20GB PS3 officially discontinued in North America [UPDATE] After the $499 edition of the next-gen console is removed from the Sony Style Web site, Sony confirms the console is being phased out. By Tor Thorsen, Emma Boyes, GameSpot Posted Apr 11, 2007 4:17 am PT This week, speculation spiked that the 20GB version of the PlayStation 3 was on its way out. It came after the official Sony Style online store removed the "basic" model of the PlayStation 3 from its Web site. Today, the US online stores of Amazon.com, Best Buy, GameStop, EB Games, and Circuit City were also longer listing the 20GB model, which retails for $499.
[UPDATE] As it turns out, there was a good reason for the 20GB PS3 vanishing--it's being officially phased out. "Initial retail demand in North America was upwards of 90 percent in favor of the 60GB [PS3], so we manufactured and shipped-in accordingly," said Dave Karraker, Sony Computer Entertainment America's senior director of PR. "Due to the overwhelming demand for the 60GB model from both retailers and consumers, we have ceased offering the 20GB model here in North America." The 60GB model retails for $599 in the US.
The 20GB model of the console has a number of differences from the 60GB version aside from the size of the internal hard drive and lower price. These include the lack of Wi-Fi connectivity, multiple flash memory card readers, and chrome trim. "Based on retailer and consumer feedback, we have decided to focus our current efforts on the more popular 60GB model," Karraker told GameSpot.
The discontinuation of the 20GB PS3 in North America also throws doubt over the model's launch in Europe, Australia, and other territories, where currently only the 60GB version is available. The budget version was originally expected to arrive sometime in the "summer," although no hard date was ever set. "We'll continue to monitor demand for the 20GB model, from a consumer and retailer perspective...which will be factored into any future Euro launch plans," a Sony Computer Entertainment Europe spokesperson told GameSpot UK. Both versions of the PS3 will continue to be available in Japan.
Well the title of the thread was definitely deceiving......I almost crapped my pants when I saw it and realized that there was some words missing.....
Well I have a 20g, but I would have rather gotten the 60g. The only reason I didn't is I was lucky enough to find one the first month of launch, and I snatched it while I had the chance. It basically was built to lessen the price, but I guess they realized people willing to spend enough for the PS3 were willing to spend the extra $100.
If was able to afford one i would have gone with the 60 gig version myself. I will probably wait until its cheaper to buy one because 600 bucks is a little too pricey for me.
Yes, I got the 60g, saved up all summer for it. I'm so glad I don't have to deal with memory cards and stuff anymore, and I still have tons of unused space left so far.
How long before Sony lowers the price on this sucker?
I know they're losing tons on it, but they're not selling many either.
Only way I see myself getting one is if Blu-Ray is the clear winner, since the PS3 is the cheapest and best Blu-Ray player on the market, and it will always be upgradable via firmware updates.
Quote: How long before Sony lowers the price on this sucker?
Sony has stated they don't have any plans in the near future. If we go on past president...2008.
Quote: I know they're losing tons on it, but they're not selling many either.
Well, it may look like they aren't selling many but they have almost 3mil with out any of thier major games out. It's really not that bad, it just looks bad because of how well the Wii is doing and next to the Xbox360's numbers which had a year head start. PS3 has a lot of games coming out later this year and early next that will sell units. Sony isn't panicking yet.......I say yet because if they lose any more exclusives like they did with Devil May Cry 4 then they just might panic and drop the price. But right now they look like they are keeping FF13 and MGS4 as exclusives and they might wait till they come out and see if they can pick up any ground before they decide to whack the price.
Quote: If M$ was smart, they'd buy one or both of those franchises to put alongside Halo. Then they'd have premier titles in multiple genres.
I have no doubt in my mind that they are desperatly trying. They need one or both of those titles for their Japan Market. Xbox360 isn't selling well there.
Quote: How long before Sony lowers the price on this sucker?
Sony has stated they don't have any plans in the near future. If we go on past president...2008.
Quote: I know they're losing tons on it, but they're not selling many either.
Well, it may look like they aren't selling many but they have almost 3mil with out any of thier major games out. It's really not that bad, it just looks bad because of how well the Wii is doing and next to the Xbox360's numbers which had a year head start. PS3 has a lot of games coming out later this year and early next that will sell units. Sony isn't panicking yet.......I say yet because if they lose any more exclusives like they did with Devil May Cry 4 then they just might panic and drop the price. But right now they look like they are keeping FF13 and MGS4 as exclusives and they might wait till they come out and see if they can pick up any ground before they decide to whack the price.
The fact that I could walk into a store before Christmas and pick a PS3 off the shelf speaks volumes to me about what people think of the machine.
For me to get one this year, it'd be because of Blu-Ray knocking out HD-DVD and GTA4 (which I know is not PS3 exclusive, but coupled with Blu-Ray it would win me over).
Quote: The fact that I could walk into a store before Christmas and pick a PS3 off the shelf speaks volumes to me about what people think of the machine.
I think that it tells you what people think of the price.
I own a PS3, and I love the system. If the price was the same as a Box, do you really think it would be sitting there as you said? I highly doubt it. The machine is fine, people just don't want to pay $600 when they can pay $350 or $250 for a Wii.
I had no problem shelling out $500 for mine (all I could find in early December was a 20g) when I use it all the time. Blu-Ray player, games, music, etc. It's been well worth the money, and it will be used for several years to come. When you use it as much as some people, $600 gives you 5 years of fun.
He hit it on the head. I'd love to get a PS3 but the price is killing me. I held out buying an XBox for so long......and then saw the price.....sigh. Someone else said his PS2 does just fine, and I agree. (though man oh man would I like to get the PS3).
