Pricing announced for PS3

[diku]

So today at E3, Sony announced the pricing for the PS3. Launch date in November, worldwide. Cost: $499 with a 20GB hd, $599 with a 60GB. Source: Kotaku

You know, I'm a pretty serious gamer, been burning up my DS like crazy. But I just can't see paying those prices for a console system. That's a starter computer with monitor that can be still upgraded easily. Just seems way out of line to me.

[brianjedi]

Well, this just confirms that I won't be getting a PS3.

Still looking at a PS2, though.

[Metacom]

That pretty much finalizes my decision that my first console since the NES will be the Wii.

[Fern Forest]

Well, now. Good thing I'm single.



Since FFXIII and KHIII wont be out for years I've got time on my side.

[Electronic Chaos]

Originally Posted by Metacom

That pretty much finalizes my decision that my first console since the NES will be the Wii.

Stop calling it that! You're only encouraging them. Next thing you know it'll be called the Nintendo Zoooooombox.

[Mikahw]

That's not all, the $500 version also lacks the built-in WiFi, memory stick/SD/CF slots, and HDMI output. cite

Also, the X360 might even get a price drop between now and then. (Completely OT: I hope MS's repair center actually sends me a replacement that works this time)

[Kiros]

Yeah, that confirms nothing so much as the fact that I'll just go and pick up a cheap PS2 this summer instead of waiting on the PS3. That's pretty crazy.

[brianjedi]

Originally Posted by Kiros

Yeah, that confirms nothing so much as the fact that I'll just go and pick up a cheap PS2 this summer instead of waiting on the PS3. That's pretty crazy.

Amen. It's like Sony's forgetting what happened to Sega when they launched the Saturn at $399 against the Playstation. $499 for the barebones package is pricing themselves out of the market, and Sony can't afford that with the number of eggs in the PS3 basket.

Microsoft will cut the XBox 360 price by November, even if they have to take a slightly bigger loss, just to undercut Sony. I'd be surprised if you can walk into a Best Buy in November without having to scale an Aggro Crag-like mountain of XBox 360 Premium boxes.

[Zjestika]

Well, it looks like my change jar plan for saving for the PS3 will get me probably less than a third of the way to the cheaper one. Poo.

At least by the time I've saved all that money I'll know whether it's actually worth it. How much will the games be going for? Because saving change is a slow process.


ZJ

[dnooman]

I'm looking to get rid of my PS2 since I never use it anymore.

I have 8 games I think, 2 controllers, the DVD remote and a memory card. All this can be had for $100.

It's value as a backup DVD player keeps me from letting it go for peanuts.

Given the price of the PS3, I'd be crazy to sell it for less, even crazier to buy a PS3.

[Gozu Tashoya]

So, will Blu-Ray (BluRay?) DVDs look appreciably better on an old-school 32" CRT TV? If so, I don't imagine this will be much more than a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player and PS2 would be if you bought them both. It's still a huge chunk of change, though.

[rjung]

Sony has lost me as a potential customer.

If the Wii is halfway decent and reasonably priced, I'll get it. If not, I may just get a PS2 instead -- gotta have something to play these PS1 discs I still have...

[TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW]

Absolutely insane. I expected a stiff price for the PS3, but this is just BONKERS. The real rub is that they're going to have the killer franchises - MGS4, FFXIII, the next Grand Theft Auto - but at what cost?!

[pool]

I must say I regret selling my xbox now. I don't have enough for ps3 or 360. And finally there are some cool games for xbox...Damnit.

[Scoundrel Swanswater]

Wow, that's just..... wow.
I had expected a prize like this for the premium all bells and whistles version, but for the barebones version?
I hope for Sony's sake that they will sell a lot of these in Japan, because otherwise come this time next year, there won't be a Sony left.
They have been hemmoraging (I spelled it wrong, I know) money for years now, and the only thing keeping them afloat is the Playstation line-up.

