New Australian 40GB PS3 model details

[JAMCAS50]

Sony hopes a new cut-down version of the Playstation 3, set to hit store shelves on Thursday, will make the console more affordable for Christmas shoppers.

The new model is priced at $699.95 but will not be compatible with Playstation 2 games, lacks a memory card reader and reduces the number of USB ports from four to two. But the biggest change sees the hard drive shrunk from 60GB to 40GB.

The existing 60GB model, which sells for $999, will be phased out, said Sony's local managing director Michael Ephraim.

While the announcement brings the PS3's price tag closer to earth, the console still attracts a price premium.

In August, Microsoft trimmed the price of the Xbox 360 Pro from $649 to $579.95, while the cut-down Core version now sells for $399.95, the same price as a Nintendo Wii.

But PS3 buyers enjoy the benefit of additional non-gaming features such as a built-in Blu-ray movie player and integrated support for wireless networks.

The Wii doesn't support movie playback; Xbox 360 owners need to buy a $249.95 external HD DVD player to enable support for next-generation movies, while an adapter for wireless networking costs $169.95.

"The PS3 is by far, when you compare apples and apples, cheaper than Xbox," Mr Ephraim said.

The move by Sony has been interpreted as a response to relatively lacklustre PS3 console sales stemming from the high $999 price tag, which locked out many gamers.

According to third-quarter sales figures from market-watcher GfK, the PS3 was the poorest performer for the period, shifting just 27,533 units in Australia.

The Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii sold 40,467 and 61,027 units respectively, while the PS2 continues to blitz the market with sales of 66,228 units.

Mr Ephraim acknowledged there would be some controversy over Sony's decision to remove PS2 backwards compatibility, but said Sony research showed most PS3 buyers were not using the console to play the legacy games.

He said any PS3 buyers who still wanted to play PS2 games could do so on their existing PS2 console. Over two million PS2 consoles have been sold in Australia to date.

"This is just us saying that the device is a very advanced device and we need to look at the future of what we can offer on it, and not be tied down by the past," he said.

"There has been extensive research and people that have PS3s are just not playing a lot of PS2 games."

Mr Ephraim said he was pleased with the PS3's sales to date - 82,261 units - but said it was misleading to compare the figures with sales of the cheaper Wii console, which has sold 167,899 units since its launch.

Rather, he said the similarly-priced PS2, with its range of family-friendly titles like Singstar and the quiz game Buzz, was a more accurate benchmark.

He congratulated Microsoft on the "great release" of Halo 3 but said: "My question for Microsoft would be, what's after Halo? We think there's a void in any other kind of offering for the Xbox."

He was adamant the exclusive PS3 title Haze, a first-person shooter game to be released in November, would be solid competition for Halo 3 in the lead-up to Christmas.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/articles/...695789355.html

[Icemage]

Should emphasize that this is an Australian article, and thus all prices are quoted in AUD, not USD. I did a double-take when I saw the $699 price tag for a moment.

[tiger roach]

It's surprising to me that it isn't backwards-compatible with PS2 games.

I need Guitar Hero.

[Go Blu]

I dropped in a PS2 game just once the day I got my PS3 and then never again since. Just to see what it looked like.

So if that is enough to drop the price for better market share and sales. I would think that is a good move. If your investing in a PS3 chances are you already own a PS2 and it's not like we're gonna throw them out after you buy the PS3.

[Icemage]

Originally Posted by tiger roach

It's surprising to me that it isn't backwards-compatible with PS2 games.

I need Guitar Hero.

As far as I can tell, there is enough hardware without the legacy PS3 chips to support full software emulation of PS2 titles on any PS3 - even the 80 and 40GB units. It's just a matter of how much effort Sony wants to throw at the problem, and how much of a marketing issue it is for them.

Right now, my personal theory is that the backward compatibility is being deliberately restrained by Sony so that they can flush the rest of the 60GB units from the retail pipeline. The BC feature is what's causing people to buy that version, and will continue to do so until it is out of stock.

I will wager that Sony will quietly (or maybe even not-so-quietly) announce that firmware 2.0 will produce 90%+ backward compatibility on all units, even the 40GBs, but they won't release it until the 60GBs are gone for good from the retail pipeline.