With all the speculation and buzz out there regarding the 40GB PS3 announcements in Japan and Europe, I am very excited to confirm that the new $399 PS3 model will be coming to North America on November 2nd, making that particular configuration available worldwide. In North America, the 40GB PS3 comes bundled with the block-buster movie Spider-Man 3 on Blu-ray. Also, effective today, we’ve lowered the purchase price of our 80GB model by $100 to $499.
This move has been part of our longer term business strategy for PS3 since early on and we believe this lower priced model, combined with our broad line-up of content will appeal to a great many of you who want a lower entry price without sacrificing any of the core components of PS3. With today’s news, we’re strengthening our position approaching this holiday season and beyond with the intent to provide you with a choice and an excellent entry point into HD games and movies.
Adding to the appeal of the new retail pricing is the great PS3 lineup that will help further drive our momentum this holiday, including Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, THE EYE OF JUDGMENT, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Heavenly Sword, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Assassin’s Creed, Haze and Rock Band. And that’s just the beginning: This holiday lineup will be followed in 2008 by highly-anticipated Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Grand Theft Auto IV, Killzone 2, LittleBigPlanet and, of course, PlayStation Home.
Our goal this holiday season is to make PS3 even more affordable and to offer you greater choice to suit your gaming and entertainment needs. Again, I want to thank all of you for your continued support throughout this past year and I look forward to the months and years ahead.
let keep the great work i know, like the ps2 Sony will rule them all :) me i alway full trust Sony brand :P cant wait to buy EoJ and saturday i go buy oblivion :) and 17 of november THE ORANGE BOX :) WWWOOOOOoooOOooOooTTTTt
Thanks Sony! I bought my PS3 on launch day. I will be making the 40GB my 2nd PS3 come this holiday season!
And whats up with forgetting MGS4?
@102
Why do you need two PS3’s? Isn’t that a little excessive?
Ya know, I was kind of dissappointed when Sony said their getting rid of the Backward Compatibility in the 40Gb sku. However, after thinking about it, I asked my self, “How much do I actually play my PS2?” The answer is not that much. I play PS3 games all the time. Gamestop slash Xbox360 fanboy really blasted Sony for getting rid of th BC. I don’t know. I don’t think that it is that big of an issue. I mean, whats the use of having a new system to play old games. My suggestion is, if you have a PS2, then keep it in your room and the PS3 in the living room, or different room, or vice versa. The point is that if people are going buy a PS3, they should buy it to play PS3 games and not PS2 stuff. Thats like buying a new car with your old engine. Isn’t it the point of you buying a new system because the other one was obsolete?
Think about it.
Also, this is the first time I have to agree with aaquib, but he is right. It just comes down to games. Admittedly, I haven’t brought a single PS3 game since resistance and 2k7. I may get 2k8 and uncharted, however games are what drives a system. The PS3 doesn’t have games that everyone wants to play. Its been a year now, and I still can’t find anyone who has a PS3 in my area so I can play them online. Thats not to say that Sony isn’t working getting games to the system, but exclusives are what Sony needs and they need them bad. Really bad, so bad in fact I’m still cared, even with the price drop, konami is going to jump to xbox360 before long. That would be a catastraphe!
Most of you are forgetting that this is a business. Sony and Jack Trenton don’t give a flying sh*t about what you want, they have to make money. Just because we beg, plead and demand things like Home or price drops doesn’t mean a thing. They’re out to get our money, just like every other business on the planet.
Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy my PS3 and PSP. I just don’t see the point in over 100 posts of saying you want something more out of what they have given the consumer or suggesting alternatives, as if you have something they didn’t consider.
That being said, I’m really happy that titles like Uncharted and LittleBigPlanet are PS exclusives. At least the PS3 isn’t pumping out generic FPS and calling it revolutionary. Any “hardcore”, and I use the term loosely, gamer would jump at the chance to experience something new and innovative, rather than praising mediocrity.
Just stick with it, they’ve got a plan, we’ll all get what’s coming to us as PS owners.
they should send out some of those free Blu-ray movies for those of us who shelled out $599 not even a year ago.. i feel a little disappointed having paid that much such a short while ago..
True lyfestory
the Iphone gave rebate to their customer. Sony I need my $100 rebate. I mean it was not even 8 months ago when I bought my PS3 and now the 80g is for $500. GIVE US OUR REBATE OR FREE BLU-RAY DVDs
Finally..
vgchatz.com is showing how the reduced price of the 60GB and the 40GB introduction has affected Europe, see Others, the PS3 has outsold even Wii for almost all Europe countries. and the 360, will it wasn’t even close to the figures of the PS3. I expect Japan to have the same effect, and for America it will do wonders.
