New 80GB PS3 headed to Europe, Australia on August 27

Although Sony announced that the updated 80GB PS3 "Core" configuration would come to the States in September, it looks like other parts of the world will be getting it a little earlier -- Sony Computer Entertainment Europe chief David Reeves told reporters last night that the new SKU would hit Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia and New Zealand on August 27th. Worldwide pricing wasn't announced, but Sony confirmed that the new model would cost £299 in Britain and €399 in Europe. Sadly, it doesn't look like the Playstation Store's new video service will be making the trip anytime soon, but Reeves said that Sony is "working on it." That's great -- we're still more interested in a 60GB launch console, though.


[Thanks, Matt]

[Madoc @ Jul 17th 2008 1:33PM]

The HD is easily replaced, I could care less what size comes with it - I just need a price drop dammit!

[Blaine Oliver @ Jul 17th 2008 1:35PM]

They mean the backwards compatible 60GB model tbh...

[Flashpoint @ Jul 17th 2008 6:07PM]

Considering the HDD is upgradeable, seems that there is more logic in buying one of the launch 60GB models and upgrading from there.

The 60GB model had EVERYTHING...media ports and wifi.

I know that SONY has no choice now but to relaunch the console and package the Dual Shock 3. I'm sure that people who couldn't get the MGS4 PS3 will be waiting for that new Sku.
Backwards compatibility is also a big interest of mine. And I've got just 2 games for that: Shattered Soldier and Gradius V. I may end up buying God of War and God of War 2.

Furthermore, I don't think this thing will be able to stay at that price with Xbox360's price becoming more competitive.

[Ninjakamster (PS360 FTW!) @ Jul 17th 2008 1:36PM]

60GB FTW!!!! I will miss you.......... : (

[Danakin @ Jul 17th 2008 1:36PM]

*unenthralled voice* yay, a slightly bigger hard drive.

Seriously though, would anyone really put an extra 20GB or even 40GB higher up on the list than the ability to play PS2 & PS games all on one console?!

It would be annoying to have a PS3 & PS2 hooked up when you could just have one of them...lucky for me I got a 60GB before they went away.

[Mr_Fizzlepop @ Jul 17th 2008 4:08PM]

Yep, I got a 60 gig and my Brother considered seriously getting one just before they went away but didn't get one.

Think he might be regretting that now, though they could still reissue a backwards compatible again.

[tekdroid @ Jul 17th 2008 4:51PM]

backwards compatibility costs Sony far more (far, far more) than this hard drive. They would be nuts to give it to you now that people don't expect backwards compatibility, IMO.

[c.Lake @ Jul 18th 2008 6:52PM]

It doesn't cost them THAT much more to place the Emotion Chip back in the PS3. This is just their excuse. Everyone KNOW the Blu-Ray drive is the meat of the cost.

Whatever, Sony is going to have to bring back BC at some point. AND we all know this. Stop wasting time.

[tekdroid @ Jul 20th 2008 11:58AM]

c.Lake @ Jul 18th 2008 6:52PM

It doesn't cost them THAT much more to place the Emotion Chip back in the PS3. This is just their excuse. Everyone KNOW the Blu-Ray drive is the meat of the cost.
---------
What takes up the majority or minority of the cost is irrelevant in this example. Let's assume it costs sony a mere $1 USD (it costs them far more than this) to add the chip back in. Multiply that by millions of consoles. Now you see how much they stand to lose on a 'bonus' feature that virtually nobody is expecting, let alone using.

Of course it would be nice, but it ain't gonna happen (unless they bring out an 'elite' model and decide to re-intro the feature. Which, again, would be pretty pointless to the majority of the market, I would say.

From a business perspective it makes no sense to them. And business is what it comes down to, in the end. Nobody expects the feature. They are still selling PS2s and they are still popular. To get good backwards compatibility really doesn't matter at this stage of the game (at introduction I can see it being far more important to get sales stimulated).

In any case, I think they made the right business decision by omitting it. Not the right enthusiast decision perhaps, but for their business, absolutely.

