Sony: Refuses To Comment On PlayStation 3 Lite
..mainly because PS3 Lite is nonsense.
Sony is refusing to confirm or deny rumours rumbling around the gaming community that a cut-down, cut-priced PlayStation 3 is going to hit the market.
In an emailed response to SPOnG today about a mooted £299, 40Gb, USB-free PS3 'Lite' that some reports stated has been confirmed by 'insider sources'- a Sony representative said, "I'm afraid we don't comment on rumour and speculation."
The freshest lease on life for this rumour kicked off with Sky News picking up on the fact that FoxConn (a trading name of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd) is supplying PS3s. Remember SPOnG reported the Han Hai news back on September 14th.
Sky suggests that to enable a price cut to $399 (£200) Sony would drop what Sky calls "minor features" such as USB ports and backwards compatibility. It further suggests that, "It's unlikely the UK would see a model that cheap - but a £300 price point pitching it up against the Xbox 360 Elite is not out of the question."
The rumour mirrors speculation springing from technology blog Ars Technica a while ago along the same lines.
SPOnG, quite frankly, is dubious. Firstly, the "minor feature" of the USB ports are used to power and sync the Sixaxis controllers. Sony could spend time, effort and money developing a second kind of controller to enable it to produce a 'cheaper console', switching to removable batteries and adding infra-red or Blue Tooth sensors for syncing, but why bother?
This could alienate third-party peripheral manufacturers (and its in-house peripheral developers) who would be forced to make two sets of controllers for everything - one for the top-end PS3s and one for the budget option.
Secondly, with backwards compatibility being provided by network updates rather than the Emotion Engine (in Europe and in the 80GB PS3 elsewhere) Sony would not benefit at the point of manufacture. In fact, it would probably take more effort to remove backwards compatibility than it would to include it.
Thirdly, 20GB of hard disk space is, according to Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president David Reeves, "just Euro cents; it's nothing, because the cost of memory is so small.”
In a nutshell, then, all of the mentioned modifications that will supposedly save Sony money to the point of being able to cut the PS3's price by £100 will either cost Sony money at the development stage (new controllers) or save it a pittance (removal of USB ports).
Strange that no mention of "killing Blu-ray" has occurred in any of the 'analysis'... after all, why not? A USB-free, brand new controller, incompatible machine is one thing shouldn't have the most expensive piece of kit onboard either.
So, unless Sony is committed enough to that lower price point and the market that could, maybe come with it to put itself seriously out of pocket, a £125 (£126) cheaper, brand-diluting, PS3 'Lite' looks unlikely.
In an emailed response to SPOnG today about a mooted £299, 40Gb, USB-free PS3 'Lite' that some reports stated has been confirmed by 'insider sources'- a Sony representative said, "I'm afraid we don't comment on rumour and speculation."
The freshest lease on life for this rumour kicked off with Sky News picking up on the fact that FoxConn (a trading name of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd) is supplying PS3s. Remember SPOnG reported the Han Hai news back on September 14th.
Sky suggests that to enable a price cut to $399 (£200) Sony would drop what Sky calls "minor features" such as USB ports and backwards compatibility. It further suggests that, "It's unlikely the UK would see a model that cheap - but a £300 price point pitching it up against the Xbox 360 Elite is not out of the question."
The rumour mirrors speculation springing from technology blog Ars Technica a while ago along the same lines.
SPOnG, quite frankly, is dubious. Firstly, the "minor feature" of the USB ports are used to power and sync the Sixaxis controllers. Sony could spend time, effort and money developing a second kind of controller to enable it to produce a 'cheaper console', switching to removable batteries and adding infra-red or Blue Tooth sensors for syncing, but why bother?
This could alienate third-party peripheral manufacturers (and its in-house peripheral developers) who would be forced to make two sets of controllers for everything - one for the top-end PS3s and one for the budget option.
Secondly, with backwards compatibility being provided by network updates rather than the Emotion Engine (in Europe and in the 80GB PS3 elsewhere) Sony would not benefit at the point of manufacture. In fact, it would probably take more effort to remove backwards compatibility than it would to include it.
Thirdly, 20GB of hard disk space is, according to Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president David Reeves, "just Euro cents; it's nothing, because the cost of memory is so small.”
In a nutshell, then, all of the mentioned modifications that will supposedly save Sony money to the point of being able to cut the PS3's price by £100 will either cost Sony money at the development stage (new controllers) or save it a pittance (removal of USB ports).
Strange that no mention of "killing Blu-ray" has occurred in any of the 'analysis'... after all, why not? A USB-free, brand new controller, incompatible machine is one thing shouldn't have the most expensive piece of kit onboard either.
So, unless Sony is committed enough to that lower price point and the market that could, maybe come with it to put itself seriously out of pocket, a £125 (£126) cheaper, brand-diluting, PS3 'Lite' looks unlikely.
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Comments
Daemon 25 Sep 2007 16:28
1/7
So, I'm thinking what with it being the most unlikely and stupid move Sony could possibly make, they're absolutely guaranteed to.
Kman 25 Sep 2007 16:56
2/7
Any speculation then what the new SKU at the FCC is?
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Bentley 25 Sep 2007 17:11
3/7
Sounds like a right load of old guff to me. Remove backwards compatibility? B******s. No USB ports? Wow, that will save them about a fiver. What a load of rubbish. Sony would be crazy to do this.
Keep the PS3 pricey so the paupers can't get their hands on it, that's what I say.
Keep the PS3 pricey so the paupers can't get their hands on it, that's what I say.
Si 25 Sep 2007 17:44
4/7
RE the Blu-ray bit, seems to me that everyone agrees that having lots of room on a disk is a good thing. Higher quality textures, or bigger games, or more audio, or whatever. It's just the poncing about Sony keep doing that pees people off. And the fact there were 6 months between buying my first ps3 game and my second due to, hmmm, NO releases!!
deleted 25 Sep 2007 18:20
5/7
Sounds complete b******s to me, its one think to have a different SKU`s, but to remove USB, reinvent the controllers to accomodate that etc its just plain stupid, and how would a couple of USB ports save money to the tone of £100?, last time i bought a USB PCI card it cost me £10.00 even if you include sourcing, assembly and shipping involved with those ports its still stupidity, the USB is possibly the cheapeast part of the PS3 connectivity, save say the flashcard ports. and how does backwards compatability cost anything? there is no longer an emotion chip in the units its software based.
Balls, Balls and Bigger Balls of Birmingham
Balls, Balls and Bigger Balls of Birmingham
TimSpong 25 Sep 2007 18:29
6/7
Kman wrote:
Any speculation then what the new SKU at the FCC is?
Good question. We're looking into those documents right now - more news up in a little while. However, as the information is so scant, I'd have to say that from a partial FCC Radio Test report, well... the new parts manufacturer could be using a slightly new motherboard... hence the need for new testing and a new tracking number.
I think any other form of speculation right now is exactly that. In fact I think all forms of it right now are just that - even mine.
We're keeping an eye on it.
Nick 1 Aug 2009 22:45
7/7
But the PS3 is £300 now so this would have to be less right?