Sony Catches Price Drop Fever, Drops PS3 Price to $249

Nintendo buried them this generation. How the mighty have fallen.

@m0rdr3dsaid:

Because you can take all those games with you to the toilet, on the road, and, if you prefer, also hook it to your big screen. Seriously, that system being the same price is odd unless they are spec for spec ports (they won't be).

Nope. PS Vita will not have that functionality, at least in the first hardware SKU. I'm sure they'll do a hardware revision a year after it launches that has HDMI out, but for now, the PS Vita is just like any other handheld. Gross oversight, or strategic move to make that hardware revision worth it?

Absolutely amazing news, since I've been planning on buying a PS3 next week for a very long time.

About time! I'm glad I got mine when target and Sony were offering $160 in gift cards at target.

@Punk1984 said:

@zombie2011 said:

@Zabant said:

I'm amazed at anyone who calls themselves a video game enthusiast and does not own a PS3.

I don't own one and i will never own one, i don't have time to play all the 360 exclusives so why would i buy a second console.

...because the games are better?

No 
 
 Also, i just said i don't have time to play all the 360 games i want so i won't have time to play any PS3 games.

And let the consoles war continue ...

Why buy the console when I can watch people play the games on youtube for free???

Well, that's kind of cool. That $50 wasn't ever going to make or break a PS3 for me, though.

Dammit all! I just bought my 2nd one a month ago!

Finally I can get a PS3 for under £200!

I bought my first PS3 used off Amazon, and as a lesson to myself the PS3 I bought had been blocked off the PSN for unknown nefarious reasons, Which meant I had a singleplayer only PS3 and couldn't buy digital content either.

This announcement has pushed me off the edge for getting a brand new one.

ill still be buying a Vita regardless of the price

That's over 9000!
 
 ...in savings!!

@Zabant said:

I'm amazed at anyone who calls themselves a video game enthusiast and does not own a PS3.

I don't own one and i will never own one, i don't have time to play all the 360 exclusives so why would i buy a second console.

Neat.

@CrazyChris said:

@JoeyRavn said:

€1 = $1

No, thank you.

Seriously, this. When the fuck will they realize that 1 Dollar isn't the same as 1 Euro?

249 Euro in my country is 357 Dollars. Great fucking price drop Sony.

They won't. Ever. Probably because they already know it and it's terribly profitable for them.

@JoeyRavn said:

@CrazyChris said:

@JoeyRavn said:

€1 = $1

No, thank you.

Seriously, this. When the fuck will they realize that 1 Dollar isn't the same as 1 Euro?

249 Euro in my country is 357 Dollars. Great fucking price drop Sony.

They won't. Ever. Probably because they already know it and it's terribly profitable for them.

I just can't understand why more people aren't up in arms over this kind of behavior. If the PS3 was 100 Dollars more expensive in the US than in EU I'm pretty sure half the Internet would flip the hell out. But since it's only affecting dirty, filthy Europe I guess it's not worthy a second glance. Whatever, I'll hold my breath for a Sony console until next generation, because there's no way I'm paying $350+ for a console that's more than five years old.

@zombie2011 said:

@Punk1984 said:

@zombie2011 said:

@Zabant said:

I'm amazed at anyone who calls themselves a video game enthusiast and does not own a PS3.

I don't own one and i will never own one, i don't have time to play all the 360 exclusives so why would i buy a second console.

...because the games are better?

No 
 
 Also, i just said i don't have time to play all the 360 games i want so i won't have time to play any PS3 games.

So your problem is time, time you choose to spend playing inferior products...got it. Well, until I invent a time machine that lets you play all the generic bland brown games you want I will leave you be, while I frolic in my magical psychedelic wonderland of entertainment.

@zombie2011 said:

@Zabant said:

I'm amazed at anyone who calls themselves a video game enthusiast and does not own a PS3.

I don't own one and i will never own one, i don't have time to play all the 360 exclusives so why would i buy a second console.

wait, you dont have time to play Halo and Gears? seems like 2 games would be easy to beat and then have plenty of time to play all the PS3 exclusives

I demand FULL COMPENSATION!!

I wonder if Microsoft will follow suit. I hope so, I would like to get a new matte black one, but they have been selling pretty good so it might be awhile before a xbox price drop.

@zombie2011 said:

@Zabant said:

I'm amazed at anyone who calls themselves a video game enthusiast and does not own a PS3.

I don't own one and i will never own one, i don't have time to play all the 360 exclusives so why would i buy a second console.

wait, you dont have time to play Halo and Gears? seems like 2 games would be easy to beat and then have plenty of time to play all the PS3 exclusives

Some people like one thing while some people like the other.  This console war garbage is ridiculous to say the very least.  If you like what you are playing, that's great, why constantly try and prove what you like is the best thing ever™?  It's like your self worth is tied to a video game machine.
 
With that said I will probably pick up a PS3 in the within the next 6 months to check out Uncharted and some other exclusives.

@ZebN: It's like your self worth is tied to a type of food.

This is great news yet I still see bickering in the comments. What a sadness.

This is great news yet I still see bickering in the comments. What a sadness.

