As you may have seen tonight here, here and here, we’re kicking off this year’s E3 with some big news (and the show hasn’t even started yet).
In short, we’re introducing a new PS3 model with a 80GB hard drive which will include a free copy of MotorStorm, all for the retail price of $599. This 80GB package will be available starting in August, just a few short weeks from today. The larger hard drive will give players more of an opportunity to take advantage of all the downloadable games and trailers on the PLAYSTATION Network, including the content from our forthcoming download service which will include videos, movies and other entertainment content.
In addition, as some of you speculated last week, we confirmed today that we are lowering the price of our current 60GB PS3 by $100, to $499, effective immediately in North America. I know many of you were eager to hear this and we’re thrilled to share this with you now as we head into E3.
Lastly, to keep up with the latest news, you can view a live stream of the official E3 SCEA press conference this Wednesday, July 11th, starting around 11:30 a.m. pacific time. About a half hour before the conference (11 a.m.), click here and we’ll have a live conference feed available.
And if that isn’t enough for you, we’ll have tons of content hitting the PLAYSTATION Store this week, including the SCEA press conference and exclusive first and third party videos and trailers, only available through PLAYSTATION Network. These will be available shortly after the conclusion of the press conference. We want to make sure that you’re getting the info as soon as possible. Rest assured, there is much more to come this week, including the conclusion of our Inside the Developer Studio series, so stay tuned….
Also See
SCEA President & CEO Jack Tretton outlines the details of today’s announcement (YouTube)
My PS Button does not glow red when charging. That must be something new or somebody gave you the wrong info Patrick.
i already own 2 ps3, i will buy a third just to show my support!
i guess the 20gigs out of business lol
anyway smart but dumb move its not like the 80 has a edge or new found technology over the 60 i could c if all 8spu’s were unlocked or somethin but thats jus me
anyway i think they should just make the hdd since they made the systems upgradeable and wheres the rumble and the led for the ps button
Guys, calm down. The 80GB motorstorm PS3 will be LIMITED EDITION like the box says. And to make you guys feel better about how you think Sony is ripping you off, they’re not. The people who purchase their PS3s now will not have the PS2 full backwards compatibility like us, and they should have cheaper parts in the PS3 to lower the cost for Sony. No matter what industry you’re in, new models release, the prices drop, and that’s the way it is. If I buy a TV today you can bet your ass in 8 months there’ll be some new wayyy better TV for cheaper. Im just REALLY happy Sony didn’t make major changes to the hardware that makes me feel like my $600 PS3 is “outdated.”
Hey Patrick, I think it would be really awesome, and beneficial, for you guys to put up demos of either Heavenly Sword and/or Lair. These are big hit titles, but there are many fence sitters who would like to try them out for themselves, and many people who just can’t wait to play them anyways.
Also please make sure the lie feed of the keynote is playable on the PS3 BROWSER. It would be a lot easier and much nicer to be able to view it on a big tv rather than a monitor.
-DH
If MGS4 goes to the 360 then Sony Gamers should all purchase the new Splinter Cell. The gamers like myself made MGS not Sony or Konami.
@conch_bubby
even if mgs 4 goes to the 360, how many 360’s will a gamer have to go through to beat it.. and how many years will it take?? ( with all the time wasted sending the unit in )
thats tru i kno people who are on their 5th 360
an its always the samew stupin problem the x box had over heating
I for one think this was a Dumb move on Sony part if they wanted to be smart there would only be one PS3 version. That way people do not have to wonder what one to get. So I for one think the 80 gig PS3 version should be 500. Then that would be sweet and if you really want to keep the 60 gig make that one 400.
Then PS3’s would be flying off the shelf.
I support sony so I don’t mind paying full price for my PS3.
I wonder how many demos the 360 will get come E3? I hope is not something else they will be able to use against the PS3.
I’m happy with my PS3 and the price cut is awesome for everyone else that couldn’t get one from the start. But PLEASE for the love of god…stop making First person shooters!!! I thought we were doing Next generation games…not next generation first person shooters. I think the line of games right now that I have are mainly ALL FPS. Resistance, the Darkness, just to name what I can remember at work right now XD
Or atleast what I think would be totally next gen…every game you should have the option of 3rd person and 1st person!!! WOW!!!
also…NO MORE LOAD SCREENS! Do it like God of War :-P
@ slerch666
Sony is Sega. Sega was in huge financial trouble for a very long time due to the failure of Sega CD, 32X, Saturn, and just couldn’t sell enough Dreamcast consoles to make up for it. The difference was that Sega was only a video game company. Sony is a big electronics giant, with gaming consoles, TVs, movies, etc., so if the video game division is losing money, they aren’t completely in trouble (since they have other markets to rely on). Also, unlike Sega, Sony already has three successes they’re riding on. PS2 is still selling well and they make a profit on every console sold. PSP is selling fine and they make a profit from that. PS3 may be losing money now, but things will turn out. The same couldn’t be said about Sega.
