Another E3 Winding Down, Plus a Quick Clarification

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Well, we’re in the home stretch! A new format for E3 brought a new look and feel, a few challenges and most importantly a great opportunity to show off our wares for all PlayStation platforms. All the planning, preparations and hard work has paid off into what was a great E3 for SCEA. Congratulations to everyone involved in making that happen! And a thanks to all of you guys for your positive comments regarding the press conference and what we showed there. I know Jack was checking out all the comments on his post and really appreciated your feedback. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing our games via the trailers on PlayStation Network. I just wanted to also let you know that yes, we hear you, and we are working to make those great games you saw into more interactive content and demos.

One quick thing before I head to the show for the last day. I just wanted to clarify something. I’ve seen a lot of posts this morning related to the 60GB SKU and the comments by SCEE President David Reeves. As we announced this week, SCEA’s product offering in North America consists of a 80GB PS3 available in August and a 60GB PS3 available now for $499. We will have ample supplies of both models to meet the needs of consumers for the foreseeable future.

Talk to you again soon, once we get back from Santa Monica.

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  • I was reading this morning that the new rumber control is droping with the 80Gig PS3. What about those of us that bought the 60Gig and an extra control. Are we going to have to go purchase 2 more controls at full price or will some deal be struck? How much will these controlers cost?

  • @503

    It will probably be just like when the Xbox came out with the S controller. You had to go pony up the money to buy the new controller. There as no deal nor should there be. Just take your present controller to ebgames or gamestop if your in America and trade in your present controllers and put the cash up for the rumble one.

  • I hope we can see a lot of demos soon!!!

  • I love you guys!!!!!!!!

  • “Where did you hear that? I’ve heard that we were supposed to get the demo last month till the game was pushed to August.. so we should be getting that demo soon ..”

    Julian Eggebrecht himself, the director/producer/head honcho/whatever over at Factor 5 said it himself in an interview at or just before E3. So… no go on the Lair demo until the game is complete.

  • I really Hope so, im really exited to get hands on Heavenly Sword, that game is looking sick, and so far i gotta say i loved all the news that went down on E3 for sony, all those great games that will be coming out soon, and also of course the new psp wich im getting one for me and my girlfriend, even tho we already have the old ones, she has one in pink wich i got from the net, but still the redesign looks awesome, i can’t be more than satisified that i actually waited for the ps3 and didnt got the other console, becuase with all those great games coming out, its time for the real next gen to start!!!!!!

  • Something else about all this they’re not looking at is the fact that the reason the 20 gig didn’t sell well is because it didn’t have a memory card reader, built in wifi, or a substantially bigger hard drive. Here all we have as a difference is Motorstorm and 20 gigs. And then they left out the emotion engine which would make one think that the price would at least be cheaper than 599.99. That was supposed to be a cost cutting measure so the value could be passed to the cunsomer was

  • Oops accidentally hit submit. Anyway, isn’t the value supposed to be passed on to the gamer?

  • Honestly, it’s a dumb idea to have a temporary price cut and introduce a new SKU. Sony, you really need to get the price to sub $500 ASAP. Axe the new SKU, keep the 60 gig and cut it down to $400 for the holidays. Sales will skyrocket

  • great E3, That killzone 2 video was amazing!!! but, will there be a new update soon? thanks

  • I just don’t get it. Guys pay close attention to the market, the people themselves have the best ideas. They know what they want! Lol. Hey, I get your strategey, but would it not be more applicable to leave the $499 price point in place? Your two price strategy did not fail because consumers do not like choice, (Microsoft did it.) It failed because the value offered for the price did not meet the consumers expectation. People with psp’s who could not offord $599 were left out to dry with the 20gig version. And no wireless? Also…no chrome? It may seem simple but consumers look at little things like a chrome strip, not to mention the card readers. I suggest you leave your $499 price point, let your console sells go up, (because they will.) Then drop the 80gig bomb for somewhere in the $550 range. Again, consumers like choice, but a truly great value for each choice. If you offer the $499 price and dropp it, it decreases your credability in the market. New PSP…good job, we were looking for more, but awsome. Outstanding games on the rise…good we have been waiting. But all this with a give and take price point will be like placing the last bullet in the markets barrel and shooting yourselves in the foot with it…no hope.

