SCEA’s Dille on PS3 price cut and backwards compatiblity
After playing guessing games with video game consumers, Sony Computer Entertainment America finally confirmed that the 40GB PlayStation 3 model will be made available in the region as well. It will ship on November 2 and will cost US$ 399.99. Aside from losing some features, the said SKU will also sport no backwards compatibility.
In a recent interview, SCEA Senior VP for Marketing and PlayStation Network Peter Dille said that they planned all along that the 40GB PS3 model will come to the States close to the price reduction schedule of the 80GB PS3 models to give consumers more choices.
The said PS3 price reduction involves a US$ 100 price cut. When pressed about the issue of backwards compatibility, Dille answered:
Again, we know from our research that backwards compatibility is more important to some people than others. In practice, once you get the PS3 home, the ability to play games in high-definition is more what they are interested in than their back catalog of PS2 games.
The backwards compatibility feature has been disabled by removing the graphics synthesizer chip in the PS3 that in turn, made it possible to lower the units’ cost. Another option that Sony could have taken is the elimination of the PS3’s WiFi feature. Peter Dille shared some light on why they didn’t choose to take this path:
We’ll be rolling out more and more features that take advantage of the connectivity between the PSP and the PS3, and Wi-Fi is really essential to that experience. We’ve got some cool things you can do today with Wi-Fi, but there are also a lot more on the horizon that will help people understand why we left Wi-Fi in.
Via GamesIndustry
After playing guessing games with video game consumers, Sony Computer Entertainment America finally confirmed that the 40GB PlayStation 3 model will be made available in the region as well. It will ship on November 2 and will cost US$ 399.99. Aside from losing some features, the said SKU will also sport no backwards compatibility.
In a recent interview, SCEA Senior VP for Marketing and PlayStation Network Peter Dille said that they planned all along that the 40GB PS3 model will come to the States close to the price reduction schedule of the 80GB PS3 models to give consumers more choices.
The said PS3 price reduction involves a US$ 100 price cut. When pressed about the issue of backwards compatibility, Dille answered:
Again, we know from our research that backwards compatibility is more important to some people than others. In practice, once you get the PS3 home, the ability to play games in high-definition is more what they are interested in than their back catalog of PS2 games.
The backwards compatibility feature has been disabled by removing the graphics synthesizer chip in the PS3 that in turn, made it possible to lower the units’ cost. Another option that Sony could have taken is the elimination of the PS3’s WiFi feature. Peter Dille shared some light on why they didn’t choose to take this path:
We’ll be rolling out more and more features that take advantage of the connectivity between the PSP and the PS3, and Wi-Fi is really essential to that experience. We’ve got some cool things you can do today with Wi-Fi, but there are also a lot more on the horizon that will help people understand why we left Wi-Fi in.
Via GamesIndustry
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