[…] came the not-very-surprising announcement that Sony will be introducing a system that is basically a Blu-Ray player plus Hi-Def gaming […]
They are one important question that hasnt been discussed yet. What will happen to the 80gb version? Is it going to be on sale indefinately, or is it going the way of the Dodo like the 60gb? Imho it will be best to keep both SKU. One cheap one for the cheap gamers, and one pricer one for people that care about the full “REAL” PS3 with all the bell and whistle such as back compatbility with PS2.
The PS3 is the best game console out there even worth its hefty price…but now an 80 GB PS3 with Motorstorm is only $499.99!!! MUST have for the Holidays. One question though…is $499 the permanent price for the 80 GB PS3 for Canada and USA? or is it just going to go back to $599(US) and 659(CAD) ?
Anyways this is a must have.Sony does it again!
its good for those that dont have a ps3 im just glad that i did find a 60gb oct 1st so i wouldnt have to have these problems with bc and what ever else yall find to complain about but hey u get what u pay for so if u want the best u better get the 60 b4 they r all gone plus im gonna get a 360 just cause they have alot of games and offer more on the online stuff especially on the demos side yea we have to pay but whats sony offering and not much no games yet and crappy demos and the system been around for a year annevisary already so it looks like 360 is making the path and sony is following when i thought sony was a leader not a follower ……hopefully this will sell more ps3s so sony can get some MORE MONEY AND do somn about this problem
what about a refund for us who payed $6oo OR even a $100 playstation store credit. god knows sony can afford it. they better not forget all us who put ps3 in the console gaming world. they want to attract new gamers. they better be interested in keeping who they have feeling appreciated. game sales would hit a record high.
Please allow the 40 gig to play PS2 games when it come out in the US. I am a big fan of Sony and this just seems like a stupid move taking the PS2 part out of the PS3. Plus there still are some good games coming out for the PS2 and so then if you want to upgrade to the PS3 you have to keep your PS2. So please allow PS2 games to be played on the PS3.
Don’t take this the wrong way, but I think this new model is seriously lame. I bought my PS3 for 650€ (so you Americans can stop complaining about your $600 price), with limited backwards compatibility.
I WANT TO PLAY RATCHET&CLANK ON MY PS3! Can’t. Bummer.
If you guys at Sony want to make me happy and make me buy another PS3, please release a version with all the PS2 hardware in it. I don’t care if it’s more expensive, I just want to get rid of my PS2 and be confident that my library of games can still be played. Not being able to go back to original R&C trilogy blows hard.
The 40 gig is a PS3 lovers dream, but a PS2 and 1 lover’s nightmare. Seriously I’m glad I have my 60 gig with great backwards compatibility.
People, come on there is a 80GB and 40 GB , you guys want the 40GB, the price is $399, now lets see the 80GB one this one is for only $499 a $100 dollars more just get the 80GB one, people want it a price drop there you have it.
Great move, now buy!!!!!!!
What next?
Yeah, thanks. Where’s my 100 Euro coupon? At least iPhone buyer got one ($100). :-P I’m still waiting for any good games to buy after Resistance, which was underwhelming to say the least.
Here’s an idea:
How about a free PS One classic game? Not only to keep your loyal early adopters happy but also to stimulate interest in your currently not so ubiquitous hardware. Since Sony is in bed with Namco-Bandai (or Cellius, whatever they go by now adays) I suggest Soul Blade. This would make a great choice considering that Soul Calibur 4 is right around the corner. Might stimulate interest. Who knows?
Think about it, and remember:
Nobody doesn’t like free stuff. Nobody.
Wow. After all that uproar in PAL territories after hearing the 40Gb has no PS2 BC, you go and release the crippled system in the US. Aren’t people supposed to learn from their mistakes? What gets me is the denial from Sony of how important BC is to consumers. After reading Peter Dille’s interview with Gamesindustry I’m even more convinced that Sony are refusing to listen to their fans. If BC isn’t important Jack like you would like us to believe, how is it that you decided to keep Psone BC? You saying we would more likely want to play Psone games over PS2 games? I call BS on this argument. The reasons you’re giving for the exclusion of PS2 BC just doesn’t make sense. Give us back our BC!!!
Did I mention naughtyco is an idiot. How do you think Sony makes money, by keeping us happy.
I still think that the 60Gb system is the one that needs to go for 399. I was hoping Sony would do that. The PS3 would be alot more attactive for a system that doesn’t have any games. I do agree with one of the comments above: What about Metal Gear 4. I can barely type because of the nervousness I feel for that exclusive to be elusive to the PS3.
In regards to the BC issue I wonder if it possible to manufacture a seperate peripheral box containing the emulation chip? Something that plugs into the PS3 through a USB port. This would solve any problems and give people who want to play PS2 games on the 40GB the option to do so. If Sony don’t want to do it allow a peripheral maker to do so.
