1999:
- Sega and Nintendo fanboys start talking smack on internet forums, ragging on Sony
- links to articles full of rumor and know-nothing speculation pop up daily
- prices of $500-$900 for the as-yet-unreleased PS2 show up and are quoted as gospel
- Sony fuels the fire for months, saying "it is new and expensive technology". The haters lap it up.
- Sony then releases the PS2 at $299.99. It goes on to become the best-selling console in history, still selling in high volume more than 5 years later.

2006:
- Microsoft and Nintendo fanboys start talking smack on internet forums, ragging on Sony
- links to articles full of rumor and know-nothing speculation pop up daily
- prices of $500-$900 for the as-yet-unreleased PS3 show up and are quoted as gospel
- Sony fuels the fire for months, saying "it is new and expensive technology". The haters lap it up.
- Sony then releases the PS3 at $___.99. It goes on to become ___ ____-_______
_______ __ _______, _____ _______ __ ____ ______ ____ ____ _ _____ _____.

To quote Keanu Reeves, "whoa."

I leave it to ya'll to fill in the blanks. Like joshd2012, I intend to sit back and enjoy the circus for the next few months. The clowns at Merrill-Lynch certainly kept the center ring lively this week :)

(note: my use of the word "fanboy" is not directed at anyone on this forum. Most members here are reasonably well-behaved. Besides, we all know of other forums where the discourse is a lot less civil.)

I still say they are so focused on destroying HD-DVD and Microsoft that losses on the console won't matter. I still think they will find someway to bring it to market at $400. The video game division is too important to them to let any of it get away to Microsoft and they want to crush HD-DVD as quickly as possible.

:hscratch: http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=detrimental

I do specificallly remember a sales rep at EB Games in mid-1999 desperately trying to talk me into preordering a Dreamcast instead of waiting for a PS2 by, among other things, saying that he "knew for a fact" that the PS2 was going to cost at least $500. I tried to track him down a couple of years later to yell "In Your Face", but to no avail.

As far as the price : I'll believe it when I see it. Until then, it's pure speculation. And here in Vegas, we know how much speculation is worth...

Wow.....if it REALLY does cost $900 to manufactur, I cannot see them selling it for under $600 or more. Does someone REALLY want to lose $200+ on EACH console....does not sound like a very good business move. I know it's the Blu-Ray drive driving up the prices....and don't you need HDMI to even use Blu-Ray? I see some confusion for the "general" public on launch day.

:up: Truth!

I was just going off of this diagram:

http://www.copy-art.net/modules/uplo...nt%20Share.jpg

I know Sony has patents on MPEG-2, which is probably where they get paid, but not on the hardware itself.

I do appreciate you going and getting additional information about the subject rather than just dismissing it as "Sony favortism". I do occassionally know what I'm talking about ;)

Good point - anyone know? I'm too lazy to go look it up :)

If so, I won't be able to use the PS3 on my TV or my projector, and I won't be buying new ones just for Blu-ray anyway.

Yeah, I think the rumor is that MOST movies will run through HDMI. I think some have component support, but no one seems to be too sure. I might get one if they are cheap enough (since I have over $200 credit at GameRush). I'd actually use it on my smaller TV, since it has HDMI and I would leave my 360 on my main TV

There are some differences though. At the time the PS2 came out DVD players had been out for some time; in addition DVD media was already being widely distribuited. Further, there was not a competitive DVD format when DVD came to market. These three things paint a much more costly entry for the PS3. It is for these reasons I have been suspecting the PS3 to not make it to the US till 2007 at the earliest.

No.

AACS Interim agreement specifies that a video signal up to 1080i can be passed via component output. This can be limited, however, if studios decide to implement an ICT (image constraint tag) to a 540p signal. HDMI will be needed for 1080p.

Ok, I guess that is better news. I thought I read that movie studios could specify what signal they want to pass. Although, how many people actually own a 1080p TV? I know they are becoming more available, but still pricey for a decent brand.

