig PS3 Arrives in US 142

Posted by Zonk from the i'm-sure-you-missed-the-high-price dept.
Gamespot reports that the newest version of the PlayStation 3, complete with 80 GB hard drive, has arrived in the US. Along with 20 more gigs of memory, the unit comes bundled with the racer MotorStorm. This comes after last month's announcement of a price drop, and the subsequent revelation that the cheaper unit is being phased out in favour of this 80 gig model. "But while the 60GB console's days are numbered, its supply is holding up despite a massive increase in demand. According to Sony, sales of the console have increased 113 percent at its top five retail partners--Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, and GameStop--when compared to average sales during the month before drop. Sony did not supply specific sales figures for the PS3, which sold 98,500 units in the US in June, according to the NPD group. So when will stocks of the $499 60GB PS3 run out? Sony predicts that, at current demand levels, the console will remain in the North American retail channel until fall."
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80 Gig PS3 Arrives in US More

80 Gig PS3 Arrives in US

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  • I gotta get outta here, I think I'm gonna lose it. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Control Group ( 105494 ) * on Tuesday August 07, 2007 @12:30PM (#20143313) Homepage

    Along with 20 more gigs of memory...

    GAH!! This is the sort of thing I expect from talking to average people about computers; I can grin and bear it when it shows up on non-technical news sources - but this is Slashdot, for fuck's sake. You know, "news for nerds?" What's next, we start seeing stories referring to the whole box as a "CPU" or "hard drive?"

    It doesn't have 20 more gigs of memory, it's got a 20 GB larger hard drive. Is this so difficult to get right?
  • Could somebody please explain what the point of a hard drive is in a game console? I've been happily using my PS2 for many years with no hard drive, and I don't see what the point of a hard drive in a console is, other than to increase noise, heat, size, and parts that can break.
    • Well patches for one...

      Download demos. In the 360 world they are tons to download, I can't speak of the Ps3 but I assume it also has lots of demos to try.


      Movies, music, etc.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by hal2814 ( 725639 )
        "Well patches for one..."

        Exactly. Now instead of testing console games to death to make sure there are absolutely no errors making the game unplayable, they can just shovel crap out the door and throw a ton of patches your way like they currently do with PC gaming. All hail the hard drive!
        • Exactly. Now instead of testing console games to death to make sure there are absolutely no errors making the game unplayable, they can just shovel crap out the door and throw a ton of patches your way like they currently do with PC gaming. All hail the hard drive!

          MS and Sony have standing policies against "fix" patches. You can sneak it into a content patch though. I did notice a patch for resistance but it added futures (it may have also fixed bugs). It means out of the box old copies of games may not pro
        • Uhh, can anyone in the Software Industry really promise you that? No really, can anyone?

          The fact is, software is buggy. Games come on read-only media. In the old days of gaming, if the game had a bug then that was it. You just worked around it or didn't play the game. And it's not like you could return a buggy game, they simply refuse saying they didn't expressly imply its stability or quality in any way. And the retailers have ridiculous return policies (e.g., "If it is unopened we'll give you another unop
      • Demos, trailers, updates and add-ons are stored on the PS3 hard drive. You can also store your own movies, music or pictures on it, though the movies and music are limited to certain codecs and the pictures to certain formats. Also, if you want to install Linux, you'll need to use the hard drive...

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Duffy13 ( 1135411 )
      Well one reason is to remove the need for various memory cards, like the three I used to swap around. You don't need them anymore cause you got one giant ass internal one now. The second reason, currently this is more prevalent in the 360 and Wii then the PS3, you can download new content/old games/demos/music/etc.. which are stored, you guessed it, on the HD.

      Basically they are giving the consoles some of the functionality we have enjoyed for years with PC gaming.
    • The main reason demos and games that can be downloaded from the network. Also you can play movies and that short of stuff.
    • In addition to what everyone else has mentioned, I use the hard drive on my 360 for TV shows. I don't have cable or satellite; I only watch stuff from Netflix or shows & movies on Xbox Live. For the little time I'm at home (and I'm usually working around the house when I'm there), it's much cheaper to download an old Twilight Zone episode, or the occasional South Park or National Geographic documentary now and then.
    • Another reason glossed over by these replies is the ability to cache data for faster fetching - see Oblivion on the PS3. They improved draw distance and texture quality by unpacking the data to 4GB on the hard drive for faster load times as well. Rumor was that GTA IV was going to use this as well.
      • Interesting. I heard there is a patch coming out soon for the 360 to improve draw distances and imporve the graphics. I wonder if this will be fix? Or an option to saw would you like to impove everything then let us install x amount of stuff on the HD.