  • Oh well, there is a fine line between genius and madness. You guys just crossed it.

    RIP

    PS3 11/2006-12/2007

    Count yourselves lucky that the “competition” offers no alternatives?

    Mario Kart anyone?

    Nah, guess its back to booze & strippers for entertainment…

  • @Kurse

    You’re an idiot. If you had any idea what you were talking about you’d know that Sony will lower the price of the 80GB once there are barely any more 60GB. It’s pure genius, they say that they are selling the 60GB at $500 for a limited time so people run out to buy it right now, and as soon as it’s gone, they lower the 80GB.

  • There’s a lot of argument and difference of opinions going on here, and it’s time to throw my two cents in.

    First, it creates ill will among the community to pretend a clearance sale is a price drop. Sony dropped the price of a product that they decided to stop producing because it wasn’t moving. It’s shameful that Sony tried to cash in some good will credit with this move.

    Second, some of you seem to think a price drop for the 80gb model is inevitable, and the fact of the matter is that none of us can say that for sure. If it does get a reduction it may just happen when Sony introduces an unprecedented fourth sku.

    This was a slimy move to try and grab some good PR, and it worked…. right up until the discontinuation of the 60gig model was announced.

  • Take out the PS1/PS2 chips of the models and continue to sell the 60gig PS3 for $500, bring back the 20gig PS3 without a PS1/PS2 chip in it and sell it for $400 and continue to sell a $600 version as your value pack… just give us more than a game like an extra controller.

  • Guys, the 60Gb version is $100 cheaper: pricecut.

    As for the 80 Gb at $600, who cares if that’s the only difference. Anyone can stick a 120 Gb hard drive in their PS3 for much less, so what’s the big fuss about?

    Having said that, where are the DEMOS already?

    And fleshen up the Store with music and movie downloads, FFS!

  • OK I’ve had a quick read of some of these.
    Now, as I have posted before, I’m a Staff Member at a Playstation Forum.
    What the people of that site, and everyone else who deal with Sony and prefer Sony want to know is this:
    Is the 60GB version being removed from the market or not? All we need is a yes or no answer to that, that is all.
    None of this “there is an ample supply for the next 3 months” or whatever you said. Once that has ran out will you continue to supply the 60GB version or not?
    I think, as a UK PS3 owner, we deserve to know more than anyone else. We are the ones you shunted back when the PS3 was first launched.
    We are the ones who you decided to use as Guinea Pigs by removing the Emotion Engine making a LOT of PS2 and PS1 games non-playable on the PS3, or at least playable but in a limited capacity.

    So why don’t you please do us all a favour and give us a straight, crystal clear, answer for once?
    Is the 60GB version being wiped out? And will us Europeans be affected by this as well?
    Oh and are we getting this so called Bundle Pack that includes the 80GB version and Motorstorm? (If we are, then I hope we get an extra control pad, a Blu-Ray Remote, and a HDMI cable to try to win back our support as we’ve been screwed enough over the last 9 or so months).

    I leave the floor open to you Sony bigwigs, no media babble, we just want straight answers to the questions I, and many others, have asked.

  • I agree with #519, lets make it utterly clear what we want to know. Not any of this PR mess, just the truth. Sony, because of this mess you’ve made, you owe us this much. You’re lucky that we sting hang around and don’t abandon camp. A lack of response to these questions will only demonstrate sony’s disdain for their fans. We deserve something in the way of an answer.

  • Cant see what difference it makes if the 60gb model is dropped in the UK if you already own one. A branded HDD upgrade for retail might be an idea, some people dont realise that you can put a 500gb HDD in your ps3 for around £100.

  • i agree is as well… but from a marketing standpoint the answer should be no and they should bring back the 20gig ps3 back for $400…

    like 518 said you can stick a 120gig hard-drive in there…

    also this is how much people want the PS3 to succeed and how much they want to see a cheaper PS3… at the “gamestop” and “gamecrazy/hollywood video” buy my house only 1 employee has a PS3 at 2 of the locations, gamecrazy and hollywood video, while everyone else has a 360. When I arrived at each store I asked each employee a few questions. Here are the results of my research:

    After asking every employee working at all 3 stores i found that 18 out of the 19 employees would buy a PS3 if they brought back the cheap 20gig PS3 (the 19th, the manager of gamestop, is trying to get a job at microsoft working on the next OS so he has to like the xbox360).

