PS3 price drop and new 40Gb PS3 announced in UK
First we had the October 12th 'big bang' announcement rumours. Then SCEE said they weren't happening.
In the midst of the Internet meltdown we had GTA IV early release rumours - which we reported but took with a pinch of salt - and they were debunked by Rockstar.
Then yesterday, I got wind of an announcement in the UK about the 40Gb PS3 and a price drop for the existing model. I didn't bother putting it up since I was all 'rumoured out' for the week.
So today - of course - SCEE actually announced a new 40Gb model and price drop for the 60Gb model!
The new 40Gb model has no memory card slots, no backwards compatibility and only two USB ports.
Of course, you can pop a four-way USB port on one of those and get yourself five ports easily enough, and you can use one of those for memory sticks and external FAT32 formatted drives, so external storage shouldn't be much of an issue.
The lack of PS2 backwards compatibility isn't an issue in SCEE's eyes as 'later purchasers of the PS3 are less likely to need this'. With literally millions of PS2 owners still to 'upgrade' I personally think this is a misjudgement, but then the 60Gb model has come down in price for those people that need to access their old game library.
So, the 60Gb model now weighs in with a SixAxis controller and two first-party games for only £349 (about £75 cheaper) and the new 40Gb PS3 'lite' comes in at £299 as expected - both being released on October 10th in time for the Christmas rush.
All this comes on the back of repeated announcements that there would be no price drop before the end of the year in the UK, which is expected since that would have slowed down sales of the existing units as people would have waited for the cheaper 60Gb or 40Gb models.
This is all welcome news for the UK market and I'm looking forward to seeing how this accelerates sales of our beloved monolith across the region. After all (and analysts who predict the PS3 will rule once more in the future know this) if even 25% of PS2 owners across the globe 'churned' over to the PS3, Sony would be back in the number one slot again.
Labels: Hardware, news, Playstation 3, PS3
posted by DolphGB @ 19:29 
3 Comments:
I was crazy enough to brave the tempest and sit outside in the rain for my PS3. Of course, it was the 60 gig. Now I feel like I have the true PS3 because not only was it the original 'high end' model, but because it has almost full backwards compatibility without software emulation. However, I've only played two PS2 games on it--God Of War 2 and FFXII. Personally, I don't think that the ability to play PS2 games on the PS3 is all that wonderful. Sure the idea is great, but how many PS1 games did you play on the PS2? Hell, I've still got my PS2 hooked up to the tv. And the PS1 is boxed up in the closet. I'm cautiously optimistic that the price drop will eventually hit the States. I do wonder why Sony has only announced this new hardware and price drop in the UK. I think other territories like Japan and the US would benefit greatly from a decreased cost of the PS3. I'm sure it's coming, but why not announce it now?
I braved the cold as well in San Francisco with all the other "crazies" and feel the same way. Are the current 60 gig models still packing the backwards compatibility the same?
My PS2 is hooked up because I'm a Guitar Hero fiend and its my addiction.
Games I'm currently playing include skate. and Warhawk.
Most recent games I've beat include Heavenly Sword and The Darkness
Recently added games to my collection are Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror PS2, Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow PSP, DiRT PS3, and soon... Star Wars Renegade Squadron with that luscious White PSP! Almost tastier than a Kobe beef burger!!!
I read that this PS3 does not play PS1 games. Is that true? I doubt many gamers will be upset at this because no one plays Madden 97 on their PS3. I think the US price drop is going to happen in December 2007 because Sony discontinued the 60 gig PS3.
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