An author over at technology blog Gadgetnutz has learned that a stripped-down entry-level PlayStation3 is on the way, citing ´his network of industry insiders´ as the source of the rumours.
Sony is rumored to be making drastic changes to recapture the market before losing even more of it's command share to the likes of Nintendo (the success story of the holiday season) or the XBox 360 (still suffering in the land of the rising sun, but gaining momentum everywhere else).
In a move that is "aimed at family pricing," Sony is rumored to be working on a Playstation 3 that does not include the Blu Ray drive. Whether this will result in the current low-end model having a change, or a newer "entry level" Playstation 3, remains to be seen.
However, in order to abandon the BluRay drive, current PS3 games would also become incompatible with the new console. Games would have to be refitted to standard DVD discs to be playable on a PS3 that would ship without a BluRay drive.
A much more likely story appears the Engadget report about a new Xbox360 in the works, photographic evidence included.
Ever wonder why Microsoft hasn't released an HDMI cable for the Xbox 360, or whether the AV port was really capable of digital out? Well, here's your answer: we landed pictures of what appears to be the second Xbox 360 -- the Xbox 360 v2, if you will -- codenamed Zephyr. (...)
The long rumored about and awaited update to the console won't just feature a new, cooler 65nm processor, it's also finally added an HDMI port for full digital 1080p pleasure, as well as a 120GB drive, just what the doctor ordered.
Source: Gadgetnutz, Engadget
Thanks to: LVzx2, News4Gamers, Joystiq
8 comments:
The 360 revision kind of makes sense, it's not really a surprise and i'm sure it will spur a sales surge. Provided they avoid making the new model essential for certain games or features over the old model then there is no problem.
The PS3 revision is crazy talk. They can't as far as i can see cut the price by much unless they remove the BluRay drive. That would result in like you pointed out already essentially a different console, gamers and developers would spit blood if this comes true. It would surely be seen as panic within Sony and could easily be the start of a major failure of the PS3 product.
I can definitely see Sony releasing a family version of the PS3. Cut out everything from the PS3 except for strict gaming functionality. Get rid of the extra IO ports(do we really need 6 usb plugs?), extra av ports (2 hdmi?). Now that will drive the price down a bit but as already mentioned how do you deal with the blu ray drive. I see 3 ways.
1) Drastic change, dump Blu Ray for gaming. Announce that from now on games will use standard DVD's which this new family version will use. The $600 PS3 blu ray will only be used for movies.
2) Release games in both DVD and Blu Ray format. This would be costly but might work. Dev's would probably hate it, but if sony came up with some sort of auto conversion mechanism it might work.
3) Create a DVD/Blu Ray hybrid disc that can be read from both blu ray drives and dvd drives.
I see Sony as very scared, they now understand what happened to 3DO and Neo Geo and they see that possibly happening to the PS3. Nobody wants a $600 machine, I can buy a computer for that much. Games are a luxury item not a necessity.
- Joe
so its wii then this all stinks of desparation on both companys, not just sony wii has shown that a true GAMES COLSOLE something all the ps2 ps3 freaks thought was dead is very much alive im all for true dedicated machines funny thing is wii just might turn out the best media machine as well.....
sony lost the plot on ps3 they have kept to there out dated fumula and it stinks wii is new 360 and ps3 are not
so its wii then this all stinks of desparation on both companys, not just sony wii has shown that a true GAMES COLSOLE something all the ps2 ps3 freaks thought was dead is very much alive im all for true dedicated machines funny thing is wii just might turn out the best media machine as well.....
sony lost the plot on ps3 they have kept to there out dated fumula and it stinks wii is new 360 and ps3 are not
It is a little odd isn’t it? This year we will see a slimmed down PS3 and 360 (360 switching to 65nm would virtually eliminate the over heating issues). Also a new version of Wii that supports DVD playback; who knows in the coming years we could even see a Wii with a hard drive and HD video support (for movie playback only of course).
The reality is that this is a multi-tier market; you can’t have complete domination unless you offer something for a variety of consumers. Another surprise hit this holiday season was the HD movie and TV download service for the Xbox 360; it even surpassed Microsoft’s expectations (meaning it actually made money). This gives the consumer the ability to watch HD programming with out having to purchase some form of HD player. More then likely this will lead to entire games (360 titles) being offered for download. This is also why I suggested that we might see a hard drive add on for the Wii. The current flash memory though energy efficient, will not have storage space available at a reasonable price. Current SD cards top out at 2 GB and cost above the $100 price point. This would not be enough to hold a possible 8.5 GB the DVD9 Wii disc can hold.
ummm, 2 gig SD cards going for above $100???? WHERE ARE YOU BUYING THEM??? I got mine on buy.com for $15!!!!!!! and a 4 gig is like $75!! but i have always said, they'll add external HDD support eventually, it's just a matter of time, if not a keyboard as well... the whole PS3 not havin a blu-ray is total BS, never gonna happen, the company's shares would plummet and the Blu-Ray bandwagon would come to a screeching hault... my thoughts are, if MS does come out w/ this new 360, you can kiss the PS3 goodbye, at least here in the states, and w/ rumors of iptv functionality! and DVR, that's a tempting addition to my Wii!
Sorry about that I was thinking of micro SD 2GB cards that go between $75 - $110
its funny watching the big guns squirm :P
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