[GO @ Jul 17th 2008 1:37PM]

here comes the wave of europeans asking why sony is "RIPPING THEM OFF" and why it isnt £200 in britain and €251.40 in the rest of europe

[Jevanzz @ Jul 17th 2008 2:31PM]

It's not so much that we're being ripped off, it's just that everything is so god damned cheap in America when compared with the UK/EU.

[naz @ Jul 17th 2008 2:44PM]

GO, if you paid UK prices for things you'd complain

[Cal @ Jul 17th 2008 3:33PM]

$400 sounded like competitive pricing, £300 just isn't...

[substance90 @ Jul 18th 2008 12:08PM]

Wow, you`re actually complaing about other people`s complaints and in the same time, you live where stuff is cheap!!! How ignorant and insolent some people can be...
You do realize that if even a third of the other part of the world had US prices the resources of this planet won`t be enough, right? Just.. go buy cheap stuff and don`t dare complain!

[CarpeD1em500 @ Jul 17th 2008 1:43PM]

Whats with the terrible PQ?

[Blair Thiessen @ Jul 17th 2008 1:48PM]

"That's great -- we're still more interested in a 60GB launch console, though."

The 80GB PS3 now has almost the exact same backwards compatibility as the 60GB PS3, with every few update to the PS3 the 80GB gets more and more fixes.

Sure the 60GB PS3 plays everything but the 80GB isn't really that far behind. Also considering the 80GB PS3 uses less power and makes less heat then the 60GB PS3 I'd gladly get rid of my 60GB for a brand new 80GB.

[Blair Thiessen @ Jul 17th 2008 1:54PM]

uhh... never mind... somehow I missed the news the other day that the new 80GB is like the 40GB.... my bad!

[Jeremy @ Jul 17th 2008 1:57PM]

Blair Thiessen,

The new 80gb doesn't have PS2 backwards compatibility. It's the same as the 40gb just with a larger HDD.

[Jeremy @ Jul 17th 2008 1:58PM]

nevermind then, looks like you figured it out before I could post

[Ethan @ Jul 17th 2008 1:50PM]

I think that actually they don't want the ps3 to eat into ps2 profits. That's the only way it seems to make sense.

[Danakin @ Jul 17th 2008 2:01PM]

...you are absolutely correct.

[Mr_Fizzlepop @ Jul 17th 2008 4:16PM]

Yeah, I mentioned that early on in a thread with 360 fans saying Sony isn't making any money with their game consoles.

The PS3 may not be in the Black but the PS2 sure is and has been, it's the profit in their consoles and between it and no failures like the 360 had Sony isn't sweating where it stands in the console war at all I don't think.

Time, and Money, is currently on their side til you add the Wii into the mix :)

I still think back to the Nintendos Wii controller Demo announcement that rocked the Console wars with a little grin.

"Nintendo, Bah, what could they possibly have that...Ooop!"

[Ignatius @ Jul 17th 2008 1:51PM]

I'd take a 10GB drive if it meant backwards compatibility... oi vei. Obviously Sony doesn't get the hint, they just keep driving it out of their products.

[puma7 @ Jul 17th 2008 2:14PM]

They don't add the backwards compatability because they want you to buy both a PS2 and a PS3. It is much more profitable to keep them seperate rather than together and I think they figured this out after the 60GB version.

[SteveJ @ Jul 17th 2008 2:37PM]

Sony never should have had backward compatibility in the first place. By having (and by having it inconsistently), they've just made a complete mess of things. If they'd never offered backward compatibility, some people would still have complained, but I don't think it would have been as bad, and people would get over it quicker.

Also, since they are no longer going to be selling a PS3 that offers (partially) software-based backward compatibility, you can be pretty certain that updates to such support will be ended. Whatever the current 80 GB can play now, that's what it will always be able to play. There won't be any more updates to support more games (or to support games better.)

[Steve @ Jul 17th 2008 3:13PM]

No Backwards Compatibility, No sale. I like my ps2 games and wanted to buy a PS3 this year when my original ps2 started breaking down. Instead of buying a nice new shiny PS3 with BC, I bought another PS2 and won't be buying a PS3 for the foreseeable future. I liked the idea of inexpensive Blue Ray player and being able to play the old and new on it. I could even forgive the power consumption if it meant only needing one console and no DVD player.

But uh, yeah, no sale for me. Might even pick up a 360 someday.

