Sony's PS3 is still $600

Ken Rules.









Only... not really.

Who cares, gimme Super Smash Bros. Brawl!

I sure as hell won't buy one at that price.

Yup, it really must be a slow day here at Joystiq

Are you just trying to perpetuate anti-Sony comments or something? Was anyone saying the price had changed? This hardly seems necessary.

Is $600 even that much for all its offering? The 360 was what, 400? Add another harddrive to equal sony's and add the cost of whatever MS is going to charge for its HD-DVD player and i'm sure the prices won't be that different.

Wow what a pointless post! Joystiq is just trying to ignite some fanboy wars with this one.

On that subject, I will pay that much for a PS3. Just like I will pay $250 for a Wii, and eventually $400 for a 360. Stop knocking the system for their price, wait till you play it. Geez.

LOL...I misread that at first and I thought the caption said "I'M TRYING TO GET LAID!"

At $600 the PS3 should accomodate that need with some sort of...port:P(not found on the $500 version)

"Be it old news, whatever, everyone is still talking about it."

How are you helping by posting this?

Curse you Joystiq! I finally manage to repress the PS3's price so that I can dream of one day owning one, and you have to ruin everything! BAH!

The anti-Sony bias on the blogs these days boggles my mind. Is it all due to the rootkit debacle? Yeah that was screwed up, but did everyone forget all the unethical crap Microsoft has pulled over the years?

best joystiq post ever. You guys should do this once a week from now until it's launch.

That's a lotta console!!!

At that size, the price/weight ratio probably kicks the 360's ass!

Well, Blake's right. Trick is, it *IS* expensive for a console, or a BD-ROM player or whatever hypothetical example you want to place it in.

What I'd be interested in finding out is how much loss, if any, Sony is taking on the P$3. Maybe some people would like it more if they found out that it was costing about $750 to build and you can pick it up for $600.

Now watch all the Nintendo fanboys (and girls) get busted up when the Wii doesn't premier at $199... but is closer to $249. How many people will say that's too expensive for a console like the Wii?

I see no problem with it I didn't expect it to be much cheaper, you want high qualty performance then you gota pay for it. It's not that bad a price when you look at it, just like the Wii name it was a shock at first but really everyone is getting used to it.

The funny thing is all the 360 fans don't know if they should be laughing at sony or wondering if the 360 is a cheap toy.

Remember you get what you pay for, and I now not to waste my money of simple toys when I can have the real thing for a little more money.

Sure the kids are going to be mad because now they have to find a way to get mom and dad to spend $600+ on a video game system and games. When I just have to work a few days and save up.

$ony sucks, they steal all there idea's and overcharge for there stolen crap, then charge 500 for the "cheap" one and forget to mention that it is worthless, nice one $ony.

Joystiq just keeps going down and down the "where I get my gaming NEWS site" list.

I'll have to agree with 4. To get 60GBs of XBOX 360 goodness you'll need an extra $200 plus the premium console. (For those math whizzes (400+(100*2))=600) And you can't watch blu-ray movies on a 360. And the wireless isn't built into a 360. And you can't have a remote screen on a 360 with your PSP (even if it is just a rear view mirror). And you can't play 4 generations of DMC on a 360. And you can't play MGS4 on a 360(yet). And A 360 can't steal motion sensing ideas from Nintendo. The list goes on... I'll probably wait for a price drop tho ;)

In any event here is my uneducated solution to PS3's major 2 SKU screw-up...

Quit the 2 SKU's crap and consolidate them both into one premium version only...

Price it at $550...

Suck it up and take the losses on the chin.

Once the price gits $600 most people are out, people like me. I am going to wait a year before I even think about buying one...and so are a lot of other people. If everyone waits (hypothetically) Sony gains nothing but losses up to ying yang.

The PS2 started at $300....In 6 years it has only dropped $170 to $130.

In 6 years: $600 - $170 = Big loss for Sony's market share.

