Upon reading more about the new improved slim PS3 it became apparent to us that Sony appear to have “overcooked” the PS3. When the PS3 was released it had full backwards compatibility, 4 USB Ports, Linux Capabilities, fancy touch sensitive on/off and eject buttons (clutching at straws here with that one), a 60GB HDD and a Card Reader. This has steadily all been removed. So, the PS3 price has dropped which is great news, but so has the feature list, and quite extensively. Sure the Slim PS3 HDD is 120GB, but it did temporarily drop to 40GB, which sucked. I don’t seem to remember any features being dropped from either the PS1 or PS2, even with the slim-line models they released.
Don’t think I am in any way Sony-Bashing here, just stating a point. It appears to me that Sony are admitting that the PS3 doesn’t need to do all that it does/ did. Gamers just want a good console which plays great games. Had Sony not added all the extra features, maybe they would have been sooner to market with the PS3 at a cheaper price, and then not had such a gap to catch up on with Microsoft.
There are still so many features that I love about my PS3. A standard HDMI output, ability to use nearly any bluetooth headset, included wifi, batteries built into the controllers (and not just AA ones), free online gaming, game sharing, and many more.
However, with all this in mind, are Sony currently over-cooking the PS4? Are we going to see a PS4 which retails at $1000, does everything we need, and then slowly over the years all the fancy extras are lost until it gets to a price point where the masses decide they can now afford to buy it. The hardcore gamers will always buy the latest and greatest, but a massive percentage of users will, and have, proved that more often than not the cheapest consoles get purchased more.
I am very interested to see what news we get of the Sony PS4 over the coming months/ years, and how the new console is shaping up.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
well all i can say is bull smells good, i love every single part of my ps3
wen is it out
Hey, dfashrtguhb, you’re an idiot. This article isn’t about the release of the PS4. Take your stupid questions elsewhere.
Is a battery built into the controller really a good thing. What happens when that battery loses it’s charge for good? Sony offer a cheap replacement? I’d rather have a self replaceable battery for ten bucks. 8 if you buy other brands.
A $1000 PS4 is silly. Blu-ray is much cheaper. The hard work on the Cell has already been done. They just need to enhance what they’ve already got to get a better machine. The most expensive R & D will be on a new graphics card. Or maybe they will actually make changes to the Cell to allow it to act as both the CPU and GPU. If they make adjustments they can come in at $400 and still have a far more powerful system.
Same for Microsoft too. Go from 3 cores to 8 or even 10. Add some RAM. And get an updated graphics card. They could release a new machine with ten fold the ability and still start at $400.
I like ”well done” consoles, that’s why I bought the PS2, and PS3. I can’t wait 3 more years to get the PS4. I don’t care how much it is. It’s SONY.
For the people who couldn’t aford the PS3 when it came out good luck buying a CAR!!!
The most of the fans got the PS3 when it came out, it’s the xbots that were crying about the price cause there mum said no hahaha.
ps2 slim had no hdd support like the fatone and they removed the expansion port at the rear of Ps1
I seriously doubt sony will pull the high price tag stunt again with the ps4 like they did with ps3 because i think they got the message loud & clear that it didn’t fly well with a 3rd of consumers and 3rd party game studios.
they dropped hdd for the ps2 slim….making anyone who bought a ps2 unable to play ffxi
@ Solid Snake
You are right about price. I would love to see a commercial with their fans holding a PS3 and saying “Hi. I’m the guy Sony talked about. I went to get an extra job to have this awesome machine.” And then show them at that second job. That would be a wonderful commercial. I’ll happily do the Wii commercial “Hello. I a Wii user, and when I’m not working my ONE job, I have time to play my games while my friend is working his 2nd job and can’t find time in his 60-80hour work week to play a single game.”
If anyone knows how to upset their hard core, it was sony. Won’t see how much damage they truly did to themselves until the release of a PS4.
They’ll simply be more efficient next time around with the PS4. In terms of BC, they already have engineers working right now on emulating every PSOne, PS2 and PS3 game through software that’ll make it easier to put into PS4 without requiring PS3 hardware. BC in the future will all be software/emulation driven by launch day.
Also I’d guess that along with a much large HDD (at least TB size) in the PS4, we’d also be using higher end upgraded blu-ray disc drives for games with larger capacity that’ll still play the regluar blu-ray and DVD and CD formats.
It’s possible that along with Digital Distribution increases, Sony may also do their own cloud computing service with older PSOne, PS2 and PS3 games played via streaming over an updated PSN that’ll have every main online feature standardized from the get go.
PSN along with HOME will also be updated and allow for easy transfer over from PS3 service to PS4.
Stereoscopic 3-D will be a standard for PS4 games. All games will have 1080p resolution as a minimum requirement.
It’s likely PS4 will run on an updated version of the CELL Processor, perhaps 2 of them acting as both CPU and GPU. By 10 years time, video and graphics will achieve photorealistic levels in lighting, geometry, particle generation and collisions, reflections and complex rigs for animation.
Advanced Motion controls and an advanced PSEYE will be integrated into the machine right from launch. Internet browsing and video conferencing/chat will be seamless.
How tech heavy Sony makes the PS4 depends on how PS3 does towards the end of its lifecycle and whether all the advanced tech put in from the start pays off in longevity and profit. Of course, I’d expect it to launch for $500 at the most or whatever equivalent feeling the price will feel like considering the global financial situation of the future.
PSEYE will be integrated into the machine right from launch…..? Think not… Where will you put the PS4, on top off your flatscreen…..??
Perhaps under or to the side sumus? Software can be used to adjust to the location of the device.
i would pay the price that was originally for the ps3 for the ps4 no higher than 350 pounds for it if its more than that they can go and cuddle them selfs
PS2 dropped ethernet connection or whatever those things where at the front left in later models
actually. And the slim wouldn’t work with the router or hard disk.
you have to understand that so many people are going to look at the price and say, wow thats expensive, it must be a really good console. its not a nice concept i know. However sony realised this were microsoft and nintendo did not. the majority of the people are always going to buy the best in the range. whether it truly is or not is a different matter. I myself did wait for the playstation 3 to come out and did not buy the xbox 360 because i was convinced it would be the better console because of its later release date and higher price. (the wii was out of the question) however it was not all that it lived up to be, when you unwrap it sure you play it because it seems state of the art, but over time you realise what sony had done, they had overcooked it just as the good man said. this is why i am tempted not to wait it out for the ps4 and maybe look at the xbox 720 instead. but that is my own oppinion, i welcome any comments.