Quite disappointing Sony =/

[Mr_Fizzlepop @ Jul 17th 2008 4:23PM]

I do think there will be a point here in like the next year+ where you will see the Hardware compatible units come back, but it just isn't even at a break even profitwise yet for them, so it will still be a while.

Part of it is also the price point. They know some people won't buy the PS3 over the PS2 even with compatibility for another 250 dollars.

When the difference in price gets to like 100 dollars, then I think you'll see it back.

[icepop4who @ Jul 17th 2008 5:25PM]

The pictures says $399. What?!

[Zenquibo @ Jul 17th 2008 7:00PM]

$399 = £199 = €250
(and £299 = €377)

T_T

[Gabriel @ Jul 17th 2008 8:21PM]

IMO, Sony totally never intended for the PS2 sales to be as high as they are. They thought the PS2 would fade into obscurity when the PS3 came out. Now that the PS2 is still selling, why cut into your own profits with a console that you lose money on every time someone buys it? (in case you didn't realize, sony loses money every time someone buys a PS3.) They need to make money somehow and the PS2 is the only profit they are getting in outside of the psp and software sales.

[Davedrastic @ Jul 17th 2008 10:35PM]

So, the new pack is the "Core" pack. What's happening to the old one? Being phased out? So if this is the "Core" pack, what will be the "Premium" pack? Or won't there be one?

And do you reckon UK/EU/Oz will continue to get price gouged, or perhaps this is an excuse to lower the price too, what with Xmas round the corner and all.

[Paul @ Jul 17th 2008 11:04PM]

I have the original 80GB PS3, i can play all my PS2 games.

[xValentine @ Jul 18th 2008 2:29AM]

Well Sony is giving away a 40GB added HD, and a DS3 upgrade for the price of the curent 40GB corepack.

Now why would someone complain about that ?

If you want BC, go buy the current 80GB corepack, or buy a 2nd hand 60GB.

[BigPants @ Jul 18th 2008 5:25AM]

Hey, who gives a sh*t......how about some frickin decent Movie and TV content for Europe??? Let's give Microsoft a run for their money with their token offering on Live....

C'mon Sony, you're very quick when people download illegally. At least give people the choice.

[Rayden @ Jul 19th 2008 1:37AM]

Hmmm, wonder if this SKU will have a rear USB port to better fit PlayTV also being released in Europe, Aus, NZ later this year

[rish--- @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:51AM]

fuck you all, i'm getting a 250 gb ps3 bundle for £340 (or $680)
:-)

[rish--- @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:52AM]

fuck you all, i'm gettting a 250 gb ps3 bundle for £340 (or $680)
:-)

[Mars2003 @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:15PM]

Yep, I'm from the UK and It's pretty much what I expected, Im not dumb enough to simply convert Dollars to Pounds and come up with "why it isnt £200 in britain" , but even after I account for our Sales Tax 17.5%, the price gap is still huge. No thanks Sony, I pass for the time being, maybe by the time I think the price is fair then the blu-ray discs might be a fair price as well.

[chefboy94 @ Aug 22nd 2008 9:22PM]

i would like to point out, that this is not really a step up of the 40gb model, but merely a small downgrade of the 80gb that makes it more affordable.

the only ways it is different at all from the older 80gb model, is that fact that it doesnt have BC (and seriously, just use your ps2 for all those games), it loses two usb ports, (and come on; if your at home by yourself or with a friend, are you REALLY gonna need 4 usb ports? controllers are wireless anyways), AND (the best different part), its as cheap as the old 40gb.

i would also like to add, that this model DOES still have wi-fi internet so it isnt entirely like the 40gb

all in all, i think its actually a very smart move for sony, because this will create a new option for younger and less "intense" gamers to get their hands on a good model with great features

[Ryuzi @ Sep 10th 2008 1:44AM]

Me = sony fanboy. Always have been. Always will be. Unless they lose the rights to metal gear. But i wish they just put in the god damn magic gate port, i got a psp 4gb mem stick to transfer all my songs vids and photo's but i dont have a USB, considering the ps3 is a MULTIMEDIA console, no magic gate ports, CF ports or sd card ports just seems stupid. seriously, does it cost THAT much for them!?