    • Re:Why? (Score:4, Funny)

      by GrayCalx ( 597428 ) on Tuesday August 07, 2007 @12:53PM (#20143673)
      I agree! And why even have hard drives in computers?!?! My Apple II e didn't have a hard drive and I played Lode Runner on it just fine! Stupid technology costing us money! Mod parent UP!!!
    • to buffer data, let games install data to it so they are not limited by the game disk size, VM for more system ram, updates, add ons, mods, demos, save game files, the game console os data, linux, and so on.
    • Well it seems that most of the consoles are moving towards being a media centre, and not just a place for games. I have a Wii, which doesn't have a hard drive, and I'll tell you why one would be nice.
      • The photo channel lets you look at pictures off an SD card. This is nice, but if it had an internet hard drive, you could just keep all your pictures on there, and then when people come over, you could show them all your pictures on the TV screen instead of having to place everything on an SD card or have e

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by seebs ( 15766 )
        It's the "moving towards being a media centre, and not a place for games" that has stuck them with $600 retail prices and poor sales.

        I got a Wii because I wanted to play games.
        • I have a Wii too, as I stated. However as a software developer, and a computer geek, I see a computer sitting on top of my TV, and I see a lot of potential. Basically, if the thing had support for MPEG2 video played over a windows shared folder, which would require no extra hardware, then I would be really happy. This is the reason that you see the XBox 360 with the core, premium and elite models. A lot of people don't want to spend $600 on a console, and that is fine. So they made the core model, which

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by seebs ( 15766 )
            Yeah, I guess... I just don't really care. I am rich with computers, practically drowning in them. I am fine with not being able to get a shell prompt on my toys. I guess if I cared, I'd get a dev kit and write my own. :)

    • I play games directly from my PS2's hard drive. Less wear and tear on the laser . . . and I can keep my kids and their friends from scratching my games.

    • The sad part is that the Japanese have been able to enjoy HD use in their PS2s for more than just Final Fantasy XI. Many games had options on the main menu to install themselves onto the hard drive and run off of there. Just about every new game of the year the HD was introduced had that option. When the slim PS2s came out, there were official external hard drives that could be plugged in to them.

      US releases of those games had that functionality disabled for some reason. Tragic.

      Unofficially, there is a hack

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DrXym ( 126579 )
      Could somebody please explain what the point of a hard drive is in a game console? I've been happily using my PS2 for many years with no hard drive, and I don't see what the point of a hard drive in a console is, other than to increase noise, heat, size, and parts that can break.

      A hard disk means downloadable content (including full games, music, videos), caching, new firmware features and more besides. Your PS2's functionality was frozen the minute it was manufactured whereas a PS3 could (and has) evolve

    • So you can download games.

      It's also really nice to be able to download a demo for a game before deciding whether to buy it.

      My PS3 has about 15gb of stuff on it. Mostly demos and trailers, but I've purchased three downloadable games. Whether that's a $400 advantage is obviously up to the purchaser.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by LKM ( 227954 )
      Downloadable Content like demos, small games, updates and enhancements for existing games, and movies and trailers.

      There's definitely a point, even if it's not always to the customer's advantage (such as with the new ability of fixing bugs after a game is shipped - seems lots of console games have started shipping with bugs recently).

  • Cool.....but when (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Lotus581 ( 948504 )
    Its a good marketing ploy by Sony. And its bringing back huge profit, but will bringing the price back up be a good thing? I dont think so. With the price of the Wii being way below the price range of the other next gen systems, Xbox 360's price drop, I think Sony needs to see that the $500 price is the best thing that they have had for the system. Maybe drop the price of the 80gb in....what? Four to six months? Think about it Sony....
    • http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,135142-pg,1/arti cle.html [pcworld.com]

      The only way they can profit at the moment is to sell _fewer_ consoles.
      • http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,135142-pg,1/art i cle.html

        The only way they can profit at the moment is to sell _fewer_ consoles.

