New $99, 'compact' PS2 to arrive in 2008
AirRaid
The news will surely come as a blow to Sony rivals Nintendo and
Microsoft, who have see sales of PS2 suffer somewhat due to the
introduction of Wii and Xbox 360 in recent years.
PS2 this week celebrated its seventh anniversary, during which time it
has sold over 120 million units worldwide. Yet this cut demonstrates
Sony's belief that the system's market is far from exhausted.
Last month, publisher bosses from the likes of Eidos, Ubisoft and
Atari suggested to MCV that a price cut on the console could massively
reinvigorate its sales figures.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/28753/New-low-price-compact-PS2-to-arrive-in-2008
AirRaid
____________________________________
New low-price 'compact' PS2 to arrive in 2008
Tim Ingham Today, 9:48am
Redesigned model boasts built-in power supply; 25 per cent price drop
likely
Thought PlayStation 2 hardware sales were going to quietly disappear
after the revenue frenzy of Christmas? Think again - Sony is preparing
to introduce a new, cut-price model of the console in early 2008.
MCV can exclusively reveal that this 'compact' PS2 will hit the US at
just $99 in the New Year - a reduction of $30 from its current selling
price of $129.
If a similar percentage cut is introduced in the UK, retailers can
expect to sell the revamped system for just £75 - or maybe lower.
The new version has a built-in power supply for the first time in the
console's history - allowing the platform holder to manufacture it
more economically and sell it at the bargain price.
Gareth Robert Halfacree
> Tim Ingham Today, 9:48am
> console's history - allowing the platform holder to manufacture it
> more economically and sell it at the bargain price.
But... My PS2 has a built-in PSU which just takes a figure-eight cable
from the mains; or did they mean the first PStwo with built-in PSU?
And Sony accuse *Microsoft* of confusing the issue with different SKUs...
--
Gareth Halfacree
http://gareth.halfacree.co.uk
NiGHTS
backwards compatibility out of the PS3 to strengthen the attach rate
(and presumably phase out production of PS2 games), why rerelease the
PS2 at this point?
On the other hand, recent PS3 adopters annoyed about the lack of PS2
compatibility can buy a separate console for with the money saved from
the price drop.
--
NiGHTS/Nightcrawler [mWo]
Fear Is The Mindkiller
"just a curtain jerking jobber here in RSPWland" -Lord Gow
"a laughably shitty shitbag" -The Teacher
"pretty pathetic" -rwa2play
"a sarcastic douchebag" -Cain
"NiGHTS is gay!!!" -Corey
Chris F
<nightsintodr...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>If this is true it seems to be a strange move by Sony. Since they took
>backwards compatibility out of the PS3 to strengthen the attach rate
>(and presumably phase out production of PS2 games), why rerelease the
>PS2 at this point?
because it's still outselling the PS3 and the only thing that's
keeping them afloat right now?
>
>On the other hand, recent PS3 adopters annoyed about the lack of PS2
>compatibility can buy a separate console for with the money saved from
>the price drop.
if they were bothered about playing PS2 games, chances are they'd
already have a PS2, therefore not need to buy this new version.
theyre releasing this as a budget machine, just like they did when
they repacked the original Playstation. you could argue they already
tried this with the slim PS2, but that retailed for the same price as
the original model.
--
gamertag: Chrisflynnuk
http://live.xbox.com/member/Chrisflynnuk
Current eBay auctions: http://tinyurl.com/hutcb
360, DS, PS2 and Saturn Games For Auction.
The alMIGHTY N
I saw a new stark white PS2 in Best Buy today. It came with Singstar
and 2 mics. I didn't see a price, but there were about a dozen of them
on a platform in the middle of the video game area. That stack was
absolutely dwarfed by the 3 dozen or so $400 PS3s right next to it and
the 2 dozen or so each of the Xbox 360 Arcade, Elite, Premium and Halo
edition... and the Premium ones clearly stated they had HDMI which was
pretty cool to see.
I would consider getting a $99 PS2, definitely. I'd try Kingdom Hearts
and God of War (both originals and sequels) for sure. Maybe SOCOM,
MGS3...
