Both Sides of the PS3 Price Cut Rumor

So here's the deal: Kotaku has a flier for an upcoming Circuit City deal on the PlayStation 3, putting the price at $499. There's some confusion about whether this is just a sale from Circuit City, or an actual price drop from Sony. Next Generation has Sony saying 'no', indicating that this isn't a sign of an across-the-board price cut. Meanwhile, GameDaily says 'yes', with sources in the retail industry indicating this is the price adjustment we've heard coming for a while now. "As it turns out, a merchandising manager (who wished to remain anonymous) at one of the world's biggest retailers has confirmed to GameDaily BIZ that the price drop is indeed retail-wide and it's scheduled to take place on July 12, although the first wave of ads to promote the PS3's new price won't kick in until Sunday, July 15. Many analysts have speculated that Sony would drop the price on the expensive console this year, and some even predicted that it could happen this summer. It's starting to look like they were right. We're sure to find out much more next week when Sony holds its press conference at E3." Luckily we won't have to wait long to see what's the real story here.

$499

[penp (1072374)]

Still way more than I will pay for bare bones console.

Sadly, I could probably double the performance of my PC for that price.

Re:

[soccerace09 (908351)]

The current price of the 20 Gb PS3 is $499. So if this is a price cut, it would be down $100 to make the 60 Gb $499. While it still may be more than the 360, it's hardly what I would call a "bare bone" console.

Re:

[Sciros (986030)]

Well... unless you really care about Blu-Ray movies (which IMO are way overpriced), by the time you pick up a game ($60), an extra controller, whatever other accessories (maybe component cables?), and factor in the tax on all this stuff, you end up paying $650 or more. When more must-have PS3-exclusive games come out (or Blu-Ray films become anywhere near a sensible purchase), the PS3 will become an ok purchase, but until then it seems a bit pricey.

The 360 isn't necessarily that much more bang for the buck

Re:$499

[Jeff DeMaagd (2015)]

Well... unless you really care about Blu-Ray movies (which IMO are way overpriced)

Not really, unless you mean to say that any money more than the DVD is "overpriced". For most of the new movies I looked at, the Blu-Ray version is $5 more than the DVD version. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs aren't any more expensive than in the first few years of DVD, so I really don't think the pricing is unfair.

Besides, you can get Blu-Ray and HD-DVD movies from Netflix for no extra cost.

I don't regret the purchase at all.

Re:$499

[Sciros (986030)]

The Netflix thing is a good point, although I tend to buy rather than rent because I'm a big moviegoer. But in terms of price, I tend to see Blu-Ray at $25-$30, with the $25 ones being bad Adam Sandler films or something. I buy DVDs at prices in the $10-$15 range usually. The only pricey ones I sometimes get are anime ones, which I'm always like "grumble grumble" about grabbing off the shelf. And if someone were to tell me that anime DVDs are overpriced, I'd say "ABSOLUTELY!"

Re:

[by Anonymous Coward]

Way off topic here, so posting as AC... But yes, there are good Adam Sandler movies:

- Punch Drunk Love http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0272338/ [imdb.com], great romantic comedy.
- Click! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389860/ [imdb.com] will probably make you cry.

Note that in both movies, Adam Sandler is not playing his normal Happy Gilmore / Big Daddy / Mr. Deeds role.

Re:

[Sciros (986030)]

It depends... if by "new" you mean "the movie was in theaters just a bit ago" then I can often find a copy for $15 for a limited time at Target. Or perhaps randomly discounted at my local grocery provided I have the "loyalty card" on my keychain at the time (got Seinfeld Season 8 for $25 new that way).

But "not-so-new" (by which I mean older movies) DVDs are often in the $10-$15 range just about anywhere, and the "not-so-new" Blu-Rays are still like $25.

Re:

[penp (1072374)]

A console with no games and one controller? It's bare bone. What does a 60 Gb hard drive in my console do for me that a 20 Gb one doesn't? Better yet, what does all that extra space do that having the extra space on my PC wouldn't?

Last I checked, 60Gb hard drives weren't $100 more than 20Gb hard drives.

Re:

[eln (21727)]

I'm not sure what you mean by "half a remote". The Wii comes with the remote and the nunchuck attachment, which is enough to play all Wii (meaning made for the Wii, not GC or VC) games. The Virtual Console controller is only needed to play a small subset of VC games, so it really should be considered an add-on rather than part of the standard controller.

