Happy holidays (pt. 2): 80GB PS3 unit for US$ 499, 40GB for 399 confirmed?

Remember just last week when Michael Pachter made a prediction that the 80GB PS3 would go for as low as US$ 499 this Christmas? Well, it's either a) he's a very good forecaster, b) Sony listened to his theories, or c) he just got lucky. Lucky as he might have gotten or otherwise, if this rumor proves true, then we ourselves get lucky too!

A reliable source (with a good track record too) close to Ars Technica has just revealed of Sony's listing of console prices this holiday season. According to their insider, we get the following:

• 80GB PS3 for US$ 499
• 40GB PS3 for US$ 399
• 80GB/40GB PS3 bundled with a Spider-man 3 Blu-ray
• PS2 for US$ 99

Whoa nelly. The first figure cuts too close (actually, it fits exactly) with Pachter's prediction: US$ 499 for a 80GB unit. But what a lot of you might be eying right now is that 40GB for 400 bucks. If that's not a bargain, then we don't know what is. The existence of this "low-end" 40GB unit was talked about previously, so this could just be it - and back then, it was already predicted to cost US$ 399. That PS2 price cut might also drive sales on its own as well. What about the PSP?

Regardless, it's only September and we've got a long way to go 'til the holiday season hits. And until Sony official makes any announcements, this gets stashed on top of the Rumor pile for now.

Thanks to Jonathan Waters for the tip!

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*Update* We just got whiff from Next-Gen that they've contacted Sony about this certain rumor. As these kinds of rumors go, the response that Sony gave was the regular "It's our policy not to comment on rumors or speculation" staple line. And as always, the only thing we can glean from this is that Sony still hasn't confirmed nor denied the existence of the price cuts and 40GB PS3.

Remember just last week when Michael Pachter made a prediction that the 80GB PS3 would go for as low as US$ 499 this Christmas? Well, it's either a) he's a very good forecaster, b) Sony listened to his theories, or c) he just got lucky. Lucky as he might have gotten or otherwise, if this rumor proves true, then we ourselves get lucky too!

A reliable source (with a good track record too) close to Ars Technica has just revealed of Sony's listing of console prices this holiday season. According to their insider, we get the following:

• 80GB PS3 for US$ 499
• 40GB PS3 for US$ 399
• 80GB/40GB PS3 bundled with a Spider-man 3 Blu-ray
• PS2 for US$ 99

Whoa nelly. The first figure cuts too close (actually, it fits exactly) with Pachter's prediction: US$ 499 for a 80GB unit. But what a lot of you might be eying right now is that 40GB for 400 bucks. If that's not a bargain, then we don't know what is. The existence of this "low-end" 40GB unit was talked about previously, so this could just be it - and back then, it was already predicted to cost US$ 399. That PS2 price cut might also drive sales on its own as well. What about the PSP?

Regardless, it's only September and we've got a long way to go 'til the holiday season hits. And until Sony official makes any announcements, this gets stashed on top of the Rumor pile for now.

Thanks to Jonathan Waters for the tip!

---

*Update* We just got whiff from Next-Gen that they've contacted Sony about this certain rumor. As these kinds of rumors go, the response that Sony gave was the regular "It's our policy not to comment on rumors or speculation" staple line. And as always, the only thing we can glean from this is that Sony still hasn't confirmed nor denied the existence of the price cuts and 40GB PS3.