$499 PlayStation 3 Confirmed

Gamespot is reporting that the rumoured price drop from earlier this week is a reality. Starting on July 10th, the current 60GB model will sell for $499. Coming to US shores in August is the 80GB version only available in South Korea at the moment, which will retail for $599. They're bundling that unit with Motorstorm, so it's not just another 20 gigs for $100. "The price drop further indicates that, after a slow start, Sony is now aggressively trying to expand its customer base in the US. The move comes none too soon. According to the latest figures from industry-research firm the NPD Group, the PS3 only sold 82,000 units in the US in May, compared to the Xbox 360's 155,000 units and the Wii's 338,000 units." So, is this it? Will this price drop make you buy a PS3, or are you still holding off for the big games this fall?

Re:"aggressively"?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd call lowering the price point of a console only 8 months after it's release aggressive. It took Sony like 2 years to do the same for PSP.

Panic Time

[MeanMF]

This just confirms that Sony is in full-blown panic mode... They keep talking about the long-term viability of the PS3, and I can see why since it is a pretty nice piece of hardware. But they're obviously very worried about their near-term prospects so I could easily see how they'd cut another $100 before the end of the year if things don't turn around quickly.

Those that fail to learn from history

[Orion Blastar]

are doomed to repeat it.

Anyone remember the NeoGeo [neo-geo.com]?

Well anyway it was set to debut at $599 [wikipedia.org] want to know why it didn't do so well? Due to the price. $500 and up game consoles don't sell that well. Sony needs to find a way to lower the price to $299 on the base model and $399 on the advanced model or else the Wii and XBox 360 will eat their lunch.

Great News

[Dr Kool, PhD]

I already have a PS3 but I'll be picking one up for my brother for his birthday because of the price cut. You really can't argue with the value the PS3 provides. You get an awesome game machine, free online gaming forever, a fully capable Blu-Ray player, an upscaling DVD player, HDMI output, user-upgradable 60GB hard drive, and a Cell processor computer capable of running Linux all for just $500. Motorstorm, Resistance and Ninja Gaiden Sigma are three great exclusives already out. More awesome exclusives like Gran Turismo, Heavenly Sword, MGS and Hot Shots Golf are just around the corner. Looks like the PS3 is really rolling now.

Those who fail to learn from economics 101

[Pap22]

Get your facts straight, according to your own wiki link:

However, this plan was quickly scrapped and when the system had its national launch it debuted at $649.99

$650 in 1990 dollars is $1120 in 2006 dollars. Not to mention the fact EACH neo geo game cost $200 in 1990 dollars ($313 in 2006 dollars).

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi [westegg.com]

Compared to the neo geo, the PS3 is a flippin bargain.

AU prices

[Nazlfrag]

I doubt we'll see anything like this. A typical price, ie. on 'sale' at Big W here w/free game is $987. That's around $847 USD. This is also the European model where they ripped out the hardware backwards compatibility.

Or I could get this one imported for $582 AUD but have no warranty. Both options are bad, but the fact I could almost get TWO from America at the same price makes the warranty issue not look so bad after all.

Sony doesn't stand a chance against the Xbox or Wii(which is still regularly sold out) in Australia any time soon. Even with the best damn games on the planet $1000 is a ludicrous price, next to $350ish Wii or $500ish 360. I could in fact get both consoles and some games for the same price... Bluray doesn't even enter into consideration.

Re:Those that fail to learn from history

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"Well anyway it was set to debut at $599 want to know why it didn't do so well? Due to the price. $500 and up game consoles don't sell that well."

a.) $600 then is a LOT more than $500 now, and I don't just mean the $100 difference. The PS3 has already way out-sold the Neo Geo.

b.) The Neo Geo was NOT a mass market device. It wasn't built to be one, it wasn't marketed as one, and the games weren't designed that way. It was a niche device built for a small number of people that wanted to play arcade games at home.

c.) The GAMES for it were over $200.

The Neo Geo comparison isn't fair at all. You would have been far more apt to point to 3DO.

