The prices have been essentially frozen for like 4 years now. Sales continue to shrink but they just ignore the sub $200 market.
I’d laugh if they refuse to drop the price and end up with a giant warehouse full of new PS3’s they can’t move. Everyone expects next-gen will hit Q3/Q4 2013 (whether it does or not is irrelevant) so going with that price at this point is just silly.
But hey… this is Sony.
I’d assume that the console market is pretty much saturated right now at the current generation. Their refresh of the PS3 seems to be more about just discontinuing inefficient manufacturing by using less (which is why it’s slimmer/lighter, etc) while continuing along with the same sales path. I doubt they think they are going to have a big lot of people rushing out to buy the new versions, unless they feel that FAT owners are more willing to lose the weight now as opposed to when the last Slim came along or rather than waiting a year (or more) for the PS4.
Although, it is a little surprising that there isn’t that interest in getting the PS3 into more homes to sell the software. I thought one of the big strategies out there was getting as much hardware sold as possible and then pushing the stuff that you can do on it.
I’ve never really cared much about hardware aesthetics, but I’m not a big fan of the drive
It’s such an odd update. It doesn’t sound like they shrunk the chip process, as the power supply is about the same. And it’s mindblowing they upped the price. It seems crazy to sink more money into this rather than the next-generation, though I suspect the size shrink is aimed at the Japanese market. (Have you seen Japanese living rooms?)
The top-loading nature sucks if you have your consoles in a narrow shelf like mine. I’ve got one of these. You’d have to pull the PS3 out every time you switched the disc.
What’s the round thing? Is that a record?
That gif of the new loading mechanism makes the console seem really cheap and low tech. Almost like some ps3 knockoff.
I guess putting the new ps3 in an entertainment stand is pretty much out of the question now.
It plays 45 records! Talk about backward compatible!
Wow that loading method looks horrible.
Wonder how long it will take someone to scratch the laser and have it not read disks properly.
Yeah. It just seems weird, to take what was (at its introduction) a top-shelf piece of consumer electronics, and then cost-reduce it with something that looks so incredibly cheap.
The top-loading mechanism reminds me of the PS2 slim, but without the annoying cover at a 45 degree angle that gets in the way when you try to swap the disc. Seems about right for a $200 console (which is the rumored introduction price for the flash version, according to multiple Polish websites - I agree that it’s still a bit high).
But it looks poor compared to €30 DVD players with a front-loading disc tray, and it becomes even more impossible to stack things on top of a PS3. Bad design.
It does remind one of the PS2 Slim. I don’t know how many people had issues scratching the lens on that one.
I’d expect that the new loading mechanism is one of the main ways they’re saving money on this one. Slot loading drives are (relatively) expensive, aren’t they?
They design the PS3 so you can’t stack stuff on it on purpose. It still dissipates a lot of heat. They don’t want you sticking more hot electronics on top of it or otherwise inhibiting airflow.
It’s hard to get excited about an overpriced refresh of a 6 year old obsolescent console.
You guys with PS2s in your living room just crack me up. I had no idea how popular it still was.
I wonder for how long will this price be in place, they can use holidays to do a price drop on the older version to clear all old inventory, and by March of the next this new version can be cheaper, given that is certainly cheaper to make then the old why else would they do a refresh.
My “modern” consoles include a Gamecube, a PS2, a 360, and a Wii. I got more use out of the Gamecube than the other three combined, and more use of the PS2 than the 360 and Wii combined. As such, the PS2 still gets a place of honor under the TV and I spend more time playing GC-era stuff on the Wii than otherwise.
Newer releases I pour a lot of time into are almost entirely on the PC these days. I joked about the whole “buy a PS3 late in the game” thing earlier in this thread, but frankly, I doubt it’d be worth it. Almost everything I want to play from it is multiplatform except a couple of J-RPGs. . . but I still have a backlog of those on the Wii and 360 :)
Mine resides in a closet, thank you very much. But I was glad I still had it when I got my paws on copies of Yakuza 1 and 2 this spring. Let me tell you, that was 200 hours of gaming bliss (including the bare-handed disposal of a tiger), only interrupted by the painful swapping of discs between games.
I also cling to the idea of continually using my 60g ps3 for backwards compatibility. But the truth is that ever since I installed that PS2 emulator on my PC, games just look so much better and play better on it that I haven’t gone back to the ps3. They play better for me mostly because with the emulator I use the 360 controller, which I prefer.
That top loading PS3 looks awful though. I’m tempted to get a PS3 slim now before they disappear and are replaced by those awful top-loading ones.