Playstation 3 price slash

[bmike818]

thanks for letting me know Ace Combat 6 is on the market place

...Sony just cut their price by $100..yes they are now desperate...might be too late because they are loosing almost all their exclusive games that sell theri console...plus developers like the Online Architecture of the 360 better. PS3 is good...for 1 player games-360 is the best for online games

[C-Kwik]

IIRC, Sega was simply too cash poor to compete in a market where console sales weren't necessarily making a manufacturer any money. Both Sony and MS don't necessarily have that problem. I'm not sure of Nintendo's issue, but I recall hearing that they had damaged relationships with 3rd party devs at one point. It may have lingered. In either case, Sony was there to pick up the pieces.

Devs now have choices available to them. While many games are not necessarily suited to the Wii, the quick growth, easy development and the likelihood of having a large user base in the future makes it hard to ignore. But no dev can ignore the demand for a hi-def console and when given a choice of being able to develop a game with relative ease compared to the PS3, having a larger installed base, plenty of dev support and perhaps even financial deals from MS, the choice may not be as much of a choice at all. I am a fan of the 360, but I don't dislike the PS3 in concept. It's a powerful machine full of interesting and new technology, but ultimately, if I am going to plop money down on a console, there has to be a good number of games worth playing. I most certainly would enjoy playing some of the upcoming PS3 games, but with only a handful of titles worth playing right now, I'll settle for playing over at my buddy's house.

But geting back on topic here, Sony has lost a good number of exclusives and in some cases, MS has picked up exclusives. The original Xbox had issues selling consoles, at least in part, because they had few of the exclusives that everyone wanted. The killer titles the Xbox did have showed the system itself was certainly capable, but when most of the must have games were on the PS2 and most of the games on the Xbox were also available on the PS2, it made no financial sense for the average buyer to snatch up a Xbox. The PS3 seems to be facving the same fate, and all I am saying is that sony needs to up the ante it they want to stay in this game. They can't keep calling and expect to win this hand.

Keep in mind, Many devs are excited about PS3's technology, but Konami and Square Enix made pretty bold statements recently that the PS3 is still too expensive even with the current price drop. Reading between the lines, I think they are really telling Sony to sell more consoles and quickly to make devving for the PS3 worth their while.

[f1seb]

So you guys are telling me that if the PS2 was never released and the only competition the Dreamcast would have would be the Gamecube and the Xbox that system would still have failed? Sure there were other factors that the Dreamcast failed, the jumping of developers off their ship, the failed Saturn of generation before, but to say that the PS2 wasn't a factor in it and had no direct cause to the demise of the Dreamcast I just don't see that. Many people I know including my brother who saw me play my DC would come in and say let's see whats going to happen to your system when the PS2 is released. He was one of the many many people who decided to wait for the release of the Sony system. When I was going to Babbages to buy more games one of the workers was playing a demo of Shenmue and managed to get a small crowd of about 7 people around him but when one kid said looks nice and all but the PS2 is going to be better, and nearly everybody there agreed with him. I see that as a huge contributor.

[redtop91]

What a consumer thinks of a product is a direct result of 2 things. Product representation and advertisement. I challenge you to find a Sega Dreamcast commercial or a commercial for a Sega Dreamcast game. Now let's take Sony Playstation. You can't watch TV without seeing the damn commercial. No Sony's doing had nothing to do with Sega's demise. Sega was undergoing licensing issues, flooding the market with systems (a new console was released yearly by Sega), not getting development support (the single biggest factor, which is incidentally the same problem Sony is undergoing. Just FYI), and not backing their own system because of that lack of dev support. Nintendo continues to linger despite having notoriously horrible third party support, why? Because their first party games are almost all A-List. Sega neither made A List games for the Dreamcast, nor provided incentives to get exclusive 3rd party support for games that they lacked. Sony has had that initiative until recently. PS3 is being plagued by the same issues as PSP and until Sony steps up to the plate with some major titles they'll continue trailing MS and Nintendo.