I think the key is, Sony could launch the PS3 for $700-$900 and I think theres still enough spoiled brats out there, that would get one. That's the difference between this and the 3DO. The 3DO didn't have the name value that Playstation has first of all. Secondly, were in different times. Kids are getting what they want more now, than ever. I can see that by all the parents that bought their kids I-Pods in my store. When you have 7 year old kids getting $400 I-Pods(despite my attempt to talk the rents out of it), $900 PS3's doesn't sound so crazy after all.

However, I believe this is just hype. If PS3 launches above $500, I'll eat a human face.

Like I said before, I still think all this "chatter" is just to keep the PS3 in the public's mind. It's sort of like a "Don't forget about us bee-atches!".

Whether these stories are intentional or not, anyone who thinks the PS3 will be a failure at launch really really underestimates the brand power of Playstation. Anytime Rappers give shout outs to your console in a song you know you're made it (reference: Red Man "Let's get Dirty") :D

Maybe, that's more of a curse than a blessing?

Yes, but the same could've been said about the brand power of Atari and Nintendo during their times. Incidentally, both being market leaders for two generations a piece. Sony has had their two generations (wink, wink). Now my opinion, as I've stated before, is that these wild price rumors and failure predictions are horse shit.. and I fully expect Sony to maintain its lead once the PS3 hits, but I'm also fully aware that these things are impossible to predict and anything can happen.

Just wanted to save this in case it launches at like $550 or something... :)

Seriously, though, $900 would be too much... besides brand recognition going against the 3D0, it also faced the fact that the opposing consoles were much, much cheaper than it. If the PS3 is a hundred or so above the 360, that'd be ok, but more than double the price? No way. It's all percieved value. Which is why while we're all deathly afraid of a $700 dollar pricepoint, when it finally launches, at, say $550, we'll all think it's a steal.

I don't think anyone believes the price of the system will be $900, just the cost to manufacture. And if that's true, I cannot believe they'll launch at $400 and take a $500 loss on every system. That'll add up DAMN quick.

That's why I say at least $499...still significant, but anything more will make it hard to justify the cost. My friend paid $299 for his PS1 when it came out - I doubt something as advanced as the PS3 is supposed to be will only be $100 more.

You can buy a 360 for the same price. I'd say it much more advanced than a PS1...

You can buy a (crippled) 360 for the exact same price as a PS1 in those days, right? Not accounting for inflation and all that, of course.

True, but this generation seems to be the start of an attempt to "catch up" the industry with inflation - $60 games, $400 mainstream console launches, etc.

PS1 to PS2 - more of the same, and added DVD functionality
PS2 to PS3 - completely new technology and media functionality, new disc format, wireless (?) controller, hard drive (?), online capable, etc.

You guys really think all that's only going to bump the price up $100 bucks?

Do some research into EE and then tell me that with a straight face.

Touche! Nice references. Forgot about the house of pain one.

I think times are different now though and gaming is so much more mainstream now. Back in the atari days gaming was a niche market and now the Playstation brand sponsors the X-games and rally cars etc. Just seems to have blown up since back then so the stakes are higher.

My roommate owned a PS1, I own a PS2 - I don't care what's under the hood, the PS2 was exactly that, the 2nd version of the Playstation. They added DVD playback but otherwise they are the same thing, a game machine.

PS3 is supposed to be the center of a multimedia experience, yes? More than just a game machine, ushering in a whole new movie technology, numerous multimedia uses, interactivity with the PSP, built in networking...it's a very different animal.

I think it is obvious the PS3 will be expensive to manufacture, but I think rumors of the price are pretty pointless at this point. If history has shown us anything (ie. the PSP) it is that these analysts have no idea what they are talking about. I expected the PSP to be much more expensive than it is. It is fun to speculate, and I do think Sony has put themselves in a bind here with the production cost, versus what they can sell for, but I don't put too much weight into these claims.

Doesn't really matter to me, at a minimum I expect the PS3 to be $400, and I just won't pay that much for a console.