I am probably still going to buy one, but then again, I am crazy like that.
But it will have to be a big step up from the Xbox360.

[BabaBooey]

What a joke. I treat my electronics well and I've had nothing but trouble from Sony equipment (a receiver that goes into "protect" mode randomly, a 2 month old laptop with a bad backlight, and I've gone through TWO PS2's, each having problems reading discs). If I decide to upgrade to a next gen, it's going to be a 360.

[Scoundrel Swanswater]

The Xbox360 also isn't without problems, to say the least.
Just google around for the problem people are having with Oblivion.
Oblivion caches to harddrive and does this so aggresively that the disc gets too hot.
This causes scratches in the disc.
Bethesda is pointing the finger to Microsoft and Microsoft isn't doing anything about it.
It looks like you are better off waiting a few generations until they get the heat-buildup problems under control.

[audiobottle]

I remember back in the day, when I first heard of the PS3 and the Revolution (Wii? What the hell is that? I can't hear you, nah nah...), I thought, of course I'll get the PS3! It'll be more expensive, sure, but it'll be so much better! Now there's really nothing that makes the PS3 more enticing than the new Nintendo console. Time magazine just did an interesting piece on the Nintendo one. I read that it'll be priced at $249 (although that is just a rumor).
Oh, and the Kotaku article also mentioned that the PS3 controller will have some sort of internal gyroscope type thingy that will sense movement (but not spatial, like the Nintendo).

[Brainiac4]

Looks like I am in a distinct minority in thinking the price is reasonable for what you get. Bear in mind that it's a Blu-ray Disc player. The Sony BDP-S1 is $999.99, so you're getting the Blu-ray capability at a significant discount, and it plays games, too.

[N9IWP]

IMHO this it makes it more likely HD-DVD will win the BluRay / HD-DVD war.
Because one of the big advantages of BR was the PS3.
If the $500 version had HDMI maybe, but to get didgital HD you need to go for the $600 version. There are already HD-DVD players that are cheaper. Ya, they don't play games, but still.

I suppose if you being generous, you could say you are getting a game consone for $100 and a $500 BR player.

Brian

[diku]

I guess in the end it's going to come down to the games, as always. I had a PSP, sold it even though it's better tech than my DS. The DS just had the games I wanted to play. So if this has got killer games, then I'll look at it. After the price drops.

They've also incorporated the motion detection stuff in the controller. Unless I'm playing DDR, I'm not looking for a workout when I play. Not sure how it's going to work on the Revolution, really not sure on the PS3.

[Richard Pearse]

What was the launch price of the Xbox 360?

I, personally, have always been one to wait a year or so for things to shake out before buying new stuff.

[asterion]

I bought a PS2 launch day. Though the launch titles weren't good at least I had my PS games and could buy DVDs until games I wanted to play came out. At $300 it seemed like a good bit of convergence.

But I don't want Blu-Ray (or HD-DVD.) I don't have the equipment for it, probably won't any time soon (I'll probably be on analog TV antenna until the FCC takes it away from me) and, let's face it, just how many polygons do you really need to play a game that's actually a game and not just eye candy? And you're talking to a guy who uses a PS2 to play 8-bit NES games. I am not going to go out and replace a couple thousand dollars of DVDs with the exact same thing on Blu-Ray either.

[Mikahw]

Originally Posted by 1920s Style "Death Ray"

What was the launch price of the Xbox 360?

Same as it is now. $300 for the core pack (but you have to add $40 to that for a memory card if you want to actually save your game or use Xbox live) and $400 for the premium pack which includes a 20GB hard drive, wireless controller instead of wired, headset for Xbox Live, remote control, and a few other minor things I'm probably forgetting.

The hard drive sells for $100 all by itself, and there's lots of game demos and stuff you can download if you have it instead of the memory card.

[E-Sabbath]

Wiiiiiiiii...

I think I'm going to wait a few years for a PS3.