Re:It won't help

[Osty]

But am I the only one that finds the 360s selection of games really dull? It seems like there are a lot of FPS and sports games, and not a heck of a lot else.

When someone says this, I can't help but ask, "What are you looking for?" Sure, there are a fair number of FPS and sports games on the 360, just like on nearly every platform (even the Wii). There are plenty of other games as well. A sibling poster mentioned Oblivion, which was excellent (while many people prefer it on the PC due to modability, it plays perfectly on the 360 without forcing me to upgrade my PC). If you're looking for role-playing games, you're not going to find Final Fantasy, but there are several upcoming games that you might really like, such as Blue Dragon [gamespot.com] and Eternal Sonata [gamespot.com] (both JRPG-style games), Mass Effect [gamespot.com], Fable 2 [gamespot.com], Fallout 3 [gamespot.com], Two Worlds [gamespot.com] and more [gamespot.com] either out now or coming soon. If you want racing, Forza 2 [gamespot.com] out-does Gran Turismo and DiRT [gamespot.com] is great as the latest in the Colin McRae series. There are RTS games (C&C3 [gamespot.com], BFME2 [gamespot.com], the upcoming Halo Wars, etc), action/adventure games [gamespot.com] (I'm currently enjoying Overlord), rhythm games [gamespot.com] (GH2 is arguably better on 360 rather than PS2), and more. And that's before you really get into the XBLA games, where you can find puzzlers, board games, and card games alongside classic arcade games and original platformers and shooters.

Well, I guess the Live! Arcade games are. But all of those games could be done on the Wii, easily. Never mind the emulated games, which I refuse to pay for because I've been playing them for free for almost a decade now via PC emulators.

"Could be done" and "have been done" are two different things. Geometry Wars is coming to Wii (and DS), but I question whether or not it'll control as well without two analog sticks. I never thought that would happen, so maybe Catan, Carcassone, Boom Boom Rocket, Pac-Man CE, and others will eventually make their way over to the Wii with the new WiiWare program. I'm not holding my breath, and instead will enjoy the games available on XBLA right now.

As for emulating some of the games on XBLA, that's true. I'm not a big fan of many of the classic titles on XBLA, as I much prefer original titles or full-on remakes (the new Prince of Persia, or Pac-Man CE). I did enjoy Symphony of the Night on XBLA, as I never had a chance to play it on PS1. XBLA's strength going forward will be in original games or re-imagined classics, not the "old game with a splash of new sprites" we've seen so far. And with XNA picking up steam, the whole community will be able t

Re:Doing business in 21-st century

[PoderOmega]

What's the 21st century have to do with it? There is a very simple answer that is always pointed out with price drop rumors. PEOPLE WILL NOT BUY THE GAME SYSTEM TODAY IF THEY THINK/KNOW IT WILL BE CHEAPER TOMORROW. Stores want you to buy things now -- they don't want you think about your purchase. Even if you can do a price adjustment at Target (or wherever), stores would always to prefer the money NOW and not later (see gift cards).

Re:Waiting for Metal Gear

[Zantetsuken]

Its not a whole lot more number-wise, but heres a few more [wikipedia.org] that are set to be PS3 exclusive, and these are series highly reputed for the game play, not just graphics.

Of the exclusives on this list, I know the following to either be historically good franchises or good games for a new franchise (or at the absolute least have heard a few of them to be good):