Just to clarify, the RETAIL SIXAXIS DOES NOT have a red LED light in the PS home button. I’ve been to Insomniac and used their controllers and for whatever reason theirs DID have the red led lights in them. I guess they were removed before launch.
Just curious about exclusives lost…how much has Microsoft spent to BUY those exclusives? Cuz i figure…if they’re spending alot of money to buy exclusives, maybe they’ll being losing alot of money just to try and get exclusives?
Also Sony Pictures, i’m assuming is part of everything Sony. They must be making alot of money just from them right? I don’t remember a Microsoft Pictures logo anywheres on the big screen :)
A move in the right direction with the $100 price cut, but I feel this is too small a price cut when it is still more than an x360.
The 80gb model at $599 is a very bad move, everyone will want the best available and that is now the 80gb and this could force the 60gb out of commission ala the 20gb model before it. Which then makes the $100 price cut pointless as not many will get the benefit.
Sony should have (at minimum) changed the 60gb to a 80gb with the $100 price cut and sold it for $499. That would have moved units.
You are now back at square one with confused customers in Best Buy and Circuit City stores asking for help from an assistant as to which version to buy and the consultant pointing to the 80gb and it’s $599 price tag. Then the consumer will say “but I thought they dropped the price $100” the resulting convo between consultant and customer causes customer’s head to spin and leave store with an x360.
Come on Sony, fix this issue immediately. You OWNED the last 2 generations of gaming and this time around it looks like you are a byunch of bumbling idiots! This can’t seriously be happening to my beloved Sony!!!
Mgiusto
[quote]Why is the need of a 80GB HDD Ps3 when the 60GB version is upgradable? [/quote]
Is it that hard to understand that a 80GB HDD at some point gets cheaper than a 60GB HDD, so they simple discontinue the 60GB SKU for a 80GB SKU to save money. In a couple of months a 120GB HDD will become cheaper than the 80GB HDD.
@295
thats what I wanted to say too.
@CitizenInsane27
You’re way off base here. Sony is using the same cracker-jack marketing campaign for the PS3 that they used for the Betamax. How can they lose?
All seriousness aside, come Christmas, if there aren’t some serious “OMFG I’ve got to pay that” games; you guys are going to get corn-holed in sales. But what do I know? I’m/We’re just a consumer. I mean, it’s not as if my/our decision to purchase or not to purchase a product affects you in any way. Right!?
Look, we all knew the price was going to drop, it was just a matter of time. Plus, the two different machines AREN’T actually different, the only difference is the harddrive size and it comes with a game. The 20 gig was actually a different machine, it didn’t have the card reader or wireless. THOSE make it different. I actually bought the 20 gig because i wanted a wired connection anyways, and i didn’t give a flip about the card reader, i have a usb one anyways. And a few months ago, i just bought a 100 gb laptop HDD and installed it myself without a hitch. I agree sony should increase the HDD on the higher model to 120 at least to compete with the sixe of Xbox 360 Elite.
Sony Picture should advertise the PS3 in movie theatres and their dvd’s/blu-rays. I mean…its within the company so…couldnt that be a cheap way if not free to advertise?
@ mgiusto
I agree with getting a $100 price cut is a move headed toward the right direction, but to say that you think it was too small because of it being 20 dollars more than the 360 Elite(basically), is insane. People are failing to realize what they get, compared to the price of the 360 and what they have to offer out of the box. But whose fault is this? That people can’t see this? Has Sony advertised enough to show people everything that the PS3 is capable of doing out of the box? And yes, I do believe Sony has been slacking in the advertising area to show what PS3 can do. But people who do know what they are talking about, and know what companies put out there, compared to others, and can distinguish the differences between them, and determine which one is a better buy, would know. Thats why PS3 is a better buy over a 360 Elite, or any other SKU model Microsoft has to offer.
