Sony Announces Redesigned PlayStation 3

[Timothy Chang]

Sony Announces Redesigned PlayStation 3

The new PlayStation 3 refresh loses a few inches and pounds.

The seventh and current generation of consoles has been around since 2005. Nintendo is ready to move on, with the Wii U set to launch at the end of this year, but Sony has other intentions: the company has announced the release of a new PlayStation 3 at this year's Tokyo Game Show.

The console refresh will be 20% smaller and 25% lighter than its predecessor, and it will come in two flavors: Charcoal Black and Classic White.

North America will get a 250GB version on September 25th for $269.99, with a "limited edition" bundle that includes a copy of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception and a $30 credit voucher for use in Dust 514. For those that are willing to wait, a 500GB version is available from October 30th for $299.99. This will also be a "limited edition" bundle, coming with a copy of Assassin's Creed 3.

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PAL territories will receive a 500GB model too, but they won't get a 250GB version; instead, they'll receive a PS3 with 12GB flash memory and no hard drive. Users can upgrade this version with a hard drive if they wish, but the 12GB of memory will not be accessible afterwards if they choose to do so.

What say you, Escapists? Worth the money, or wait for next gen?


Source: GameSpot AU [http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/9/19/3355798/sony-announces-new-playstation-3-console]

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[Soxafloppin]

Looks pretty, definitely. But my Slim still works fine.

Guess its good for people who haven't got one yet.

 

[FlipC]

Out of interest how can it be "Classic" white when the default colour scheme is black?

 

[llubtoille]

I remember they did the same thing with the PSOne,
ie - releasing a compact version towards the end of its life.
did they do it for the PS2?

 

[Rainforce]

Current "Generation", Previous "Generation", Next "Generation";

Thank you so much for keeping DirectX 9 around for 10 fucking years and counting.

uhm... Direct X is a Microsoft product. I don't think the PS3 has that.
It rather has OpenGL or something.
EDIT: googled a bit, I was right

 

[Gizmo1990]

I remember they did the same thing with the PSOne,
ie - releasing a compact version towards the end of its life.
did they do it for the PS2?

Yes it was called the PS2 slim.

Not that I needed one. I still have the original fat arse one and it is still going strong. To put it into context since I got it 10-11 years ago I have had 3 PC, sent my PS3 into be repaied and had 1 360 blow up (smoke went everywhere, scared the crap out of my dog).

OT: Did anyone ask for or need this? Also let me be the one to ask the most important question. Have you included the safty switch at the back again? Removing it from the last models was a crime againt humanity!

 

[Vault Citizen]

It would be if it had were capable of playing Ps2 games.

 

[Vivi22]

Wait, they want to sell PAL territories a version with 12GB of flash memory and no hard drive? And they won't even have access to that flash when they inevitably upgrade it with a hard drive because you can't do much with 12GB of flash on a PS3?

Why not just sell them the console with no controller and tell people they can upgrade it to include a controller if they want down the road. A PS3 with no hard drive loses a ton of functionality.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

Guess its good for people who haven't got one yet.

From my point of view, not really. During the current generation, I've mostly moved away from consoles and to the PC (except for my Wii, at least until it broke), and the main reason I haven't grabbed a PS3 to play the handful of exclusives on it that I've wanted to over the years is that I just can't justify spending that much money on it when I have so many cheap PC games already. If they came out with a new model that were closer to $100-150, then we'd finally be getting somewhere. Almost $300, plus I have to buy games on top of that? WTF? I guess I'll just have to keep missing out on the half dozen games I was interested in for the time being.

 

[JdaS]

Flamin' Christ nuggets... That horrendous piece of shit I thought and claimed to be a homebrew concoction by Brazilian jenkem huffers is actually a legitimate Sony product. I don't even...

Guess that means I have to get a new Slim before this hunk of re-used parts and plastic hits the stores...

 

[GenGenners]

Wait, they want to sell PAL territories a version with 12GB of flash memory and no hard drive? And they won't even have access to that flash when they inevitably upgrade it with a hard drive because you can't do much with 12GB of flash on a PS3?

Why not just sell them the console with no controller and tell people they can upgrade it to include a controller if they want down the road. A PS3 with no hard drive loses a ton of functionality.

My thoughts too. Seems like a waste.

 

[Macgyvercas]

My 60GB model still works. And is backwards compatable to boot. Why should I buy another one?

