i'm thinking i'mma have to get one now...just for resident evil 5

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Kmart website reveals listing for $299 PS3 Slim


Aug 18, 2009
Sony unveils $299 PlayStation 3 Slim
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The slimmed down PlayStation 3.
CAPTIONSonyIt's a rumor no longer -- Sony is dropping the price on its PlayStation 3 console.

Available September 1, a slimmer version of the PS3 will hit retail for $299. Sony will also drop the prices of the current 80GB and 160GB models to $299 and $399 respectively.

Initially brought to market for $500 or more in 2006 -- a $499 model with 20GB hard drive and a $599 60GB model -- Sony dropped the prices of the system last year to $399 for a 80GB model and $499 for its 160GB model.


"We have always felt that we had future-proof technology and a device that was going to stand the test of time," said Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America. "The challenges were getting the development community up to speed with the PlayStation 3 and getting the software out there that was going to deliver on the promise of what the PlayStation 3 could do. ... (Now), we have got great games (and) great technology, but we are in an incredibly difficult economy and dollars are difficult to come by right now. The third piece of the puzzle that we think has now fallen into place is this new $299 price point. This puts us in the position to do extremely well this holiday season."

See more comments from Sony's Tretton below:



The price drop totally changes the PS3's positioning in the marketplace, says Jesse Divnich, director of analyst services at Electronic Entertainment Design and Research. "The PS3 price drop finally puts the Sony home console on par with its main rival, the Xbox 360. In fact, in terms of value, the PS3 is a much superior product in comparison to the Xbox 360; however, this is not to suggest that hardware sales will suddenly shift into Sony's favor. It would be safe to assume that this recent price cut will slowly begin to close the gap between the two consoles."

Even though Sony priced the PS3 higher than competitors the $250 Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360, the electronics giant sold more than 8 million PS3s in the U.S., according to market tracking firm the NPD Group.

Despite the PS3's status as a "feature-laden console," says Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter says, "consumers are hesitant to pay for Blu-ray, Wi-Fi and a cell processor, and Sony needed to price competitively with 360 and Wii. This makes them competitive, and hats off that they have some price/cost discipline."

The PS3 got off to a rough start for two reasons, says Divnich. "First, the recession made consumers over-sensitive to pricing. It didn't matter what the price of the PS3 was, the fact that it was the most expensive, compared to its competitors, hindered sales. Consumers simply could not justify purchasing the 'latest and greatest'. Second, the Wii revolutionized how we view the hardware life cycle. Nintendo went against the grain and said, 'We are going to introduce a hardware system that anyone can enjoy and everyone can afford.' The late majorities or price-sensitive consumers did not have to wait three years before systems like the PS3 or the Xbox 360 were within their price range."

A side-by-side comparison of the original PlayStation 3, left, and the PS3 Slim.
CAPTIONSony

In no way does this price cut suggest weakness at Sony, he says. "It has always been Sony's plan to reach the $299 price point. Sony is still operating under a business model that most consumer electronics follow. The first price point is usually just out of reach of mainstream consumers, but just in reach of the technology innovators and early adopters who must always own the latest and greatest. As time progresses and manufacturing efficiencies increase, a product's price is lowered within the reach of the mainstream market. We believe the $299 price point is a mainstream or mass market price. At $199, you begin to capture the price-sensitive consumer and the late majorities."

At its previous prices, there were nine million consumers in North America who thought the PS3's technology justified the price, Divnich says. " The problem is that we have seen a shift in consumer demand and expectations over the last three years," he says. "Hardware is no longer the main selling point of a console, but rather its software and services, areas where Microsoft and Nintendo excel."


Regardless, Sony stuck to its plan, Tretton says. "We have preached 10-year product life cycles and executed against 10-year product life cycles for two generations in a row now. When we debuted PlayStation 3 we really debuted a state-of-the-art gaming system and a multimedia device that we really felt had a feature set that consumers were going to want and need if not immediately, over the course of time . And I think a lot of the technology we have put into the box and a lot of the stuff we said people were going to need has come to fruition. Blu-ray has won the format war ... People now want to be connected to the Internet with their console device and the only system with a Web browser built-in is PlayStation 3. It's the only system with built-in WiFi. All these things have consumer value and have costs associated with them. We are able to deliver all of that for $299."

Why is this the right time for a price reduction?
Tretton: "In terms of timing, it is very consistent with what have done in past. We have reached production efficiencies and we have been able to pass those savings onto consumers through previous generations. From the debut at $599 to $499, then $399 and now $299, it is kind of part of the product life cycle for us on each subsequent generation. And even the new form factor, it is consistent with what we did with the original PlayStation and PlayStation 2. We came out with the slimmer lighter PSOne in year four, the same with the slimmer lighter PS2. Now we are doing it with PlayStation 3 as it approaches its third anniversary in October of this year."

