Kutaragi on PS3: it's too cheap
By Marc Perton 
posted May 12th 2006 9:13AM
posted May 12th 2006 9:13AM
Lest you thought Sony had managed to put the issue of Playstation 3 pricing behind them with defenses earlier this week by Kaz Hirai and Phil Harrison, Sony Computer Entertainment chief Ken Kutaragi has now weighed in with his verdict. Kutaragi has reportedly stated that the pricing of the PS3 is "probably too cheap," and he likens the console to a fine dining experience, saying that it's nonsense "to compare the charge for dinner at the company cafeteria with dinner at a fine restaurant." Based on what he calls the PS3's "amazing experience," he says "we believe price is not a problem." Meanwhile, Microsoft has responded to the PS3's pricing with a suggestion that you can eat at both the cafeteria and the fine restaurant by picking up both an Xbox 360 and a Wii. As Xbox head Peter Moore told Reuters, it makes good economic sense to "buy an Xbox and ... buy a Wii ... for the price of one PS3." Of course, if you're really hardcore and well-heeled, you'll pick up both of those, and grab a PS3 for dessert. Read: Kutaragi
Read: Moore
DAMMIT YOU PS3 FANBOYS NEED TO GET OVER THE BIG TIME PRICE AS BEING THE SAME. I've owned every system out and love the playstation but the ps2 will be my last- After E3 I went out and baught a Xbox360- I'm sick of Sony thinking about money first and taking ideas from others. AND STOP SAYING THAT BS on if u get the HD-dvd drive thats another 100 and if you buy ect. blah blah- THE POINT IS YOU DONT HAVE TO BUY THE SH IT YOU DONT NEED! Poor people can afford the Xbox360CORE and still be able to make it the prem. after they get more money- Can you with the ps3 NOOOOOOO! You get what you GET. While the Xbox is upgradable. So Screw Sony and Screw you FanBoys!~ and NO i'm not buying the HD-DVD so NO my system isn't going to cost me 800 dollars. AS SHOLES!
ok im done :)
The other factor people don't seem to take into account is the fact that our economy is heading downward right now. Yes I know the DOW is down a few hundred right now but thats not the indicator. A lot of respected investors (Buffett included) predict the housing market (which has really been driving the market) is stalling right now and will take a significant nose dive in the next few months. Combine this with the fact that most people haven't been saving and rather have taken large equity out on their houses, rising gas prices which will rase the cost of everything, the war in Iraq and possibly a showdown with Iran in the near future, and our enormous and continuing debt, and you have all the makings of a significant recession. IF this does occur, game consoles are going to be the last thing on anyones mind. Take this into account when you are talking about the PS3 and the future of Blu-Ray. Somebody mentioned that the people posting to engadget represents a Bubble. Yes it does represent a bubble of console buyers regardess of the state of the economy. What drives the console market is Mom and Dad wanting to get their son or daughter something they want (especially around the holidays). If we are in a recession then, you may see exactly the opposite of X360 sales (i.e. they may be impossible to sell). Suddenly a few hundred dollars is a signficant difference. Of course anybody realizes that fewer consoles (eventhough you may own one) = less support from both game manufacturers and the movie studios. This is very apparent with the PSP, unfortunately as I own one and I think new quality content (games and movies) is at a standstill.
Price is not a major factor!!! How much did those XBOX360 bundles cost at launch? I dont recall anyone getting a XBOX360 bundle for under $500. They forced you to buy a few cheap A$$ games.
Plus how much were these going for on Ebay. As stated earlier. Those who want a PS3 will get one. Price will not stop the initial sales.
I'm not a fanboy. My arguments have never been about which one is better. I haven't praised the PS3 and I haven't trashed the XBOX360. I've concentrated on the "Format War" and not the "Console batte".
So far, everyone says they will wait before the buy High Definition stand-alone player and media, yet they insist the HD DVD will win. How can you choose a side if your not willing to pay the price?
If XBOX360 core buyers didnt spend the extra cash for Preminum. Do you think they will put out even more money to buy an External HD-DVD drive?
XBOX360 is cheaper, YES... I've stated they will sell more units. We all know that price so one the fanboys get thier PS3, the rest of us can afford ours.
Some please give me a valid reason why HD-DVD media will move off store shelves!!!
143: I'm going to say this one more time....
A game console is not going to decide the winner of the format wars.
Not the PS3.
Not the 360.
Period. End of story.
147: I payed $399 for my 360 in December. So did my friend. I bought two games then joined GameFly. I've been enjoying high def gaming ever since. I been paying less for gaming from the beginning than you will on your console alone.