Also on all three (well two really) of the next gen stuff, I haven't seen anything that is leaps and bounds above what is on the PS2. I mean looks a little better, but after that....????
Quote: The fact that I could walk into a store before Christmas and pick a PS3 off the shelf speaks volumes to me about what people think of the machine.
I think that it tells you what people think of the price.
I own a PS3, and I love the system. If the price was the same as a Box, do you really think it would be sitting there as you said? I highly doubt it. The machine is fine, people just don't want to pay $600 when they can pay $350 or $250 for a Wii.
I had no problem shelling out $500 for mine (all I could find in early December was a 20g) when I use it all the time. Blu-Ray player, games, music, etc. It's been well worth the money, and it will be used for several years to come. When you use it as much as some people, $600 gives you 5 years of fun.
The price is the most important part, though.
If PS3 cost what the 360 cost, I'd have one right now.
I as a consumer and a videogame fan am disgusted by the price, which is why I have such a problem with the PS3. I'm not a Sony hater, I love my PS2. I just think Sony was extremely arrogant in thinking people would pay anything for a PS3 just because of the name.
It's like Nintendo with the N64, except the difference is in the price of the system rather than the price of the games. But the N64 was still a success, whereas I think PS3 could go the route of the GameCube if they're not careful. Popular amongst gamers, but clearly a niche system.
If Sony was really smart they would have just put the WiFi capabilities and maybe another feature into the 20 GB version and they would have flown off the shelves....The only thing saving the PS3 is the fact that Blu Ray is ahead of HD-DVD in the mainstream market right now...They better hope it lasts because if Blu-Ray goes down....Sony is going to get a tremendous hurtin.
Blu Ray is beating HD-DVD by getting out first...but it is not inconceivable that HD-DVD catches up and possibly passes Blu-Ray. Because when push comes to shove...money is going to be the factor. In order to produce Blu-Ray disc's companies have to completely change out their manufacturing equipment from regular DVD's and with HD-DVD they don't have to. So Blu Ray HAS to be the definitive choice for the companies to risk the cost of completely rebuilding its line. If HD-DVD can keep it close...it may win out.
I thought I was wrong once....but I was mistaken...
What's the use of wearing your lucky rocketship underpants if nobody wants to see them????
Quote: and with XBox supporting HD-DVD the plot thickens.
Too bad you have to guy an add-on for it.
Well, its not really too bad. Its actually better, the Xbox is cheaper, so buying the add on then brings you up to the PS3 price, but some people dont want the add on, they just want a video game system.
...which means that's there are 3 million Blu Ray players out there, because there has been 3 million PS3's sold. But there aren't 10 million HD-DVD players out there with the Box, because you have to buy the add on. So it doesn't really "thicken" anything.
But I was always a Sony guy and im glad I switched. I dont want a Blue Ray right now and I dont want to be forced to buy one to play video games. Especially when the future of Blue Ray isnt guaranteed. I will buy my high def movie platform when I am ready to.
Quote: and with XBox supporting HD-DVD the plot thickens.
Too bad you have to guy an add-on for it.
Yeah, and actually dollar for dollar the PS3 is the better deal, as crazy as that sounds.
60 GB PS3 (which includes Blu-Ray WiFi and card adapters and such) at $600
20 GB Xbox 360 with no wifi, no HD-DVD, or card adapters (but runs on it's own memory card, like you'd really need one anyway with the hard drive).
Buy a 360, an HD-DVD player and a wifi adapter and the price is $700, and you're still losing 40 GB's capacity.
If M$ were smart they'd include Wifi in the 360 Elite. Then the price of a 120 GB 360 + HD-DVD player would be $679, which would be rather close in terms of features to the PS3.
Either way you're hedging your bets on which format will prevail. I'm not taking that risk until later this year at the very earliest. Something tells me M$ is gonna cut the 360 price when GTA4 comes out to really declare marketshare over the PS3.
Quote: Well, that 40 gb doesnt mean anything to me, Ive used about 5gb since I bought mine in December, you really dont need that much.
And as for wireless. I got a brand new $20 wireless adapter from Logitech off eBay.
So for me, that stuff really didnt factor in.
True, but if I had one I could see myself downloading a lot of demos and HD content.
I still think Sony is about $100 off on the PS3. Had they released the 20 GB version at $400 to compete with the premium 360, PS3's would probably still be in shortage.
I'd definitely get a $500 60 GB version, given all it has. I'd like to see HD-DVD win, but I'm betting on Blu-Ray due to all the support it has. It's by far and away the best Blu-Ray player on the market, ironically it's also the cheapest and the firmware is continuously upgradable so it will never fall behind the newer players. Until of course Blu-Ray recorders come out.
I do download a lot of the demos, but there really isnt a point to keeping them all. Some are very good, some are not. There is only so much you can do with a demo.
And if you do delete and want it back you can redownload it whenever you want.
the big difference in all of that is that to get High Def DVD's (whether it's HD-DVD or BluRay), it's significantly cheaper for the installed base of 10 million XBox owners. They only need to spend the $200 or so to get the add-on player.
So, yes there are already3 million bluray players out there, but there are 10 million homes that can upgrade to true high def DVD for darn near as cheap as they can get an upconvert player.
Yeah, in total cost the PS3 may be lessexpensive, but for the XBox crowd the bulk of that cost is already paid... cost yet to be paid is WAY lower.... I think that's what MS is banking on.
Browns is the Browns
... there goes Joe Thomas, the best there ever was in this game.
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