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You cannot judge a gaming machine on its first year.

 

Whilst I somewhat agree, I must say the first year of Wii and DS were/are great. My number one DS game came out in Year 1.

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Sony Corp. is slashing the starting price for PlayStation 3 consoles in the U.S. by $100, its latest attempt to boost slow sales of the machine in time for the holiday season.

 

The move, widely expected after similar actions in Japan and Europe, introduces a new PlayStation 3 model with a 40-gigabyte hard drive for $399. That compares with an earlier entry-level price of $499 on a model with 60 gigabytes of storage capacity. Sony in July lowered the price on the 60-gigabyte model from $599.

 

After the new pricing move, the PlayStation 3 is only $50 more than its closest competitor, Microsoft Corp.'s $349 entry-level Xbox 360 with a hard drive, though it is still more costly than Nintendo Co.'s $250 Wii.

 

Billy Pidgeon, game-industry analyst at IDC, predicted the price drop would invigorate PlayStation 3 sales this holiday season, though a bigger impact is likely to occur next year when a stronger lineup of titles will be available for the Sony system, including a new version of a popular game called Metal Gear Solid. "At that price, it comes down to a more justifiable present or gift to yourself," Mr. Pidgeon said.

 

Sony could use a big boost if it is to catch up to its competitors. U.S. retailers sold 131,000 PlayStation 3 consoles in August, or about 1.75 million total since it went on sale last November, according to NPD Group Inc. In contrast, there were 404,000 Nintendo Wii's sold in August in the U.S., or four million total since it was launched last holiday season, and 277,000 Xbox 360s in August, or 8.3 million since it went on sale two years ago, according to NPD.

 

The reduction reflects Sony's determination to spur more sales of the PlayStation 3, the Japanese electronics company's most important new product in years. Jack Tretton, president and chief executive officer of Sony's U.S. games division, acknowledged that the relatively high price of the PS3, which Sony has justified by including advanced technology such as a high-definition Blu-ray disc movie player, has been an impediment for many gamers.

 

"While we were incredibly excited about the technology in PS3 and while it was future-proofed to some degree, it was a bit ahead of its time," Mr. Tretton said in an interview. "The downside of all that technology was the price we had to offer it to consumer at retail. We knew $599 was going to be a challenge for some people based on traditional videogame pricing."

 

There's a catch to the lower price: The new $399 PlayStation model will not play games designed for the PlayStation 2, Sony's popular older game console. Mr. Tretton conceded that removing that capability, along with a few other features, isn't dramatically reducing Sony's cost of manufacturing the console but will instead encourage buyers of the entry-level PlayStation 3 to purchase more games designed specifically for the new system.

 

Mr. Tretton said the company's research showed that compatibility with PlayStation 2 games isn't likely to be missed by customers, who most likely already own the older system.

 

Sony has said it plans to sell 11 million PS3s world-wide this fiscal year, which ends in March.

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Whilst I somewhat agree, I must say the first year of Wii and DS were/are great. My number one DS game came out in Year 1.

Which was? I'm betting it was a Nintendo game. They are in something of a different position, as not only are they probably the best developer in the world, they also create their hardware with their games in mind. Likewise, people tend to buy Nintendo hardware for Nintendo games.

 

The 360 generally gets the best version of third-party franchises, and if it didn't have that in its favour then things would be a lot different. The machine has some great exclusives, much as the PS3 will once it has been out a comparable amount of time, but it is third-parties that make the difference. Think how perspectives would change if the 'best' versions of all of Ubisoft and EA's games were on the PS3.

 

Mr. Tretton conceded that removing that capability, along with a few other features, isn't dramatically reducing Sony's cost of manufacturing the console but will instead encourage buyers of the entry-level PlayStation 3 to purchase more games designed specifically for the new system.

 

Mr. Tretton said the company's research showed that compatibility with PlayStation 2 games isn't likely to be missed by customers, who most likely already own the older system.

The whole 40GB SKU seems a mess to me. Sure it's boosting sales temporarily, but I feel this is more due to the 'threat' of no more backwards compatibility; people are being bullied into their purchase. It gives sales a jab in the arm, but the consumer is the one left feeling needled.

 

If Sony released a PSThree in the run up to Christmas 2008 with a reduced form factor, no wireless, no card readers, a smaller HDD and no backward compatibility then okay, I think that would be a valid 'budget' option. But right now there aren't enough games to be taking away the ability to play PS2 titles, in my opinion.

 

If you look at the 360 you'll notice that any complaints about Microsoft basically abandoning BC have been drowned out by the fanfare for quality new releases, but Sony isn't in that position yet. It's a very short-sighted decision, but perhaps one they were forced into in an attempt to recapture some of the gaming mindshare and push Blu-Ray into the lead.

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It does look extremely promising, your right.

 

I think people should stop posting negative comments about the PS3 over and over again. If you don't like the console, whats the point of coming into a thread specifically for it? Your allowed your opinion, but it's just cluttering up this thread now for the people who actually like their PS3'S and surprisingly to you King_V and others 'There are some who do'.