        You and I have no idea and the article says nothing. Sony does not have a habitof selling things at a loss. Only Microsoft and Sega have ever done that for more then a few weeks (PS2 was confirmed ot be sold ata a loss for all of a month). Otherwise it's just analysts talking out their ass comparing "wholesale" part prices which don't reflect "manufactured inhouse" prices. They
        • This is a nitpick, but I found the following two statements interesting. I realize they are one right after the other anyway, but I wanted to emphasize them better.

          You and I have no idea and the article says nothing.

          Sony does not have a habitof selling things at a loss.

          I'll keep things short. You clearly state, intelligently, that neither you nor the person you replied to are in any position to discern Sony's margins on their consoles, positive or negative. Next, you make a statement claiming something con

          • You and I have no idea and the article says nothing.

            Sony does not have a habitof selling things at a loss.

            I find this an amusing case of discrediting one's own statements. It may be the case that Sony doesn't make a habit of selling at a loss; but as you yourself said none of us are in a position to say one way or the other.

            The two statements are not mutually exclusive. Fross and myself have no idea of the true margin of the Ps3. From all released data, Sony does not sell products at a loss. No HDTV's, Not walkmans, not the Ps2, not anything. So both statements can be true. Sony does not make a habit of losing money on units sold and we have no idea of in this particular case if this habi

            • The two statements aren't, at face value, mutually exclusive. However, the implication of your first statement (and as common sense would dictate) is that you (not being a Sony employee) have no knowledge or authority regarding Sony's hardware practices (and neither does Fross). You are, however, our only source for the second statement; a statement concerning Sony's hardware practices. Hence, a potential conflict.

              The implication is probably not intentional, but it is amusing.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DrXym ( 126579 )
      The price has only been temporarily brought back. It's fairly obvious that once the 80Gb models are cleared out that they'll do a price drop on the 80Gb, and probably a new bundle at $600. It should be pretty obvious why they don't say that's what they're going to do when they have all those 60Gb models to shift first.

  • At least it won't piss off their existing owners (Score:3, Funny)

    by Fross ( 83754 ) on Tuesday August 07, 2007 @12:34PM (#20143381)
    I mean, 20G extra harddrive and a free game (one of, like, 3 worth playing for the PS3 at the moment), and the set available in the UK at least of the original price but with an extra controller and *two* games bundled, just a few months after launch, would normally get people who bought it into a rage that they didn't get value for money.

    Luckily nobody who bought a PS3 knows what "value for money" is.

    • Re:At least it won't piss off their existing owner (Score:5, Insightful)

      by fistfullast33l ( 819270 ) on Tuesday August 07, 2007 @12:51PM (#20143639) Homepage Journal
      Luckily nobody who bought a PS3 knows what "value for money" is.

      You're right - I am such an idiot for spending $600 on a next gen gaming console, hi-def movie player, UPnP media client. Add in the waste of $170 I spent on my PSP to play mobile games and access this $600 piece of junk from any WAP in the world and I feel like a total moron. Why do I even listen to myself when I should just call you instead? I mean, taking into account all the great mini-games available (Calling All Cars, Flow, Stardust HD) and coming soon (Echochrome, LBP, Pain) for the console, the ability to play games and movies in 1080p on my 46" TV and the ability to play FOR FREE the great online games both available (Resistance, Rainbow Six, The Darkness) and exclusives coming soon (UT3, Warhawk) shows what a big mistake this was.

      How's your Wii Fit?

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by Fross ( 83754 )
        I guess if you can afford the 46" 1080p TV, half a dozen games in as many months, multiple consoles, AND a large collection of Blu-ray movies to justify using the PS3 to play those too, then $600 isn't much more than pocket change.

        Funny that it's a "next-gen gaming console" but you can't list a reason to play games on it *now* than minigames. I mean, you want to spend several thousand dollars to play fl0w in HD? Then you really do not know what value for money is.
        • While your point of playing games now is true, much to my chagrin, it is also the cheapest your gonna get the better hardware deal, the 60GB is superior to the 80GB due to the emotion chip.

          As for the rest of your post, gaming is a leisure activity, therefore you should only be spending expendable income on it. If you have the means to game, you can probably afford the 1080p TV anyways since it will go nicely with your HDTV and surround sound system. If you are making a choice between a new game and eatin

          • As for the rest of your post, gaming is a leisure activity, therefore you should only be spending expendable income on it. If you have the means to game, you can probably afford the 1080p TV anyways since it will go nicely with your HDTV and surround sound system. If you are making a choice between a new game and eating this week you should probably get some sort of help or get your priorities straight.