@ Mana Knight
Why even bother stating that Sony is Sega in the beginning of your paragraph, and then gear away from the statement and being completely opposite with that same statement by the end of your paragraph. What point were you truly trying to make?
So what about UK? What about Europe? It’s great you guys are finally doing the right thing by cutting the price, but yet again you ignore us pathetic loyal fans in Europe. Not only do we not get as many events or offers over here, let alone anything on time, we pay almost double for the PS3. I’m really sorry, but sometimes you guys really piss me off. For all the patience we’ve shown and defending we have to do for the PS3, we deserve better. I hope you keep that in mind.
Lets look at the time frame. xbox 360 1 year 8 months old, plenty of games. PS3 8 months old games and a ton of game coming by the end of the year, hummm I wonder why the xbox 360 has more games? That is a hard question, oh by the way, lets see the how much money has Microsoft taking from you pockets with the xbox, xbox360, xbox elite, what next the the super xbox 360 elite, please give more money to microsoft every 2 years, because they can not future proof a console. And for the Wii lets not ship consoles to customer and let them trickle out so we can have customer build pent up demand and then dump the system at christmas, and then announce a new super Wii next summer, sorry all you Wii buyers that purchased are under functioned system, but we have a new one, now give us another 250 dollars, look we have a hard drive now! blah blah blah, selling un-informed customers who buy into the tickle me elmo syndrome. oh oh the system is hard to get I got to get one, then sell it on ebay once they get bored or can not find the cool games they want. Seen this all before with 30 years of retail computer experience.
Sony
Thanks for the price cut. Now I may buy a PS3. However, I think you guys should’nt bring the 80 gb sku into the market. Because it will still continue that “PS3 is still costly stigma” to the consumers. You should just leave as it is or if you are so keen on giving the consumers a choice, bring in the 20 gb sku. Because 80gb sku is not worth an extra $100. If you look at xbox 360, people will say that its price is $480 (elite) and not $400 (premium) because of the elite sku. Well its just my opinion and you guys probably wont care about it, but I’m just putting it out there. Well thanks for the price cut on 60gb sku again.
You’ll notice they didn’t mention that this 80gb version doesn’t use the hardware “emotion engine” for backward compatibility gaming, they’re using software emulation. Nice try with the bait and switch.
[…] New PS3, New Price & More News Coming […]
Ah lets see, all the xbox games I can play on my xbox 360, oh I can not play my xbox games on xbox360. Emulation is good enough for the old games. Oh Microsoft you want me just to play your new games and forget about the old xbox games, ok microsoft I will follow you mindlessly. this is a PS3 so if you want to by a PS3 with the chip buy the 60gb version. It will not matter in 9 months anyway who is going to want to play the old PS2 games when you have shiny new PS3 games that are a lot better, faster, with better graphics, and I bet the emulation is still better then nothing and will still run pretty good, for the PS2 hold outs.
Backwords Compatibility:
Some people may not care, but I for example went into a Gamespot the other day and didn’t pick up and Xbox games (even though I wanted to) B/C I didn’t know if they would work. BC doesn’t mean I won’t buy new games, it just means I will still buy old ones aswell. This is perticularly important since PS2 should have a few great software years ahead of it.
@ thechosenfew88
I was only bringing up Sega because someone says Sony is going to end up like Sega, , but that’s very far from the truth.
Sounds like E3 has already began due to this announcement
Yes, I think we all know that the differences between the 20GB and 60GB were much more than just a bigger HDD.
Anyway, my cousin now wants an Xbox 360 because Devil May Cry 4 and some other onces exclusive game (don’t remember) will be released for the Xbox 360 too. But the one game that is keeping him from getting an Xbox 360 over a PS3 is MGS4… Sony, MGS4 has to stay a PS3 exclusive.
…and yes, the price is the other reason why he hasn’t bought a PS3 yet.
Soooo…for the inside the developer’s studio. We should have…….THE KILLZONE DEVS!! You heard me right playstation blog. Playable Killzone 2 demo this week. *rubs nipples* You know ya like that. ;-()
@ Mana Knight
Oh ok. Sorry for that. Try making your response more separate from theirs. From looking at the paragraph at first glance, it seems as if you are the one saying Sony is Sega. Parenthesis may help as well next time.
