Cnet: Sony Unveils PS3 Pricing, Release Dates

[Jeremy Charette]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.com.com/Sony+unveils+PS3+pricing%2C+availability/2100-1043_3-6069994.html?tag=nefd.lede' target='_blank'>http://news.com.com/Sony+unveils+PS3+pricing%2C+availability/2100-1043_3-6069994.html?tag=nefd.lede</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The PS3 will come in two configurations: one version with a 60GB hard drive that will cost $599, and a second with a 20GB hard drive that will come in at $499, SCE President Kaz Hirai said. Those prices are significantly higher than Microsoft's Xbox 360, which has two versions, one with a 20GB hard drive that costs $399 and another with no hard drive that retails for $299. The announcement came on the eve of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3)--an annual gaming industry trade show taking place in Los Angeles this week. In an interview with CNET News.com on Friday, SCE Executive Vice President and co-Chief Operating Officer Jack Tretton said, effectively, that the company believes <b>consumers will pay whatever the next-generation console costs</b>. "People are going to perceive enough value" with the PS3, Tretton said, "that they're not going to consider the price to be a barrier to entry."...Hirai noted that Sony is committed to shipping 4 million PS3s by Dec. 31 and another 2 million by March 31, 2007. That means--if customers are not put off by the console's high price--Sony could be in position to avoid the criticism Microsoft took for not being able to meet initial customer demand for the Xbox 360."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/PS3sside_550x442.jpg" /> <br /><br />The bold highlighting of Jack Tretton's quote is mine. Since when is price not an issue with consumers? To think that price is not an issue is to commit market suicide in my opinion. Particularly when what you're offering doesn't have any distinct advantage over it's competition (the Xbox 360). The graphics look roughly the same, there are no officially announced games with 1080p support, and Microsoft is releasing an HD DVD drive to counter the PS3's Blu-Ray drive. Price is not an issue...does this mean that we'll see PS3s for $1200 on eBay in November? :roll:

[Felix Torres]

Nice to see them living up to their reputation of over-promising and under delivering:

- Dual-HDMI ports for dual 1080p gaming? Nope. In fact, the "low-end" doesn't have HDMI and the top of the libe-er has only one.

- PSP compatibility? Again, not on the $499 model; no WiFi.

And they haven't even gotten around to taking out the OS features yet or showing how their games differ from the 360.

What is particularly interesting here is that we're seeing a flip-flop in market approach: MS is going for casual gamers with Live Arcade and the low-priced 360 Core, while Sony's high-priced "do-everything" box is trying to sell to the dedicated gamer crowd.

But as MS found out last time, the dedicated gamers will basically buy one of each of the consoles and the real discriminator in market leadership is in the casual gamers and in families buying boxes for Xmas...

For MS this market is a side-bet; Sony, however, is literally betting the company on this. If consumers do NOT "pay whatever the next-gen console costs" things stand to get very dicey for them...

Mind you, they'll still sell 20 million PS3's but their stategy requires at least double that by Xmas 07. And that does not look doable at $599.

[Filip Norrgard]

Heh, Microsoft is doing much better right now judging by the things they are currently presenting over at E3. Reading Joystiq/Engadget's live feed:
Alan Wake to be published by Microsoft for Xbox 360 and PC -- The E3 movies in HD format here: http://www.alanwake.com/movies.html (Xbox 360 here I come!)
Live gaming invites on both Xbox 360 and PC - that's really sweet!

Looks like Sony's on the late train... again...

[phillypocket]

This really caught my eye...

3:54 pm - Buy content once, available on all platofrms. Buy Zuma on Xbox 360 and have access to it on mobile phone -- one Marketplace. Gamercard integrated into mobile phone.

If the pricing is right, I could really appreciate this.

Oh, and the Rockstar announcement was icing on the cake.

[jeffd]

what I dont get is.. in what world do console makers live in where 60 gigabyte hard drives cost $100?

edit: read down further on the front page and saw the other things that got slashed on the gimp version.

well...yea.. unless P3 like..looks 2x as good as 360..the cost is pretty sucky.

Built in wifi though... prolly the only blunder MS made by not including that. ;)

[jizmo]

And Europe gets the crappy end of the deal once again. $599 and €599 look competitive on the paper, but we end up paying $750 for our PS3.

Just how insane is that?

[Outlaw94]

Again another piece of overpriced Sony garbage. If they think the Blue-ray is going to make their PS3 a success their on drugs.

If MS was smart they will drop the price of the 360 $100 in October. Take a bigger loss on the system and gain market share, they can afford it. No one in their right mind would buy a PS3 for $300 more than 360.

[rzanology]

I find it funny how the PS fan boys were complaining about how expensive the 360 was....and they were also saying it was dumb that MS released the 360 in two different packages. Now look what we have here.....sony...king of technology and wise business decisions :roll: .....decides to do the same. All of a sudden they are the most brilliant people on earth. So so sad.....long live MS.