Warp2Search.net » News » March 2007 » Sony reportedly to cut PS3 cost with cheaper chips

Sony plans to lower the production cost of its PlayStation 3 game consoles by using less expensive chips, aiming to turn the operations profitable between September and next March, the Nikkei business daily reported Friday.
Starting with the European version of the PS3 that is set to debut on March 23, the paper said Sony plans to use a chip that can handle only the graphics of predecessor PlayStation 2 instead of the current chips that can handle both the computing and graphics functions for the PS2.
Sony's game unit, Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), will distribute compatibility software on the Internet so that users can play PS2 games on the PS3, it said. Cnet has more.

Esthero Unregistered

#66119 Posted on: 03/09/2007 04:55 PM Europeans getting f*cked from all sides..

shlepp420 Unregistered

#66123 Posted on: 03/09/2007 05:35 PM i don't recall microsoft release a dumbed down 360 in europe. This just makes sony look that much worse. At least M$ can afford to loose money on its console, without needing to put cheaper parts in it, like sony is doing.

Domingo Unregistered

#66125 Posted on: 03/09/2007 06:54 PM MS released a "dumbed down" 360 using software backwards compatibility world-wide. It sucks that Europeans have to pay more, but it's not like MS is the good guy that everyone has made them out to be. There are still hundreds of Xbox titles that don't work on the 360 at all. I own all 3 consoles, so I don't really care about any of this...but it's getting old to see MS and Nintendo getting nothing but praise, but when Sony does ANYTHING, it gets overblown into somehow screwing everyone.

TSThomas Junior Member Posts: 2 Joined: 2003-05-10

#66126 Posted on: 03/09/2007 08:03 PM So what you're saying is that Microsoft was globally consistent in their hardware offering whereas Sony are, within months of being first launched!, offering a reduced functionality console for the EU release & will be rolling out reduced functionality consoles across the board in the future... I think most people would consider this quite incompetent behaviour. Ironically Microsoft will be releasing an updated Xbox360 with improved functionality - competition for the newly reduced functionality PS3!!

Domingo Unregistered

#66127 Posted on: 03/09/2007 09:06 PM MS has supposedly been "going to release a new and improved Xbox360 very soon" dating back to last spring. They're still denying this and have been for over a year. If you're going to make comparisons to something that doesn't exist and has been denied, you might as well factor in that technically the PS3's software compatibility allows them to upscale old games to 720p, while the hardware-based US PS3 will only play them in their native 480i/480p. There's no hardware scaler in the PS3, but it can scale in software. It reduces the compatibility list, but Europeans could be playing FF10 and FF12 in 720p. It's all about how you want to spin it.

Juomaru Senior Member Posts: 115 Joined: 2002-03-29

#66128 Posted on: 03/10/2007 02:49 AM If that region isn't very profitable to do business in, of course, they are gonna scale back. I don't like them not putting in the EE or GS (forgot which one) into the PS3. But had people willing to pay the price, they wouldn't have to do it in the first place.

Juomaru Senior Member Posts: 115 Joined: 2002-03-29

#66129 Posted on: 03/10/2007 02:51 AM I agree with Domingo. Remember Microsoft is still selling the Xbox360 version without a hard drive ... when the original xbox comes with a hard drive all the time.

TSThomas Junior Member Posts: 2 Joined: 2003-05-10

#66130 Posted on: 03/10/2007 11:55 AM My point is, this will be how most people *perceive* it. As I said, Microsoft were consistent regardless of whatever deficiencies existed (no hard drive, software compatibility as you state).

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