Brenden D. Chase
"AirRaid" <airr...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1194014851.2...@z9g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
sorry, i only posted half the article
I heard it's going to look exactly like the Wii
Brenden D. Chase
"Gareth Robert Halfacree" <use...@halfacree.co.uk> wrote in message
news:5p0uioF...@mid.individual.net...
> AirRaid wrote:
>> Tim Ingham Today, 9:48am
>> The new version has a built-in power supply for the first time in the
>> console's history - allowing the platform holder to manufacture it
>> more economically and sell it at the bargain price.
>
> But... My PS2 has a built-in PSU which just takes a figure-eight cable
> from the mains; or did they mean the first PStwo with built-in PSU?
This one will be called the PSToo and will look like the Wii. lol.
Brenden D. Chase
"Chris F" <ch...@asifimtellingyoulot.com> wrote in message
news:3aomi3h0m4v1amrdp...@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 02 Nov 2007 17:40:47 +0000, NiGHTS
> <nightsintodr...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>If this is true it seems to be a strange move by Sony. Since they took
>>backwards compatibility out of the PS3 to strengthen the attach rate
>>(and presumably phase out production of PS2 games), why rerelease the
>>PS2 at this point?
>
> because it's still outselling the PS3 and the only thing that's
> keeping them afloat right now?
While yes the PS2 is making Sony money, it's hardly what's keeping them
afloat.
TVs and Cameras are where it's at right now
Doug Jacobs
> If this is true it seems to be a strange move by Sony. Since they took
> backwards compatibility out of the PS3 to strengthen the attach rate
> (and presumably phase out production of PS2 games), why rerelease the
> PS2 at this point?
Because it's making money...unlike a certain 3rd iteration of a certain
console...
> On the other hand, recent PS3 adopters annoyed about the lack of PS2
> compatibility can buy a separate console for with the money saved from
> the price drop.
Sony is basically dicking customers around by removing PS2-BC
functionality and then making it seem as if this is actually somehow a
"good" thing.
If cost really was a big deal to Sony, why didn't they nix the Wifi?
--
It's not broken. It's...advanced.
Doug Jacobs
> TVs and Cameras are where it's at right now
Maybe so, but the margins on those aren't very good.
Brenden D. Chase
"Doug Jacobs" <dja...@shell.rawbw.com> wrote in message
news:13ind4n...@corp.supernews.com...
> In alt.games.video.xbox Brenden D. Chase
> <brenden.cha...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> TVs and Cameras are where it's at right now
>
> Maybe so, but the margins on those aren't very good.
>
The margins at the stores arent good. The margins in the factories are just
fine.
slaye...@hotmail.com
They are stupid and the end user gets to reap the benefits.
Oh wait, they took out something most people would use and left in
something most people don't. Oh well, I personally use the Wifi and
could really care less about BC.
It's ricockulous.
NiGHTS
> In alt.games.video.xbox NiGHTS <nightsintodr...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>> If this is true it seems to be a strange move by Sony. Since they took
>> backwards compatibility out of the PS3 to strengthen the attach rate
>> (and presumably phase out production of PS2 games), why rerelease the
>> PS2 at this point?
>
> Because it's making money...unlike a certain 3rd iteration of a certain
> console...
>
Yes but the PS2 seems to be flourishing at the expense of the PS3.
Wouldn't cutting back on support for it effectively force people to
upgrade?
>> On the other hand, recent PS3 adopters annoyed about the lack of PS2
>> compatibility can buy a separate console for with the money saved from
>> the price drop.
>
> Sony is basically dicking customers around by removing PS2-BC
> functionality and then making it seem as if this is actually somehow a
> "good" thing.
>
> If cost really was a big deal to Sony, why didn't they nix the Wifi?
>
Well, they already admitted it wasn't really the cost but PS3 owners
were buying too many previous gen titles for their liking.
Aaron J. Bossig
news:1194014408.6...@o38g2000hse.googlegroups.com:
>
> The news will surely come as a blow to Sony rivals Nintendo and
> Microsoft, who have see sales of PS2 suffer somewhat due to the
> introduction of Wii and Xbox 360 in recent years.
