Have Sony hit the 'sweet spot' with the 40Gb PS3?

[HEXUS]

Finally Sony have seen the light and launched the 40Gb PS3 which is sure to finally sway the ‘undecided’ into buying a PS3 this Christmas.

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[MadduckUK]

is the "sweet spot" the metaphorical nut sack of European customers?

[directhex]

"fed up waiting for the POS3 to be launched"

a typo or a freudian slip? you decide!

[ikonia]

no they havn't people complained the PS3 was over priced - that means over priced for what you get, lowered the spec and the price to match it mean there is now two over priced models.

What I think, and what I believe most people meant by over priced was - lower the price of the PS3 with its associated hardware.

[MadduckUK]

Originally Posted by directhex

"fed up waiting for the POS3 to be launched"

a typo or a freudian slip? you decide!

He doesn't hold back that Nick does he? I respect a guy who speaks his mind, added some humour to the article too.

Well done!

[Nick]

Originally Posted by directhex

"fed up waiting for the POS3 to be launched"

a typo or a freudian slip? you decide!

Hehe, curse my fat fingers!

[MadduckUK]

Originally Posted by Nick

Hehe, curse my fat fingers!

i take it all back

[Nick]

Originally Posted by ikonia

no they havn't people complained the PS3 was over priced - that means over priced for what you get, lowered the spec and the price to match it mean there is now two over priced models.

What I think, and what I believe most people meant by over priced was - lower the price of the PS3 with its associated hardware.

Yep, and to you and me a 40Gb machine is a lower spec.

But I think that Mr Average isn't going to be all that bothered. Does it still play PS3 games? Yes. Does it still do all the stuff the more expensive PS3 models do? Yes.

The point is, if you're shopping for a games console this Christmas you'll have set a budget of £300 (ish). That's how people work... they like round figures. But when it comes to spending they like figures under certain benchmarks... so although a 40Gb PS3 will leave you 1 penny out of £300, it's still, to the consumer, a sub-£300 mark console.

So little Jonny, who's been screaming for a PS3 since launch but mum and dad are baulking at spending what they perceive as being close to £500 on a console (don't forget we like round figures), is likely to get a nice shiny PS3 this Christmas and he's really not going to be bothered that it's a smaller HDD etc.

[dangel]

Yeah I think the pricing is much better - and yes, I think it'll be more appealing because of it. But it's all about the games (as usual) so it'll depend on the relative strength of the xmas lineup. Plenty of casual gamers will still plummet for the pure fun of the Wii (and the much cheaper pricepoint) or the better selection of the 360 (and let's face it 99% of people are unaware of the red rings issue).

[noTHINGface]

... I think that it will now sell, Joe public will ream it in and as I said before I still think 2008 will be PS3's year of ascension. But, for people like us who follow this stuff, it's still a crap deal in whatever way you look at it... We're the minority though.

[dangel]

Yup, I've had a friend say he'd prolly pick up a PS3 when they went down to about 300quid. It's probably a magic price point really. Plenty of folk follow the brand because of the PS2 alone.

[Chimaera_5]

The thing is though that if Sony pull this off and sell a load of machines, they'll still be equal to the 360 and Wii sales, they won't have the market dominance of the PS2 so its's hardly a resounding victory.

It will help no doubt however a PS3 with 2/3 games still costs substantially more than a 360 or Wii, and unless they get the games catalog up to the level of the 360s then they'll still have problems, it's not as if little Johnny 5 yr old wants it for folding@home.

[Karlos007]

i think the real story that poeple have forgotten is that sony has droped the price when they said they wouldent. this time last week i was looi8ng a 425 notes for a ps3 60gb.
I ordered mine yesterday and got a ps3 60gb, free hdmi cable, motorstorm, resistance: FoM and CLICK on Blueray for 350 notes.
good value.

[MadduckUK]

i want to buy a ps3 as a folding box, this is obviously retarded and i shall be informing the local correctional facility

[charleski]

Originally Posted by MadduckUK

i want to buy a ps3 as a folding box, this is obviously retarded and i shall be informing the local correctional facility

One of the cost-saving measures on the 40Gb model is to leave out the pre-creased fold lines, so you now need a ruler to get it to fold properly.

[Dorza]

They will sell more but I can't see them being out of stock anywhere due to a frenzy of people buying them. £300 for a console is still a lot of money when it doesn't come with any bonuses, such as a nice bundle of games, extra pad not to mention a HD cable. Though the average customer is probably ignorant to such things as a HD cable, but still I can't see it happening in the way that sony envisage it.

In years gone buy it might have worked since it was the only thing worth considering for joe average, but now the wii and the 360 are more than equal to the Playstation when it comes to drawing people into buy especially as they are cheaper and in the case of the 360 can be had with a good bundle of extra stuff.

Sony completely ballsed the launch of the PS3 up and now they're paying for it. If you want proof of that then where is the 20GB SKU less than a year after launch? Typical sony arrogance in thinking they could walk it, but they cant this time around. The playing field is completely different now.