Wa! PS3

[American Oyaji]

It doesn't matter. PS3 has been pushed back to 2007.
360 will have such a lead by then that it won't matter at all.

[Big Booger]

It would be awesome if Microsoft dropped their Xbox 360 down to $199 at the time that Sony launches the PS3... I think then the PS3 would really only do well in Asia... but it really depends on what titles will be available at launch.

[emperor]

PS3 to ship region-free

[American Oyaji]

PS3 to ship region-free

WOAH!!!

That is FANFRACKINGTASTIC!!

There are always games in Japan that don't get sold here that I wanted to play.
Would that apply to games as well as movies?

Or would it ship region free and then when it gets to where you are and you log in, it would set your region.

Hmmmm.

[Big Booger]

PS3 to ship region-free

Regions can cause piracy.. good move.

[emperor]

Would that apply to games as well as movies?

this is just for games

DVD movies will continue to be regionlocked - thats if the ps3 plays them

and Blu-ray movies have been said to be the same - although the regions will be different - US+Japan - instead of Europe+Japan+...

[American Oyaji]

That would make sense because US+Japan both uses NTSC.

That would really increase Japanese profits.

BTW, who determines regions?

emperor, you were posting a link?

[Kuang_Grade]

It has been a while but if I remember correctly the region codes were setup between the committee that holds the DVD tech rights and the major movie studios (the studios wanted to maintain both some form of pricing and distribution control as well making it harder for pirates)...It was a mutual arrangement since no one would buy DVD players unless there was content and the studios weren't going to put out DVDs unless they got something that fit their business plans and was somewhat resistant to pirates (at least for a little while)...As it was there were a few studios that refused to put out DVDs for quite a while....Disney and Paramount actually supported a competing format in the US (which due to a name that is identical to a verboten tech topic shall not be mentioned here) that required disks be actively checked through activation via phone call to a central server...you could buy a disk at a lower price($7-10 at time when DVDs were $16-25), you could watch as many times as you wanted for the first 48 hours, and then if you wanted to watch it again, you had to pay a fee to see it again, even though you actually owned the disk. Not surprisingly, this competing tech was pulled from the market after about 8 months due to vast US consumer indifference. Disney and Paramount came around a few years later when the DVD market was large enough that their desire for $ outweighed their fear.

Dvd region codes
http://hometheater.about.com/cs/dvdlaserdisc/a/aaregioncodesa.htm

Blu-ray region codes
http://hometheater.about.com/b/a/237017.htm

I suspect that PS3 will play regular DVDs...quite a few PS2 games were released on DVD-ROM format, so in order to be backward compatible (as Sony said the PS3 will be), they would have to be able to read the DVD format.

It will be interesting to see if the region free also applies to the backward compatibility of PS2 games. If so, it could be quite a gain for used game market in Japan, since rather than 200-100K or so potential US audience with PS2s that can play J games, they would quickly have millions of potential customers (although only a certain % will ever want to play an import game, currently the hardware hurdles discourage all but the highly dedicated or those rich enough to pick a J PS2 system in addition to their US PS2)

One of the more interesting comments I've heard is that given the amount of space available on a Blu-ray disk, both NTSC and PAL versions of a PS3 game could be put onto the same disk...if this is true, and the publishers opt to do this (a big if), it could be quite a cherry for European gamers...who have even more import game hardware hurdles than US gamers due to the PAL/NTSC issues.

[American Oyaji]

Hmmm, I may just hold on to my Japanese version of Onimusha then.
(they edited some scenes for the american version)

I wasn't gonna get a PS3, but if the price is right, I will. It would REALLY be great to order Japanese DVDs and not have to worry about the region encode BS.

[Kuang_Grade]

http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/08/sony-playstation-3-launch-details/

Today we're pleased to announce the global PS3 launch details. We will make PS3 available via a two-configuration plan. One with a 60GB HD. And the other with a 20GB hard drive. Japan's date: Nov. 11. In Japan 59,800 Yen. The 60GB PS3 will have an open price which retailers will set. In North America [to launch Nov 17]: 20GB for $499, 60GB for $599. Europe has 20GB for 499 Euro, 60GB for 599 Euro.

Yaaouch! Looks like my slim line PStwo is going to be on my TV stand for a bit longer than I expected...Oh, well, I probably get one around the time Metal Gear Solid 4:Sustenance comes out 2008. While having a unified product line with hard drive is a good idea from a developer standpoint (all the units will have a hard drive), it is a bit a strech to charge $100 more for a 40 GB bigger hard drive...and why do I think 65% of the launch units will be the 60GB version?

