SCEE president: Going up 20 GB is 'not worth it'

*sigh* again, sony blunders:

1. It's not a price drop. Still costs $500 to get a PS3 system.
2. 40GB doesn't make a difference to most people, never mind the useless 20GB for the premium. At $600, Sony is charging you $2 per GB extra for the 20GB upgrade (considering the pack in game costing $60)!
3. Sony has now gone from having a legitimate chioce between two SKUs to making one SKU that is completely undesireable (the premium version). Microsoft has the exact opposite going wrong with their console (the core edition is a terrible value).

People may critisize the Wii for being weak and ancient as far as cool new features, but Nintendo is getting it right once again.

There's only one SKU, there's a pack in game that everyone plays, (games sell consoles), it's cheaper than the competition, and it has none of the confusing garbage that only hardcore gamers can sort out. I'm a hardcore gamer, but I know that 90% of the world isn't and they don't know which SKU to get, and they don't understand why the new consoles are so expensive.

It's easy to forget that the harddrive manufacturers often move on and abandon sizes in favor of making new, larger sizes. It is possible that the drives Sony chooses to budget for the PS3 are simply now made in the 80gig size. I don't think the 'extra 20 gigs' was actually picked by Sony as the one thing they choose to upgrade to give the consumer more sense of value - I think it's just a byproduct of mass-manufacturing.

I spotted this story on Google this morning:-


""Sony to make a cheaper PS3 available to consumers soon? Another game delay...

First the 60 GB PS3 dropped in price, then Sony announced the package wont be out for long, and now gamers that have no PS3 are loosing hope that the price cut will ever happen at the right time. Well Game Informer might have some reliving info for those gamers and not so relieving info for the rest.

First off Game Informer has suggested that Sony is planning to release a new 40GB PS3 package that will only cost 399 dollars USD, 100 dollars cheaper than the current price dropped 60 GB PS3. The catch behind the price is the model will not have backwards compatibility with past Playstation console games. Game Informer suggested that the announcement was supposed to be made at E3 and was surprised when the announcement wasn’t made.

The second rumor Game Informer is suggesting is the new Final Fantasy game could be delayed until 2008. FF XIII: Word is under going several problems that may take a year to fix and get together. Along with problems the game also has several other features that are not developed as of yet.

Game Informer also suggested that PSN could be receiving a awards program similar to the one offered in Xbox Live and all games coming out this fall will feature the program. Not much more info was given other than Sony is trying to work with third parties to incorporate the feature.

3 rumors is good enough for one day but stay tuned to PSU in case any become official.

Source: GameInformer Magazine and Gamers-Creed.com""


God, I hope this turns out true because this would really Kick-Ass!!!

ehm, what's the big deal? if someone wants the 60gb he should get it, if someone needs 20gb more then good for him.

To Psaakyrn...

Never said that there was.. I was just using common sense (which apparently isn't that common) and the power of deduction.

I'm in Europe and I want a affordable console with games I want to play on it. I must be some sort of freak!

Let's just clear up a few things:

1. There has never been a 20GB SKU in Europe. So in the context of this story 2 SKUs is irrelevant.
2. There was never hardware backwards compatibility in Europe. So in the context of this story the choice of getting a non- gimped system is irrelevant.
3. To get the PS3 with the extras right now in the UK is over $800 US, so to question whether a game and a controller is better value for money than 20GB is irrelevant.

Whatever, but I want the 100$ discount for europeans ps3, too

i too still dont see the point in an 80 gig version when the only difference is a mere 20 gigs, especially when you can buy seperate hard drives for the things and shove them in. Casual gamers and people who arent too hot with computers might not *get* this, but theyre also the ones unlikely to actually make use of those extra gigs

60 to 80GB does make a big difference

The executive made a decision: The bump up to 80GB would not have nearly as big an impact as including additional games. It also makes sense because the system has had a shorter lifespan in Europe that they wouldn't be prepared to drop the price yet on the only SKU available. Hence, you give more for the same price and then drop the price at a later point with just the console SKU. Regardless, including games like Motorstorm and Resistance in a NA SKU would have little impact b/c people have played them already even if you don't own the system which is why a price drop and higher SKU makes sense for the US instead of just a single bundle.

Each market has their own strategy until things smooth out and a few price cuts have been implemented. At that point, everyone is out of launch phase and the content across regions will be very similiar.

60Gb PS3 costs $500

To have an 80Gb instead of a 60Gb drive ($10 cost difference) and a copy of Motorstorm ($60, only if you planned on buying it new) and losing the "emotion chip" (-$??) costs you an additional $100.

You are getting at the very most, a $70 value and it will cost you $100. With most products, buying the more expensive version is a better value. The 60Gb over the 20Gb was a good value. It got you wifi, 40 extra Gb, and something else I can't remember. With the 360, the extra $100 got you an HDD, wireless controller, months of Live, headset, maybe something else.

Sony is really trying to get rid of the 60Gb. What is kind of amazing, is that if the 60 runs out and the 80 is at the $600 price point, it will temporarily mark a price increase, as the 80Gb obviously has less than $100 of extra value. That is very clear.

What more likely will happen is the 80 will become standard, without pack-in, at the $500 price point. It will be lauded as "yet another $100 price cut", even though the price of entry is still the $500 it has always been.

Why don't people understand that regardless of whether you have the emotion engine in the console, ALL PS3s use software emulation now. They moved to software emulation to allow for upscaling and faster performance. It doesn't matter which console you purchase because as soon as you update the firmware it goes to software emulation. The backwards compatibility for the NA market hasn't had any issues as far as I'm aware so its pretty much a bogus point.

If Sony were smart they would take care of the European market.