...I was talking to a friend the other day (who likes all games on all systems like me) and we were discussing the PS3. Both of us think that Sony is pulling a fast one on the consumer this time around. They have so much loyal support that anything they sell will be bought, and they know it. They are using you. They are using all of you. They are trying to sell a blu-ray player and win the media war. They don't care about your gaming. Sony even said they could charge anything for it and they know people will buy. My anti-Sony feelings are actually a boycot. I am boycotting the company that is screwing it's loyal consumers by feeding them a bunch of nonsense about a "cheap" game console, knowing that all of their mindless drones will go out and eat them all up. Since the beginning, they've been making proprietary hardware because they want that small cut on every piece of media sold. Nothing has changed. Look at history. Look at the betamax, UMD, XCP, memory stick... do you think just because the newest format comes in a game console that it is going to make any difference? Sony is using every single PS3 fanboy out there. Fanboys eat up everything that Sony feeds them. "Here comes the airplane."
Going back to my conversation with my friend... We both couldn't figure out why so many smart consumers didn't see all of this. How could the savvy consumer not see through this one? If another console was only $200 and had 2380p resolution, with 1500 games at launch, with a controller that is perfect along with a universal media format that holds a terabyte, as well as satisfies you sexually every night... would PS3 fanboys still call it a piece of crap and wait for the PS3? That's really what it looks like.
Oh, and HDDVD media will sell because it's cheaper and can hold both a high def and regular DVD all on the same burn. Not to mention that the largest country in the world has already adopted it (even before blu-ray comes out). The name sounds like something people want (not a proprietary name).
I asked my parents and all of their friends at an adult gathering last week, which format they would buy. Every single one of them said HDDVD. None of them play video games. They are all middle class. They all read the newspaper every morning still. They all said they would only watch movies on standalone players. I asked if they would buy a PS3 to watch movies even if it could play high def movies and was the cheapest player, and they all said no.
I asked a bunch of people my age which they would buy and they all said none. Young, technically savvy consumers will wait for a winner. Some of these people are even waiting for a PS3 and therefore will have a blu-ray player. They are perfectly fine watching their ripped movies from Netflix or downloading them from bittorrent, and save their money for things like games. Actually, the collective answer I got was that they would start worrying about movies once one of the formats got hacked and you could rip them.
But Sony wants to sell blu-ray. Once you have your PS3, they will do everything in their power to get you to buy blu-ray movies. Sony lives in Japan-land. Most PS3's sold will be sold in Japan, a place that is very crowded, where you may have one room in your house that is used for everything. The PS3 will be great for them cuz it makes sense for a person living in Japan. The rest of the world is different. The economy is decided by middle class families. These families most likely have a DVD player in their SUV or minivan right now. And it will look a lot more appealing to buy Shrek 4 on HDDVD so they can play it on either their TV at home or in the car. They will buy an HDDVD standalone even if their son/daughter does have a PS3.
The saddest part of this whole thing is that consumers will buy and teach Sony and other game console producers that it doesn't matter what you sell or for how much, but as long as people like the name they will buy it. Why don't more people reward MS for making an affordable and upgradable console that interacts will the current technology in your house, who also goes out of their way to make things as easy as possible for the developers? Where is the reward for Nintendo who tries to make a fun and innovative console for the kids and girlfriends of the world? Why are so many people rewarding Sony for forcing so much crap down our throats that we probably won't even get a chance to use?
Can someone explain this to me?
You guys dont seem to realize that the only way the bluray hd-dvd wars are going to be decided is by us, the consumers. Sony is trying to boost the bluray discs by putting it in their console. By doing that, movie developers will say "hey, if it comes stock in the ps3, and the ps2 sold so much, why not make some bluray movies?"
Still Sony is taking a MASSIVE loss on each PS3 unit by selling it at such a low price. OK guys think about it. A gaming PC rig can set you back at least $2,000. Now, the PS3 is priced about the same as an eMachines budget computer, so why not go for the most powerful console in the lot (I'm a bit biased), which has the power of like 50 gaming PCs for only the price of a good budget PC. Seems like a good deal to me...
50 caming PCs? more like 3/4 of one
Cincy prob put it best that you dont need bluray to watch high def movies, you can stream them through media center. This is where movies are really going. They are going to cut out the physical media to save money and have you stream or download it. We are at a point where you can get fiber optical straight to your modem for the same proce as cable. Thats 15-30 megs a sec. Sony wants their format, yes the one the came up with to win because the money they will make in rights licensing it to the companies. Just look at every format they created and see which has become a standard. None they even switched from Atrac to AAC.
153. you hit it on the head, the PS3 is an attempt to trojan horse the BD format into your living room. They figured people bought a ps2 for dvd play back they will do the same for BD. Difference is that the leap from VHS to DVD is a lot bigger than DVD to BD. So they can fit the entire experience of filming a movie for behind the scenes extra's. I don't care, I barely watch the extras on the 500 dvd's I have, and I'm not starting a new library. MS was smart, they signed a deal with netflix and should be adding a blade to the GUI for it. Soon we should see the true winner of the HD format war, the Download.