[C-Kwik]

I think the huge difference here is the price. Both the 360 and the PS3 are up there in price, but obviously, the PS3 was quite out of reach for most. The recent price drop does give a very clear indication of this, but we'll have to wait to see if the current spike is simply those who were waiting for the first price drop or if they've put themselves in a position to be affordable by a steady stream of consumers. My gut tells me no, but I could be wrong. When MS lowers the cost of the 360, I think we'll see a similar rush, but if the core system drops to at least the cost of a Wii and the Premium is within spitting distance, I think there may be a more lasting effect on sales. Nintendo has shown us that the $250 mark is a price point consumers aren't hesitating much to spend at for a console they desire. The main factor I think that can skew that is how the buying population and their disposable incomes compare between those who want the Wii and those who want a hi-def system. Older people, presumably have higher incomes on average and likely have more to spend.

As for the Dreamcast, I wouldn't think it would simply fail if the PS2 wasn't a factor, but the fact is it was. The difference is that Once the PS2 was announced the Dreamcast's sales slumped. This isn't occuring with the 360. The PS3 was known well before even the launch of the 360 and the 360's sales are still plenty strong. Sega could not continue marketting against Sony's highly regarded PS2. It was selling itself quite well. This is not the case with the PS3. No business model is as simple as comparing to past business models. While you certainly don't ignore them, you have to understand why the suuccessful ones worked, why the failures failed and how the market is different and how those factors would apply today. If what you say were true, then all the Dreamcast vs PS2 comparisons to the 360 vs PS3 would be panning out the same way. It's not.

From my understanding, MS entered the console market for reasons that affect their OS business. Until it becomes no longer profitable or perhaps if it stops mitigating other losses to a point that is no longer acceptable to remain in the console business, then they will keep aggressively pursuing and throwing some level of money at it to make it succeed. While I'm sure MS would love to outright profit from the Xbox franchise, if it is indeed true, that there were business reasons surrounding the OS market that prompted them to jump into the console market, then their threshold for loss on the console may be considerably high. Given that, I would expect with the momentum they have now, they might as well try and make some money and perhaps a considerable amount of it from this investment. To do so, they need to be aggressive. Considering they are essentially dumping $1 Billion to extend the warranty I'd say that would be a very aggressive manuever.

It is, at the very least, an interesting "war" to watch...

[brisknfade]

sorry to interrupt the back and forth between you ppl, but has anyone been watching e3 on g4? the ms press conference sucked. the sony one, for what ive heard, rocked.

I caught the MS and Sony one, not on G4 though but online, all those commercials make G4 crappy.

Sony showed off A LOT of the same games that MS showed off in their keynote. Then there was the lackluster PSP redesgin (Yawn) and a bunch of spouting of about Blu-Ray. Sure there were the 1st party titles, and MGS4 and Killzone but otherwise it wasn't that great.

[f1seb]

What a consumer thinks of a product is a direct result of 2 things. Product representation and advertisement. I challenge you to find a Sega Dreamcast commercial or a commercial for a Sega Dreamcast game. Now let's take Sony Playstation. You can't watch TV without seeing the damn commercial. No Sony's doing had nothing to do with Sega's demise. Sega was undergoing licensing issues, flooding the market with systems (a new console was released yearly by Sega), not getting development support (the single biggest factor, which is incidentally the same problem Sony is undergoing. Just FYI), and not backing their own system because of that lack of dev support. Nintendo continues to linger despite having notoriously horrible third party support, why? Because their first party games are almost all A-List. Sega neither made A List games for the Dreamcast, nor provided incentives to get exclusive 3rd party support for games that they lacked. Sony has had that initiative until recently. PS3 is being plagued by the same issues as PSP and until Sony steps up to the plate with some major titles they'll continue trailing MS and Nintendo.

I remember alot of commercials featuring the Dreamcast. I also remember them sponsoring MTV's something awards quite heavily, you'll go to youtube and search for them you get a whole bunch. DC was pretty well advertised in it's beginning but it all fell apart nevertheless. I liked the system still have games I haven't beat but the darn thing just died, I get power but it fails to boot up.

