One hour later: 40GB PS3 rumor returns, announced tomorrow?

Ok, this is now getting sad. With Sony just denying the "Big Bang" announcement, the on again, off again, 40GB PS3 rumor is back on. Big time, according to an "exclusive" over at Pocket-lint. According to their "multiple sources," Sony will announce the 40GB "core" PS3 tomorrow at a price of £299 -- the same model we expect to hit the US for $399. Also expected is a £56 price reduction on the UK's 60GB PS3 making it £369 in time for the holidays -- those Sony "value pack" bundles will see the axe. The 40GB PS3 is expected to feature WiFi, Blu-ray, and SIXAXIS controller but will lose 2x USB slots, the memory card reader, and backward compatibility chip -- not a loss for European gamers whose compatibility is ensured via software. All the changes are expected this month if the rumor holds up. Tomorrow, it's only a day away.

Update: A report from France's Les Echos seems to back Pocket-lint's claim: a €399 40GB PS3 in time for Christmas. A Sony spokesman would not confirm details but did say that an announcement was "imminent."

[suv4x4 @ Oct 4th 2007 6:04AM]

Hehehe, like I said:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/04/sony-europe-denies-big-bang-ps3-announcement-on-the-12th/comments/7972392/

[enjoi @ Oct 4th 2007 6:04AM]

i think i should get my ps3 now.

[Nfinity @ Oct 4th 2007 6:08AM]

Here's what I think will happen. 60gb PS3 version gets the boot and gets replaced with $499 40gb version. 80gb version will still be sold for $599.

It has been said by Sony that despite the rumors they will not cut the pricing as there is no content for PS3 and that they will try to push the Blu-ray side of PS3 while the content arrives. This has been said by official Sony executive.

I think that despite all these rumors PS3 will not go down in price.

The only thing that would justify the $399 price would be short-term promotional pricing that would go back to $499 after a while.

We'll see.

[jsn @ Oct 4th 2007 10:55AM]

when you consider how much they're losing per unit already, dropping USB ports, a card reader and Wifi and software ps1/ps2 emulation isn't going to get them in the black per unit. They're still going to be losing a ton of money so dropping the price to $399 makes even less sense.

The comment you posted from Hirai is probably the most intelligent comment from anyone in the PS3 division to date. He knows that dropping the price of a console that doesn't have much content isn't going to make much difference. It's not going to spur sales, so why lose more money on what you are selling?

It still wouldn't surprise me to see a price drop though. They're desperate right now. It's been nothing but negative press since they launched it. Though that's what you get when you enter a market and ignore the changes it has seen since last time.

[JET @ Oct 4th 2007 6:31AM]

How are two related again exactly? The "Big Bang" announcement was rumored to be set for the 12th, two days after the launch of the 40GB PS3 in at least 3 regions (Australia, Italy, UK). The non-existence of a press conference on the 12th does not forclose the possibility of a new product announcement before then.

Nfinity, use your brain for a second. There's no way Sony would replace a model (the 60GB) with one with less hard drive space, fewer USB ports, no memeory card readers, and no hardware backward compatability and charge the same price for it. We've known about the $399 PS3 for a while now; there's no reason to think the price would suddenly shoot up $100.

I imagine the only reason for the delayed announcement is to give retailers time to sell through some of their $599 80GB bundles before removing Motorstorm from the quation and dropping the price $100.

And "no content?" Please, that comment has been refuted so many times there's no longer a reason to argue it.

JET

[Nfinity @ Oct 4th 2007 8:22AM]

Oh I'm using my brain AND information that is being said by Sony executives. I'm not inventing things here. ( http://www.neoseeker.com/news/story/7159/ )

Quote:
====
Sony Computer Entertainment is well aware of the speculation surrounding the PlayStation 3's pricing, but chief Kazuo Hirai admits his company will be prioritizing elsewhere for its holiday season strategy. Specifically, the name of the game will be pushing PS3 as a Blu-ray player to attract Christmas sales before announcing any further official price cuts.

Sony would rather build confidence by establishing a stronger lineup of game titles in order to make additional price cuts even more attractive.
===
EndQuote

If you think that with this content numbers PS3 has any chance as gaming platform you are deeply mistaken. Below information taken from XBox.com and Sony's Playstation.com

Xbox 360 Current Games out: 385
Xbox 360 Upcoming Games: 54 (this and next year)

PS3 Current Games out: 77
PS3 Upcoming games: 46 (this and next year, out of which maybe few exclusives the others are available on Xbox 360 as well)

What exactly has been discussed? Do you realize that if this is what 2007/2008 looks like for PS3 that they have ZERO chance of surviving.

