PS3: Will the $499 / $599 Price Tag Hurt the PS3?

By: Mike Street
Submitted: 2007-01-17 15:46:18
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As I'm writing this, Sony is still on top of the video game world. With over 100 million PS2's sold, we all have one. I play my PS2 daily and I have a PSP. But after the price announcement at E3 I don't know if I'll be able to afford to stay with Sony on the next-gen bandwagon. A $499 price tag means that if you ask for that for Christmas 2006 then THAT"S ALL YOU'RE GETTING! No action figures, no clothes, nothing else but the PS3.

And then tack on a game or two to that and you're looking at asking your mom and dad to shell out almost $700 for your Christmas. i don't think Sony is looking at who their core market is. The PS3 is now like buying a Lexus. It looks nice on the outside. It has pretty games, but are they going to be that fun out of the gate? And with the new Dual Shake controller which from reports was added two weeks before E3, will it be all that? Or are we buying into a over-priced lemon?

So if you want a PS3 you better start saving ALL your pennies, beg your mom daily, and start eating cheese and crackers for lunch.

Sony's top guy, Ken Kutaragi, even goes as far to say ""It's probably too cheap."

Here are his words of wisdom, as translated by consumer website IGN:

"This is the PS3 price. Expensive, cheap — we don't want you to think of it in terms of game machines. Because the PS3 is like nothing else."

"For instance, is it not nonsense to compare the charge for dinner at the company cafeteria with dinner at a fine restaurant? It's a question of what you can do with that game machine. If you can have an amazing experience, we believe price is not a problem."

"When we announced the PlayStation price, it was said to be expensive. Same for the PlayStation 2. However, when released, both had sales that were unthinkable for previous game machines. This is because both offered experiences that could not be had on previous game machines."

"With the PS3, you can have next generation game experiences that could previously not be experienced — things like next generation graphics and various services via the network. And, as with the PS and PS2, we believe people who like games will, without question, purchase it."

So let us know what you think? Do you think the PS3 is over priced? Will you get one at launch or will you wait until the price has gone down alot?

Mike Street is a pop culture critic and owner of http://www.GreasyGuide.com This site is read daily by thousands of people and has been featured in various publications. He is also Executive Editor for http://www.ResidentGamer.com

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