[sr20fan]

Sony showed off A LOT of the same games that MS showed off in their keynote. Then there was the lackluster PSP redesgin (Yawn) and a bunch of spouting of about Blu-Ray.

i agree with the psp thing. i dont really care about it. what about the halo edition 360? talk about yawn, everyone there was silent, along with me and my friend that were watching. actually i just laughed. to me, it just looked like ms was hoping that halo 3 is going to carry them into the next year.

i like halo and gears, even though i dont own a 360, friend does, but my other friend has a ps3. and i have to say the ps3 will be a little better. i just hope they improve the online stuff. i like xboxlive.

[Loki]

I miss having G4. I feel so cut off...

*slips out to burn down cable provider* Take my G4 and give me CourTV will you.....DIAF ***holes!

[C-Kwik]

Well, if anyone in socal is looking for a PS3 now, the Target Store in Buena Park by the 91 freeway had 3 or 4 in their case this evening. They also had 2 Elite 360's.

[Woogie]

It would appear that the price drop might only be temporary:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/c...26704

[C-Kwik]

If that turns out to be true, I think they will do more harm then good...while the value is certainly better with a game and 20 GB, it still puts the price point above what most people might be willing to pay. It might be a bit better if the consumer gets to choose which game they get, but it's doubtful they'll do that.

[teddy]

SCEA had announced earlier that the rumors about ending the production of 60gb machines was false, but then out comes the president of Sony to announce it's true and back to that magical $599 pricing it goes. So apparently it's true, the only question mark is how long supplies will last for the 60gb machine. Some speculate they will run out by the end of July, others think longer the way sales are going.

[brisknfade]

So then they are only going to offer the 80 gig from now on?Lame.

Well, if anyone in socal is looking for a PS3 now, the Target Store in Buena Park by the 91 freeway had 3 or 4 in their case this evening.

Are they really that scarce in socal? Everyplace I have checked still has a bunch out waiting to be bought, most still have some 20 gig's for sale too.

[C-Kwik]

SCEA had announced earlier that the rumors about ending the production of 60gb machines was false, but then out comes the president of Sony to announce it's true and back to that magical $599 pricing it goes. So apparently it's true, the only question mark is how long supplies will last for the 60gb machine. Some speculate they will run out by the end of July, others think longer the way sales are going.

Seems a bit hard to get a good grasp of what is going on. There seems to be some indication that it may be temporary for the 60GB version at $499, but with speculation that the 80GB might come down to $499 once the 60GB version is depleted. Who knows. I can't find a straight answer from a credible source anywhere...

[C-Kwik]

Are they really that scarce in socal? Everyplace I have checked still has a bunch out waiting to be bought, most still have some 20 gig's for sale too.

Dunno personally. I've just been hearing that the PS#'s have been selling out everywhere since the price drop. So I figured since I saw some, I would post it up just in case....

[bmike818]

what the hell are you doing Sony- because of this move, I just renewed my resolve into not buying a PS3

[redtop91]

Seems a bit hard to get a good grasp of what is going on. There seems to be some indication that it may be temporary for the 60GB version at $499, but with speculation that the 80GB might come down to $499 once the 60GB version is depleted. Who knows. I can't find a straight answer from a credible source anywhere...

I don't think Sony knows either. They are likely waiting to see what kind of price drop Microsoft does. If MS drops a bombshell like 100+ dollars they are probably going to drop the 80 GB to 499.

[brisknfade]

So sony is dropping the price of the 60 gig by a hundred bucks. Woohoo!, price drop. But wait, they are discontinuing the 60 gig and the 80 gig is going to be $599?WTF.

[bmike818]

So sony is dropping the price of the 60 gig by a hundred bucks. Woohoo!, price drop. But wait, they are discontinuing the 60 gig and the 80 gig is going to be $599?WTF.

exactly-

[teddy]

Sony America just issued another statement yesterday saying they weren't discontinuing the 60gb PS3. If this isn't the dumbest, most unorganized company ever, they're well on their way now.