Nice find. Amazon sure didn't waste any time voicing their opinion on game console pricing.

Note of news: Koei confirmed that Ni-Oh will not be playable at TGS.

Speaking of Koei, it would be excellent if they made a new Romance of the 3 Kingdoms for the PS3, that finally took advantage of the advance graphics. :lol:

Chris

I'll call bs on a price of 299 for the PS3 (amazon have updated their prices many times before on other products as more information comes out). Having said that, the PS3 retail release may well end up cheaper than the 360 + equivalent accessories (eg. wireless bridge..).

its BS. marketing hype by Sony so people don't buy the 360. i hope its true though.

-confused-

Sony owns Amazon.com? Oh wait, no they don't. This is purely Amazon guessing what the price will be. But since you know its BS, that must mean you know the MSRP of the PS3. Please tell, because we are dying to know.

-rolleyes-

I don't know where Amazon got that price, but it wasn't from Sony.

Yeah, probably just marketing. But launching the PS3 with full features at $299 would be brilliant if they want to kill MS. That price point would ensure the PS3 did at least as well as the PS2 and probably put MS right out of the industry. Here's keeping my fingers crossed. I don't care what happens to MS. But I don't want to see $400 and up consoles become the norm. If that happens I'm 100% done with gaming given my already waning interest.

Well if you don't want $400 consoles you would likely want to see MS hang around (I guess thats what you're saying..). Admittedly the 360 launch price is quite premium level (I choose to ignore the botched budget version) however the price will drop when the PS3 comes out, and that will at least force Sony to try and be competitive. I can't see $299 as being realistic but they will cut back profits on hardware to at least nothing if not to a loss. Anyway it seems like Nintendo will always bring something more affordable and competitive to the table. 199 for a rev would look very positive particularly if they could just get a bit more support in key areas like online and rpgs.

Well, my thinking was if the high price point kills MS (assuming that Sony and Nintendo launch at lower prices) it will show the industry that consumers won't pay more than $300 for a console and keep prices down for a while.

I'm all for competion. I just wish MS had more balls and was willing to take a loss and just put the premium pack out at $300 and really take a stab and building up a user base before the PS3 launches.

And yeah, I'm hoping for a $199 revolution as well. I'd buy it at launch if they have the classic downloads available.

It would be worth my $199 just to have easy access to all those games as I'd rather play my SNES favorites than 99% of games released to day.

Unfortunately since Nintendo are no longer really competing directly with Sony (unlike n64 vs ps1 days) then I believe that without MS in the mix then Sony would be free to charge whatever they want and most of us would pay it. I agree that I wish MS would take a bit more bleeding on price, no doubt they can afford it, although the fact that the $299 model minus HDD even exists is yet another blunder.

To be fair, MS isn't directly competing with Sony either.

The X-box isn't that far ahead of the GC in sales and both are MILES behind the PS2.

It's Sony and everyone else. Though I do agree that Sony has to consider MS more of a threat than Nintendo.

But fortunately, I don't expect prices to get much higher. Regardless of how much people say gamers are mainly adults today. A huge chunk of the market is still kids and teens begging their parents to buy their consoles. And $400 will be a tough sell for most families, much less anything higher.

I really hope Sony comes in at $299 or $349. I could see it happening since they have some many huge selling first party games to make up the money on (and a much larger dedicated base to sell each one to) where as MS really has neither with fewer hit first party games and a much smaller base of fans.

Konami said they will have "something from the PS3" in addition to the trailer shown at E3 for MGS3 at TGS.

Tecmo looks into PS3 development:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/08...s_6131844.html

Will games cost significantly more for the PS3 if theyre on blueray disks? Will they eat any extra cost?

The extra costs for Blu-Ray are highly overstated according to what I have read. Any price increase for Blu-Ray games will most likely be attributed to the added production value/costs which required the larger disc format. Its a lot easier to just use a DVD, so if they took the time to add that much to the game to require Blu-Ray, you can bet they are going to want it back.

That is third party games only most likely. I doubt you will see Sony go above the $50 price point for first party games.

if going to blue ray would add $10 to the price of a game I wonder if any games will be anything other than DVDs. Its nice to have the option but I bet blueray will just end up being for movies.