Re:

[CashCarSTAR (548853)]

ERrrr..no

There's only one Wii SKU in North America, and it comes with the console, remote+nunchuk and WiiSports.

Wii comes with Remote + Nunchuck

[LordZardoz (155141)]

The Wii comes with a Remote + the Nunchuck, unless something has changed since I purchased mine near launch. Wii Sports boxing game requires the Nunchuck.

END COMMUNICATION

Re:

[ZakuSage (874456)]

Much as I want a PS3 to play MGS4 eventually, I completely agree. I recently spent $150 on a new graphics card for my PC that, while not particularly amazing, allows me to play all the great games I've missed out on over the last few years and some of the games to come in the future (plays Lost Planet decently, hopefully DMC4 and UT3 will work OK). All of the consoles currently available, IMO, are a waste of money for what you're getting (PS3 for the high price alone; 360 for the seemingly rampant hardware

Re:

[DrXym (126579)]

Still way more than I will pay for bare bones console.

Now how about for a console with Blu Ray, DVD, CD, SACD playback, streaming video & audio, H264 video, AAC, MP3, WMA audio, an integrated web browser, wifi, gigabit LAN, bluetooth, USB connectivity, a 60Gb hard disk, HDMI 1.3 output, wirelesss controllers, free online network support, integrated store, web browser, chat & messaging, ability to run Linux and doubtless many other things? AND it is a kickass games console.

I might buy at that price....

[Fallen Kell (165468)]

I really might consider buying at that price, if only for the BluRay. Hell, I paid $1000 for my DVD player!!! I think I can pay $500 for a BluRay player and a console in one.

Hell, I paid $1000 for my DVD player!!!

[xxxJonBoyxxx (565205)]

Hell, I paid $1000 for my DVD player!!!

Really? Want to buy another one? In fact, I think I can get you all the DVD players you want at that price...

Re:

[LighterShadeOfBlack (1011407)]

I really might consider buying at that price, if only for the BluRay. Hell, I paid $1000 for my DVD player!!! I think I can pay $500 for a BluRay player and a console in one.

But a few years later you could buy a fully-spec'd multi-region DVD player for $50. Plus DVDs are already being phased out in favour of a new technology, making your investment overpriced and shortlived. And yet here you are about to do the same thing all over again. It seems you just don't learn.

Re:

[Gospodin (547743)]

Plus DVDs are already being phased out in favour of a new technology....

Er... they are? Which technology is that?

Re:

[LighterShadeOfBlack (1011407)]

... Blu-Ray and/or HD-DVD.

Is this the part where you tell me that DVDs will be around for ages? I doubt it. Almost all TVs produced now are HD-capable, give it 2 years for the players to go down in price and maybe another year for people to buy them and I'll bet you any money that one or both formats will be outselling DVD.

The conversion from DVD to HD formats won't be as slow as VHS to DVD was. The fact that there is a format war just means that both parties are pushing harder than ever to get their format

Re:I might buy at that price....

[michrech (468134)]

Is this the part where you tell me that DVDs will be around for ages? I doubt it. Almost all TVs produced now are HD-capable, give it 2 years for the players to go down in price and maybe another year for people to buy them and I'll bet you any money that one or both formats will be outselling DVD.

I'm here to tell you that the 25" CRT I bought about 6 years ago is going along just fine. I'm also here to guarantee you that it will NOT be replaced, no matter how much Blue Ray/HD-DVD players and HDTV's drop in price, until my current TV dies, or the signals being sent to it from Dish Network and my DVD player quit working with it.

That being said, adding the fact that I am not alone in the US (let alone the rest of the world) in this line of thought, DVD's will, in fact, be around for a while. If they are not, then the movie studios are going to notice a sudden drop in revenue as people such as myself forgo purchasing ANY media and get it via the internet instead (legally or not).

Re:

[Achoi77 (669484)]

But a few years later you could buy a fully-spec'd multi-region DVD player for $50. Plus DVDs are already being phased out in favour of a new technology, making your investment overpriced and shortlived. And yet here you are about to do the same thing all over again. It seems you just don't learn.

Huh?

Are you saying he should wait a few more years for blu-ray players to lower their costs to around 50 dollars, at a point where BRDVD are going to be phased out in favour of a new technology?

Would it be deeme

Re:

[Achoi77 (669484)]

I bought a ps3 back in January, mostly for Blu-ray. If you get a chance, try and get the Planet Earth documentary - absolutely stunning. I also bought a dvd copy of Planet Earth for my coworker, and while it still looks good - it's true: you really can't go back once you go HD.