Wow, that's perfect timing. I was just about to go buy one this afternoon. We have an old 60 gig, but I'm going off to college and I didn't want to leave my brother without a PS3. That's fifty more bucks I have to play around with :)

Will this one play SACDs? Maybe I'll buy one then, but somehow I doubt it.

I smell PS4 at E3 2012!

@umdesch4 said:

Will this one play SACDs? Maybe I'll buy one then, but somehow I doubt it.

I didn't even know the PS3 ever supported SACD. Interesting, but are SACDs even made anymore?

Wow, that's perfect timing. I was just about to go buy one this afternoon. We have an old 60 gig, but I'm going off to college and I didn't want to leave my brother without a PS3. That's fifty more bucks I have to play around with :)

Saving what money I have for all the games this fall so still not gonna bite.

Goodie. My original backward-compatible one just died a few weeks ago. This definitely has enticed me to buy one, but I can wait much longer. I don't want to download all of that shit I lost on that old hard drive over the course of half a year. Fuck that.

Really frustrating that they keep treating european customers like this. Bloody ridiculous.

Does anyone know what the used price on these will be dropping to?

@JoeyRavn said:

@CrazyChris said:

@JoeyRavn said:

€1 = $1

No, thank you.

Seriously, this. When the fuck will they realize that 1 Dollar isn't the same as 1 Euro?

249 Euro in my country is 357 Dollars. Great fucking price drop Sony.

They won't. Ever. Probably because they already know it and it's terribly profitable for them.

I just can't understand why more people aren't up in arms over this kind of behavior. If the PS3 was 100 Dollars more expensive in the US than in EU I'm pretty sure half the Internet would flip the hell out. But since it's only affecting dirty, filthy Europe I guess it's not worthy a second glance. Whatever, I'll hold my breath for a Sony console until next generation, because there's no way I'm paying $350+ for a console that's more than five years old.

@100_Hertz said:

I didn't even know the PS3 ever supported SACD. Interesting, but are SACDs even made anymore?

Most worthwhile classical music (good performances that is) and some jazz is released on SACDs. Looking at my own collection, all my RCO recordings are on SACD. I can't find any SACDs amongst my jazz CDs, but that might be because those labels have a habit of releasing both regular CD and (more expensive) hybrid-SACD versions of albums and I usually go for the cheapest available version. The SACD versions also tend to have small print runs and can become prohibitively expensive very quickly, so you have to be on the lookout for SACD rereleases of albums you want.

For some reason, Amazon.com doesn't have an SACD section (anymore?), but Amazon.co.uk does.

Having bought the Metal Gear Bundle back when it was still $600 this affects me not. Just glad that everytime they do this more of my friends are willing to jump the shark and get one too.

@shenstra said:

@100_Hertz said:

I didn't even know the PS3 ever supported SACD. Interesting, but are SACDs even made anymore?

Most worthwhile classical music (good performances that is) and some jazz is released on SACDs. Looking at my own collection, all my RCO recordings are on SACD. I can't find any SACDs amongst my jazz CDs, but that might be because those labels have a habit of releasing both regular CD and (more expensive) hybrid-SACD versions of albums and I usually go for the cheapest available version. The SACD versions also tend to have small print runs and can become prohibitively expensive very quickly, so you have to be on the lookout for SACD rereleases of albums you want.

For some reason, Amazon.com doesn't have an SACD section (anymore?), but Amazon.co.uk does.

It was always an extremely niche product, and is only more so today, but I really wish SACD had gotten a firmer foothold in today's music market. As a semi-audiophile, it's sad to see the quality of consumer video continue to go up, as the quality of audio stagnates (or goes down--1411kbps CD audio vs. 320kbps sometimes being the best you can even get today). It's a real shame that very few even care about.

Does anyone know what the used price on these will be dropping to?

@mnzy said:

@CrazyChris said:

I just can't understand why more people aren't up in arms over this kind of behavior. If the PS3 was 100 Dollars more expensive in the US than in EU I'm pretty sure half the Internet would flip the hell out. But since it's only affecting dirty, filthy Europe I guess it's not worthy a second glance. Whatever, I'll hold my breath for a Sony console until next generation, because there's no way I'm paying $350+ for a console that's more than five years old.

Yeah it's crazy, but i raged about it for years. I don't know why it is like that. I guess somebody did the math and management thinks that this is more profitable. What it actually does is, though, that it makes the PC really strong in Europe, because PC hardware and software(!) does have an accurate exchange rate.

PC gaming isn't all that big in most of Europe. A bit more so in Germany than elsewhere perhaps, but overall console is king, just like in the US.

As for the price differences, I get worked up about it from time to time as well, but it all makes sense. No, really. It does. First of all, you need to account for sales tax. That isn't included in American pricing, but it is in European pricing. And European countries tend to have a fairly high sales tax. At least we do up North-East.

Then there's the uncertainty of exchange rates. You may not have heard, but the US Dollar is going through some rough times. People talk a lot about how the Euro is about to collapse, but compared to the good old USD it's doing just dandy. Back in Januari, a Euro was worth about $1.30. If you subtract sales tax, we ended up paying maybe around 10% more. In May, the Euro peaked around $1.50, at which point we were paying almost a third more than Americans. However, had prices been lowered accordingly, with the Euro coming back down to around $1.40, we'd actually be paying less.