Uhhh... not quite. This is the time when Sony *should* be phasing
out the PS2 entirely, not introducing a *third* redesign. If they're
still trying to push more life into the PS2, then I really don't think
the PS3 is where they want it to be (yet).
I think Nintendo and Microsoft have finished worrying about the PS2
some time ago.
--
Aaron J. Bossig
Ross Ridge
>Sony is basically dicking customers around by removing PS2-BC
>functionality and then making it seem as if this is actually somehow a
>"good" thing.
Well, they're not removing it completely, they're putting backward
compatibility on par with the XBox 360, but yah.
>If cost really was a big deal to Sony, why didn't they nix the Wifi?
According to the a teardown of the PlayStation 3 back when it was
released the WiFi module was estimated to cost Sony $15.50, while the
cost of the PS2 chips (EE and GS) were estimated at $27. If Sony is
able to competively source the WiFi components (eg. the drivers are in
the PS3's flash ROM rather than the PS3 game disks), then they would
have more leverage to get the price of the WiFi components reduced than
the PS2 components.
Ross Ridge
--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rri...@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~rridge/
db //
Jordan
wrote:
> >If cost really was a big deal to Sony, why didn't they nix the Wifi?
>
> According to the a teardown of the PlayStation 3 back when it was
> released the WiFi module was estimated to cost Sony $15.50, while the
> cost of the PS2 chips (EE and GS) were estimated at $27. If Sony is
> able to competively source the WiFi components (eg. the drivers are in
> the PS3's flash ROM rather than the PS3 game disks), then they would
> have more leverage to get the price of the WiFi components reduced than
> the PS2 components.
They have also stated that they want to closely tie the PSP to the PS3
via WiFi which is why they kept it over BC.
- Jordan
The alMIGHTY N
wrote:
> Doug Jacobs wrote:
> > In alt.games.video.xbox NiGHTS <nightsintodreamsYOHOL...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> >> If this is true it seems to be a strange move by Sony. Since they took
> >> backwards compatibility out of the PS3 to strengthen the attach rate
> >> (and presumably phase out production of PS2 games), why rerelease the
> >> PS2 at this point?
>
> > Because it's making money...unlike a certain 3rd iteration of a certain
> > console...
>
> Yes but the PS2 seems to be flourishing at the expense of the PS3.
> Wouldn't cutting back on support for it effectively force people to
> upgrade?
Even if Sony announced today that they would no longer manufacture the
Playstation 2, there are still plenty of units in the supply chain to
last through the holiday season *and* that wouldn't stop publishers
from producing as many if not more games for it than they do for its
big brother.
> >> On the other hand, recent PS3 adopters annoyed about the lack of PS2
> >> compatibility can buy a separate console for with the money saved from
> >> the price drop.
>
> > Sony is basically dicking customers around by removing PS2-BC
> > functionality and then making it seem as if this is actually somehow a
> > "good" thing.
>
> > If cost really was a big deal to Sony, why didn't they nix the Wifi?
>
> Well, they already admitted it wasn't really the cost but PS3 owners
> were buying too many previous gen titles for their liking.
Plenty of people have tried to claim that it was a cost-cutting move
by Sony, but everybody knows what's really going on.
The alMIGHTY N
wrote:
> Doug Jacobs <djac...@shell.rawbw.com> wrote:
>
> >Sony is basically dicking customers around by removing PS2-BC
> >functionality and then making it seem as if this is actually somehow a
> >"good" thing.
>
> Well, they're not removing it completely, they're putting backward
> compatibility on par with the XBox 360, but yah.
The 80Gb Playstation 3 has backwards compatibility "on par with the
Xbox 360" but the 40Gb Playstation 3 has absolutely no backwards
compatibility.
> >If cost really was a big deal to Sony, why didn't they nix the Wifi?
>
> According to the a teardown of the PlayStation 3 back when it was
> released the WiFi module was estimated to cost Sony $15.50, while the
> cost of the PS2 chips (EE and GS) were estimated at $27.