I'm sure the console is nice too :-) In all seriousness, my friends have been coming over, downloading demos like Gran Tourismo and Ninja Gaiden Sigma, and they do indeed look very pretty, I just haven't been interested in playing an

Nice, but not enough

[ShadowsHawk (916454)]

I bought a Wii and a DS:Lite on a whim, but $500 is simply too much. I'll consider it when it is around $300.

Re:

[ThePiMan2003 (676665)]

Wow you really think highly of yourself. There is a LOT more to a video game console than how it will look on your TV no matter what the price. The Wii is simply FUN. Its about the games. If all you care about is how it looks than enjoy your PS3, I prefer a system that I can actually sit down at with my wife and play games on.

Re:Nice, but not enough

[doombringerltx (1109389)]

Chilli-cheese dogs taste better than caviar and the wii is more fun PS3. Money isn't everything

Re:

[hibiki_r (649814)]

Oh, so the rest of us with bigger, better setups that are playing the Wii are just wrong. After all, there is a law against having a 4K+ entertainment center and using a component input to play the Wii. I guess I'm breaking the law.

You are right on one point though: The PS3 and the Wii are not comparable products: One is a console with a bunch of good games, the other is a bad Blu-ray player that has an anemic game library. That's why one is selling well, and the other is tanking. Metal Gear, Final Fantasy,

Re:

[ShadowsHawk (916454)]

1. The Wii and the PS3 are simply not comparable products

You're right. One is fun and the other is over priced.

2. the sales history for them is irrelevant.

You're a troll. Sony got cocky and Nintendo is kicking their ass for losing sight of the consumers demands.

3. For someone like myself who has a nice 46" LCD... $2000 television.

Your LCD looks like shit compared to my 43" Pioneer Elite. I love watching DiscoveryHD and various other channels. I do not however, need it for gaming. I have a PC that is mo

Re:Nice, but not enough

[AdmiralWeirdbeard (832807)]

Money does not determine a persons worth and it certainly will not make them happy.

yes, hi, Homeland Security? I found one of the terrorists. see above.

Just as an aside

[SuiteSisterMary (123932)]

You're a troll. Sony got cocky and Nintendo is kicking their ass for losing sight of the consumers demands.

1970s: Arcades got cocky, and Atari is kicking their ass for losing sight of the consumer's demands.
1980s: Atari got cocky, and Nintendo is kicking their ass for losing sight of the consumer's demands.
1990s: Nintendo got cocky, and Sony is kicking their ass for losing sight of the consumer's demands.
2000s: Sony got cocky, and Microsoft is kicking their ass for losing sight of the consumer's demands.

Dual-promotions...

[DrEldarion (114072)]

This and the 5 free blu-ray discs promotion will be happening simultaneously. If they promote both aggressively, I can imagine sales jumping quite a bit.

Then again, Sony will probably just release an ad with a monkey in a diaper and not mention anything relevant at all.

Re:Dual-promotions...

[Rayonic (462789)]

Then again, Sony will probably just release an ad with a monkey in a diaper

Interesting. Usually ad execs don't star in their own commercials.

Re:

[adisakp (705706)]

On the more serious side, a couple weeks ago Best Buy had a promotion where if you bought one of several Sony 1080P TVs (like their nice $2,000 42" LCD) and a couple PS3 games with a PS3, they knocked $600 off the package price, effectively giving you a PS3 for free. If I didn't already have a PS3 and a LCD TV, I would have considered dropping the dough.

Wii

[Selfbain (624722)]

Now Nintendo will only be beating them 5 to 1 instead of 6 to 1.

Re:Wii

[Rayonic (462789)]

And Toyotas sell 5 times as many units as Lexus. Who cares?

Well, both Toyotas and Lexuses use the same gasoline. If fuel was brand-specific, Lexus owners might be SOL.

/car analogies ftw!

Re:Wii

[AdmiralWeirdbeard (832807)]

AFAIK, they're also the same company...

Obligatory

[coop247 (974899)]

Figures, I just bought one a week ago. My sacrifice is for the good of the people.

probably not a sale

[SolusSD (680489)]

I sued to work electronics retail (best buy.. ughh), anyway- there is NO markup on game consoles, places like best buy and circuit city make their money by selling games, services, and accessories for the consoles. I highly doubt circuit city is willing to take a >$100 hit on each ps3.