[JET @ Oct 4th 2007 8:46AM]

Slapping quotes around what a reporter interprets from a statement is not the same thing as quoting what was said. What was said was:

"The PS3 is first and foremost a video games machine but we want to say – by the way, it’s a great Blu-ray player as well...Going aggressive only on price without being able to back it up with content doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me." - Kaz Hirai (your link - http://www.neoseeker.com/news/story/7159/)

If I were interpreting those statements, I'd say the utility of the system as a games machine and a Blu-Ray player provides the content to support the price drop.

JET

[Nfinity @ Oct 4th 2007 9:10AM]

Okay so you wanna try this again?

Full quote by the man himself:

The PS3 is first and foremost a video games machine but we want to say – by the way, it’s a great Blu-ray player as well," Mr Hirai said. Marketing efforts in the US, Europe and Japan would highlight the PS3 as a Blu-ray disc player as well.
"Going aggressive only on price without being able to back it up with content doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me," he said. A price cut would have a "real impact" on sales only if there were enough software titles to support the PS3.


If you have problem comprehending what he is saying then I think we have nothing to talk about, but every logical person will conclude that he doesn't see price drop efficient if they don't have content to entice the consumer. This means that they are very much not really planning for price drops until they have more content, simple as that. The article reads his statement correctly.

If you don't think this is good news, then that's a different story, but it is very clear what he's saying.

[Mike @ Oct 4th 2007 6:33AM]

Sony really needs to push Blu-Ray this Christmas while people are buying HDTVs and HD satellite and cable transmissions in the UK are *finally* taking off.

If they can get the 60GB model below the £300 magical price point, they're laughing.

[Mr Noisy @ Oct 4th 2007 6:36AM]

It's still a headline extra £100 though compared to US pricing, and much as I'd like to jump on the Blu Ray train, the feeling of being suckered by Sony UK is still putting me off.

The memory card reader ommission and USB pull, if true, just seems silly since these components can't cost more than £4.99 to include and surely a brank new product line to cope with this would be more costly than to leave them on?

[Maff @ Oct 4th 2007 6:56AM]

I'd consider one at the lower price point as I am quite a casual gamer, although i'd feel screwed by sony, surely importing a PS3 to UK can't cost more than about £4 via supertanker, i'd be happy to pay £220, but they are taking the piss w the UK pricing, pricing it above europe, the biggest cost must be road haulage and shop fees forcing the UK price upwards, but i'd still rather they cut costs by making ONE model of PS3 w a 120Gb/160Gb+ drive and all the PS3 features, to be more inline with what MS have to offer

[Joe_Templeman @ Oct 4th 2007 9:13AM]

Its not the shipping costs which get you its the bloody import tax!

[lee @ Oct 4th 2007 7:07AM]

looks like the ps3 may sell out.., well... the 40gig version.

Mr Noisy regarding pricing, you should be used to being "suckered" us British folk have and always will pay over the odds... for _EVERYTHING_

from the PS3 you'll play, to the cigs you smoke (or at least some do), to the bottle of coke you drink. ack what a ramble..! soz leaving Korea in 2 weeks going back to be one of those who has to accept we're being ripped-off (in general) in the UK ;> 20malboro anyone quid-fifty? jap ps3 200quid? anyone. j/k :P

[mfed3 @ Oct 4th 2007 7:57AM]

just lower the damn price already so ms has to lower the elite's. nobody really cares about the ps3.

[Crayola @ Oct 4th 2007 8:15AM]

Sony stocks is going like this very much if it is true, $399 is a really good sweet spot, presumably Sony is still selling this thing below cost, but managed to maintain some semblance of a margin at least. Plus that extremely cheap Blue-Ray player! This is going to be craziest hit come Christmas, let's party like it 2007BC (Before Crunch)!

[Andir3.0 @ Oct 4th 2007 8:16AM]

I love the rumor started by someone posting on a forum that they heard a "Sony Style Employee" (his uncle's father's brother's son's cousin twice removed) said that they are removing BC, 2 USB ports, the Memory card readers and (oooh) not including an Ethernet cable!

[Mike G @ Oct 4th 2007 9:12AM]

"It's my sex box, and HER name is Sony!"

[iRobot @ Oct 5th 2007 2:33AM]

Dude, are you going to have sex with it?

[Bigg Russ @ Oct 4th 2007 9:47AM]

I'm so happy to be an Xbox 360 owner. Really, I am. I would like to own a PS3 one day this decade but until I hire a logistics expert to help me figure out which PS3 I need, I'll have to contain myself.

[Jimmy @ Oct 4th 2007 12:01PM]

You really want to talk about difficulty in picking out a PS3 when you have already purchased a 360? Really?

360 Core
360 Premium
360 Premium with HDMI
360 Elite
360 Arcade
360 Halo Edition
6 different Premium Bundles
and lets not forget the change in hardware due to RROD....