[brianjedi]

Originally Posted by dnooman

I'm looking to get rid of my PS2 since I never use it anymore.

I have 8 games I think, 2 controllers, the DVD remote and a memory card. All this can be had for $100.

It's value as a backup DVD player keeps me from letting it go for peanuts.

Given the price of the PS3, I'd be crazy to sell it for less, even crazier to buy a PS3.

If you're serious, drop me an email if you would.

[Uvula Donor]

Well, that definitely counts me out for a PS3.

I'm really looking forward to the Revolution/Wii, though. And the new Zelda game looks sweet.

[Cluricaun]

New and cutting edge stuff is great, and there’s no doubt that I love me some video gaming, but I don’t get the point of spending full retail on a potentially buggy box. Wait a year or two, pick up the “fixed” version at the bottom of the bidding war price and know that there will be a plethora of used games on the market for cheap. I don’t get the “I must absolutely have this the day it becomes available” mentality. You get what seems to me to be very little extra bang for a whole lot of extra buck.

[Gozu Tashoya]

Originally Posted by 1920s Style "Death Ray"
What was the launch price of the Xbox 360?

Originally Posted by Mikahw

Same as it is now. $300 for the core pack (but you have to add $40 to that for a memory card if you want to actually save your game or use Xbox live) and $400 for the premium pack which includes a 20GB hard drive, wireless controller instead of wired, headset for Xbox Live, remote control, and a few other minor things I'm probably forgetting.

The hard drive sells for $100 all by itself, and there's lots of game demos and stuff you can download if you have it instead of the memory card.

That's not entirely true. That was the MSRP for the 360, but one was generally hard pressed at launch to find a unit for those prices rather than a "bundle" with 2 mediocre-to-craptacular racing games, and some similarly unremarkable RPG for ~$600.

That said, if I can find a PS3 "premium" (or whatever) model for $600, I'll probably get it. Hell, I paid that much for a PS2 at launch. However, if my only options are $800 bundles, I'll probably wait a few months.

(Unless maybe one of the bundled games is DoA Beach Volleyball 2. )

[Gozu Tashoya]

If FFXIII is a launch title, I'm in trouble.

[B. Serum]

What, does Sony think they're Apple now?

[DKW]

Five hundred bucks? Five hundred?

And remember, that's just for starters. If the system wears out, breaks down, or otherwise stops working, which is absolutely inevitable, you're out the cost of a fresh system. Expect the games to cost a premium, especially the megahot titles everyone has to have (since they have so much better graphics and stuff). And peripherals. Did I mention peripherals? A fairly reliable PS2 controller...not a fancy joystick, not a wheel, just your basic ordinary standard-issue controller...still costs about $25. How much do you think a PS3 one is going to set you back? (And if you think you'll never going to need a Codebreaker, think again.)

I'm not even going to touch the subject of imports.

Listen, I have a plethora of PS2 games, I think it's probably the greatest system ever, and dollar for dollar, it's barely even with the Dreamcast. And there is absolutely no freaking way I'm shelling out many more hundreds for this system which I have no idea yet of whether it's any improvement over the PS2.

Forget it. I know I've continued pouring money into this habit long after I said I'd stop, but a man's gotta draw the line somewhere. Maybe six or seven years from now when I can get it for $200 used. And there are great games. Lots of them. (Might have to clear up some more space in my room, too...)

Cluricaun - Agreed. Agreed 110%. Maybe even 220%. I was there. Huge waiting lists, nationwide mall vigils, all for a $300 system that I ended up not seeing in one single blasted retail outlet. FOR A WHOLE YEAR. The first production of that system, guaranteed to eventually break down. You think they'd know better by now.

[diku]

And now Nintendo kinda hit them hard with the Wii press conference. No pricing yet though.

[Anaamika]

A lot of people scolded me a year ago when I said the price was going to be $500. "No, they'll lower the price. You're jumping the gun. Stop worrying so much." I would have loved to be proven wrong.

