Sony to launch PS3 at $499

[Reverend]

Sony Corp said on Monday it would begin selling its PlayStation 3 video game console in November for $499 in North America, challenging Microsoft Corp.'s early dominance in the market for next-generation machines.

Sony won the previous generation battle as its PS2 outsold the original Xbox, but Microsoft is expected to capitalize on a head start to at least gain ground this time with its Xbox 360 console in a global gaming industry expected to generate about $30 billion in revenue this year.

Sony's standard PS3 will have a 20-gigabyte hard drive and debut on November 11 in Japan and November 17 in most of the rest of the world. The unit will retail for 59,800 yen ($536) in Japan and 499 euros ($634) in Europe.

The Japanese electronics giant also showed off a motion-sensitive wireless controller, a feature similar to the controllers being offered by Nintendo Co. Ltd. in its upcoming Wii game machine.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said the price was competitive and the controller would be reason enough for many gamers to wait for the PS3 rather than buy Microsoft's Xbox 360, which was launched late last year.

Full story: Yahoo News

[PIPER]

Your quick Rev....was going to post that just now.....lol...did in fact, but in the wrong spot......a tad pricey as far as I am concerned..

[bhxtyrant]

Thats what i said as Well Piper,I was planning to get a PS3 as my first next gen system and i was expecting it to be higher priced then PS2 and xbox were when they first were released obviously but a $200 increase is a pretty big climb especially when we have yet to see hardly any real info on the machine as far as games are concerned.I heard they will also release a version for $599 as well with the difference being a larger hard drive.Prices on game consoles is really shooting sky high in this new generation of gaming.

[Big Booger]

Screw that... I'd rather have a computer

[rik]

[cash_site]

dont forget that this is the first sector of the product cycle... and its a 10yr one .... so, hold your early-adoption papers, and wait til after Xmas

[Linedawg]

Screw that... I'd rather have a computer

I agree, I don’t need a $499 gaming console when I have a computer. I think Sony is really going to shoot them self’s in the foot on this project.

[Punch]

A high release price and a few unsubstantiated rumours about the PS3 hardware being much slower than expected are leaving a lot of people sceptical about Sony's new machine.

Hopefully they'll be able to overcome the negative hype and release a quality console able to at least be a competitor with the other machines. We need the competitive diversity to inspire creativity, it would be terrible if just one console and company controlled the entire market.

[bionicblond]

If they are going to charge soo much, why can't they just make it a computer as well as a gaming system. Is it possible to mod it into such and is that why they are charging so high for it? I mean like 20gb that is more memory than my current hd. I am upset because I am a die hard PS person. I think I will listen to cash see if price goes down and see what new games are being offered on it. I get one of those gaming mags so if I see anything of interest I will post it here.