Merrill Lynch Japan predicts PS3 will cost $400 at launch

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 5:38 am

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/06/28 ... 28295.html

There's no guarantee that they're right, nor that their production cost guesses are right, of course, but if they are... well, it'll be the most expensive system launch since the Saturn. (The Saturn cost $500 as well when it was first launched in the US, and was only available at select retailers for a while - it went down in price considerably after only a few months.) Could this be yet another chance for Microsoft to steal market share away? Sony might be riding the razor's edge with this one...

If they're right, of course.

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 10:56 am

All these next-gen consoles look even less appealing with every new release, especially for a shmup fan.

I like the retro PCE DUO RX look of the PS-2 though.

SheSaidDutch · Post by **SheSaidDutch** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 1:49 pm

Well I've never bought a system at launch and I'm never planning to either.

I always buy a system after a year or two.

ST Dragon wrote:All these next-gen consoles look even less appealing with every new release, especially for a shmup fan.

I like the retro PCE DUO RX look of the PS-2 though.

The PS3 looks like a George Foreman grill

"It's so good I put my name on it"

marcus12024 · Post by **marcus12024** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 1:50 pm

SheSaidDutch wrote:Well I've never bought a system at launch and I'm never planning to either.

I always buy a system after a year or two.

I'm in the same boat - I've got such a large backlog of games to play, that I could likely hold off on a newer system for a good five years or so.

Plus there's still a lot of sweet games on the horizon for the current generation of systems. I'm in no hurry to upgrade.

SheSaidDutch · Post by **SheSaidDutch** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 1:54 pm

marcus12024 wrote:
SheSaidDutch wrote:Well I've never bought a system at launch and I'm never planning to either.

I always buy a system after a year or two.
I'm in the same boat - I've got such a large backlog of games to play, that I could likely hold off on a newer system for a good five years or so.

Plus there's still a lot of sweet games on the horizon for the current generation of systems. I'm in no hurry to upgrade.

Yeah and to be honest I've only come back into console gaming this part year really, I've finished my PSOne game collection at about 9 titles.

I'm just sifting though the titles I really want to play to be honest.

Even the SNES and MD there'll only be about 20 titles each system.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 5:50 pm

I've actually heard that it'll cost OVER $400.

Considering that it has 2 PC graphics cards which retail for $500 each, that's really not a bad price-although I'm not interested in the thing at all. If it gets any shmups, they'll most likely be Japanese, and the Japanese PS3 will cost even more.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 5:57 pm

SheSaidDutch wrote:Well I've never bought a system at launch and I'm never planning to either.

I always buy a system after a year or two.

ST Dragon wrote:All these next-gen consoles look even less appealing with every new release, especially for a shmup fan.

I like the retro PCE DUO RX look of the PS-2 though.
The PS3 looks like a George Foreman grill

"It's so good I put my name on it"

Never thought of that, it does, doesn't it? Yeah, not buying consoles at launch is a very wise idea, IMO. Unless Sony has finally learned it's lesson, and the first PS3 won't be all bugged up.

I'm sort of interested in the 360, but I just cannot get a straight answer about backwards compatibility on it. Everyone has a different story. The other day, when I was at GameCrazy, the guy there told me that it would be "too expensive" for Microsoft to make all but the top 10 XBOX games compatible with the 360.

And there's no way I'm buying a Revolution-NO import games from Nintendo's past consoles available for download? To heck with that!

I'd rather just buy a NES and an SNES.

Post by **system11** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 7:20 pm

I'll be getting a 360 on release day.

PS3? Will it even still be relevant in 2006? They'll need to put some SERIOUS work into their online offering to make the PS3 worthwhile as a contender in that arena, online the Xbox is a billion miles away from Sony and accelerating fast!

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 9:52 pm

I'm not buying a next-gen machine simply because I can't afford it right now!

I'm at that point where I feel it may be time for me to give up on videogames as far as new stuff is concerned. The magic just doesn't seem to be there anymore for me.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 10:31 pm

I'll be waiting to see the launch titles before comitting to anything. The Xbox Japanese release is the only release in ages that's had a game at launch I was REALLY excited for (Jet Set Radio Future). The rest has had mediocre at best games. Sony's will no doubt feature 10 games that are almost nothing alike, and all "right in the middle".