Time to get a PS3!!!
Tekken 6,Soul Calibur 4 coming next year and I must have them on the PS3!!
UK day of release buyer. (one of many)
Within a 6 month period, not only was it available with an extra controller and 2 games for the same price, its now been reduced by nearly £100 thats $200.
I expected the price to drop over a period of time but not this much in a 6 month period.
Moan over
In order to sell many more PS3 now Sony has to deliver updated firmwares, starting with the upcoming 2.0 I hope, that would allow the PS3 to compete with well known Network Media Players like: TViX 4100SH, TViX 5100SH, Pixel Magic HD MediaBox HD100 & HD200, Netgear EVA8000, D-Link DSM 510 & DSM 520.
All those products have their own bugs and issues yes, but they can play the most common HDTV video formats and containers as well as audio files.
The Playstation3 could do much better than all those units combined, its Cell CPU with its SPE processors that are like a powerful DSP each could easily perform better if and only if, obviously, Sony would pay its programmers to add the needed code and high quality algorithms to perform all those tasks.
The majority of the work is already there anyway because the PS3 can decode MPEG-2,VC-1 and H.264 as per Blu-Ray discs specifications. The main issue that Sony programmers have to address is to add support for more containers and tweaked formats like DiVX/Xvid MPEG-4 variants.
Maybe Sony doesn’t believe that it could help selling their consoles more BUT that is just plain wrong. Do some proper research, look at how many MediaBox/MediaPlayer units are being sold worldwide and then ask yourself why Sony shouldn’t sell the PS3 with the ability to at least perform the same tasks supporting the same audio/video codecs and containers…
I hope that the upcoming PS3 Firmware 2.0 will start adding the needed support to use a PS3 as a real MediaBox/Player/Center and that before Firmware 2.5 gets released all the major formats will be fully supported.
Native support is absolutely needed for:
– .M2TS/.TS containers
– .MPG (Program Stream) container
– .AVI OpenDML container
– .MKV container
– MPEG-2 on .TS, .M2TS, .MKV, .MPG (PS)
– H.264 on .MP4, .M2TS , .AVI and .MKV containers including higher profiles than Blu-Ray specs.
– VC-1 on .M2TS, .WMV and .MKV containers
– WMV9/WMV9 HD on .WMV
– DiVX/Xvid on .AVI and .MKV
– FLAC Lossless Audio support
– WAVE Uncompressed Audio support up to 24bit/96KHz at least
– .MP3/.MP2/.MP1 audio codecs and containers full support
– .WMA audio codecs support up to MediaPlayer 10 at least
Adding the above would ensure Sony being able to sell PS3 units as proper MediaBox/MediaPlayers/MediaCenter devices. Obviously a good player GUI with many advanced features for users to tweak quality settings and such would help making the product look better than the competition and steal some serious market share.
Great move Sony! Phase One is now complete. I will secure my 80GB PS3 and a slew of the holiday titles. Phase 2 is producing more PSN games, and it seems like you guys are already working on that. This new 40GB SKU should stay permanently along with the 80GB IMHO. The 40GB will be for the Mainstream and the higher end for the Hardcore or the BC Fans. Thank you Sony for solving one of the most crucial PS3 problems(Price). I look forward to Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank, and all of the 2008 lineup!
This is great! I ust wish Sonywould start advertising on TV to show how cool the PS3 is! I’m sick of Xbox ads!
What do you guys think I should do?
Buy the 80GB that brings MotorStorm
Or the 40GB and replace the HDD with a 160GB and be left with $20? With Spidey on BluRay. I don’t use BW much. And I could download lots of demos without having to worry about space for now. So?
@132 Buy the 60GB while you still can.
@133
Why cuz of BW?
Remember its the same price now as the 80GB which includes 20GB of more space and a Motorstorm, it would be a loss.
Someday you may wish you had perfect BC. There are some great games you might want to play someday. Better to have all the options than limit yourself to save a buck. An extra 20GB is pointless and motorstorm is dirt cheap now since the market is flooded.
Ok but, I’m not about to give my PS2 the boot after all he’s done for me, I love the little guy. And I am leaning towards the 40GB to replace the Hard drive with a 120GB
an extra 60GB. Thats my point. And I understand yours. The thing is even if I got the 60GB my PS2 would still be there next to it and plugged in. Because I’m not getting rid of it. I got it customized, with two really awesome wireless controllers, and it’s still being used.
I understand, but I don’t think you are thinking long term… So what are you going to do if your PS2 breaks? And you have no interest in playing your PS1/PS2 games upscaled into hi def, with virtual mem cards and the PS3 wireless controllers (eventually dualshock 3)? Do you like to continually stack consoles up next to your TV? Does your TV have 100 inputs and enough power plugs next to it for everything you want?