Yeah, I don't see any blu-ray games coming out for a while after the system launches. I don't see how they could sell them at the same price. At least not right away.

Yeah, there are still CD games coming out for the PS2 and they haven't even broken into using dual-layer DVDs yet.

First screens of Def Jam 3 on the PS3. Don't know if they are pre-rendered or in game:

http://theconsolewars.blogspot.com/2...jam-3-for.html

Why must you constantly spread lies?

GT4 uses two layers. In fact, the first PS2 game to use a dual layer disc (Xenosaga) shipped February 28, 2002.

From Tecmo's point of view, if this holds true, it is more than likely going to cost even more for PS3 development since they followed up with this comment...
Since no mention of blu-ray was thrown into the mix, I'm assuming they're referring to developing games on DVD for the PS3. So what will it mean if developing games on blu-ray discs? Even more money?

Blu-ray games would cost more, but I doubt we'll see Blu-ray games anytime soon. There are still games coming out on CD for the PS2 and they (to my knowledge) have yet to use the 2nd layer for any DVD games.

Blu-ray is being included simply to help Sony win the format war by putting a Blu-ray player in millions of homes.

Simply developing games for blu-ray discs won't cost any more than other formats other than the manufacturing cost of pressing the newer proprietary discs. Actually using the extra space provided by the format WILL. So it's really a yes/no answer. Developers are probably more concerned with the added cost of creating games that'll take full advantage of the new hardware (along with the actual complexity of the developing for the hardware) rather than finding enough media to fill up a new disc format. We're still several years off from the actual game graphics and worlds being complex enough to need more than a standard DVD but it'll be nice to have the format supported for companies that want to create games uses hundreds of hours of music and voice acting audio (or *shudder* pre-rendered video).

Increase your knowledge: http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showpos...&postcount=220

Ok, so two games, and only one (GT4) that uses it legitimately. With the other (Xenosaga) being a pointless interactive movie. ;)

But still, with only two games that use the second layer, there's cleary no need yet for more storage. Especially since they can always just put a game on 2 DVDs if they need to. It's hardly a big deal to have to change discs once when playing through a game.

There are more than just two... in fact, a lot more. Check out some PS2 "Back-up" sites and find out which games use both layers. The Xenosaga was just to show that it started many years ago using two layers.

Fair enough, but again that doesn't show a need for the extra space on blu-ray as they haven't had to go to 2 DVDs. And even if they did, again they still don't need the extra space as any too lazy to get off their fat ass and change discs once during a game should just shoot themselves and rid the world of their uselessness. :D

Just FYI, disc space is one reason to go to a more space efficient format but seek times and load times improve as well. With info packed more tightly into a finite space (ie a disc) the drive can seek out data more efficiently and make load times quicker. CD games on the PS2 take a lot longer than DVD games to load.

I for one don't really care if we get Blu-ray or not but I do think that it will help get teh format into people's hands and make the barrier to entry much lower for that format versus HD-DVD

I can't see how both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD will make it to the market. There's no way consumers would go for that unless all players were compatible with both. The manufacturers must understand that. I see one of them folding (my guess would be HD-DVD) before they are mass released to the US market.

Wanna learn how the Cell works? Start reading...

http://cell.scei.co.jp/e_download.html

I wish I had as much free time as you do.

I never said I was going to read it, I just put it out there incase anyone else wanted to. :D

Cell is not as specialized as everyone thinks:

http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews...30_185425.html

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=11209

GDCE: Sony "unlikely" to offer two versions of PS3, says Harrison

Ellie Gibson 16:23 31/08/2005

VP of studios questions Microsoft's wisdom in offering consumers a choice of Xbox 360s

Phil Harrison has criticised Microsoft for planning to put two versions of the new Xbox 360 console on the market, claiming the decision will merely "create confusion" for consumers.

Microsoft recently announced that the Xbox 360 Core System, which does not include a hard disk, will retail for GBP 209.99 at launch. For GBP 279.99, consumers will be able to purchase a console with a 20GB hard disk, wireless controller, Xbox Live Silver membership, HD-AV cable and removable faceplate.

