Sony slashes Playstation 3 price

[M-SIL 2]

Due to lackluster sales, Sony finally decided to slash of the PS3. How much? Here is the link to find out:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/SonySlashesPlayStationThreePrice.aspx

[BurroDiablo 222]

Hope it gets dropped that much over here in Europe too... a

[Duke87 1,070]

Okay, so now it's $499 instead of $599. Still a couple hundred bucks too expensive for a game console.

The trouble is that damned Blu-Ray stuff really drives the price up. Sony thought they were going to reinvent the wheel and get way ahead in the market by producing this "amazing" new technology that's great quality, but also rather expensive. This mistake has been made before. To be successful, you don't need to have the best product, you need to have a decent product that's cheap. Because money means an awful lot. Sony made this exact mistake with BetaMax back in the 70's. It was great quality, but also very expensive. VHS completely killed it, even though it wasn't as good, because it was cheaper. IBM did the same thing to Appple in the 80's with their PCs, and Sony has yet another iteration of the mistake with the PSP movie format. The Nintendo DS was not only cheaper, but more innovative. No wonder the PSP didn't do so well.

The best thing Sony could possibly do for PS3 sales is to offer a version without the stupid Blu-Ray technology that just plays games and DVDs at a more reasonable price. Because people will buy that.

[dadyrghluv 8]

they will be offering a $599 version but it will have a bigger HDD now 80gig instead of the 60gig, and it will also come with the game "motorstorm" as well. i still say the $499 version is the best deal out of the 2.

[paperboy15 4]

Yah, I agree with ya Duke...still too expensive. I might buy it at $300 ... if Gran Turismo 5 ever gets released.

[kawan 6]

There are a lot of games that I like that are coming on the PS3, like FFXIII. Still too expensive for me and there are not much games out yet, so I would maybe get it for Xmas.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Way to expensive.

mabey i can sell my Sega Genesis.

[Odainsaker 2,133]

They should cut the price alot more. In the long run, if they really want Blu-Ray to become the new standard, while it is currently on track to stagnate against Toshiba's HD DVD, they need to get people to purchase Blu-Ray equipment. Blu-Ray players right now are barely selling, even the disasterously sluggish PS3s sell far better. No volume means no market share, which leads to no new market standard, which creates no big long-term profit. Get the one-time-purchase disc players and consoles in people's homes, and the continuous Blu-Ray disc sales will follow automatically.

[Sirithil 1]

The need for the new formats is sketchy at best... VHS was genuinely dated when DVD came out, but I don't think we can yet say the same about DVD.

But yes, you're right... they need to drop the cost of the players through the floor. Get the things into people's homes - even if you're losing hundreds on every unit - and software will recoup the losses. Microsoft proved this with the original xbox. As it is, Sony's on track to repeat its mistakes with Betamax - putting out a technologically vastly superior standard and then losing the format war by botching the sale thereof. Only, the stakes this time round are vastly larger.

[The_Dalai_Llama 15]

A small price drop isn't going to help that much... get that down to $300 and we'll talk.

This might end up as Sony's biggest folly once the next crop of systems roll in. It's too bad because the PS2 was a good system and affordable.

[schm0 27]

The PS3 is a powerful piece of hardware. It's practically a DVD, DVR, PS3, Photo-viewer, MP3 player, Blu-Ray player and Internet browser all rolled into one. It's worth the price... Unfortunately, it's also out of reach for most people.

[Voar Tok 4]

Originally posted by: Sirithil The need for the new formats is sketchy at best... VHS was genuinely dated when DVD came out, but I don't think we can yet say the same about DVD.

But yes, you're right... they need to drop the cost of the players through the floor. Get the things into people's homes - even if you're losing hundreds on every unit - and software will recoup the losses. Microsoft proved this with the original xbox. As it is, Sony's on track to repeat its mistakes with Betamax - putting out a technologically vastly superior standard and then losing the format war by botching the sale thereof. Only, the stakes this time round are vastly larger.quote>

However, very few companies have the kind of financial means to afford to lose hundreds of millions of dollars upfront and then make it back up over the course of years.

The Blu-Ray has been the ultimate downfall of this thing so far.  I was recently configuring a new laptop and I was informed that I could get a Blu-Ray drive installed if I wanted it.  Just for kicks, I asked how much the thing was.  Getting a Blu-Ray drive took an already $1600 laptop and pushed it up over $2300.

[SystemUK 0]

I heard that MS might drop the 360's price as well. I want to buy a 360 so should I wait?

[azninoverdrive 9]

Korea already has 80 gb, still a little less money than America. However, when the 80 gb PS3 comes to the US, in August you will get a suprise with it, thats usually an extra 60 dollars. I'd get it, I need a cheap BLu Ray player.

[UltraGIR XL 3]

When I saw its price, I was actually half-tempted to get the 360, even though I vowed not to purchase anything associated with Halo.

Then I saw that Sonic game and now I reeeally want a PS3.

I think I'll start dabbling in alchemy.

Limestone to gold, anyone?

[offgreen 1]

Now the price is only somewhat absurd. Still cheaper to just buy a new graphics card than this and I still don't have an HDTV anyway.

[Goldfish4209 9]

I'd still rather buy a computer. More versatile and upgradeable to the far future.

[commanderkai 38]

I'll buy the PS3 once it is around $300 and more games are out for it. Blu Ray players are costly as hell and have little use really. But...meh Sony I guess will survive. It's not like their gaming division is the only thing going for them, so they won't die like another company we know *cough SEGA cough*