PS3 new console

[Plugs]

Read about this earlier, but thought id make a topic to inform any would be new owners to hold off for a month.

The PS3 is updating, scrapping the 40GB version to make way for a new 80GB version which will still cost £299 (the current 40GB price). I believe in essense it is just a hard drive upgrade, hence the price. The new version of the consoles will appear on 27th August. Any remaining stock of the 40GB will be sold of at the current price.

Reference: E3 2008: 80GB PS3 coming to Europe, Australia on August 27 - PlayStation 3 News at GameSpot

[Beanie85]

I've just been reading about this too, from the latest news at the E3 show. Yea its just a bigger hard drive upgrade, but at the same price as the the 40gb version. Which is good for those still after those PS3 freebies like me hehe.

[kieran]

But from what I remember, they're bringing back backwards compatibility to a model coming later this year, which coincides with the release of that model. There was something else too, so really I think it may turn out a little more than just a HDD upgrade, but even if it was just that it would be good.

I've got the original 60GB backwards compatible model from launch day

[Plugs]

well the current 80gb version which never made it to europe had backwards compatibility, so obviously what you say is true then its their new version of that

either way, i dont know what else they could put with the new 80GB version (maybe an hdmi cable?)
hopefully it will come with a Dual Shock3 rather than a Sixaxis, but who knows

[joewarne]

i hope it is backwards compatible

[Simon]

Im going to jump on the "multiple console wagon" and get this IF its £300 like they say, comes with a dual shock 3 controller and has backwards compatibility...otherwise even for free im not interested. Lets hope they give what almost everyone wants (new controller and BC).

With the 360 announcement too with all the new features including being able to save and run games from the HDD i guess i'll have to upgrade my tiny 20gb/get an elite too! Might aswell get a wii with endless attachements (how many addons/accessories and different controllers can they come up with!) as well!

[Plugs]

just to clarify
the new £299 80GB PS3 coming out on the 27th of August does NOT have backwards compatibility... thats a definite
it will have the same backwards compatibility as the 40GB.. which is none

as mentioned there may be another console coming out later on which will have backwards compatibility

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Plugs

just to clarify
the new £299 80GB PS3 coming out on the 27th of August does NOT have backwards compatibility... thats a definite
it will have the same backwards compatibility as the 40GB.. which is none

as mentioned there may be another console coming out later on which will have backwards compatibility

Dam sony, are they trying to get the world record for the most number of console versions! All these new consoles with different features and hardware is just not nice for the consumer! When will it ever be a good time to buy?! Firmware updates...fine, selling different versions at the same time..fine, but to keep changing the console specs so quickly is a joke!

They got it right first time with the 60gb and 20gb (or was it 30gb), adding the new controllers is fine as that was out of their control () but to go from 60gb + 20gb > 40gb > 80gb is stupid!

[Gulandril]

one good reason why i haven't bought a PS3, and won't actually buy one until Sony have made up their damn minds.

there's no rush, really. the games will still be perfectly playable in two or three year's time, so we can afford to wait. it's Sony who can't really afford to keep buggering people around, because there's only so many times people are willing to buy the same console - and in all fairness, they should only have to buy one, with any extra purchases being of their own choosing. having to buy a brand new full-price console just to get one upgrade is silly.

so until Sony make up their minds, i'm not buying a PS3. if i get one through the freebie scene, then cool, if not i can do without and wait until they finally get it right and stop playing these silly money games.

in fact, isn't there something in trading standards laws about this kind of practice?

[Plugs]

you say that as though Sony are the only people doing it
may i remind you that microsoft have announced their 6th or 7th version of the xbox 360, and theirs had completely different specs
the elite runs so much more efficiently than an arcade because its overclocked or something dumb, which is pointless because at some point you may see a game for an xbox360 elite only or "requires 4gb of hard drive space" so this game cannot run on a basic arcade

the only difference ps3 specs have is HDD size, type/number of usb(and other) ports and backwards compatibility ability
and the bigger hard drive isnt a necessary upgrade for current owners, if you have a PS3 already then you dont need this one
its just more conveniant for new owners to have a larger HDD

[moobsuk]

TBH it doesnt matter what size HDD it comes with.....

Check out this upgrade PS3 site

easy peasy!

[Gulandril]

never said Sony are the only ones doing it. the biggest difference i've seen, is that with a 360 the upgrades are typically available seperately, whereas with a PS3 i've yet to see this happen. it may happen in the future, but it hasn't happened yet, so until that does happen it's one more reason to be cautious. as it stands at this very minute - not considering any future announcements, etc - everything the 360 Elite has is available for the Premium, merely not bundled with it. none of the 360 models are capable of anything older models aren't, to my knowledge. the only difference between bundles is what you get with them.

the Arcade console was also never intended to be on par with the Premium or the Elite. this much is stated on it's packaging, and by Microsoft themselves. i don't see any parallel between the 360 Arcade and the PS3 - the Arcade 360 is a cheaper unit for those who don't intend to do any 'hardcore' gaming, that was it's stated intention all along. the PS3 isn't being released in different models for different tiers of gamer.