Well that certainly puts the '$' in $ony P$3!

It is justifiable now. I remember back in the day when owning a console that cost that much was taboo. I think it still is. For shame Sony, we want to play games not have media formats and non-negotiable options in our console setup.

At least with the 360, people will be able to add the stuff they do want and not be forced to choose on set of features over another.

The Wii is supposed to be so cheap that it won't matter what the announced price is, people will still be buying it.

So long $ony! Was a nice trip while it lasted!

At least 2 of my friends now consider themselves former Sony fanboys, thanks to the PriceSpike3.

"Is $600 even that much for all its offering? The 360 was what, 400? Add another harddrive to equal sony's and add the cost of whatever MS is going to charge for its HD-DVD player and i'm sure the prices won't be that different."

This price comparion stuff makes me laugh. You damn well know that a HDD and an HDDVD player aren't required to play games on the 360. Stop trying to falsely inflate the cost of the 360 by making it sound like everyone who owns a 360 is forced to by the HDDVD drive and a HDD with it. Their not. It's about choice. A $300 360 can play games just as good as a $300 360 with a $200 HDDVD add on...or a $500 PS3 for that matter. The PS3 is expensive, too expensive for that matter. Sony would have been better off doing what MS did and making a blu-ray add on. They didn't though, because to sony the PS3 isn't a console, it's a trojan horse to get you to buy a blu-ray player. Nothing more. The fact that they were willing to add on the blu-ray and increase the cost to $500-600 only proves this.

I was about to say, that the PS2 launched at $550, and what is the big deal.

BUT, I found out that it realeased in Canada for $550 and $299 in the States. Wow, $299 -> $599 is sure a big jump, even with inflation.

Actually I think the pricing is smart on Sony's part after how much people were scalping 360s for last Christmas. I agree the price seems high, but it's probably a smart move on their part.

and in the end its all about fanboys.........
yes i agree that price is huge but i bet sony is taking an even bigger loss on it

ok and this is related to fanboys- becuase if the wii or 360 cost 600 dollars the fanboys of each system would have noooooooo problem with it just like sony fanboys have no prob with buying ps3

and another thing to point out is that sony doesnt give 2 shits about any of these fanboy comments so dont think you know something when you post a comment about a console you never played

Well according to the story in IGN last August http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/643/643170p1.html

this puts the price of the cheap one in line with the... Sega Saturn. Ah, crap.

Stop bitching about Joystiq. They said the SAME stuff when the 360 had two differnt prices. The knocked the 360 hard about the price. Remember when they had the 360 annoyances #01-100? The truth hurts. But I can hardly call them a fanboy when they have been ridin Sony's twigg and berrys the whole time. They are just saying the obvious. Which im GLAD thats it is $600 because it will hopfully let Microsoft and Nintendo get a little ahead. Nothing wrong with that at all. Look how Sony has been a copycat there whole time making videogames. What a shame!

OOOHHHH the poor little Sony fan boys are getting all butt hurt. Joystiq isn't slamming Sony's POS 3 they are just re-iterating that it is very expensive and giving you a heads up to stop buying cigarettes and twinkies so you can save up for one. Give up and shell out your cash. Personally I'll buy a Wii and already have a 360 then I'll still be able to buy cigarettes and twinkies. Viva la Revolution!!

@ scab: But Wii would never cost that much lol.

I didn't get to try PS3! Some prick stole my badge! No Wii! No overpriced PS3! No XBox360 waiting for Halo 3! I miss my badge!!!

I will be buying a PS3, and I think a lot of you people will too.

I do, though, hope that the PS3 infact loses some market share in order to create more compition, making lower prices, more innovation, and goodness all around.

Don't you love capitalism?

WOW! Is the PS3 really that HUGE?!?! Good grief, the size of that thing looks ridiculous! At least the 360 "looks cool". It seems like they could have come up with a better looking printer.. er, gaming console for $600 bones.

