When the Playstation 3 first launched, it was praised for its superior graphics in comparison with the other next-generation consoles. However, it was also well known for its notorious price tag, with a 60GB PS3 running at $599, making it the most expensive console in the market above both the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii.
The pricing was worth it for some who appreciated the Blu-ray player for high definition movies, as well as the free online networking service in contrast to Microsoft’s Xbox Live, which requires a subscription for online gaming. Even with some of these features, the PS3 sales have fallen short of both the Xbox 360 and Wii.
In the midst of the economic downturn and the increased prices of this console generation’s games, consumers began calling out for price cuts on the gaming systems, most notably with the pricey PS3.
Rumors began circulating all around of the PS3 Slim’s existence, and several pictures were leaked onto the Internet. Sony finally confirmed the rumors, though by that point several major retailers had already put the PS3 Slim up in their catalogs. Along with the release of the PS3 Slim is a price cut for the older PS3 consoles, with an 80GB PS3 “Fat” cut down to $299. Curiously enough, the PS3 Slim is also priced at $299 with 120GB, making the package a superior deal than before.
Brandon Graves, the officer for the PS3 in the Multiplayer Gaming Club, commented on the changes with the new Playstation 3 package.
“The most important details about the Slim is the cheaper price tag and slim design,” Graves said. “Though the new price and sleek design comes at a small price. It isn’t backwards compatible with PS2 games.”
Graves also added that the more recent “Fat” PS3’s weren’t backwards compatible either.
Lance McGhee, a resident at Owens Hall, found the PS3 Slim’s lack of backwards compatibility rather unappealing.
“I’m not really sold with the PS3 Slim because one of the things you want with a system is to also play the old games,” McGhee pointed out.
Imagine Games Network, more commonly known as IGN Entertainment, made a comparison of the hardware specifications of the PS3 Slim and the older PS3 systems. Previous PS3s weighed around 11 pounds, and the PS3 Slim shaves off about 3.3 pounds and 1.5 inches all around. Hard drives are removable, and can be swapped with any PS3 hard drive without voiding the warranty. The PS3 Slim continues to offer Wi-Fi, and some reduction in its power consumption, but also features a smaller processor. With these changes, the PS3 Slim will no longer be able to have alternating operating systems, such as Linux, installed onto the its system.
“No longer being able to install Linux isn’t a huge deal seeing as how most people never really bothered with it,” Graves explained. “And those that did were disappointed that the graphics processing unit was blocked off so you wouldn’t be able play 3D games while running Linux. So the only thing you could really do with it was browse the Internet, watch movies, and use Nintendo and other 2D emulators.”
Sony has stated that they expect the Playstation 3 sales to soar with the release of the PS3 Slim. In a gaming market where the Nintendo Wii dominates in all around sales and where the Xbox 360 continues to reign in online gaming, the new features of the Slim and the reduced pricing of the older models are predicted to help even the playing fields.
In other news, Microsoft has also implemented some price cuts to its Xbox 360 consoles. The Xbox 360 Pro systems are no longer in production, and will be replaced by the superior Xbox 360 Elite systems. The 360 Elite’s price has been cut down to $299 to replace the 360 Pro’s original price, leaving just the Elite and $199 Arcade models on the Xbox 360 front. No reports of a price drop for the Wii have been confirmed, and IGN reports that Nintendo continues to deny it.