    15 out of the 19 said they would buy the 60gig PS3 before the end of August for $500

    And all 19 of them didn’t care if Sony had to resort to emulating PS1 and PS2 games if it meant they saw a cheaper price in the PS3.

    What did this show us? People want you to bring back the 20gig PS3, they want you to keep the 60gig PS3 and don’t care about the 80gig PS3.

    Seriously i’ll go around and ask everyone in my city what there opinion is on this if i have to convince Sony to do this… h**l I’ll ask everyone in the state of California on there opinion about this.

  • Exactly. Even knowing that 20GB is pretty much worthless for any user, they can buy a new disk after that, but in the meantime, you can enjoy you PS3.

    It is not like the competition where you need a special disk (Kudos on doing the PS3 compatible with normal disks)

  • The ps3 will get cheaper when Sony start selling more consoles, thats basic economics and business. The only way their gonna sell more consoles is with AAA first party games. Once ps3 starts out selling the juicebox & wee, third party developers wil be queing to make exclusives for us. MSG4,Killzone,Lair,Warhark HAVE to be stella.

  • @521
    Just because I already own a PS3 60GB model doesn’t mean I still can’t be annoyed towards this and want answers.
    I personally had my PS3 paid off LAST JUNE (2006) ready for the November launch, and then it got put back 4 months? But I’m not going into that now as that’s in the past.
    What I’m getting at is that ever since that moment in time when some Sony bigwig decided “well we are not going to manage to supply the entire wotrld straight off the bat like we promised, so who should we disappoint? I know the Europeans. they’re used to being messed around, so let us do it again. We would not want upset the poor American gamers.”
    It is ok to upset us Europeans as long as the Americans are happy.

    That is my whole point with this. Yes you Americans deserve to know what is going on as much as we do, just I think we deserve answers more than you because we have had enough of getting well and truly screwed.

    Any Europeans disagree with me? I very much doubt it.

    Sony get this sorted…

  • I disagree and i really dont see what the fuzz is all about. If you are thinking about buying a ps3 today its a great deal! If you like the games in the bundle you might want to consider that one : ) I mean its no secret that there are alot of 60gb’s out there on shelves so get one of those while you can! Of course its a matter of phasing out a smaller version in favour of the bigger one but when the 60gb’s are all sold out i wouldnt be surprised if its time to drop the price on the 80gb skew. Imo this is a smart move and it will shift a lot of units from now and well into next year so why turn this into something negative when it enables more people to pick it up?

  • @whatthegeek

    Of course it is inevitable, since they dropped the price of the 60GB PS3 sales have gone up 200%. And making the 80GB has basically the same cost if you take away motorstorm, the ee chip, the free controller and the 5 Blu-Ray movies.

  • I think all of us are in agreement on this issue. Lower price for the ps3. PERIOD. But I just think guessing that they will lower the ps3 bundle to 499 and saying they have to is jumping the gun. Hopefully though, they will see how mad everybody is at them and take steps to fix it like lower the price to 499 on the 80 gig. We can only hope they won’t continue to play stupid like they just did and listen to their fans for once.

  • I wont have enough time to get enough money, the 60gbs will be sold out by then so dont discontinue them and if you do, then I will not purchase a ps3 until you drop the price on the new one or keep the 60gb version.

  • @515

    Completely uncool to call me an “idiot”.
    This forum facilitates a dialogue with Sony, its does not exist to enable fanboi attacks.
    Your comment indicates that it is “clear” what Sony will do next, O’rly? 3 Senior executives making conflicting comments is “clarity” in your world?

  • Nice E3 with nice titles coming. Especially LittleBigPlanet. I still have a few suggestions you might want to consider in the future.

    1. Add PAL support for PS3. I have a japanese PS3 without full region 2 dvd support. I cant watch any movies even though they are in the same region as japan. My tv supports ntsc/pal/hd, but I bet someone else wants this as badly as I do.