The backwards compatibility in the 80Gb Playstation 3 is achieved
using software emulation. The Emotion chip is nowhere to be found in
that version of the system. The European Playstation 3 systems didn't
even have the Emotion chip in the first place.
The cost of software emulation of Playstation 2 games is minimal. The
WiFi components still cost money, whether the drivers are on the game
or already loaded into the system... you can't do WiFi without the
actual hardware, obviously.
The alMIGHTY N
There are more people who would buy Playstation 2 games to play on the
Playstation 3 than would buy both a Playstation Portable and a
Playstation 3 for some gimmicky functionality.
The whole GameCube connectivity debacle proved that people just aren't
interested in that sort of thing. Nintendo didn't even bother to try
that again with the Wii and the DS.
Doug Jacobs
> Yes but the PS2 seems to be flourishing at the expense of the PS3.
> Wouldn't cutting back on support for it effectively force people to
> upgrade?
No, it'd just cause more people to go to the Wii or maybe the 360.
Honestly, Sony is just killing the goose that's laying the golden egg here
by trying to whack the PS2.
Chris F
well, they are implementing connectivity between the two machines at
some point, but i can't see them parading it as some amazing feature
in the way sony showed off how you could use the PSP as a
wing-mirror...........
Doug Jacobs
> Doug Jacobs <dja...@shell.rawbw.com> wrote:
> >Sony is basically dicking customers around by removing PS2-BC
> >functionality and then making it seem as if this is actually somehow a
> >"good" thing.
> Well, they're not removing it completely, they're putting backward
> compatibility on par with the XBox 360, but yah.
The 40GB PS3 in the US and Europe is completely devoid of the ability to
play PS2 games altogether. At least in Europe, once their 80GB model
sells out, the 40GB model will be the only PS3 available. I'm guessing
that future PS3s will be based on the 40GB's hardware.
> >If cost really was a big deal to Sony, why didn't they nix the Wifi?
> According to the a teardown of the PlayStation 3 back when it was
> released the WiFi module was estimated to cost Sony $15.50, while the
> cost of the PS2 chips (EE and GS) were estimated at $27. If Sony is
> able to competively source the WiFi components (eg. the drivers are in
> the PS3's flash ROM rather than the PS3 game disks), then they would
> have more leverage to get the price of the WiFi components reduced than
> the PS2 components.
--
Ross Ridge
> Well, they're not removing it completely, they're putting backward
> compatibility on par with the XBox 360, but yah.
Doug Jacobs <dja...@shell.rawbw.com> wrote:
> The 40GB PS3 in the US and Europe is completely devoid of the ability
> to play PS2 games altogether.
Just like how any XBox 360 without a harddrive can't play any XBox games.
Doug Jacobs
> > The 40GB PS3 in the US and Europe is completely devoid of the ability
> > to play PS2 games altogether.
> Just like how any XBox 360 without a harddrive can't play any XBox games.
Not quite. At least with the 360, you can just buy the 360 HDD, then
download the updates for the emulator.
With the 40GB PS3, there's no way to add this functionality back in.
Ross Ridge
> The 40GB PS3 in the US and Europe is completely devoid of the ability
> to play PS2 games altogether.
Ross Ridge <rri...@caffeine.csclub.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
> Just like how any XBox 360 without a harddrive can't play any XBox games.
Doug Jacobs <dja...@shell.rawbw.com> wrote:
>Not quite. At least with the 360, you can just buy the 360 HDD, then
>download the updates for the emulator.
If you want XBox backwards compatibility, then you already have XBox
games, and you're going buy an XBox 360 that supports it out of the box.
It doesn't make sense to pay $380 ($280 + $100) for the Arcade version and
a 20GB hard drive, when you can get the standard XBox 360 that includes
a hard drive for $350.
SpanishTeacher
LOL. Just like on the PS3 you can buy a version with backwards
compatibility if that is what you want. Either way, on both systems,
you are going to PAY for BC. For the PS3 it is $100 more or $99 for a
PS2 standalone new and $59 used. For the 360, its however much a HDD
is going for these days but then again, you don't deserve that aspect
if you bought the Core or Arcade versions anyway because frugality was
obviously your top priority.