            Emphasis mine.

            "The means to game" is a highly subjective measure, and you appear to imply that having the

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by king-manic ( 409855 )
          Funny that it's a "next-gen gaming console" but you can't list a reason to play games on it *now* than minigames. I mean, you want to spend several thousand dollars to play fl0w in HD? Then you really do not know what value for money is.

          Blu-ray, ninja gaiden sigma, Resistance, motostorm, use as a media center, spare linux boxen, and future potential. Value is relative. I doubt you'd find value in getting a Lexus Rx350 but my GF thought $67,000 CND + tax provided value. I doubt most would find value in buyin

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by donaldm ( 919619 )
          It never ceases to amaze me the mention of the PS3 not having many games. I can understand and sympathize if people said "The PS3 does not have many native games that I want or even like" (IMHO this is my personal view of the Wii and Xbox360 games as well). To answer this properly I will state this "The PS3 has more games available to it than the Xbox, Xbox360, Gamecube and Wii combined". What I did not say in that statement was you can play PS1 and PS2 games as well as PS3 games and the PS2 is still a vari
          • I think I did mention in my original post that I have a 46" tv. And yes, you can notice the difference between 480p and 1080p. 720p and 1080p are a bit more subtle, but I'm happy as long as it looks good. Rainbox 6, by the way, is the worst game to have at 1080p (I think it upscales horribly). It's annoying to switch it to 720, though, so I just cope.
      • Listen I agree that Fross was trolling in that post. And you took the bait, so fair enough for everyone involved. But it has to be frustrating that you spent $100 more for what, a few months of ownership?

        Oh and this made me smile a bit "and exclusives coming soon". Awesome.

        But anyone who thinks the ps3 isn't going to be an awesome console in a year or less is just crazy. It is in its ramp-up time right now, which is to be expected. And once it gets a lot of stuff worked out that xbox did in its fir

        • Re:At least it won't piss off their existing owner (Score:4, Insightful)

          by fistfullast33l ( 819270 ) on Tuesday August 07, 2007 @01:13PM (#20143945) Homepage Journal
          I actually attempted to avoid all of the other hype stuff - no mention of Home, FF XIII, or Killzone (I'm still skeptical on that one). You have MGS 4 and MGS online, whatever/whenever that will be.

          But why buy early? Because I was mostly a PC gamer with $600 but not $1500 to replace my mobo, processor, video card, and upgrade my RAM to get next-gen graphics on a 20" monitor. I'll admit it - I'm in for the eyecandy as well as the gameplay. So I don't see it as a $400 vs. $600 debate, I see it as a $600 versus $1500 debate. I mean, did I know in January that the PS3 would be good in a year - not necessarily. But $50 a year for XBL turned me off, I heard bad things about the hardware, and I had a PSP already. So why not just stick with what I had? And, I wasn't sure I was going to have that $600 cash available in six months, so I wanted to commit it when I had it in my hands.
          • I think all of those are great points! I wasn't trying to bash you or anything for being an early adapter (I bought the hd-dvd add-on quite early... albeit used) so I completely understand that. The 360 worked for me and the ps3 works for you. Can't we all just get along!? ;)

            My biggest point of jealousy over the ps3 right now is the psp integration you mentioned. I won a PSP at work, and have found it extremely fun and useful. I'm not sure I'd exactly need/use any of the psp-ps3 features but... ya k

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Fross ( 83754 )
            But why buy early? Because I was mostly a PC gamer with $600 but not $1500 to replace my mobo, processor, video card, and upgrade my RAM to get next-gen graphics on a 20" monitor.

            Best argument I've heard yet, very true. I've been considering upgrading my PC and yeah, it would cost quite a lot (I think you'd be hard pressed to spend over $1000 without going SLi or something) compared to any of the consoles out there.

            I wasn't trolling in my original post, perhaps just purposefully touching a few nerves ;) I
            • Well, if I was going to upgrade then I definitely was going to go the SLI route. I might not have been able to get both video cards at once, but I could set up the system to start with and then buy the card later on. Of course, by the time I could afford the second card then your system is out of date so...it's a whole mess at this point. I think the consoles have finally gotten to the point where they can compete head on with PC's for less cost. At this point I have my PS3 for gaming and my PC setup wi

    • Luckily nobody who bought a PS3 knows what "value for money" is.