 

Of course, everyone will disagree with me (they always do), so post away! :heh:

 

It doesn't suprise me, its just o_O me. Have it your way Michael. : peace:

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I'm with Owen and Aimless here. I come into the thread once in a while, i'm always checking to this if the time is right for me to buy a PS3 (I do intend to someday) and whenever I come in here I do see a lot of trolling.

 

No one's is going to deny the PS3 didn't have a great year, but neither did the DS or 360, and the Wii is only coming out of its first year slump now. Personally I think developers are just having a little trouble handling the PS3 at the moment (eg Ubisofts comments with Assasins Creed), but give it a year and they be used to it and start pumping out the classics, it just takes time.

 

After another price drop or two Bluray will have become more mainstream and people will start lapping up the PS3. I don't think it will be the topseller this generation, but sales will pick up.

 

Purely out of interest, does anyone know what the loss is for Sony on each console after these most recent price-cuts. I can't imagine the figure is very pretty.

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Well I can't see it been that much, they did reduce components and take things out to make it cheaper.

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Just ordered the Daxter PSP version. I actually chose it over DS Lite. I had it in the basket when I realized I didn't really need it. Only two games left this year and I have no idea about next year's releases. So I went for PSP. I am bit disappointed that it's silver. I want the black one, but it misses the memory card. Figured a free game were better if I have to pay 20 CAD extra no matter what option I choose.

Also ordered Tales of Radiant. I have wanted to play this for a very long time.

 

Whenever I have nothing to do I plan to buy Katamari & Me, the Harvest Moon game, Jeanne d'Arc and Final Fantasy Tactics.

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Finally got my PS3 set up and online. I only have Resistance:FOM and Heavenly Sword at the moment... suppose I could download Warhawk too. My ID is the same as usual "theguyfromspark"... add me fellas!

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Jeanne d'Arc, Tales of Eternia and FFT are the best RPG you can get for it now. Tales of the World is for the fans and the rest of them have very poor reviews. Not sure about Brave Story though.

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You certainly want to pick up Ratchet and Clank:Size Matters and Daxter. Both games are platforming gems.

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Are the PSP packs getting released in Europe?

 

Still holding off buying one, since I would love the Star Wars Battlefront pack!

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You certainly want to pick up Ratchet and Clank:Size Matters and Daxter. Both games are platforming gems.

 

Add both Sypthon Filters, Loco Roco and The Warriors and thats a great start! : peace:

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Metal Gear Solid : Portable Ops.

 

Very good reviews, would be the first game I pick up if I got a PSP.

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Played Heavenly Sword the other day, wasn't overly impressed. The graphics were very pretty, but, as I said at the first glance it's a God of War clone, but with complicated controls. At least I didn't find them very intuitive. But I only played, like 30 minutes, so I'd like to get more time with it.

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To be honest, it sucked most of its life cycle but it turned into a very good console. To me, it's not as good as most make it, because most RPGs are all very generic, I don't care about sport games or simulations, but games like Okami, FFXII, Shin Megami Tensei, Persona 3, GoW, GoW2, SotC, GH and GH2, Odin Sphere, Disgaea and God Hand sure made the console much better in my eyes.

 

Stick with Resident Evil 4.

 

I loved the PS2 to bits as it had some amazing games on it but it also had a massive amount of tripe. I can see this happening with the Wii aswell.

 

Yeah, Wii is gonna have loads of shovelware like PS2 it's already happening lol

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Played Heavenly Sword the other day, wasn't overly impressed. The graphics were very pretty, but, as I said at the first glance it's a God of War clone, but with complicated controls. At least I didn't find them very intuitive. But I only played, like 30 minutes, so I'd like to get more time with it.

 

Complicated? They're pretty easy to be honest, you have two attack buttons and then also holding down either R1 or L1 allows you to switch stances for certain types of attacks. The game is great fun, just short though, certainly not average at all.

 

The thing I loved about the game was the characters, god they looked awesome, I actually felt for them because how realistic some of their reactions were. The boss is bloody fantastic too, gotta love the comical scenes he brings to the game.

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Got my PSP today but only now realized that an American charger won't work here. Should I buy a transformer or European charger? A link to a transformer would be nice.

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Complicated? They're pretty easy to be honest, you have two attack buttons and then also holding down either R1 or L1 allows you to switch stances for certain types of attacks. The game is great fun, just short though, certainly not average at all.

 

The thing I loved about the game was the characters, god they looked awesome, I actually felt for them because how realistic some of their reactions were. The boss is bloody fantastic too, gotta love the comical scenes he brings to the game.

 

Like I said I didn't play enough. The voice acting is bloody amazing though.

 

EDIT:mmm... Disgaea 3 :) I was hoping they'd have HD sprites looking like drawing but whatever. They could port it to Wii too, it would be great.

Disgaea never came out in EU did it?

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