Re:

[SolusSD (680489)]

edit:: > use to work

Re:probably not a sale

[KingSkippus (799657)]

I like your original version better. I figured you must have really wanted in the industry to go to such great lengths. :-D

Great Price

[Dr Kool, PhD (173800)]

It's hard to justify buying an Xbox 360 if Sony does cut their prices. There's so much more you get with the PS3 including HDMI, Blu-Ray drive for movies AND games, built in WiFi, free online forever, soon to be free MMO (Home), and HDMI. Looks like Microsoft may have to cut their own prices to compete.

$500 is a steal, why are people being so difficult

[Paradox (13555)]

I know Sony hating has been popular on slashdot, and I like to try and separate this from the PS3. I've got years of good karma banked, so I'm going to spend 5 minutes making a list of what my PS3 does, for its price.

• Plays PS3 games
• Plays Blu-Ray discs.
• Upconverting (1080i) DVD player
• Cross platform (Win/Mac/Linux) streaming media player (H.264, MPEG2,Many AVI-contained formats)
• Local media player (variety of flash memory cards and external hard drives)
• Can browse the internet w/ flash support
• Can access sonys (admitted lackluster, but definitely there) Online Store.
  
  • Sonys online store deals in real money, not points (which are only bought in increments which do not divide evenly into common prices).
  • Sonys online store offers PSP content if you have one (more and more people do, they are becoming quite common now)
• Plays a variety of farily good online content, with feature titles including Calling All Cars and the recent Super Stardust HD.
• Can play most PS2 games with excellent upscaling (looks great) (nearly all games with non-UK release)
• Can play most PS1 games (non-UK release) (upconversion to 480p, looks about as good as youd expect from such old tech)
• Uses standard bluetooth and USB for all peripherals. You can use your existing bluetooth headset.
• It can run linux. It cannot access the video hardware, but thats boring anyways. The Cell processor is far more exciting.
• 802.11b/g right out of the box. No external adaptor required.
• While PS3 failure is not unheard of, the box has an unquestionably better reliability rate than the Xbox 360, its major competitor.

To get an Xbox 360 that is feature competitive (elite or not), you're going to be paying within $50 of the price of the current PS3. And even then, the Xbox 360 is far less cross-platform friendly, using nonstandard technology for its media streaming and peripherals. And you'll need to spend extra money for a HD-DVD box (if that's your thing). If you're considering buying a traditional game console, the PS3 is very competitive to the XBox 360 (especially so given the troubling reliability issues with the 360, I myself am on my third which refuses to play Gears of War!)

In comparison to the Wii, I advise you go for the Wii first unless you have a big PS2 game selection, in which case the PS3 will probably be a better value. The Wii and PS3 are both game systems, but the Wii is the interesting bargain product and the PS3 is the luxury product. This is not a representation of Wii dominance, it's a representation of supply/demand economics and how they interact with MSRPs. For many people, the Wii is a lever to get gaming into homes that aren't otherwise receptive to it. That's awesome, it's the tide that raises all the boats, and no one can deny the Wii is an interesting an innovative console. I like it, I waited overnight for mine, I endorse it.

But right now, the Wii isn't much more atttractive a platform than the PS3, if you get fair about the comparison. It's only got three really great titles (WiiPlay, Zelda and Paper Mario) and a release schedule that's nearly as lackluster as the PS3's. It's got a lot of development difficulty (instead of wrangling the cell, you're designing for a completely new and somewhat alien control system that requires a lot of realtime analysis of multiple data streams).

I totally understand waiting on buying a PS3. The platform only has a few really great titles right now (Motorstorm and recently the revised Ninja Gaiden Sigma), so it's entirely reasonable to wait. But to say that this $100 price drop doesn't make it competitive is just absurd and it's hater-aide. Don't buy into the anti-hype surrounding the platform.

Disclosure: I own all 3 consoles, a high def television. I am a supporter of Blu-ray as a recordable data standard. My Wii has stayed quiet since I beat Paper Mario, my Xbox 360 (2rd replacement) has just shown hardware defects and I'm told to send it in again. I do not work or take money from any video game company or Sony. I run both mac and linux boxes in my home, so an open media streaming capability is important to me.

Re:$500 is a steal, why are people being so diffic

[antime (739998)]

I would assume that with a price drop Sony would switch to the EE-less PS3 everywhere, meaning backwards compatiblity takes a hit.