      That's some nice trolling there. And funny how you contradict your earlier post [slashdot.org], claiming that Sony can only profit by selling fewer consoles. Selling units at a loss is pretty common for new consoles (although I'm guessing you already knew that). If you don't want all the features of a PS3, obviously you shouldn't buy it but to say that it isn't "value for money" is just ridiculous.

    • I'm not sure I recently got a Playstation 3 for £425 I got two controllers, Stealth (a poor film), Hitch (which I like), Motorstorm and Resistance: Fall of Man. When you consider I paied £220 for a PS2 with two controllers I bought two games with that which cost £80 I think so I spent £300 on that 2002 Christmas.

      Compared to today your average blueray film is £25 (I know I was out looking today) and the PS3 bringing back the old mega drive level of prices (£50, wh

    • ...a free game (one of, like, 3 worth playing for the PS3 at the moment)...

      What are the other 2?

  • I know I'm getting a PS3 "someday", probably next year when I save up the money. But the 60 GB version still has the emotion chip hardware, so it's pretty much 100% compatible with all of my old PSOne and PS2 games, which will hold me over until the good PS3 games start coming in.

    On the other hand, if I do wait, there's a chance those will be all gone by next year.

    Hm. Actually kind of a tough choice, because this isn't "OMG GIMME NOW!" kind of thing, but more a "If I don't act now, I'll wind up getting th

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Duffy13 ( 1135411 )
      I had the same thoughts basically, heres my reasoning:

      1. The emotion chip was critical, the lack of this feature really makes the 80GB version sub-par ($50 bucks for an extra 20Gigs? fuck off).
      2. The 60GB version is out of production and is now quickly climbing most best-selling lists at various stores and sites, which may be due too...
      3. Recent $100 price-cut of the 60GB in an attempt to closeout the current supply and replace them with a sub-par and more expensive unit (this was the clincher for me).

      So ye

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by nuzak ( 959558 )
        > The emotion chip was critical, the lack of this feature really makes the 80GB version sub-pa

        The 360 gets by just fine with software emulation. And the PS3's software emulation does upscaling, something that the builtin hardware can't do.

        The 360's a nice console, just picked one up myself. It really is loud as all hell though.
        • Thats fine and all but you can still use software emulation on the PS3s with emotion chips if you absolutely need to. However, it should really not be needed.

          I may be prejudice, but I just don't trust software emulation if it can be avoided reasonably.

          Thinking of getting a 360 around xmas, hopefully I can grab a nice bundle or something. But I see no reason to hurry at the moment.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by parcel ( 145162 )
            Do you know how that works? As long as you have the upscaling turned off, the hardware is used, but when upscaling is turned on, software emulation kicks in?

            Just ordered one myself for the same reasons - my ps2 recently died, and although there's nothing I really want to play on ps3 at the moment, I still play a lot of ps2, and it seemed worth it to go ahead and grab one while the hardware emulation was in place.

            I've been pretty disappointed with the software emulation on the 360. But with what's coming o
            • I'm not sure how the upscaling works in all honesty. But my main concern was being able to play the whole PS2 catalog, which currently software emulation does not do, and Sony has said they will probably stop updating the software emulation to do so relatively soon (probably a year or so). So yea, take what you will from that.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by ivan256 ( 17499 )

                Sony has said they will probably stop updating the software emulation to do so relatively soon (probably a year or so).


                Do you have a source for that?

            • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

              by king-manic ( 409855 )
              Just ordered one myself for the same reasons - my ps2 recently died, and although there's nothing I really want to play on ps3 at the moment, I still play a lot of ps2, and it seemed worth it to go ahead and grab one while the hardware emulation was in place.

              The good news is the emulation on the ps3 is a lot better with only occasional quirkiness on a few games. FFXII and MGS3 work fine. As does odin sphere and a bunch of other have aboslutely no issues on my version of those games. The compatability list i
              • The biggest compatibility problem is Guitar Hero II, in that even with the right adapter, the control scheme is substandard. It's playable, though.
                • The biggest compatibility problem is Guitar Hero II, in that even with the right adapter, the control scheme is substandard. It's playable, though.