• Castlevania (not much into it myself, but its a longstanding franchise)
• Genji: Days of the blade (I've played the demo, which made me rent it - its a great game with gameplay like the Onimusha series if you've played those)
• God of War 3 (never played 1 or 2 myself, but since just about every review site gave great critiques for months on end, it can't be too bad)
• Gran Turismo 5 (not a fan of racing games, but I know enough to know its big)
• Gradius (the latest in a great line originating with the side-scrolling NES space shooter)
• Haze (sounds decently fun, even if it only turns out to be an average FPS)
• Hot Shots Golf (if you like playing golf or other casual party games like this)
• Killzone 2 (I found the first to be fairly fun as even as a somewhat generic FPS)
• MGS4 (as you 2 have listed)
• Mobile Suite Gundam: Crossfire (looks like a fun clone of Armored Core with destructable buildings)
• Resistance: Fall of man (rented it, is extremely fun and is hard enough to suck you in and make you at least try)
• SOCOM (personally only the first was nothing short of spectacular, the second was mediocre, and the 3rd was just horrible - hopefully this will remedy that)
• Tekken 6 (not a fan of fighting games, but the only one I know of more popular than Tekken is the Guilty Gear franchise)
• Time Crisis 4 (everybody's favorite Peter Piper rail shooter with a guncon, this guncon model is supposed to have analog sticks and allow the player to roam freely the level)
• Warhawk (never played the original, but it sounds like there are legions of people waiting to sell their souls when this comes out)
• Zone of the Enders 3 (now I thought this series was finished, so the existence of this is news to me, but the first 2 were great fast action with superb mechanical designs on the mecha - this is definitely one to pick up if you like fast action that makes you have to really pay attention to where you are, not to mention where the enemy is)

Re:Blu-Ray

[Wdomburg]

Thing is ... both formats support the same codecs and have ample transfer rate for 1080p in both MPEG-4 or VC-1. Side by side comparisons tell you about the quality of the encoding and of the player, not of the capability of the format.

If I were in the market, I would personally go HD-DVD on price alone (about $250 last I looked). The theoretically superiority of Blu-ray (in capacity and transfer) means fuck all in the common case. To exceed the practical limit of HD-DVD you've to do something like encode the video at an exceptionally high bitrate, encode your audio in DTS Master Audio (an optional part of the standards, no players on the market actually support it) and try to cram more than four hours on a disc.

Re:"aggressively"?

[Moochman]

Bluray isn't a proprietary format like those other ones you listed. It's got the support of most of the major consumer electronics manufacturers as well as almost all the studios http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_corporations_ supporting_Blu-ray [wikipedia.org]. So please stop trolling.

Good day

Re:Panic Time

[Just Some Guy]

This is the first price cut since it was released.

...just eight months ago. The PS2 waited 19 months [wikipedia.org] before its first cut.

They have reduced the price of making the PS3. They have gotten a higher price from those really keen to get one.

The same is true for the Wii (also 8 months old) and 360 (15 months old), but neither of them are dropping.

You have clearly had no experience in marketing at all.

Yeah, that must be it.

Re:Blu-Ray

[Kelbear]

Or perhaps, Guitar Hero: Acoustic version!

You can give the kid a cheap acoustic guitar for just over $100 and he can learn off tablatures, tutorials, and perhaps a vid here and there. (Though certain companies have doing their best to make sure nobody learns how to play guitar...)

I don't ascribe any special importance to music, I just found the guitar to be a thoroughly enjoyable "game". Easy to start, but difficult to master with lots of levels and tons of replay value. The add-on for the singing version is free too. It's a game that seems to lack the same social stigma that the electronic version has.

Re:Waiting for Metal Gear

[Cutriss]

That article referenced on Wikipedia is *incredibly* optimistic. I was quite surprised to see Castlevania on the list, and then I opened the Wikipedia reference. It's a singular article on IGN saying that IGA said he wants to make a Castlevania game on *a* next-gen console. Also, that article was two years old. Needless to say, Castlevania should not be present.

Further, Zone of the Enders 3 is just a rumored game based on one magazine printing.

Also, aside from the Sony games on the list (which is the majority) and the two I just debunked, none of those aside from MGS4 is a "confirmed exclusive". TC4 was announced for the PS3, but given Namco's recent support/announcements for the 360, it is likely to show up there as well. Considering that SC4 is going to both the PS3 and 360, I would not be surprised to see Tekken go there as well. Haze *is* announced to the 360. So, really, you kinda need to go back to the other usual "fanboy list" of Lair, Warhawk, Home, etc etc etc.

Re:Blu-Ray

[wiggles]

A guitar! Perfect! Hours of entertainment, and chicks o' plenty in college! It truly is the gift that keeps on giving.