Smaller Blu-ray laser could reduce PS3 production costs

Couldn't they use this as another reason to repackage the system and also give us the much needed rumble capability built into the new controllers, out of the box? When I played my friend's PS3, I found the controllers too light and flimsy feeling compared to my 360's, and I really found that not having rumble was an issue. I've become too dependent on having rumble to let me know when I'm getting shot at, etc.

I used to think the PS3 was just not going anywhere, but with Blu-Ray pretty much winning the format wars (and it's got better specs anyways), the PS3 really is a pretty good deal.

A lot of people don't realize that to get the equivalent in a 360, you have to pay a lot more:

PS3:
- Built in wireless networking (+ $90 for the 360's wireless adapter, which uses up one of the 360's usb ports);

- Blu-ray movie player (+ ~$175 for 360's HD-DVD add-on, which is silly looking and sits separately from the console)

- Built in wireless controller with rechargeable batteries and charging cable (+ ~$20+ for the 360 chargeable battery/recharger, depending on what solution you go with and how many controllers you have)

- Online play is free for PS3 (+ ~$50/year for 360 gold membership) (granted, currently PS3's online offerings are nothing like xbox Live's, but this should improve over time)

Plus the PS3 can support up to 7 controllers out of the box, has built in bluetooth, full HDMI standard (can 360 support true 1080p?), mouse support, and gigibit ethernet.

So, once PS3 can offer more in the games department (which, thankfully is apparently getting better), and developers begin to have greater, standardized access to the full range of the cell processor's capabilities, not to mention the full storage offerings of Blu-ray, then 360 will really have something to contend with.

Yet another dig on Sony's SKUs. All the 360 fanboys must've forgotten about the 7 SKUs Microsoft has unleashed on the masses.

First there were the two initial systems the Core and the Premium. Then came the Elite with its I-wanna-be-a-PS3 color and HDMI port. Then came the Core and the Premium with HDMI ports and lastly the Arcade SKU.

If anything you're mad because after 2 years the 360 is still being made in the same crappy, RRoD way it was being made from day one while Sony -- with its 1% fail rate compared to 33% for the 360 -- continues to innovate and drop in price.

It should be of little surprise to anyone that they're working on cheaper, smaller lasers. The PS2 went through the same thing. After about 2 or 3 years of disc read errors they started putting better DVD drives/lasers into the system.

My guess is that by 2010 there will be redesign PS3 selling between $200 and $250 with better everything.

NICE that $299 rumor for Monday (or next Monday idk) seems to be getting more realistic by the day SWEET

What is with everyone saying that the PS3 is good-looking. I think it's ugly and bulky. It doesn't fit with my sleek and slim entertainment set. It's too curved.

I really don’t see it as a surprise that Sony is actively working on making the PS3 smaller and cheaper. If you look back at the PSone, PS2, and PSP, they have all gone through these changes. The 360 went through some alterations recently so it wouldn’t crap out on people. Since the beginning the blu-ray laser was one of the most expensive and time consuming components being manufactured. It was cutting edge tech when the PS3 was launched and now it’s being standardized.

Will this process also speed up the data transfer of the discs, or will everything not streaming still have to be copied onto a hard drive?