Lower PS3 Price for Japan, HDMI For All Models
Representatives of Sony's American branch confirmed to Wired News that the US price of the low-end console -- $499 -- would not be affected by the announcement.
It remains to be seen how this will affect Japan, as it is not yet known how many of the PlayStation 3 consoles that Sony will ship will be in the low-end configuration, which includes a 20 gigabyte hard drive.
The US price is $499 for the low-end model and $599 for the high-end model, which includes a larger hard drive, Wi-Fi capability, and various media slots for Memory Stick, SD cards, etc.
In Japan, the higher-end model will be "open price", meaning that retailers will set their own prices. Sony has announced that it will ship 100,000 PS3 units to Japan on November 11.
Kutaragi also announced today that an HDMI port would be included in the low-end model. Previously, it was only going to be available if users bought the more expensive version.
HDMI's "time has come earlier than expected," said Kutaragi in a question-and-answer session following his keynote speech. He noted that while at first, people complained that HDMI was unnecessary, things have changed.
"If the complaints continue, it becomes difficult to materialize the world of dream," noted the awful English translator over our headset earpieces.
HDMI additional port does not allow the cheaper PS3 unit to be upgradeable at all, there is nothing upgradeable on a PS3 basic unit. With this news of a HDMI port being put into place, one can only surmise that production of a final consumer unit has not started yet. Does Sony expect us the consumer to think it will be a snap in part?, it will require an new case for starters, and a motherboard change out......it appears Sony has plenty of time to do all this, all just before Launch in 60 days and still meet production launch goals of 500,000 unit shipped.Yeah Right !!.
You know if I was a pessimistic person I could read; HDMIs time has come earlier than expected,said Kutagari.As were including HDMI because despite what the studios might have said, bludisc movies will require it to play in true hidef much sooner than 2010.
Our dad can beat up your dad
Now, see, that is good PS3 news. With the addition of the HDMI port, there is no reason to get the $600 ps3. Everything on the cheaper one can be upgraded when and if you feel like it.Of course, its still about $200 more than Im willing to pay (being a US citizen, not a Japanese one), but maybe I can get one eventually.