Ben-DutkaIt almost seems as if all the big news has dropped before E3 this year – at least in terms of software – but maybe Sony has one final hardware-related ace up its sleeve.
So here's the thing: sources can make mistakes; there can be typos on web pages just as easily as there can be misinformation floating about forums. But when it comes to the official Sony Style page for their 3D promotion, one would have to assume everything is accurate. A reader has pointed us to the bottom right portion of that page, where it lists the PlayStation 3 and a "starting at" price. …now, as far as we know, there's no such thing as a $199 PS3 and yet, it says very clearly, "Starting At $199." So what's the deal? Could it be an impending special sale of some kind? Or is it possible that Sony is planning a budget version of the PS3 in preparation for the PlayStation Move…? To compare, Microsoft did release the HDD-less Xbox 360 for a relatively cheap price and Sony may do something similar with the PS3, especially when they consider that Move will cost a bit and it will appeal more to casual gamers. They may not care as much about a hard drive and would rather just play around with Move every now and then.
It's a possibility. For the record, we certainly haven't heard anything about a potential price drop and going into this year's E3, it was actually the last thing on our minds. We got the big price cut of $100 in 2009; why should we expect the same treatment less than a year later…?
PS3's have been selling like hot cakes at $299.99 for a while now. I don't think it would be in Sony's best interests to lower the price while demand is already exceeding the supply.
I do remember Sony commenting on considering a network based storage solution for PS3 while contemplating the PS3slim back in the day. Though, for whatever reason, they opted out of that decision and stuck to HDD.
I am fully behind the typo theory. I have done a bit of investigation into the site and not only are they saying the PS3 starts at $199, but they are advertising other products starting much lower than they actually do once you click the link to said product.
Prime example, if you go to the PC section for students and look at the 15.5" laptops they "start at $480" but when you go to put one together there is absolutely no way to get it below $680.
They most likely just have a bad editor for the website that doesn't really cross reference anything.
If this is a digital only ps3 I will be mad. I all ready hate the psp go. I want a psp with a drive and 16 gigs memory (and the ability to insert regular SD cards)
If this happens I may just finally have given up on sony.
It is going to be a PS3 with a 20GB hard drive and no game in the package deal or it is a promotion for the new 3D tv's coming out. It could be a credit card promotion for signing up also. PEACE!
I will be very glad if the price drops again, regardless of the hard drive space. If it does drop then there will be more systems going out than ever, non-gamers and families will look into them more and game stores will want to push the old ones to get ready for the new. Therefore flooding the market w. the PS3 giving the xbox even more of a run for its money.
The only thing I hope won't happen is getting a bunch of little kids and idiotic morons on the PSN
I checked the Sony site again. Looks like it's back up to $299.99. Sorry guys, but that ever popular PSN-only version of the PS3 will have to wait for another time =p