Speaking at the European Game Developers' Conference in London today, when asked if Sony might follow in the Redwood giant's footsteps the VP of studios replied: "Unlikely."

"Are there two versions of the Xbox 360 that people want to buy, is my question," he continued. "I don't know."

"This is my personal view, not my corporate view, but when I look at those formats, I think it just confuses the audience. They don't know which one to buy, developers don't know which one to create for, and retailers don't know which one to stock."

"So I think we wouldn't take that strategy. We wouldn't create confusion," he concluded.

However, Harrison did go on to suggest that consumers will have a variety of options to choose from in the longer term.

"There have been various versions and variants of PlayStations in the past - some run through the hardware and some through the software, and that's worked pretty well for us, offering different value propositions to the consumer."

"Exactly what we do with the launch? Too early to tell."

Harrison did commend Microsoft with regard to the success of the Xbox Live service, telling the audience: "Microsoft has done a lot of things right, and there are certainly things that are going to form the model for many of the high quality consumer experiences that we will deliver with PS3."

"But I think our role is always to go beyond, to push further," he continued.

"I'm not in a position today to share with you all the details but PS3 was a network platform from the very beginning, and that is designed into every aspect of the machine."

However, Harrison did state that Sony is planning to offer a "more open platform" -a service that will give consumers access to content which is either free, or sold by publishers themselves.

"Perhaps distinct from our competitors, we are happy for other publishers to form their own commercial relationships directly with the consumer," he said.

"We want other companies to see the PS3 as a platform that they can exploit for their content, services and communities."

Harrison was also keen to emphasise Sony's commitment to producing innovative games: "We do have the privilege of being the platform holder, and of having the opportunity and, I think, the responsibility to invest in more esoteric titles."

"We have to continue to put creativity and innovation first, otherwise we will turn into a formulaic industry and consumers will go elsewhere."

However, Harrison said, financial considerations still have to be taken into account. "We are a business, we do have to make a profit. We can't just do this for the fun of it - we're not art house theatre. We have to balance the two."

Harrison went on to discuss the PlayStation Portable, which finally launches in Europe at midnight tonight after a series of slips.

"Obviously we didn't plan it that way, factors outside of our control contributed to us having to delay the launch."

"Although the benefit to European consumers is that the machine we launch tomorrow has got a Version 2 operating system on it, there are more games, more movies, and the production output for our factories in Japan will be able to sustain demand in the US and Europe," Harrison said.

The VP of studios also took the opportunity to hit back at those who have criticised the PSP launch line-up, telling the audience: "Don't judge the life of the format on the first games that come out for it - remember we launched PS2 with Fantatvision. Although it's a lovely piece of software, it's by no means the software that will define the format."

"I think it's natural that when a format first comes out, the games that you make are the games that you know how to make, because you only have a limited amount of time to make them," Harrison continued.

"Then the next games to come out on the platform are where the innovation starts to happen."


"We're doing some things internally and I know a lot of people externally are too. We're really starting to see that innovation coming through on PSP, and it will certainly come through on PS3."

Unsurprisingly, Harrison declined to comment on a possible price point for the PS3, telling the audience: "It would be foolish of me to make any comments about pricing at this early stage."

"I'm sure Ken will continue to be enigmatic about that."


Chris

Bullshit.

Well, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if they admitted to making it now, would it?

In other words the demo was all smoke and mirrors and they'll never make a game that looks 1/2 as good? Nice to see they're admitting it at least.

Of course from my point of view, the statement is overly negative. Tools and middleware will close some of the gap between this gen and next gen.

Regarding cell, I'm more excited about the application of cells in pcs than in the ps3 itself. Rate of increase in performace of desktop pcs has been lagging for a few years now.. something like cell could really turn things on it's head.

I was more calling bullshit on it taking five years, especially since the way it was worded made it sound like that particular game would take more people/time than another project, which is just absurd considering the game is already made; essentially all they'd need to do is redo everything graphically.

You're right though about the surprise element and I suspect they're just walking around the question.

Sony has confirmed Keyboard and Mouse support for the PS3 and that the PSP can be used to play video and audio off the PS3.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=25858

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/648/648527p1.html

Shin Megami Tensei series is coming to PS3 - I'm sure some import people know what that is.