Most of the game industry is based in the US or Japan. American companies deal in Dollars. As such, American prices aren't affected by exchange rates from their point of view. European prices are, but they have to err on the side of screwing us over to avoid screwing themselves over should the Euro plummet. Besides, current exchange rates mean they're making more money and sales don't seem to be suffering. As for Japanese companies... they have bigger problems. The Yen is so strong compared to the Euro AND the US Dollar that it's actually hurting their bottom line. They can't afford to lower prices in Europe. If anything, they'd want to raise prices in the US.

@100_Hertz said:

It was always an extremely niche product, and is only more so today, but I really wish SACD had gotten a firmer foothold in today's music market. As a semi-audiophile, it's sad to see the quality of consumer video continue to go up, as the quality of audio stagnates (or goes down--1411kbps CD audio vs. 320kbps sometimes being the best you can even get today). It's a real shame that very few even care about.

Agreed. The problem is that most people don't have the equipment to hear the difference and can't tell the difference when given the proper equipment. It's no coincidence that the SACD is most strongly represented in art music. Classical and jazz are perhaps the only two genres in which the increased sound quality actually makes a significant difference, and they're musical styles that are very popular with audiophiles. (Perhaps for that very reason? Chicken meet egg.)

@CrazyChris said:

@JoeyRavn said:

@CrazyChris said:

@JoeyRavn said:

€1 = $1

No, thank you.

Seriously, this. When the fuck will they realize that 1 Dollar isn't the same as 1 Euro?

249 Euro in my country is 357 Dollars. Great fucking price drop Sony.

They won't. Ever. Probably because they already know it and it's terribly profitable for them.

I just can't understand why more people aren't up in arms over this kind of behavior. If the PS3 was 100 Dollars more expensive in the US than in EU I'm pretty sure half the Internet would flip the hell out. But since it's only affecting dirty, filthy Europe I guess it's not worthy a second glance. Whatever, I'll hold my breath for a Sony console until next generation, because there's no way I'm paying $350+ for a console that's more than five years old.

No, it means they think you have more money than us. You should take that as a compliment, probably.

I hope my X360S can tide me over until a $199 PS3. 

@mnzy said:

@shenstra: This has absolutely nothing to do with the current crisis, it's been like that atleast since the early 90s. And your explanation on exchange is weird. You're making it sound like the strong currency should suffer which is ridiculous. No other industry does it this way, it's a simple supply and demand equation, the tipping point in europe is different, that is all. Consoles here are not for the big masses like they are in the US, the crowd is smaller but enthusiastic. Just look at the PSN numbers from the hack. Over 30mio accounts in the US, eventhough the 360 is more dominant in the US.Of course sales suffer, but you don't need to sell as many if your margin is bigger.

Everything has something to do with the current crises. ;-) But seriously, I didn't pin anything to "the" current crisis (which current crisis are you referring to?). Euro/Dollar exchange rates aren't all that affected by the current crises (or rather, both are similarly affected, roughly cancelling each other out, give or take a few percent) and the strong Yen has many more reasons than the current crises. In fact, a strong Yen contributed to the credit crisis through carry trade. Most recently, the Yen has surged because of the big earthquakes and tsunami as well as the US debt ceiling crisis.

The strong Yen DOES hurt Japanese companies. Strong currencies pretty much always hurt companies and countries that rely on export. As the Yen rises compared to the Euro/Dollar, one of two things happens. Either Japanese companies adjust (read: raise) prices in Europe/America accordingly, leading to lower demand, lower sales and less income, or they keep the prices level, leading to steady demand, steady sales, steady income measured in Euros/Dollars, which equals less income measured in Yen. I'm oversimplifying the issue, but the basic principle should be clear and the effect is real. As a general rule of thumb, a strong currency is good for import, a weak currency is good for export. That's one of the reasons why China likes to keep the Yuan so low.

Your assertion that consoles are not for the masses here (I'm in Europe too, by the way) is not applicable to all of Europe. There's probably a significan North/South split on this issue, and Germany's a weird exception when it comes to games (for many reasons), but I find it hard to believe that consoles are significantly more niche-dependent in Europe as a whole than they are in the US.

As for those numbers from the PSN hack, they're completely unreliable. For starters, weren't those just "accounts", as in "free accounts that anyone can make as many of as they want and can set to whatever region they like"? I know plenty of European gamers had US PSN accounts just to download US-exclusive demos or even purchase games with a US credit card/point card.

$50 drop for all PS3 consoles (160/320/320 move bundle) in case people hadn't seen that. Just got off work at Best Buy and saw the notice a little before I left. Pricing was already updated for the company/online.

@CrazyChris said:

@JoeyRavn said:

@CrazyChris said:

@JoeyRavn said:

€1 = $1

No, thank you.

Seriously, this. When the fuck will they realize that 1 Dollar isn't the same as 1 Euro?

My PS3 seems to be dying I guess I can finally replace it when it does without making such a big fuss