[Caustic Saint]

Sony also failed to mention at their press event that the $500 version has no HDMI, no wifi and no flashcard slots.

So, much like with the 360, you've got to buy the expensive version to get the "real" system.

[Kuang_Grade]

http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/release/pdf/060509ae.pdf

Source for the PS3 SKU details (presumably, since this press release only actually refers to the Japan PS3 launch).

Although the lack of cards slots could easily be worked around by USB ports, but the lack of HDMI is puzzling...it is not like the gaming industry "needs" bluray or HD-DVD at this time and selling a crippled video player doesn't make any sense if you are trying to establish a new industry standard (Wahoo!, I'm sure glad I spend $500 on a new DVD player to play my $25-30 bluray disks at standard definition...wow, this looks about 1.32% better than what I get on my $40 dvd player and $8 regular DVDs.)

I guess they don't have anyone with sense (like Olaf Olafsson during the PS1 launch) still around to shut up those guys who always say "it's a Sony, so it clearly worth $100 more than any competitor’s product".

And as the gods would have it, this is my 360th post....it would be cool if this was somehow prophetic, but I actually picked up a 360 a few days ago. I was planning on using it for a few months and then flipping it for a PS3 but I'm alot less sure about that now.

[Buraku]

After this week's announcement of yet another delay in their next-gen game system and subsequent investor revolt, consumer electronics giant Sony was forced to admit on Tuesday what many consumers have suspected for some time, that the long-promised and oft-delayed PlayStation3 does not, in fact, exist.
http://www.ridiculopathy.com/news_detail.php?id=1662
"First of all let me say that we are very sorry about all of this," said Sony Computer Entertainment's President Ken Kutaragi. "It started a few years ago as an innocent inside joke about Microsoft's Xbox sequel- just a way to blow off steam around the office. Then somebody accidentally leaked it to the press and before we knew it, we were up to our necks in it. Sure it was fun for a year or two, but it's just gotten out of hand. The time has come to clear the air and put an end to this once and for all. There is no PlayStation3. There never was."

[Taro Toporific]

Sony Cuts PS3 Price by 20 Percent as Japan Users Balk
Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp., the world's biggest maker of video-game players, cut the price of its PlayStation 3 by about 20 percent in Japan, responding to complaints it cost twice as much as consoles from Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co.
The game player will retail for 49,980 yen ($430) from Nov. 11 and comes with a HDMI connection that allows high-definition pictures, Ken Kutaragi, head of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., said at the Tokyo Game Show today. The company previously said it would sell a lower-end model for 59,800 yen.....more....

[Kuang_Grade]

[amdg]

From Japan Probe

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) kicked off the Tokyo Game Show with a surprise for Japanese consumers: a price cut for the yet-to-be-launched PlayStation 3 console.

The cheapest of two versions of the console will cost ¥49,980 (US$427) ın Japan, said Ken Kutaragi, president of SCEI in a speech at the show on Friday morning. That’s a ¥10,000 drop from the previous announced price.

“In Japan there is a perception that one yen is the same as one dollar and one euro so Japanese people feel it’s a little expensive,” said Nanako Kato, a spokeswoman for SCEI in Tokyo. The U.S. launch price is US$499 and the cut would bring the Japanese price in line with that of the U.S. in the minds of consumers, she said.


soooo.... according to Nanako Kato, Japanese consumers think they should only have to pay about 500 Yen for the console???
:doh::doh::doh:

[Kuang_Grade]

With the recent US release of the Xbox 360 Elite (a premimum level 360 that has a 120 GB hard drive, HDMI port and is black in color....no firm release date for the J 360 Elite, but probably sometime in early summer), US cable channel G4 imagined what Sony's response might be....

[YT]H6Be4TlXe5s[/YT]

[emperor]

I like that vid Kuang_Grade.
I also like Layla Kayleigh - the host of The Feed on G4/Attack of the Show.

“]In Japan there is a perception that one yen is the same as one dollar and one euro so Japanese people feel it’s a little expensive[/b],” said Nanako Kato, a spokeswoman for SCEI in Tokyo. The U.S. launch price is US$499 and the cut would bring the Japanese price in line with that of the U.S. in the minds of consumers, she said.

Kakaku lists 60gb PS3s starting at Y53000 [€328] .
They cost €630 here in €urop€
When they launched we had to wait HALF A YEAR to pay TWICE THE PRICE, I think I'll stick to PC gaming for the meantime.