Sorry once again…. :-)
Also, it is a MUST that sony secure MGS4 and FFXIII, as stated earlier. If they can’t even do that, then sony has already lost. It’s not a matter of these games being the only ones to look forward to, but these series’ (for the most part) have been playstation side for a while and they represent a huge section of why i want the PS3. If either one goes cross-platform, we can kiss goodbye any PS3 advantages we might have had otherwise.
So does this mean that the 80GB sku’s will not have the same hardware for backwards compatibility? Like the emotion engine’s gonna be emulated like how the EUR SKUs are?
I think it would be reasonable for us (european) buyers that we get something extra as a
‘thank you for buying a machine for 600 euro’s with little good games, while 3 months later it will be 100 euro’s cheaper’
Like I bought Tekken 5:DR on psp, I would like an option to download the game for free on PSN after proving that I own Tekken:DR. All these little things are bothering me, especially since my friends have 360’s with good games…
And Ubisoft should be punished for releasing such a buggy and feature incomplete game (R6: Vegas).
For the XMB, I would like a playlist function with queing… you can only sort by album/artist and such.
[/rant]
I can’t believe people actually expect Sony to give them money for buying it early.
It’s the price of early adoption, people! You always know full damned well that when you buy a console at launch price that it will eventually go down in price.
I want to know if there is any hardward differences between the 60GB and 80GB versions.
Now, to top it off we need official announcements that MGS4 and FF13 and a bunch of other third party games are exclusive to the PS3. This is a reason to get the ps3 now. I believe this is the first bundle ever released in the U.S. by Sony for any of their Playstation consoles. I wish demos would also be available on the PSN, from E3.
[]^XO
yeah but not 3 months later
What great marketing! Everyone is talking and Sony stock is way up at a time when Microsoft is covering it’s butt with extented warrantees, just look at all the hype! These “accidental” leaks of the price drop have caused alot of buzz, and botttom line for me is it worked, I’m getting me a PS3 sooner then later, good move Sony!
@HanSolo…
Do you work for sony or something? good lord.
I have to say the whole 2 SKU’s seems to put Sony right back where they were. If there are still 2 SKU’s why didn’t Sony keep the 20gb around and make it $399? Then they would have seen units finally get off the shelves.
So, accepting this new SKU what’s up with no HD cables for their HD gaming console? Come on Sony, with the price drop it seemed you were almost almost using your head. Just try a bit harder.
I definetly think this is a good move on Sony’s behalf. However I do think that they should have at least made the HDD upgrade to 120GB (or just for bragging rights, 160GB). 20GB more will add some room, but once PSN matures, I dont think it will be enough room. I know you can swap out the HDD on your own, but that can get a bit pricey. The greatest part about the announcement is the price drop. I know lots of people were complaining about the high price. Well now it is down $100, and that should be able to snag a bunch more console owners, which is great for the console and the company. Also telling (in the YouTube footage) about 40 games in development from Sony alone is going to be great, and with his talk about the new download service, this is sure to become a successful year for the PS3. Off to a bit of a rough start, but something is telling me, within the next month, it will take a change for the best. People are seeing Home in development, and with E3 starting on Wednesday, there is sure to be some announcements of great titles, and some finalization of some release dates (Lair being reported as almost complete). Great move Sony, and happy gaming to all!
@ fatheadwilson
Thank you for having the same concern about not having HD cables out of the box as well. I was truly upset when I found out Sony was shipping the PS3’s with COMPOSITE cables!!!!!! Come on man……. Sony please. Make some arrangements and pack some HD Premium Component cables atleast in each SKU.
[…] According to Patrick Seybold on the official PlayStation.Blog, “Just want to clarify for those wondering why the PS Button on the controller is red. That […]
[…] rumor was finally laid to rest when Patrick Seybold on the official PlayStation Blog responded to all the theories — that the HOME button turns red when charging a debug SIXAXIS […]
@thechosenfew88
You said it, HD Component AT THE LEAST. I mean, why pack in a game that shows off the consoles graphics and leave out the cables that let you really appreciate it.
Im no MS lover, but they did get their cable situation right.
hi all can someone briefly just explain to me what SKU means or stands for and also what is a ‘KIXAXIS’ ive got a SIXAXIS but not a KIXAXIS. thanks
@ fatheadwilson
Yeah, I agree. Microsoft seems to know what Xbox 360 fans want. Guess Sony still has some investigating to do to see what we actually want. Good thing this blog was started. If not, how else was Sony going to hear what we want out of our Playstation 3 experience.