As an XBox owner different models to choose from is the last thing you have to pick on PS3 about!

[Danny @ Oct 4th 2007 10:14AM]

So can we call this the worst-kept secret of the generation yet?

[dunnypop @ Oct 4th 2007 10:46AM]

having a half decent blu-ray player with a video game system is a great feature... but what kind of gamer buys a system to play movies?

I think the PS3 will survive the Xmas... mainly since fanboys will refuse to buy a 360. And some of the major releases are cross platform (ex: GH3, Rock Band, Assassins Creed).

but this Xmas, belongs to M$... and I guess the Wii (which has been collecting dust since Halo 3 was released).

[shteevie @ Oct 4th 2007 12:04PM]

The disc with the best sell-through numbers for the release of the PS2 was the Matrix on DVD. There was nearly a 1:1 correlation; if you owned a PS2 that xmas, odds were better that you had a copy of the Matrix on DVD than that you owned a PS2 game.

[JimJimBinks @ Oct 4th 2007 11:05AM]

I'm still not sure I'd buy one. I don't want to use it as a Blu-Ray player because of the lack of an infared port (I can't use my harmony with it.) The only game coming out exclusively for the PS3 that I'm REALLY interested in is Metal Gear Solid 4, and I'm not convinced it won't be coming out for the 360 a year later. That being said, if there aren't any cheaper Blu-Ray players around Christmas time, I'll buy the PS3. My wedding is on Blu-Ray and I haven't been able to watch it yet.

[Nawibo Retsam @ Oct 4th 2007 11:17AM]

Sony is just the biggest piece of shitt. Hope they loose their ass like they did with betamax

[Stephen Lang @ Oct 4th 2007 12:25PM]

"Sony would rather build confidence by establishing a stronger lineup of game titles in order to make additional price cuts even more attractive."

The problem is if they don't start selling more units, 3rd party developers are not going to put the time in to develop great exclusive games. Sure we have the big franchises coming (MGS, FF, GT), but what about the new franchises that will be established this generation?

It's the classic chicken-egg thing with Sony right now, except they don't really have a chicken or an egg to work with. And the only thing Sony has control over is price. The last price cut (or whatever it was) did spur sales IIRC, so I think they will do it again. Finally, with Blu-Ray players dropping in price, there is a bit of pressure for Sony to keep up with that as well (of course dropping BR player prices means the tech is gradually getting cheaper to manufacture.)

What's the point of waiting until late 2008 for that strong game library to develop, if they will be too far back in the race to BOTH Nintendo and Microsoft? More likely that great game library simply won't develop at all at that point.

[Dave @ Oct 4th 2007 12:33PM]

Stop with rumors already. Tell me when it will be available at that price or dont mention it !

[AJ @ Oct 4th 2007 1:54PM]

I'm going to make a prediction. Sales of the PS3 will go up due to the $399 version but it won't be enough to put them in a competitive position for this generation of consoles. Unless they start cranking out must-have games, the PS3 is just a Blu-Ray player.

[Pete @ Oct 4th 2007 4:18PM]

60% of the reason I bought a PS2 was because my DVD player broke. I'll probably do the exact same thing with the PS3 once enough blue ray titles come out. It just kills me having this big flat screen and whenever I rent a movie, all I get is 480p. Sony will do right by pushing the blue ray aspect of it. Even though the XBOX has HD DVD, you still have to shell out extra money, and that ends up putting the price close to the PS3 anyway... (but without the 1080p). Just some thoughts...

[Orbstah @ Oct 4th 2007 4:42PM]

nawibo retsam:- truly a very constructive comment there. How do you come up with insightful stuff such as this. I am truly in awe of your ability to articulate the english language to provide such comments as this.

[olliemg @ Oct 5th 2007 11:54AM]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7030164.stm

I wouldn't be best pleased if i'd bought a PS3 already. Sony are really getting desperate. Removing USB ports must have save them at least 20p per console.. pure genius

[Bunmi Sowande @ Oct 5th 2007 11:57AM]

It's been confirmed !!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7030164.stm

[xepheus @ Oct 10th 2007 1:34AM]

Im still not 100% sure that the 40gig is good or bad. I like the idea of paying less for a ps3 and the usb i really could care less about. But removing the BC is kind of a turn away-er for me. My ps2 broke a few months ago and i havent really found a super reason to get a new one or get it fixed. I love my ps2 library but if I were to get a ps3 and not be able to play my old games on it, I'd be really upset. and some of you might say "if it bothers you that much get your ps2 replaced or get a 60/80gig ps3" to answer that i really dont wanna pay that much. and i kinda do feel the ps2 is too outdated to buy a new one.