 

[Louis Martin]

Who is this aimed at, specifically? I don't see why less weight is a selling point as it's not a portable and all I hear when they say 'X% smaller' is 'less ventilation so it overheats quicker!'. What about an upgrade that plays PS2 discs and has an external power supply? Way to give the people what they want, Sony.

 

[Jhooud]

My 60GB model still works. And is backwards compatable to boot. Why should I buy another one?

My exact situation! The only reason I'd buy another PS3 at this point in the life cycle would be if old reliable finally gave up the ghost. It's running great, has plenty of room on the hard drive, and plays all my old PS/PS2 games.

 

[VanQ]

This was by far the least exciting of Sony's anouncements so far with the exception of that stupid music service they announced since everyone else is doing it.
What about the 30 PS3 and 27 Vita titles they announced? They also bumped the JP PSN PS1 classics range up to over 600 games and I'm sure SCEE and SCEA will follow.
Of the new games, God Eater 2 looked amazing, as well as a few other really interesting new IPs. I'm also pretty sure I saw a 3D Parrapa game in one of those montages and it didn't look like it was from All-Stars.

 

[Legion]

If the Playstation 3 was a mobile console then perhaps making it lighter would be a good sales pitch, but seeing as they are hardly heavy as they are, and are meant to be stationary, it's not really exciting news.

As for them being slimmer, again, it's not that much of a big deal, I do not imagine most people would struggle to fit a PS3 in their homes as they are, not in such a way that it being slightly slimmer would make a drastic difference.

The only people who would benefit from this would be new customers, but to be honest they could get a decent sized PS3 for cheaper anyway, so again, it's not that great.

 

[cerebus23]

It would be if it had were capable of playing Ps2 games.

Not with pcsx working with so many games and able to run stuff at higher resolution than the ps3 could. Just wish i had not gotten rid of so many of my old ps2 games .

 

[Soxafloppin]

Guess its good for people who haven't got one yet.

From my point of view, not really. During the current generation, I've mostly moved away from consoles and to the PC (except for my Wii, at least until it broke), and the main reason I haven't grabbed a PS3 to play the handful of exclusives on it that I've wanted to over the years is that I just can't justify spending that much money on it when I have so many cheap PC games already. If they came out with a new model that were closer to $100-150, then we'd finally be getting somewhere. Almost $300, plus I have to buy games on top of that? WTF? I guess I'll just have to keep missing out on the half dozen games I was interested in for the time being.

Yea, but you got to remember that PC gaming barely exists to the general populace (people outside of "Gaming culture"). I mean honestly a lot of people don't even realise you can play games on P.C.

Thats not me being Anti-P.C I've been meaning to get into it for a while but haven't made the effort.

 

[Eternal_Lament]

It certainly doesn't make a whole lot of sense, especially this late into the cycle. My guess is that Sony is treating this like the PS2, where even after a new console came out they were still giving it attention and releasing games for it. But still, it worked for the PS2 because a) the price point was both cheaper than current consoles and cheaper than the previous generation in which it exited, and b) the system was still somewhat developer friendly enough that such a thing seemed reasonable to do. $300 bucks just seems real off for those intentions. Plus, even though I mostly play with my PS3, it's kind of obvious that it isn't the system that most people are excited to develop for, so I'm not sure if it will have that lasting effect even in the new generation, except maybe first-party titles.

The 12 GB flash version makes absolutely no god damn sense. Core units in general with any system have always seemed to me to try to reel in unfamiliar gamers so as to wring more money out of them, but why are the PAL regions only affected by this? Why can't they also get the 250 GB version that we in North America are getting? Maybe it's some sort of SCEE thing, but either way it seems really stupid to do it like this.

At this point it's unclear as to what news like this actually means. Perhaps Sony isn't actually ready to release a new console until 2015-2016, in which case I guess this model makes more sense, but I'm confused as to who this is for. The memory on mine is quickly being taken up, but it's not hard to simply transfer files off the thing if necessary. I doubt that at this point THIS is the system that gets the undecided on Sony's side. I guess the release and price point also show the possibility that Sony isn't actually afraid of Nintendo's WiiU if they think putting the console at roughly a similar price is a good idea. Not definite, but a possibility

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Does it play PS2 games? I still have a working PS2-slim so that won't effect my personal buying decision but it would make me look more kindly on the little thing. I've already got the slimmer PS3 model and the last few times I've used it for gaming was to see which of my PSX game discs it was capable of playing.