I'm afraid they've lost me too, unless the price drops a couple of years after it comes out. I certainly won't be spending that kind of money. And I wouldn't want the lesser one anyway! It's a pity because I now have played every Final Fantasy I could get my hands on, own Advent Children and Spirits Within, and am a huge FF fan. Whatever will I do now?

[rjung]

I think Nintendo will announce the Wii pricing after Microsoft's keynote.

That said, the descriptions of the Wii games I've been reading sound really cool. Nintendo FTW!

[MacTech]

$500, you have *GOT* to be freakin' *kidding* me....

sorry, Sony, it's been a fun ride, but this is where i get off, i'll keep playing my PS2, Sega Dreamcast and Nintendo Gamecube until they die

sheesh, for around $500 i could get a frikkin' Mac Mini, a *far* more useful and practical use of $500

[BabaBooey]

A lot of you seem to be whoring out over the Wii. Are all of you Gamecube fans, or does the Wii look that promising? I haven't been a fan on Nintendo since the dissapointing N64, which had some GREAT games, but they were few and far between. The Gamecube lost me off the bat with the terrible controllers and the general lack of quality games.

[diku]

Whoring out? Nice.


No, I don't own a Gamecube, I have a PS2. Bought my N64 second hand. I have a DS, but I bought and sold off my PSP first. The games for the Wii just look better, and the pricing is much more reasonable. I don't care about the fanciest graphics or the most polygons. Gameplay is the king. If the PS3 has a few games I can't live without, I may end up getting one. Same with the Wii. For the DS, it was Mario Kart and the New Mario Brothers game.

But the games would have to be really really good to make me spend $600 on a console.

[Gozu Tashoya]

Originally Posted by Anaamika

A lot of people scolded me a year ago when I said the price was going to be $500. "No, they'll lower the price. You're jumping the gun. Stop worrying so much." I would have loved to be proven wrong.

I'm afraid they've lost me too, unless the price drops a couple of years after it comes out. I certainly won't be spending that kind of money. And I wouldn't want the lesser one anyway! It's a pity because I now have played every Final Fantasy I could get my hands on, own Advent Children and Spirits Within, and am a huge FF fan. Whatever will I do now?

Start/Keep playing FFXI? It should be around for at least a few years longer.

[Hampshire]

I've been playing my Gamecube for the past 3 years and have only been playing the "highly rated" or "good" games that have come out for it.
I bought it because I liked the games and the price was right.

I'm with everyone else in saying the pricetags on these new systems are really reaching.

My solution (that I need your help with): I'll probably buy an XBOX or a PS2 and play all the good games for them that already exsist. The cores are cheap now and so are the games at the used places. I've never had the pleasure of playing Halo, GrandTheftAuto, and the other classics so they'll all be new to me.

So, for the XBOX and PS2, what are the system exclusive top 5 must have titles for each? (This should keep me busy for a while until prices come down on the new systems.)

[Anaamika]

Originally Posted by Gozu Tashoya

Start/Keep playing FFXI? It should be around for at least a few years longer.

XI? is that the online one? I forget. I haven't bought a new one since X-2 (don't yell at me, I had to know what happened to Tidus). XII is on PS3, isn't it?

[rjung]

Originally Posted by BabaBooey

A lot of you seem to be whoring out over the Wii. Are all of you Gamecube fans, or does the Wii look that promising?

Someone has self-esteem issues, and it ain't me...

Anyway, to answer the question, my last console was a Sega Dreamcast. I'll be happy with any system that lets me play fun games on it, cutting-edge graphics or no cutting-edge graphics. But since I've got a household with a mix of gamers and non-gamers, including under-ten kids and over-50 grandparents, a system that has games that everyone can play together gets the nod from me.

And let's admit it, after twenty-some-years of gaming, breaking the usual joystick/joypad-plus-buttons control scheme is a rather novel idea -- if nothing else, it's sure to be an icebreaker for visitors.