Also, no one has talked about the power pack... I am guessing that it is inside correct? And what about the wireless harware, is it hard wired to the console, and what happens when the technology changes? At least with the 360 you could just buy/replace the current adapter.

What a bargain for $600 bucks! You get unproven technology with a "new" controller that has motion sensors instead of vibration... Brilliant!

PS. Don't forget the fact that the hardware is only half of the launch equation. Lest you forget the software portion that will power the online component... oh, wait... none of the Sony brass even talked about that part... oops! (and no, I don't count the online music crap they showed because gamers could care less about this fluff)

One last item...

Memo to Sony brass:

Nobody cares about your "innovative" motion sensor hack controller. I guess you have forgotten about the ?revolutionary? technology from 90's called ?Virtual Reality? that was supposed to change the world.

Sincerely,

The Nintendo Powerglove

When they test before they deliver it costs the same as a 360. The 360 is a product that is not tested enough (it crashes all the time):

Price of the 360 * (1 + Testing Effort ) = Price of PS3

I rather have a tested product and will buy a PS3

LOL, that image is hilarious! Look, HD-DVD is optional with the 360. I for one, do not want to watch movies on my GAME console especially when I can get a DVD player for 40 bucks if not cheaper. that's the difference. Same as the PSP, Sony is trying to force technology on the consumer that we don't really need. How many gamers are really going to take advantage of Linux? Is Blu-ray really needed considering the slow adoption rate of HDTV? Why not make the PS3 a game console instead of this jack-of-all-trades, master of none entertainment hub?

It's the fleecing of a fanbase is what it is. 600 is too high for mass market penetration, especially for a game console. For anyone that thinks their 600 Blu-ray Ps3 is going to function as good as a dedicated blu-ray player, they're delusional. Look at the DVD player in the PS2 and tell me how well that worked out. I'll pass. I love VF5 to death and I would love to play MGS5 but for 600, sony can keep it.

Sony fanboy:
"Why are these stupid nintendo fanboys defending Wii? everyone knows it sucks! stop being a stupid fanboy and admit nintendo messed up!

with that out of the way, sony isnt being stupid by having a $600 price. look at all it's offering!"

@ Lynk (No.2)

I was just thinking, we should vote for old Ken to be a playable character on the Smash Bros. website. He'd be hella bad ass, swinging his george forman mallet console at the cardboard box Snake's secreted himself in. He could have a flaming projectile cell processor powered by emotions.

Who'd win?

Ken Vs. Super Porygon Fighters Vs. Reggie?

Comin' at you in 4D!!!!

I don't get most of you people. You get excited over the Nintendo "WeeWee" like it's revolutionalizing the industry. Sure, it's a cool novelty, but it will wear off rather quickly. What's with all the Sony bashing?
It's not that much more expensive. If you can purchase an XBOX 360, you can easily shell out another $100 me thinks. Even for $200 more, it get's you franchises that you're just not going to get on Microsoft's console. Don't even get me started on the Japan situation, where Microsoft is dead against a handheld no less. You think this situation will change once the Wii and PS3 debut?

$600 is the right price...if you don't have enough supply to meet demand at a lower price. If Sony didn't expect to sell out at this price, they would have mentioned a lower one.

The thing that surprises me is that they chose to reveal the price now, at E3. Did they have nothing else to talk about? Why spill the beans early?

Funny thing with the PS3 the graphics are no better than the 360.
Another funny thing is that the titles for 360 are better than what has been announced for the PS3.
Another funny thing is that the 360 has a LIVE service that is proven and is here now.

There is nothing that the PS3 offers that the 360 cannot do and the 360 is much cheaper. And the 360 is real and here right this minute.

I don't believe that there's anti-Sony bias across the Blogs. There is a great deal of sticker shock over the price of the PS3.