Re:$500 is a steal, why are people being so diffic

[The One and Only (691315)]

• Upconverting (1080i) DVD player
• Cross platform (Win/Mac/Linux) streaming media player (H.264, MPEG2,Many AVI-contained formats)
• Local media player (variety of flash memory cards and external hard drives)
• Can browse the internet w/ flash support
• Plays a variety of farily good online content, with feature titles including Calling All Cars and the recent Super Stardust HD.
• Uses standard bluetooth and USB for all peripherals. You can use your existing bluetooth headset.
• It can run linux. It cannot access the video hardware, but thats boring anyways. The Cell processor is far more exciting.
• 802.11b/g right out of the box. No external adaptor required.

With the exception of the Cell processor and a different selection of "fairly good online content", I already own something that does all of these things. And unless you're also using your PS3 to post on Slashdot, so do you.

Re:$500 is a steal, why are people being so diffic

[Dr Kool, PhD (173800)]

Update your firmware to 1.80 or higher. PS3 didn't ship with upconverting working, but it was released in the update a few weeks ago.

Re:

[Paradox (13555)]

When I think about getting a game console, I'm only thinking about games.

I was in the lucky position of buying the PS3 as I was building my home entertainment system. In this capacity, I saved a metric ass-ton of money. The PS3 was so crazily cheap compared to the morass of equipment to provide its functionality that it wasn't even a contest.

The PS3 is a bad deal right now, and I'm not sure it will recover past the point where it's actually worth it to have it AND my 360. And with no games I'm certainly not

Re:...zzz...Is it less than $200 yet? No?...zzz...

[twistedsymphony (956982)]

while I don't think it needs to be THAT cheap to be a success they already had a $500 price point that they ditched. IMO the extra 40GB of hard drive space (for a hard drive that you can swap out yourself with an off the shelf part) and built in WiFi wasn't really worth the extra $100 they were charging for the premium unit anyway.

If there was anyone with $500 in their pocket who wanted a PS3 they probably would have bought the 20GB model when it was still available, I'm pretty sure you can still find them lingering around stores today too.

If they want to be competitive they have to match the 360's price point... unfortunately I think if anything this price drop will cause Microsoft to follow suit, they've been hinting at a price drop [thoughthead.com] for quite some time as well.

Re:

[7Prime (871679)]

You do realize that the stripped down version, practically doesn't exist? They made a few (very few), and put them out on the shelves at launch, JUST so that people would start quoting the $500 price point as the minimum... when they go to the store, though, they only see the $600 units, and most of the time, they just bite the bullet.

It was a decent business strategy. But no, the $500 PS3 was kind of a red hearring.

Is there a term for products like this? I'm sure there is... ya know, something that is put

Re:

[el_gordo101 (643167)]

Is there a term for products like this? I'm sure there is... ya know, something that is put out in very small supply, just so that a company can claim it exists?

It's called bait and switch [wikipedia.org]. Advertise a low-price item and then try to up-sell the consumer to a more expensive one when they come into the shop.

Re:...zzz...Is it less than $200 yet? No?...zzz...

[eln (21727)]

I bought the Wii for $250, and I thought that was a pretty good price. For the PS3, if they got the 60 GB version down around $400, I'd probably seriously consider buying one. Anything higher than that just isn't going to happen though.

Re:...zzz...Is it less than $200 yet? No?...zzz...

[Rolgar (556636)]

Hmm, I haven't had a console since the NES, but when I bought my Wii with Sports and Trauma Center, I basically got a Gamecube, and a limited NES, SNES, TG16 and I have my Wii now. A friend loaned me Prince of Persia, Metriod Prime, and two Zelda disks, and I got a whole lot of gaming for under $400. I'm big on budget gaming, but there is a whole lot of value in having a Nintendo right now. I'll probably continue to focus on Gamecube gaming for a while and add some VC games before I pick up new Wii games next year.

Re:

[Stevecrox (962208)]

Hours of fun per pound, I like to have fun most of my activities cost a fair bit by buying a PS3 I figure I'll get the same usage that I have out of my PS2. I can't go rock climbing, pitch 'n putt, Bowling, Cinema, riding, drinking every night of the week and so with my dead time I usually read, buy a DVD or buy some programming reference book to learn a language. My reading rate is extremely fast and a 1000 page book can't be expected to last me more than a couple of hours*, my DVD collection is vast but t