    2. Like all press conferences at E3, Sonys was like all of the others corporate events, full of press hype and patting on the back of yourselves. you don´t need to sugar coat every line. If you have something show it. It will speak for itself. Mr. Tretton and co. should be like Mr. Tretton was on Kotakus small interviews, relaxed and straight to the point. Honest way is what I like.

    3. Keep up the good work. I like the updates that add to the existing functionality of the PS3. Looks like the console is shaping up to be the best damn device i´ve bought in years.

  • @525
    yes Sony did screw euro gamers with the release delay and removing the emotion chip, etc. With europe being their most loyal customer base they thought they could get away with it……… and guess what?. ps3 is selling best in europe!, which kinda justifies their thinking. Sony owes its euro customers big time.

  • The text for the E3 trailers for upcoming downloadable games in the PS store say the games will support resolutions from “standard definition to 720p”. Is this just weird phrasing, or are games like “Blast Factor: Advanced Research” really not going to support 1080 resolutions, even though the original “Blast Factor” did…?

  • PRICE DROP! That’s always a good thing to hear but hasn’t Sony thought that Microsoft may be making a price cut of there own? I love my PS3 but the more I look at the situation the worst it looks. When people buy at Walmart they don’t go looking for quality they look for affordability. I just hope Sony makes the PS3 more affordable or this could very put the PS3 in last place. I hope I’m backing the correct console this Gen hope I don’t end up regretting it like I did the dreamcast.

  • @532
    Just because we “let them get away with it” it doesn’t make it right.
    There has been all this hype over here, ever since the PS3 originally got shunted by FOUR months, about there being a HUGE backlash.
    Well somehow Sony survived this supposed backlash, but they are seriously treading on eggshells here. If we continue to lose out, and continue to get totally screwed, then we will just end up saying “look Sony, enough is enough…”, and then they will maybe begin to realise that the years of rubbish we’ve had to put up with have finally taken the European market to breaking point.

    We used to get screwed with the games “oh, Europe has different region coding, where as Japan and America have the same, which is why we are screwing you”. Now that they have FINALLY made the games Region Free, they’ve needed another way to screw us over, and they’ve decided that what better way to do it than with the actual physical hardware that is the PS3.

    This all is not a threat Sony, it is a promise…
    Keep messing with us and screwing us over and you will NOT know what has hit you. We supply the majority of your wage packets, without us you will not be able to have such fat wallets full of all those Yen and/or Dollars.

    Wake up Sony, Europe deserves better than this.

  • Demos would be awesome. It’s monday the 16th an di still dont see one. But ill give you guys some time, i know your still busy with E3. Anyways I loved the E3 presentation, it was very well thought out. Especially how the HOME feature flowed into the announcement of a new Motorstorm map. ha genious. InFAMOUS looks good. But all the other games shown look amazing , like Killzone 2 and LBP. From August 14th (when lair releases.) Untill March 2008, I think the PS3 will be selling really good and this period of time will help the PS3 get back on top.

  • @502

    People are upset because it’s not a price drop per se, more a fire sale to get rid of stock. When they are sold out, they are gone and we are back to the $600 PS3 again. If they want penetration, they need a price lower than $600. From poor sales thus far, one would have assumed Sony, with this announcement, actually “got it.” Turns out they don’t get it after all.

  • Just give us demos -_-

  • One great thing about having a blogging site such as this is that Sony can respond in a timely manner to these types of rumors… and they can respond directly to their consumers rather than going through a third party.

    … though the “clarification” was vague and open to interpretation, at least we now have a direct source and can also comment directly.

  • @539
    That’s an interesting statement, “One great thing about having a blogging site such as this is that Sony can respond in a timely manner to these types of rumors… and they can respond directly to their consumers rather than going through a third party.”

    Now I would have agreed with you until a couple of days ago as it seems Sony are staying quiet regarding the questions that people, including myself, want answers to.
    If you look on these posts I think there has been only ONE post from the Sony staff, and even that was very er enigmatic, no straight forward answers at all.

    Now I know they have to be careful what they say and everything, but can’t they release a proper officially worded statement that answer, truthfully and crystal clearly, the questions that we all want answers to.

    Again I say, Sony the floor is yours.