                  I have no personal exxperience but word is that most fo the peripherals have sketchy compatability. eyetoy, the guitars etc..
                  • I have the pelican adapter. With Guitar Hero, it works flawlessly, allowing the game to be played just as on a PS2. With Guitar Hero II, the controls are slightly different. The most annoying bit is that you hit the select button to go into "Star Power". This is more difficult than just pulling the controller up.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by McNihil ( 612243 )
      Well... do you really still play PS-One games? How often? If its seldom you could have your PS-One in the closet and take it out when you want to go on a retro binge.

      I am not playing my PS-2 anymore for instance... and buying games on old technology is not very cost effective.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by tb()ne ( 625102 )

        There are still good PS1&2 games out there. And rather than dusting off the old PS2 when you want to play them, the PS3 can upscale them for HD (with optional smoothing).

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by McNihil ( 612243 )
          I dunno... once the game has been completed its no fun anymore... for instance I never play GT1-3 nor GTA1-3 anymore. And its not like it's a retro binge back to Outrun, Gauntlet, Commando, 1943...
      • Well I do have a tendency to pull out FF Tactics every couple of months...and there are a few just plain good games for PS2 that I replay when I'm in the mood. Though I will admit PSone games would be rarely played for me.
    • Hm. Actually kind of a tough choice, because this isn't "OMG GIMME NOW!" kind of thing, but more a "If I don't act now, I'll wind up getting the kind of crappier one later." Yeah, I know, the software emulation does all sorts of neat tricks to "upscale" it, but I usually find I don't give a crap. (Heck, I just put in the original "Persona" into my PS2 the other day for the first time and was perfectly pleased with them old 1990's graphics.)

      Sw is around 80% and improving with most of the incompatible ones be

    • Re:Kind of torn (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Control Group ( 105494 ) * on Tuesday August 07, 2007 @02:36PM (#20145205) Homepage
      That's why I bought a 60 GB PS3 last weekend. I never owned a PS2, and I wanted maximum backwards compatibility when I finally decided to pull the trigger (Planet Earth being available on Blu-Ray did the trick; had it been HD-DVD only, I would have bought the add-on for my 360). So now I'm playing through Katamari Damacy, Shadow Of the Collossus, and God of War. And I have to say, God of War is a damn good looking game, considering it's PS2 tech.

      $500 was just low enough that the combination of Blu-Ray and PS2 compatibility pushed me over the edge (though needing to buy a separate cable for HD really pissed me off - and almost was enough to prevent me from buying...which means not quite enough for Sony to care). So far, I'm moderately glad I picked it up. Whether I later consider it a really good idea will depend, of course, on how many really good games become available for it.

      The point, of course, is that they've created demand by dropping the price on the 60 GB version and taking away the Emotion Engine in its higher-priced replacement. But that's a temporary sort of thing, at best - if the supply of 60 GB consoles had dried up before I bought one, I wouldn't have made the purchase. $600 is too much money (and I say this as someone who owns all three current consoles and just built a gaming PC) for what you're getting, Motorstorm be damned. If that $600 included a second controller and freaking component cables*, I might have thought about it.

      *While I went with HDMI + optical audio instead, I could have put off that purchase for a little bit if they had bundled components. As it is, the console is crippled out of the box, so it had to be a same-day purchase.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by donaldm ( 919619 )
      I have an Australian PS3 and backwards compatibility is done in software and we get approx 85% to 90% of games working properly. I have over 60 PS2 games and only one does not work and two others do have minor issues and all my PS1 games work. To me this is not bad considering the PS3 has only been available to us since the end of March.

      It is annoying if your favourate game does not work though.

      One feature of the PS3 is the ability to swap out your hard drive and replace it with a larger standard 2.5" d
  • In case Sony hasn't noticed yet, a $600 pricetag hasn't been all that great for the PS3. Hopefully they're not stupid enough to keep the new 80 GB PS3 at $600 once the supply of $500 models run out. Then again, this is Sony that we're talking about.