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 11:05 pm

FatCobra wrote:I'm not buying a next-gen machine simply because I can't afford it right now!

I'm at that point where I feel it may be time for me to give up on videogames as far as new stuff is concerned. The magic just doesn't seem to be there anymore for me.

I hear 'ya, I can't afford one either!

But I'm with you, the magic doesn't seem to be there for me anymore either; new shmups notwithstanding. I have a Dreamcast, and am getting a region-modded Saturn from Matt, and those two consoles have PLENTY of shmups, and other awesome games.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 11:10 pm

Firsy model consoles which are used in the launch usually have problems. PS2's original model is useless, because it can't be modchipped, and it overheats about as much as the new PS2-Slim consoles which don't have any fans.

It's best to wait, even if you do want a next-gen console. There's not a great array of launch titles available anyway. PS2's launch titles weren't very appealing in the first place, so PS3's will probably be the same.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 12:23 am

Saturns MSRP was $400 USD IIRC.

Then it was bumped down to $300 when PS1 launched a while later.

According to Ken Katuragi the PS3 will be more expensive because "he knows" the public want it. He has also put a whole bunch of media capability inside the box which people will end up buying seperate boxes for anyway.

If the games are good, or at least better than 360 people will buy it. Some people will buy it just for exclusivity if its shipped in low numbers even if all the launch games are crap.

SheSaidDutch · Post by **SheSaidDutch** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 12:31 am

I cant see me buying any next-gen consoles, I've recently aqquired a PSTwo and to be honest I'm only going to end up owning about ten titles.

I have a feeling Microsoft will have a good chance of gaining a steady following inthe next generation.

Post by **system11** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 1:23 am

Elixir wrote:Firsy model consoles which are used in the launch usually have problems. PS2's original model is useless, because it can't be modchipped, and it overheats about as much as the new PS2-Slim consoles which don't have any fans.

Useless because it can't be chipped? Someone told me once, that it's possible to -buy- games. It was shocking, and unexpected.

Seriously though - the US and Euro ones were all chippable I thought - which you'd need to run imports. If you bought an initial release JP one, then it'll play imports anyway.

I've never had a problem with initial release PS2s actually, but I've already had one slimline heat up and die. The second seems to be slightly better.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 1:29 am

I have a launch Day PSone from December 1994 that still works almost perfectly with origonal discs.

I have had 2 launch day ps2's, but sold them, never had any problems with either except the memory card fiasco.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 6:38 pm

neorichieb1971 wrote:I have a launch Day PSone from December 1994 that still works almost perfectly with origonal discs.

I have had 2 launch day ps2's, but sold them, never had any problems with either except the memory card fiasco.

That doesn't surprise me at all; the PS1's always seemed to be of a much more durable construction then the tray-PS2's, at least.

Although I do know that the smaller PSone's have much more fragile lids.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 7:33 pm

According to Ken Katuragi the PS3 will be more expensive because "he knows" the public want it

This is what they did w/ the PS2. It was 40,000 yen in Japan... about $100 more expensive than the US launch. There is a bit of truth to what Elixir said... not totally, but you've got more risk in buying a launch console. Every Sony console has launched with a pretty bad defect. A large portion of Japanese Xboxes scratched game discs. I can't think of the others, but it's almost a given that the PS3 will have some shitty problem with it.

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 9:34 pm

To hell with these newfangled CD and DVD based systems that break down all the time!!

Someone please tell me that the NES and SNES also had launch problems.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 12:22 am

Alot of DC games were screwed up for US launch.

Turok was $70 and required a memory card $20+ LMAO.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 1:10 am

Someone please tell me that the NES and SNES also had launch problems. Wink

Well, the NES had possibly the biggest design flaw in console history: The ZIF cartridge slot. They didn't remedy it for a looong time, either.

sethsez · Post by **sethsez** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 1:28 am

FatCobra wrote:Someone please tell me that the NES and SNES also had launch problems.

You ever tried to get a standard front-loading NES to work properly the first time? If I can manage to get the game up and running on my third try, I consider it lucky. This wasn't fixed until we got the top-loader, either, but that was RF only.

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 12:18 am

The Japanese market seems to tolerate high-price product launches better than the US one. A 40,000 yen or so launch price would be completely fine here I think. Not in the US though... I think they'll run into more problems there.