Anyone who thinks Sony has done any actual research into how many people take advantage of backwards compatibility is a gullible idiot.
Backwards compatibility is only being dropped in order to force PS3 owners to buy PS3 games, instead of playing all their old (but more enjoyable) PS2 games upscaled to HD.
BC was one of the main reasons I bought my PS3, as my PS2 died almost 2 years ago. And is one of the main reasons I stayed with Sony instead of going with MS, so I think is a dumb move, they even said it on launch “ours has full backwards compatibility with the huge PS/PS2 library” bashing the 360 for not having it… now they’ve gone MS’s way, which sucks.
NO BC IS NUTS! THIS MOVE IS NOT GOING TO HELP SONY. TOTALLY RIDICULOUS!
I find the uproar from some folks about backwards compatibility to be very amusing.
“They got rid of backwards compatibility?” (cue Darth Vader) “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
If it’s important to you, you can still get the 80G system (or the 60G, for the time being). It costs less than the 40G system along with a new PS2. And if it’s not important to you, then what are you complaining about?
“But they promised BC when the PS3 was first launched! Now they betray me!” (cue Darth Vader) “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
I’d rather see Sony respond to the needs of the marketplace than get hung up on “campaign promises” from 2006.
We haven’t got a choice in Europe/U.K tho??? After the 60GB PS3 sells out, there not making anymore. So no more B/C for us!!!:-/ Maybe thats going to happen in the U.S.A to??? So were all saying NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! over here!!!
;-D Sony plaese bring out a B/C PS3 in Europe when you sell out of the 60GB PS3’s. It’s not fair.
@138 HappySpaceInvdr
I remember getting a survey a few months ago from GAP and they talked about BC and how important it was. Anyone who doesn’t think Sony didn’t do research on this needs to make sure their tinfoil hat is securely fastened.
Sony just [DELETED] us all. I don’t mind then putting only 2 USB ports and taking some other stuff out. But we were told that BC was a key thing for Sony and now we get this… Thx Sony, another great move!
@Ghostm
If BC is that important to you, buy the 80gb version. You’re not [DELETED], you’re just given an extra buying option. What’s the big deal? Here’s a question for everyone complaining about the lack of BC – how many PSone games did you play when you got the PS2? How about today – how many do you still play?
Let’s have a ChooseYourOwnAdventure, shall we?
Q1. Is playing PS2 games important to you?
– If “YES”, go to Q2.
– If “NO”, go directly to Solution 1.
Q2. Do you already have a PS2?
– If “YES”, go to Q3.
– If “NO”, go directly to Solution 2.
Q3. Do you want to keep your PS2 connected to your TV?
– If “YES”, go directly to Solution 1.
– If “NO”, go directly to Solution 2.
Solution 1:
Buy the $399 PS3
Solution 2:
Buy the $499 PS3
See how simple, easy, and fun that was?
Price cuts are always welcome changes. Thumbs up for that! Feature/functionality cuts, not so much… Thumbs down on that.
Some suggestions for Sony for this holiday season:
– Bundle a game or two with the console, and allow the consumers to select what they want. Motorstorm is great and all, but people have different tastes in games.
– Fix the 5 Blu-ray disc offer to allow consumers to choose any 5 Blu-ray titles, not just the few on the current offer and with the 1-per-category restriction (for the same reason listed above).
– If the PS3 is being pushed as a Blu-ray player, bundle it with a remote. The game controller is a bit awkward to use for movie playback control.
I don’t really care about the price drops anymore, its great and all…but, don’t you think that eventually theres gonna be TOO many options out there? Maybe end up confusing people to the point where they’ll be like…”jesus, ok forget it, i’ll just buy the cheaper and only 1 price Wii” I mean…i wish PS3 all the best…but…80gb,60gb,20gb,40gb, this is being phased out, this one is getting a price drop, this is being phased out now too, this one is not gonna be in distribution, yada yada yada.
– Semi-proud owner of a launch day $600+ 60gb PS3
when i found outthe the 80gig was $500 i brought one right on the spot but there is one thing that is bothering me i would have to wait until this coming thursday to get it cause i brought it online oh darn but thank u sony for dropping the price and welcome ure newest playstation 3 owner guys im coming for that warhawk title guys beware im coming…
and to all those ps3 haters we dont want u
The games are coming, but right now Sony needs to sell PS3 or they’ll keep losing exclusives. Yes, games sell consoles, but when those AAA games aren’t available yet, a lower price tag will do the job.
there have been a lot of good ideas posted here, i hope Sony is listening!