I'll buy a PS3 at launch, just to sell it to a poor fanboy for 1200 buck on ebay cause they gotta have it. Then i'll go out and buy another 360 for my bedroom with about 20 games and extra controllers.
Christmas is gonna be fun to watch, parents not finding PS3's getting 360's and all the fanboys crying I want an oompa loompa that plays bluray too daddy.
Remember back in the day when you'd ask your folks for a system and they'd be like, "Two hundred dollars?! WTF are you thinking? Get some A's and then we'll talk you little douchebag" and then they put a cigarette out on you as you run crying to your room? Multiply that by 3 and then factor in inflation. I would say sad times for kids on christmas... but then again I've worked at EB and kids these days are spoiled rotten. PS3s for all!
To Joe from CIncy:
Mob mentality, and selective reasoning.
Oh, and don't forget brand loyalty rooted in materialism. Some people equate the treatment you see as injust to customer service. Tons of products the world over are made to break, and people still buy them because of the 'cool factor'. At the bottom line, misguided folk make great consumers.
However, when you look at the big picture. No injustice is being served, things just need time to work themselves out. It's the new natural selection.
why would i want blu-ray OR hd-dvd? i wont get a tv that will do either format justice for at least another 3 years anyway!
I think Xbox360 has the major advantage. It's owned by Microsoft!
I don’t care what people think of Microsoft but it got a hell of a lot of money, much, much, much more than Sony.
The fact that is that parents will be far more likely to buy the Xbox360 as a present than the PS3 based on cost.
Sony are down to 1% profits last year and as they will be selling the ps3 at a loss its profits are projected to be down 50% this year. Shareholders are unhappy, Panasonic are kicking Sony’s ass back home in Japan for home entertainment, Sonys music industry is failing. They don’t make a profit on their home PC systems. They don't have the money to do anything extra for customers, their games will be expensive and the console already is and accessories will cost a bomb.
I think its outrageous the fact that they call the $499 system a blue-ray player can’t play HD-Movies as it lacks the HDMI ports.
This is Sony’s big gamble and I think its wrong to force its customers to commit to a Disk medium that’s not accepted as standard. At least Xbox360 has a choice. Lets not forget that The Forum (the big authority on DVD and future formats) already has approved HD-DVD. And HD-DVD is out now and has more backing.
I will by an HD-DVD player as they're nice and cheap. I will not buy a PS3 as there are very few exclusive games and none that I want.
I'm tired of Sony’s attitude to its customers and its lies and its chairman’s arrogance.
I’m still sore from the PS2 faulty disk drive problem which they denied until proven wrong.
Japanese companies look after themselves first and the customer after American firms do not.
And now it appears that IBM can't produce enough of those precious Cell chips fast enough to meet the amounts needed for a world wide launch. They are breaking the chips in the production which is pushing the production cost more.
When they do launch where do you think will have priority. Japan or america?
UMMM...
Does any1 remember beta? Well, it was sony's version of the vhs. Where did it end you ask? In the damn trashcan in sony's back yard
BluRay will end up in that same trashcan
HD-DVD already has a huge lead. Sony waited too long to release it. and I also feel sorry for PS3 buyers because that will fall with BLU-RAY
I will get a wii and i have a 360 but you wont see me getting a ps3 {also too expensive}
Glee! With my 2 year BestBuy warranty, I can ship them my PS2 for a $150 store cred to put towards my ps3. My $600 ver will cost me $450. The price tag isn't so bad when you look over your PS2 library of over 100 titles, most of which were purchased new on the release date.
Educate yourselves, people.
BluRay will be the big HiDef DVD. They have more studios signing up that HD-DVD. Any HiDef DVD player - JUST THE PLAYER - costs over $500. The fact that the PS3 is ALSO a powerful computer and graphics processor that in computer form would cost several thousands of dollars (around the $2500 mark) should also be considered.
And for those that say that the 360 and the PS3 will have similar graphics - WAKE UP. The PS3 has TWICE the graphics power, and game companies are taking advantage of it.
Just wait until the PS3 comes out - once the public sees what it can actually do, and compare it to the 360, it will most certainly sell out.
i have an xbox 360 with thehard drive and preordered the ps3 and wii
Your all nutters by the way, haven't any of you got nothing better to be doing than reading through all this trash and having digs at each other.
Go out, find some friends and get a life.
(This is an automated post by my bot, as I'm obviously out with my friends doing worth while stuff)
PS3 will kill Xbox and HD-DVD. Like PS2 killed Sega.
Do the math add up the $$$ for Xbox and see you'll pay more than PS3 duhh. Fully loaded Xbox will cost you $800 or more. Stop being hater and enjoy the games.