    I'm fairly sure that once the supply of 60 GB models is gone they're going to have to drop this package down to $500 if they have any hopes of continuing sales into the holiday season. First of all, for the extra $100 I get a an extra 20 GB that I don't care abou
    • I find it kinda funny that the GPU in my PC was $500, which is what I payed for an entire PS3, honestly, I got a good deal hardware wise. Now controllers...why the hell are the controllers $50? They aren't that complicated a dam device! But anyways the question is just how big a cut are they taking on the consoles? For those that don't know, consoles are sold at a loss because they plan to make the difference up in games. Why else do you think they can sell advanced components so cheaply? It's a cell proce

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by LWATCDR ( 28044 )
        "I find it kinda funny that the GPU in my PC was $500, which is what I payed for an entire PS3"
        You might be shocked to find how many people will never buy a $500 GPU. The market for uber gaming pc kit is a lot different than consoles.
    • I'm fairly sure that once the supply of 60 GB models is gone they're going to have to drop this package down to $500

      Of course they will - but just as obviously, there's no way they are going to price the 60GB and 80GB models the same until the 60GB are gone!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by elrous0 ( 869638 ) *
      I can easily put a bigger drive in my new 60GB PS3. I can't put an emotion chip in the 80GB model. 'nuff said.

  • An Interesting Way to Manufacture Demand (Score:5, Insightful)

    by AbsoluteXyro ( 1048620 ) on Tuesday August 07, 2007 @01:08PM (#20143881)
    This whole thing is a little cute, I think. Instead of doing something to actually make the PS3 worth $599 to consumers, Sony is essentially saying "better get one now before the price goes back up!" Is 20GB of hard drive space worth $100 to anyone? I know they are sticking Motorstorm in there too, but that isn't going to last forever.
  • Some people would prefer to have the 60GB unit because the 80GB unit has no Emotion Engine, but they're worried about the stock running dry before they have enough reason to buy one.

    Sony predicts that, at current demand levels, the console will remain in the North American retail channel until fall.
    This is good news then, because at current Sony prediction levels, this means the 60GB unit will still be on shelves through the winter.
    • Some people would prefer to have the 60GB unit because the 80GB unit has no Emotion Engine, but they're worried about the stock running dry before they have enough reason to buy one.

      The reason they dropped the emotion engine is because they can do in software now what the hardware was doing.

      No it's not quite as good - but software can be improved over time, and it's good enough now.

      Once you learned to ride a bike, did you keep buying training wheels for new bikes or did you drop them with your bike upgrades
    • I bought a PS2 instead of a PS3. I figure it was only $100, and it saves me the effort of being concerned about PS3 backwards compatibility. I can wait another 2 years until the number of worthwhile games has greatly increased, and the price has dropped.
  • Sony did release the statement saying that they were coming out with the bigger hard drive for people to put more media on to it and that they were going to be coming out with a TiVo like program so that its doing a lot more than what it was originally supposed to do. Expansions like that are smart.

    But has anyone forgotten that you can swap out HDD's with out wiping the system? Guess so.....

  • Once again, a good example of using percentages to hide actual statistics. Check this:

    According to Sony, sales of the console have increased 113 percent at its top five retail partners--Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, and GameStop--when compared to average sales during the month before drop.

    So, since we don't have the real figures, does this mean

    Sales = LastMonthSales + LastMonthSales * 1.13

    or does this mean

    Sales = LastMonthSales * 1.13

    ? If we read it as it's written, it should mean the

    • Once again, a good example of using percentages to hide actual statistics. Check this:

      there are lies,
      Damn Lies,
      and stastistics.
      -Mark Twain
    • http://vgchartz.com/weekly.php [vgchartz.com]

      Weekly Sales:

      July 23rd - 29th:

      PS3 - 112,877
      360 - 56,384

      July 16th - 22nd:

      PS3 - 89,242
      360 - 54,350

      July 9th - 15th:

      PS3 - 91,632
      360 - 57,023

      July 2nd - 8th:

      PS3 - 60,836
      360 - 59,931

      Not quite 113%, but PS3 sales near the end of July are nearly double what they were at the start of July (The price drop was on the 9th).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ivan256 ( 17499 )
      There's only one correct interpretation, so there was no need for them to clarify any further. Increasing 113% means (Sales = (LastMonthSales * 2.13)). LastMonthSales * 1 is no increase. So clearly there is only one way to interpret the numbers.
  • The introduction of the 80gb model was simply due to the fact that 60gb hard disks are being phased out in the 2.5" variety.
    The manufacturers prefer to switch all models over to the newer platter size, it's actually cheaper to have just one assembly line manufacturing the 1 disk type (80gb per platter, up to 2 platters in a 2.5" model)

    As for the way they are fiddling with prices, well it's unfortunate I admit but they are giving you essentially, 20gb more hard disk space and Motorstorm a 60$ US game and kee

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