So the current 80 GB and 160 GB models will go away?
Tretton: Right now there is an 80GB PS3 on shelf and 160 GB/Uncharted bundle currently on shelf. Quantities of both models are extremely low. In anticipation of the new introduction, we ran our inventories down to a very low level. We have some residual inventory (but) the de facto model will be the 120GB PlayStation 3. That will literally take care of itself over the course of this week. We expect a flood of consumers to hit retail. They have been waiting for this price announcement and I think a lot of people will go out and grab one.

Will the new slim PS3 be have backward compatibility with PS2 games?
Tretton: No. We are three years into the PlayStation 3 life cycle. The library for PlayStation 3, both disc-based and network-based, is extensive. The consumer is playing PS3 games on the PS3. And given the fact that we have got a 140 million PS2s out there and it is currently available at $99, we really feel the PS2 serves the consumer who wants to play PS2 games. The PS3 is all about the PlayStation 3 experience.

By Mike Snider

I need a new tape deck for my C64.

:desperatesony:

InsatiableCream said:

co-

Probably not. I'm still enjoying the hell out of PS2 but i'll
say that is a lot more reasonable than what they were charging before.
Hell isn't Xbox selling their latest brand for $199. Xbox,Wii,and PS2 were
doing a number on PS3.

phunkdaddy said:

same here

peacenlovealways said:

More than likely I will. You also get the added bonus of a blu-ray disc player.

The only reason the cheapest version of the 360 is so cheap is because it doesn't have a hard drive which you will eventually have to fork out for anyway so in the long run its better paying the extra $50 - $100 more and get the version with a hard drive. And if your one of those people that look at sales the PS3 is rather quickly catching up to all the others with the Wii slowing down drastically.

This will only boost Sony's sales by a hell of a lot

I love my PS3. It does everything and it does it well. Blu-rays boot up instantly. The 160gb HD and it's USB ports allow access to all of my wma/mp3 music files. I can play side-shows of all of our digital pix. I can surf the web. The GUI is elegant and easy to navigate. The wifi and Bluetooth - bonus.

I think you can play games on it too.

Things that wish were different:
Backwards compatability with PS2 software.
A disc tray instead of a slot-load system for the discs.

I loved my PS3 and used it daily until about 3 months again when it switched itself off and hasn't restarted since after owning it for only 14 months, so no longer covered by 12 month warranty.

It now just gives me the blinking red eye of death. So fuckin' irritating

No, my xbox 360 gathers dust already so I'm not about to buy yet another system.

The DS gets the most use in my house.

Sony's quality control has been spotty, in my experience. It'll be a long time before I buy another one of their consoles.

squirrelgrease said:

cosign all of that.

the online game play is free also. Xbox charges extra for that shit.

The PS3 runs fairly warm, to say the least... I wonder how they're keeping temps down in the smaller package. Looks like they've switched to actual buttons instead of sensors to keep costs down.

squirrelgrease said:

There is talk that Sony are in the midst of making software which will make ALL PS3s compatible with PS2 games...lets hope this comes sooner than later

kcwm said:

That would be cool. The older PS3s were backwards compatible, but they hobbled this feature by the time I bought mine. I'm sure there are some hacks out there for my system, but haven't really looked into it that hard.

Will it still play blu-rays? That's the only reason I have one.

Nope

I plan on buying a ps3. cuz im fascinated with the latest game commercials ive seen,like Batman Arkum Asylum and eventually they will stop making dvds and everything will blu-ray. Call me dumb,but how exactly can u go on the internet with a ps3 and is it fast?

ufoclub said:

Of course. That's the reason a lot of us have one. Hell, that's probably the main reason it hasn't been a complete failure.

Just got Madden 2010. Can't wait for Tekken 6 in October!

Hell no. *Fondles my 360* I started cheating on Sony with this baby a long time ago and now I've sort of lost the desire to replace my PSP and get a new PS3. Now this might change one day when I want to play some of my old school games. But probably not any time soon. I get a chill just turning the thing on.

dance4me3121 said:

I was just about to mention I wanted something to play this on I haven't played video games in quite some time but it might take Batman to make me do it.

wait I just got a yes and a no on the blu-ray question...

ufoclub said:

She was saying 'no' in response to the initial question - would you buy it now?

dance4me3121 said:

It has wifi and an ethernet port, which is how you surf the web, upgrade the firmware and software as well as play online with other PS3 folks. You can use a Bluetooth or USB keyboard and mouse. Speed depends on your service provider. The PS3 browser is proprietary, but Linux can be installed on PS3s too. The new Slim will not allow Linux installation, though.

There is a YouTube site developed just for the PS3, so music videos and vids of people getting hit in the nuts with wiffle-ball bats can be seen on your big screen.

squirrelgrease said:

It's what I used to use my PS3 the most for. A little bit fiddly to get used to but so much nicer surfing on my 42 inch screen.

I heard u can download movies somehow to ur ps3? how does that work? and how many movies can ps3 hold?

dance4me3121 said:

You can but I wouldnt

IAintTheOne said:

why not?