  • Yes the floor is there’s… but the people we need answers from are people like Phil Harrison and Jack Trenton… not from a Sony programmer (or whatever it is he does)…

    we need a definitive answer Sony… even if it doesn’t please us we still need one but be caucus on how you answer because all eyes are on you right now!!! not microsoft, not nintendo, but you!!! everyone is either waiting to see if you screw up, waiting to see if you succeed or still waiting on news to see which side they choose…

  • Seriously, Sony has to keep some information private so they can move out their 60 gig stock so they can introduce the 80 gig at the same $499 price point by christmas. Phase out the 60 gig and add an 80 gigger with an extra game at a higher price point… makes the 60 gig look good enough. People buy out the 60 gigs. After those are gone the Motorstorm LIMITED EDITION will be no more and an 80 gig without bundle will stand at $499.

    Michael Pachter, a respected games analyst, has said it himself. Not only did he predict this (which is really common sense) he also predicted that the price will drop yet again in early 2008.

    You guys just need to wait. Sony can’t give a definitive answer because they risk this transition from going as smoothly as it should.

    Now stop [DELETED]. This isn’t a big deal at all.

  • Ok I have a PS3 60G. I think that this is not a big deal because u can go out and buy a 2.5in hard drive of any kind and put in the PS3 and format it to the ps3 my friend bought the 60G and he has 160G hard drive in it and he got his off a website for only 90 bucks. Im about to get a 250G hard drive for 160 bucks. so to me this is not a big deal cuz all u have to do is just buy a bigger hard drive

  • Play Beyond - Playstation 3 游戏机全方位报道 » 博客存档 » 60GB Playstation 3供应充足

    […] 今天Dave Karraker在Playstation官方博客(顺便重申一下本站是非官方的,与索尼没任何关系)上说”北美市场上60GB型供应充足,足以在可预测的未来满足消费者的需求。” […]

  • heres what babbel fish translated from number 544…

    [… ] Now the heaven Dave Karraker resident in Playstation official one Hiroshi customer (? Flight it is heavy the book under stating one 站 propriety official one, giving cord nun sinking duty what? System) on? “North beauty city? Upper 60GB type offering/accompanying? Sufficiency, the foot from here resident in yes? ? Mark future? Foot going out? Person demand seeking.” […

  • Today Dave Karraker the Playstation official blog (Incidentally reaffirm the site is unofficial, and did not in any way related to Sony), “the North American market on 60 GB – supply, enough in the foreseeable future to satisfy consumer demand. “[…]

    Maybe next time you should try chinese instead of japanese.

  • Rumor: $399 PS3 On The Way - Page 3 - SatelliteGuys.US

    […] for the lower price point. But did not say they were actually continuing to manufacture them. PlayStation.Blog ? Another E3 Winding Down, Plus a Quick Clarification […]

  • Will we be able to download the Sony PS3 press conference this Thursday. I missed most of it because I had a meeting to attend. From what I heard it was a killer conference. Way to go Sony!

  • You truly are your own worst enemy, I love my system, and i listen to alot of gaming podcasts hosted by really inteligent gamers, and your are actually putting out another $600 sku out there. It is started to look like even if you put out a killer hit game out there they won’t make you clear out these consoles, because they are just to much money. I tought you had a great E3 show but after seeing what you guys were doing, you went from top of the list to #2. Frankly this doesn’t look like you will ever get out of 3rd place. I am just saying this so you guys can think about what you are doing, it’s like you are not even listening to the consumers, motorm is great but it is not a game to die for. another $100 for 20gig, and motorstorm is not worth it at all. I am always defending the playstation on forums and such but honestly we are running out of things to defend you with. I maybe one person but i can tell you i am not the only person thinking this, there are many forums out there that i visit. You may have a ten year plan but we gamers want results now that is why some of us went and spent 600 to get this system, and when we go to the store we see the same games out there all the time. I hope someone is reading this and taking notes.

  • True true Karamo.

  • Find PS3 Information » Blog Archive » Sony have "ample supplies" of 60GBs available for the foreseeable future

    […] Karraker has updated the PlayStation.Blog today with a clarification about today’s “60GB phase out” murmurings. The post […]

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