Sony’s lowering the price of their 60 GB PS3, discontinuing the worthless 20 GB PS3 and introducing a new, 80 GB PS3.
In case you have no context for this (I had to look it up), the 60 GB model is presently $599.00 and will drop down to $499.00.
The 80 GB model will debut at $599.00. So it’s not really a price drop in the way they need it. Folks who can spend five-hundred bucks on a video game system won’t balk, in my opinion, at spending six-hundred bucks to have the “better” version.
Here’s an interesting bit, though. Allegedly, the 80 GB version is going to do reverse-compatibility for old games (read: PS2 games) through software only, as opposed to the present 20 GB and 60 GB systems that do it through hardware and software. This is, I believe, now the non-North American version do it (software only). To be perfectly honest, I don’t have a bead on whether this is a good thing or a bad thing — but it seems an interesting change to make.
Personally, I have no use for a PS3. Yes, a cheap Blu-Ray player would be nice, but my purchase of such a device would only seek to ensure the failure of that media. I’d considered a HD DVD player about a month ago (Best Buy had a good Toshiba model for <$300.00) but really, what it comes down to is just fighting the urge to re-purchase all my favorites in a new format.
No thanks.
I also look at how the X-Box 360 and even the Wii just sit there, unused (the Wii more because of how the living room is set up, but that’s not really the point). Another system is just another system to buy stuff for. Bluntly, I’ve got enough options as is.
I do find it interesting, though, tracking this stuff (click on the link to Dubious Quality over there on the right, for much, much better information. Bill’s Console Post of the Week is required reading if you’re armchair-quarterbacking this latest entry in the Console Wars), and I keep waiting for that move Sony can make, that killer move, to suddenly turn things around.
I can’t imagine what that move could be, of course. Right now, if the PS3 was $199.00, I don’t know if I’d buy one. That’s a very bad sign for your uber-console, as I’m exactly the person they’re hawking these things for.
Final note: our esteemed Webmaster, who I believe would like me to call him, “Spidey” when I refer to him, told me he was waiting on a PS3 for the latest Final Fantasy game. When I told him that the next FF game was coming out for the 360, his response was, “oh, good, that’s six-hundred bucks in my pocket.”
That’s a bad sign for Sony, if you ask me.
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