If you were going to buy a Blu-Ray (cough, BetaMax) player anyway, it's a steal at $599 for the early adopter. The Sony faithful will stack up a 360 with accessories to show that the price is comparable. This is an unfair comparison. The XBOX 360 can be upgraded incrementally. You can pick up a core at $299 and go from there. There is no upgrade from the cheaper PS3 SKU to the pricier model. It's a $499 dead-end.

Let's look at the bare minimum pricepoints to play two featured games on the platform.

XBOX 360 Core, Memory card, Gears of War
$299 + $30 + $59 = $388

PS3 Core, MGS4
$499 + $69 = $568

Effectively, it will cost you $568 to play MGS4 on the bare minimum PS3. That's an assload of money. Almost 50% more dollars than a base 360 setup.

This is only worthwhile if there are some killer exclusives. To date, I haven't seen a single gotta have PS3-exclusive title that will be available at launch. When such a title arrives, maybe I'll take the plunge.

Right now, I'm enjoying the XBOX 360 and impatient next-gen gamers would be well-served to do the same.

Maybe the high price will make it easier for early adopters like me to get one without having to pay an arm and a leg on the net! Brilliant! Price the system so high that no one will buy it!

Seriously though, John Scalzi made a good point about the 2 skus Sony has announced. The 360's core system was essentially crippled. You simply could not get the complete functionality the 360 offered with the core system. Anyone who actually wanted the full system bought the Pro. The core was referred to as the "tard pack." Now Sony is actually offering every single thing you need to enjoy the system to it's fullest in its core pack. The PS3 pro pack is actually for the HD gaming enthusiast (definitely not the main stream) and we may find the most popular SKU will be the core pack. High Def gaming is great, but still has not reached massmarket penetration. The PS3 pro is for the hardcore. That's all.

Now when it comes to the price, I have to say "ouch."
Yes, the price point is very hard to swallow. That's not to say it isn't completely justified. They really are giving us quite a deal on the stuff they have packed into it. Built in wireless, HDMI, Blue-ray, etc... However, it is still very very hard to swallow that price when the 360 and Wii will be so much cheaper.
The price may be the biggest blow Sony has ever taken. I hope it doesn't destroy their chances this generation. They found a special place in my heart long ago, and I would hate to see the playstation line fall.

Not sure if its clear or not, but I'm a bit of a Sony fanboy, but I am not afraid to admit defeat. Nintendo is going to revitalize gaming innovation, and that makes me extremely happy. I also love XboxLive with a passion and hope similar services become the new standard with the upcoming consoles. It's the primary reason I bought a 360. I just really like seeing Sony on top of the pile, that's all.

READ MY POST:


Ok, if this new "motion sensor" controller of theirs is pretty much out of the blue recent right??(yea, they've been looking into it for a long time Harrison...riiiiiiiggght)

How the hell do they expect to perfect that technology and still have time to package this "new" controller into 2 million shipped units by Nov. 11th and 17th??!!

> Wow what a pointless post! Joystiq is just trying to ignite some fanboy wars with this one.

And golly did it work!

"I'll have to agree with 4. To get 60GBs of XBOX 360 goodness you'll need an extra $200 plus the premium console."

What are you talking about? The 360 that comes in the Core pack and the Premium pack ARE EXACTLY THE SAME! The only difference is the external accessories it comes with. When different HDD sizes are available, you can buy a core and pick the HDD size you want. It snaps on the 360 in less than a second.

The PS3 in each pack is DIFFERENT. The onboard features are different. You can upgrade a 360 core to a 360 premium but you cannot do that with the PS3.

Ban Bluray and HD-DVD!

you guys gotta realize PS2 was a cheap alternative to a DVD player.

