Sony's 40GB PS3 for Europe confirmed
SCEE closes its eyes and thinks of England
Confirming numerous reports of a cheaper Playstation 3 hitting UK shores, Sony announced on Friday it will sell a baseline 40GB version of its console in Europe beginning 19 October for €399.
The reduced price, however, will come at the cost of a few features: the console will not include the multi-memory port and has two USB ports instead of four. Most notably, the system won't sport any backwards compatibility with PlayStation 2 games.
Sony said the latter feature was cut because of "reduced emphasis placed on this feature amongst later purchasers of PS3".
This is a wild guess, but it might have something to do with money too.
The price of existing 60GB PS3s will be reduced to €499 and "remain on sale until stocks run out", according to Nick Sharples of Sony Europe.
The new model and reduced prices will also make their way to Australia, the Middle East and Africa. Still no word on if price drops or new models will make their way to the colonies in time for the holidays.
COMMENTS
re: DRM - Who's fault?
But Sony IS a media company!! Simpleton.
Sony are doing a roadshow
I just heard a radio ad for the Sony PS3 roadshow this morning.
It looks like they are finally putting some marketing behind the PS3 console and not just leaving it to the games manufacturers.
I'm now expecting some serious TV ads in the run up to Christmas.
DRM - Who's fault?
Are some people really so short sighted that they blame the hardware manufacturers for DRM? Don't you think that if they thought the studios/software houses would support their system without DRM they would drop it in a second? Trying to stay one step ahead of the hackers is an expensive business no doubt and drives up the cost of both hardware and software. unfortunately, a console with no content is about as useful as an XBOX HD DVD add-on. So until the media companies get a grip, don't point the finger at the manufacturers.
Imho: Nice move by Sony
Noted that a few more intelligent people towards the end actually bothered to spend some of their time correcting some of the BS the rabid anti-sony knee-jerk people added up top. Thank you :P
To summarize:
- Cost: It is way cheaper. Even with 17.5% VAT added on top this version will be far more affordable to the unwashed masses. A good price to compete with the XBox 360 Elite.
- Multi-memory Port: This was a waste of space anyway. The one time I actually needed to transfer old data this way I simply used an inexpensive USB card reader ($10). Once you get all your stuff over onto the PS3 you'll NEVER need to use it again anyway.
- PS1/PS2 Backward Compatibility: Software emulation all the way (very easy for the Cell to handle). Perfectly fine for 80% of games, a tiny ickle bit glitchy for the rest (only ~5% of PS2 games are actually unplayable). Sony is always updating the emulation via software updates to improve compatibility -- and they are pretty reliable about it (trust me they DO care). Nice thing about using the PS3 to play PS2/PS1 games is that it has a fantastic Upscaling & Smoothing technology which allows you to play them in resolutions of up to 1080P (full-screen too) -- they look FANTASTIC on a decent HD-TV, way way better than they ever did on the original console.
- Hard Drive: 40GB is plenty if you manage your HD space (tip: don't leave old demos and movies lying around on there forever). Most PS3 games use between 100MB - 1GB (at most) of local HD storage for saves and temporary caching and saved games. If you need more in the future then just buy a standard 2.5" notebook HD and transfer the data across using a USB HD reader device or a PC.
- 2 USB Ports: Just buy a cheap powered USB 2.0 hub, these cost about $30-$50 and you can easily get 4 & 7 port versions to hook up whatever you feel like. Note that this console is easily compatible with almost every USB device I have tried hooking up to it so having more USB ports from a hub may be something most serious users would benefit from anyway.
- Wi-Fi: This version apparently DOES come with the Wi-Fi card. Good one!
- BluRay: It is an internet updateable BluRay player capable of playing v1.1 BD discs and according to reliable technical sites WAS NOT affected AT ALL by the DRM issue encountered recently on two BD+ discs. Also plays regular DVD's (can also upscale them to 720/1080 with advanced smoothing and upgraded sound sampling)
I have to agree with Nick and Albert on this one. Very smart move by Sony just before xmas. If this version had been available when I bought mine I would have DEFINATELY have bought this one instead of the $600 version -- a price I happily accept for being an early purchaser :P
And that's a SoC ...
@Anonymous vulture: The EE+GS it's a SoC. It's the same found on latest slim PS2 consoles, it comprises the whole PS2+PS1 functionality.
