Sony announced the immediate availability of its 80GB PlayStation 3, which will sell for an estimated price of $599/ $659 CND across the US and Canada.
Rumors about a roomier PS3, with an 80 GB, have first surfaced shortly after Microsoft unveiled its Xbox 360 Elite version. Although at that time Sony denied allegations that the 80GB SKU was something gamers should look for in the future, the company introduced it in South Korea on June 16, for KWR 518,000 (EUR 412 or $556), but without the hardware unit that ensures full backwards compatibility of PS2 games in PS3 (also known as the Emotion Engine).
The new PlayStation 3 SKU comes bundled with online-enabled off-road racing game MotorStorm, which allows up to 12 players to play simultaneously. Sony said there are currently more than 60 playable games and game-related downloads available through PlayStation Store, with expanded entertainment content coming soon.
"The 80GB PS3 offers expanded options in the PS3 family of products for those who want to enjoy more downloadable content," said Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing, SCEA. "The new model will provide ample storage space to meet the appetites of those who wish to download content today, and for many more years to come. With the expanded disk capacity and dynamic system upgrades, we have effectively created a system that is 'future-proof', providing consumers an exceptional entertainment value that will stand the test of time."
Sony offers the 80GB PS3 as a replacement for the 60GB model, which will be discontinued when current US stocks of the latter are exhausted. SCEA estimates, based on consumer demand, that this will happen sometimes this fall.
According to Sony’s internal estimates, PS3 sales have increased by more than 135% at the company's top five retailers since the $499 price was announced on July 9th, with total PlayStation hardware sales increasing by 161%, software by 15% and peripherals by 60%.
In April, the company had officially terminated the sale of the 20GB PlayStation 3 in United States. The 60 GB version is the only one launched in PAL territories.
The availability of the 80GB PS3 has been announced almost simultaneously with the price cut operated by Microsoft for all of the Xbox 360 consoles sold in the US. However, since it’s not price cuts, but a solid and attractive software pack that boost sales for a console, Microsoft seems to have a slight advantage over Sony, with the upcoming launch of exclusives like BioShock (from 2K Games) and Bungie’s Halo 3. Sony tries to compensate with Folklore, Heavenly Sword, LAIR, NBA '08, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, SingStar, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation, The Eye Of Judgment, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Pain and Warhawk. The Japanese electronics and entertainment behemoth also promises more than 120 new first and third-party software titles for North American PS3 owners.
During a June meeting with more than 7,00 share holders at Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa, in Tokyo, Howard Stringer, Sony CEO, vowed to have no less than 380 “software titles” for the PlayStation 3 by March 2008. Of the 380, 200 will be boxed, retail titles with the remaining 180 to be downloadable.
Simple calculations indicate that with less than 9 months until the deadline, Sony has to come up with about 5 or 6 games per week, meaning about 42 games/month. That’s a lot of games for a single platform (not even the popular Wii gets so many games in such short period).
Both the 80GB and 60GB PS3 models come standard with Cell Broadband Engine (Cell/B.E.), built-in hard disk drive, 1080p high-definition output, Wi-Fi connectivity, SIXAXIS wireless controller and Blu-ray Disc player. According to Nielsen VideoScan, there are currently more than 270 high-definition Blu-ray Disc movies available at retail, including the recently released "300," "Shooter," and "Ghost Rider."