PS3 is nowhere near a cheap alternative to a BluRay player.

casual consumers will not eat this up, and Sony will continue to lose money for years til the Playstation division eventually dies out and Microsoft takes over.

ok i also want to say to all the sony haters that say that the ps3 steals technollogy from other cosoles
ok..... lets take a look at what the xbox 1 stole:


non-cartridge games = ps1/sega cd
analog sticks = 64/ps1/gcn
shoulder buttons = snes/64/ps1/ps2/gcn
vibration = ps2
cd-player/dvd player = ps2
pause/select buttons = basically every console
reset button = evry console
o ya did i mention the buttons and d-pad and power/cords

so you see how stupid you sound when you say that ps3 "stole" technollogy from wii
sony is just trying to keep it next gen and i guess thats wat motion sensor comtrollers are "next gen"

if sony/microsoft/nintendo didnt copy off each other than there would be 3 game console more like one called
the ps-wii60

It's not anti-sony bias as far as I can tell. I didn't get to go to E3 myself this year, but two friends are staying with me for the week, and going. Yesterday was going to be all about PS3 for them. They spent a lot of hands-on time with various PS3 demos, watched all the trailers, and... I've never seen a more morose bunch of videogame (and specificly sony/playstation) fanboys in all my life. It was hilarious, they complained about how shitty everything but the FFXIII trailers were. Specifically they said graphics were comperable to 360, but were nothing special, and gameplay was boring re-hash of games we've been playing for years.

Sorry guys, it's not bias, sony just screwed up yet again. Enjoy your $600 PS3 though :)

I think these guys are in serious trouble. They seem to have an identity crisis right now. This $600 controller just blows my mind though. As an industrial designer, I cannot believe that they did not change or improve the shape! That controller seriously looks dated, no matter how great they think it is! And the copy cat center button just like the 360 is laughable. As for the motion, they look like they are following Nintendo instead of leading. They hardly even touched on the big points that they had supposedly built this system around? the Blu-ray drive and the 1080p (not that I care about these supposed selling points anyway).
I think Sony is going to be in for a rude awakening when they attempt to replicate the success of Xbox Live. They may have a system with comparable hardware power, but there is no doubt that they will be way behind the eight ball in the online arena. If it has taken the largest and most powerfull software company in the world a few years to iron out the kinks in their online system, you can only imagine the number of coding bugs that Sony will be faced with at launch. Keep in mind that the PS3 nardware is only HALF of their launch! The other piece is rarely discussed, which is the online software. I would imagine that their online team is quaking in their boots at this point. This is probably true, because we did not get any type of update during E3 in regards to their process, etc.
Memo to Sony Fanboys:
Have fun with your $600 flatbed scanner... er, "next-gen" console.
Sincerely,
The Sony Brass

I am a former Sony fan...

As soon as I heard $600 my heart was smashed...Since they announced it, I've been in mourning for the loss of Sony. It will take some time, but I can get over Sony's downfall...I just have to start now. So in 5 years when Sony is struggling through half its life cycle, and Microsoft hits them with the 720 with state of the art technology and takes the rest of the market share away...I won't cry.

Yep, it's got a lot under the hood, but $500 to $600 is going to be hard to pry out of most peoples pocket. Most consoles growth doesn't take off until it has at least one price drop, with 200 bucks being the sweet spot for the general populous. What has me concerned is that if you look at the rate at which DVD players prices fell and consider that it could happen the same way for Blu-Ray. Especially since there will be a media war with HD-DVD. Sony & HD-DVD will have to drop the prices of those players pretty quickly so they can gain market share (the only way to win a media war). Sony has been justifying the price of the PS3 because it is a Blu-Ray player too, but I wonder if the cost of a stand alone player will drop as fast as the PS3. Sony's PS3 is not just competing with Nintendo & Microsoft this time. They've got HD-DVD to contend with too. I can't see them ever getting to a price that the average joe would like, especially since there are 2 alternatives that cost a lot less. Consider that it'll take several years to get to the 300 buck mark even for the lower model and it gives me reason to worry for Sony. This will be the ultimate test for the Playstation brand name.

BOOOOOO. I don't like Sony, and I definitely think the price point on the PS3 is absurd, but this post is completely unnecessary and only serves to perpetuate Joystiq's spot as a haven for Nintendo fanboys and a scorner of all things Sony. For shame.