Say goodbye to the 80GB PS3 and it's backwards compatibility

This might be completely OTT news, but apparently Best Buy are discontinuing the 80GB PS3, the last with true backwards-compatibility in the US on the 28th.

It's probably that Sony are bringing out the new PS3s with added Vibrotron(TM), but still it's important info for anyone wishing to buy one with back-compat still in place.

http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/01/24/best-buy-discontinuing-80gb-ps3/

EDIT: Corrected because I said Sony not Best Buy.

 

A $299 PS3?

:lol: :lol: :lol:

How much money would they be bleeding then? :lol:

Regardless, I can't help but recall a time when Sony called Microsoft out on their lack of "true' BC or whatever.

 

I loved it when Sony called Nintendo out for not offering backward compatibility for any GameCube games on the Wii - now THAT was a quickly retracted statement!

 

This is only Best Buy.

 

it seems that sony since a couple months is not losing any money in making machines... i read some interviews about that. so i guess that they are trying to keep being aggressive by selling at a even lower price, and losing a little more money to make 100% sure BR to win over HDDVD. sony will get all his money back with BRs...

 

Is obvious sony is desperately trying to capitalize on the RLOD issues from the X360 by putting as much consoles as possible in the market.

Honestly it all looks a lot like the computer battle of the 80s where commodore was costantly lowering the price of the C64 in order to destroy the competition. It obviously backfired, cuz at one point they were selling them at a loss.

But for sony this isnt a problem since they make the money off the software.

Anyway, the reason why it doesnt have BC anymore must be becos most people dont give a damn about it, and would rather buy a separate PS2 for $99 and PS3 for $299 than paying upwards of $500 to get both in the same package.

Plus lets be honest: most PS3 users by now already have a PS2...

 

Sorry, I meant Best Buy - corrected. Still, Sony haven't announced replacement products yet.

 

Thats true. BC has become sort of pointless with Sony still making PS2's at low prices. It was great with the PS2 since many people had Playstations that were dying or dead and had a major graphical upgrade in the PS2 for only $300. Now, its just too expensive. $299 PS3's are a step in the right direction, though. Get that in before MGS4, and that could help quite a bit.

 

I'd have to agree.

$300... it could be worth it... once the a few games I'm eyeing come out... Definitely not worth it for any games that are out now.

 

I am waiting for one more price drop before I grab one.

 

While it's sort of been addressed I though i would state more.

Sony has recently stated that ps3 manufacturing (40GB model) is now at cost. They are not loosing any money on producing 40GB models.

So since sony is not taking a massive hit anymore, there seems to be rumors they will drop the price to $300 to get the ps3 more to it's sweet spot. This will help the ps3 a lot when big games like MGS4 & Little Big Planet hit.

 

Well isn't $299.99 the magic "impulse buy" number ? I seem to recall reading some articles to that point.

 

more ps3's out in the world isn't a bad thing. They'll make their money back with the ps2 doing well and Bluray winning. With a cheaper ps3, you will also get more pissed off 360 owners moving over. I did, and still payed $400. I know plenty of people that have gone through 3 xbox 360's, yet stick with it because the ps3 is still expensive compared to the 360.

 

A PS3 at $299 is a good deal, even I would get one, if just for the bluray at this point.

Yep, they are breaking even, plus I just heard sony managed to create a cheaper bluray drive, which therefore will bring the price of the PS3 down even more.

Nah I think its $199, or was, who knows...

 

Supposedly it has the new 65nm RSX and another motherboard revision. I'm not sure how much that shaves off the cost though.

 

It's still BS that they haven't managed to offer a purely software option for PS2 BC. While I agree it's more likely people will keep the PS2 around and play the games on that, it just seems silly that now the PS3 can't play PS2 games.

Though I certainly wouldn't mind a 300$ PS3. I saw lots of news lately about falling PS3/Bluray costs. That's good news for everyone as competition helps all.

 

yeah, MS was able to do it with software even though the xbox was nvidia, and the 360 is ATI. The ps3 should be able to run ps2 games with software emulation, I mean..THE CELL!!!

MS has kind of fizzled out on their BC, with only something like 51% of xbox games compatible. They've been at it for years. I don't really see Sony getting into it as much.

 

The XBox used pretty standard PC architecture with a few customisations so emulator was not as hard to implement as the PS2 hardware, which relies on memory bandwidth and massive overdraw.

BC is more important on first launch because there are not as many games available - especially true on the PS3. But after a while of the machine being out and developers getting to grips with the hardware, older generation games really start to look older, and BC is less important.

With the push to cut the cost of the machine, I am not surprised that Sony are cutting it out of the equation. I think they are working on a pure software solution, but I don't see how that can work without the PS2 memory on there. Rumours are now saying that the 80GB machine is not being phased out, instead Sony are changing the motherboard to use RSX 65nm and the 40GB blu-ray pickup, and including a DS3 controller with a game that uses it. Also HOME is going to be on the HDD when it ships.

There is also supposed to be a Metal Gear Solid 4 SKU with 40GB HDD, DS3 controller and white casing for $449.

It could all be BS, but the same people saying it are the ones that leaked the 40GB spiderman SKU (which is also being changed, apparently).

 

A MGS4 SKU makes sense when you see the success of the Halo X360.

But on the other hand I dont see the kind of hype for Master Chief in grandpa Snake's fans:lol:

 

To anyone getting their hopes up about a $300 PS3...

http://www.macworld.com/article/131758/2008/01/.html

That is not going to occur. It was all just a rumor and sony themselves has denied it. Honestly...if you think $400 is too much for a PS3..than buy a 360 which is cheaper and have a console that dies constantly instead of one that actually works