there's also the issue that with the PS3, installing games on the hard drive is forced, and if you have a lot of games you can run out of space rather quickly. the necessity of the upgrade generally depends on how many games the user owns. someone with five games may be fine with 40gb, someone with fifteen might struggle.

the PS3's upgrades may not be mandatory, but necessity is on a case-by-case basis - and in the case of someone for whom the upgrades are necessary, it's going to cost them another £300, as opposed to £80-£120 to get the upgrades seperately.

so basically, those with older consoles are forced to shell out full retail on a new console - making their old one a waste of money because no one will want the phased-out, inferior models so they might have a hard time reselling - whereas in the case of a 360 upgrade you can just buy the upgrade seperately and plug it in.

you're right in saying that Microsoft are also being money-grubbers, but you're wrong in saying they're doing it to the extent that Sony is. their approach is "buy several consoles, or be out of luck!".

on the issue of back-compatibility, that's quite a big thing. PS2s won't last forever, and once they go, they're gone. no more warranties, manufacturing has been discontinued, so a PS3's back-compatibility is the only hope for all those old games. one could reason that Sony can easily release it in a firmware update, but it's my understanding that the 60gb model used hardware emulation which the 40gb model lacks, thus by that logic the 40gb model might be incapable of back-compatibility. in that case, you have to spend another £300 on another PS3 that has back-compatibility, meaning the £300 on the first PS3 was wasted, or the money you've spent on all your PS2 software is ultimately wasted. either way, Sony gets the money, and you get the stick.

i've got nothing against the Playstation line, the PS3, or Sony. my objection lies with their marketing tactics.

as i said earlier, why bother buying a PS3 when Sony are purposefully making the older models obsolete? it makes more sense to wait until they're finished revising their consoles. that way, prices will have come down, and the console's capabilities will have gone up, so you get the best value for money.

at least with Microsoft, you can retrofit the 360s. not that i particularly agree with their marketing tactics any more than Sony's, they had the technology all along and should've just released it in the first place rather than holding out to make extra cash. however they at least had the balls to give cheaper alternatives to their existing customers who needed/wanted the upgrades.


the Elite isn't overclocked, to my knowledge. it just uses a newer, more efficient and more reliable chipset. Falcon, or something. 360 Premium units based on the older chipsets - the ones which are more likely to fail than work, Zephyr or whatever they call it - are eligible for a free upgrade to a Falcon equivalent when they fail.

someone suggested wrapping the 360 in towels and turning it on to fake the RRoD error and get a free upgrade to the Opus chipset, so if the outdated chipset bothers you, just do that if you're still covered by the extended warranty.

it's a low-blow tactic, but it works. and technically it's not a purposeful violation of the warranty, because the console should have failsafes against the error regardless of circumstance. like an emergency shut-off or whatever. Microsoft really brought that one on themselves.


-edit in response to moobsuk-
ah, thanks. useful article, that'll make a difference. didn't know the PS3 worked with standard notebook SATA HDDs. guess that blows my argument out of the water.

so only thing to worry about is the back-compatibility. still don't know why it was taken out in the first place, but eh. i suppose we only need to worry about that when PS2s start failing en masse.

still don't like Sony's marketing techniques any better, but at least there's a way out of being bullied into buying a new console just for a HDD upgrade. hopefully the other stuff in the new model won't matter enough to render older models obsolete - and if it is, hopefully it'll be retro-actively available to existing customers via firmware, etc.

it's really not nice messing the customers around, but eh, what can ya do?

[Plugs]

yeah fair doos...
except im pretty sure this new console has nothing new bar the HDD

talking of PS2s... this may shock you for a 9 year old console,

TOP-SELLING HARDWARE - JUNE 2008 (US only)
Nintendo DS--783,000
Wii--666,700
PlayStation 3--405,500
PlayStation Portable--337,400
Xbox 360--219,800
PlayStation 2--188,800

theres only 30,000 difference between the 360 and the PS2, the PS3 is way up due to MGS4
a PS2 in the UK is £75 i think...

[Gulandril]

here's to hoping the PS2 sticks around long enough for Sony to get some back-compatibility into the PS3. the PS2 and Xbox both had some great titles, currently the 360 has an edge over the non-back-compatible PS3s for the reason that it gets two library's worth oftop-notch titles.

if Sony are gonna even the scales and restore the PS3's back-compatibility, then it would be very welcomed by all of us i'm sure. it'd also make the console more attractive to those who don't own PS2s.

[Plugs]

my point was that the ps2 is still effectively a competitor to the 360 (and the PS3 for that matter) and stands as a budget console

its true that if sony cut the chord, stopped production on the PS2 and added a back compatibile PS3, that PS3 sales would shoot up, but this BC console would cost about £80-£100 more, so i think its nice for now that sony kind of give you a choice: "If BC is important to you, buy a PS2 as well - look its cheap. If BC isnt important to you - heres our new updated 80GB PS3 for £299."

When Sony makes a good BC PS3 for a cheap price, it will kill the PS2. Sony doesnt want to kill the PS2... not yet and plus Sony would lose lots of money if it made a cheap BC PS3.