[Uvula Donor]

Originally Posted by BabaBooey

A lot of you seem to be whoring out over the Wii.

I've owned just about every console or handheld you can think of over the years, and still have a lot of them. My PS2 and my Cube are side by side next to the gaming TV. I really, really LIKE the Gamecube, and I always have.

I'm looking forward to the Wii because just about every Nintendo game ever produced is going to be available for it via d/l and because I value gameplay over superhot graphics.

And like I said upthread, the new Zelda game trailer gives me goosebumps. I can't wait.

[kushiel]

Well, if Square keeps on putting out the craptastic RPGs (KH is good, but not my thing), I'll be happy with a Wii, and just ignore the PS3 until it hits the $200 price point.

[Gozu Tashoya]

Originally Posted by Anaamika

XI? is that the online one? I forget. I haven't bought a new one since X-2 (don't yell at me, I had to know what happened to Tidus). XII is on PS3, isn't it?

Yup, XI is the online one. XII is/will be for the PS2 (depending on whether you want the Japanese version or not). XIII will be for the PS3.

[H3Knuckles]

Originally Posted by diku

So today at E3, Sony announced the pricing for the PS3. Launch date in November, worldwide. Cost: $499 with a 20GB hd, $599 with a 60GB. Source: Kotaku

You know, I'm a pretty serious gamer, been burning up my DS like crazy. But I just can't see paying those prices for a console system. That's a starter computer with monitor that can be still upgraded easily. Just seems way out of line to me.

Yeah, it's a lot for a console, but; It's also a quality region-free(!) DVD player, with the Blu-Ray capability (allows storage of a great deal more data per disc) that Sony is trying to market as the next step in DVD's after HD-DVD. You're getting a lot for $600 even. Hell, that's including the 60gig Hard Drive and Internet built in, unlike the PS2.

To give more context; All prices I've heard for the first Blu-Ray players when they come out are up around the $1000 mark. Think about getting that right-away, with a bad-ass console, for $400 less. Not so bad in that light, is it?

But, in the interest of full disclosure, I'm a fence-rider who usually ends up buying all or most of the home consoles of any particular generation (got the X-Box, PS2, and Gamecube). Not all at once mind you, over the span of a given generation. Anyways, I'm probably not as critical of systems as others.

[Rigamarole]

To some, consoles are kind of like gasoline or cigarettes.

They could just keep hiking the price of the Next Best Thing and they'll pay it. (and a lot of mommies and daddies will pay for it too)

[Airblairxxx]

Originally Posted by H3Knuckles

To give more context; All prices I've heard for the first Blu-Ray players when they come out are up around the $1000 mark. Think about getting that right-away, with a bad-ass console, for $400 less. Not so bad in that light, is it?

Except that:

--You're only buying a first-generation Blu-ray player. Early adapters can always expect to pay a premium, but in this case Blu-ray DVD isn't even the PS3's primary function--it's more of an add-on.

--Electronics prices will always plummet. You might even see Blu-ray players on sale for $600 by Christmastime.


Too bad, Sony. I haven't owned a game console since the original Nintendo NES, but I do have an HDTV and I was going to dip my toe back into gaming with the PS3. Now, if I have the money to spare, I'll just get a dedicated Blu-ray (or worse! HD-DVD) player instead.

[E-Sabbath]

Oh, pick up a Wii. You'll be able to play the old NES games. I'm so going to get Duck Hunt. Just to shoot the dog.

[rjung]

Originally Posted by H3Knuckles

To give more context; All prices I've heard for the first Blu-Ray players when they come out are up around the $1000 mark. Think about getting that right-away, with a bad-ass console, for $400 less. Not so bad in that light, is it?

Except that I have a perfectly good DVD player, and don't have a burning need to upgrade to Blu-Ray.

Not to mention that the crippled PS3 doesn't have HDMI support, so having a Blu-ray player in that unit is meaningless.