back to article Sony US yanks 20GB PlayStation 3

It's official: Sony has canned the 20GB PlayStation 3, a version of the console never seen in the UK, Europe and PAL territories, but released in the US and Japan. Sony PlayStation 3 The 20GB model's status in Sony's home nation remains uncertain, but in North America, we can say it's history. "Due to the overwhelming …

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  1. Matt

    didn't learn anything from "core" then

    the 20gb version was never going to sell, much like the xbox 360 core version which appeared in gamestation windows on the same day as the 360s release as people went "lol I don't want this shizz."

    "budget" versions were an absolute waste of components that could of gone into the European market months ago, but heyho we Europeans get stuff late and get overcharged for the privillage.

  2. Albert

    Sounds sensible to me

    The PS3 is the highest spec highest priced console and if you want the best then why compromise with the 20GB version. Personally I think the lack of built in wifi and card readers is a bigger negative than the small hard drive because it can be upgraded.

    On the constant commenting that price is a barrier in the UK. Some people will buy at £425, others will be happy with £300 and more still will waiting until it is less than £200. That’s just the way it is. I’m in that £200-£300 range depending on games and Blu ray performance.

    My expectation (hope) is that with the next generation of games, increased availability of Blu ray movies and a price drop I can justify a PS3 and a HDTV to SWMBO

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Data massage!

    "...Due to the overwhelming demand for the 60GB model from both retailers and consumers..."

    Translation from Malarketingese to English:

    "By only offering the 60GB model to our retailers and consumers ..."

    Sony has egg on their face, selling a ... no ramming it down consumer's thoats ... device that promises more than it can ever do, at an insane price, in a market that has neither need nor desire for it.

    Specs mean nothing. It's how you use the hardware available to you, not the numbers it says on the box, that counts.

    Remember, for the price of a PS3 you can get both a Wii AND an XBox360 - or a decent PC that will be useful long after your precious PS3, with its wondrous backwards combatability, its outdated feature set, its insistence on 1080p games when the majority of HDTV sets don't yet suppor it, its insane price point, its failed opticval drive system ("Best rated Blu-Ray disc - Black Hawk Down!" - now THAT'S an endorsement - really. Oh, and ask the good fols at Bethesda how they liked having to write every piece of data TWICE on the disc because it reads so excruciatingly slow .... so much for a capacity advantage!)

    Disclaimer: I hate all consoles and won't buy any of them - not the PS3, not the Wii, not the Xbox360, not Windows Vista.

  4. Lol Whibley

    re: data message

    Disclaimer: I hate all consoles and won't buy any of them - not the PS3, not the Wii, not the Xbox360, not Windows Vista.

    sooo much negativity.

    tell us what you like instead.

  5. Gavin Morgan

    Actually not that expensive

    Actually, for an xbox 360 owner to get the same kind of hardware that's bundled with a PS3, the cost of a PS3 is actually lower.

    For instance, a PS3 in UK is £425. With that you get console, blu-ray, wi-fi, rechargeable wireless controller, and (for now at least) free online gaming.

    For an xbox 360 owner to get the same you need:

    1. Console - £280

    2. Wireless Adapter - £60

    3. Play & Charge Kit - £16

    4. Xbox Live Subscription - £40

    5. HD-DVD Drive - £120

    Total - £516

    Not such a bad deal after all then...........

  6. Dean Burrows

    Sony should listen more to the customers!!!!

    Sony have waffled on for months and months with rubbish explanations for the delay of their 'next-gen' console with assorted blamings of production lines, chip problems and 'intergration issues with the Blu-Ray technology', leaving many gamers frustrated and many Sony-critics cackling and rubbing their hands with glee but more importantly leaving Microsoft and Nintendo laughing all the way to the bank as they cashed in on superb sales of the 360 and Wii...

    Then we finally get the PS3 launched in the UK... with comical results as stores advertising pre-ordering not actually selling all of the consoles Sony provide them with as they price the console 200 quid over the price of it's rival consoles!!!

    They claim that this is because the Blu-Ray technology is so expensive... (BTW could anyone tell me where to find the survey they did that says we wanted BD???)

    And now someone with some modicum of common sense suggests the budget console but then makes himself look an idiot when they make it with reduced functionality...

    They done right pulling this version of the 'budget console'... they should now re-release it with exactly the same functionality as the 60GB PS3, but slap the HDD down to 10/15/20 GB and optional Blu-Ray... they could easily then sell that for £220???

    I know I would buy that at least...

    Meanwhile I will content myself playing my idiotic friends PS3... He did, after all, pay through the nose for his and now sits about whining cos he doesn't have another 50 quid to go buy a new game as he has completed Resistance...

    Idiot...

  7. kain preacher

    BTW could anyone tell me where to find the survey they did that says we wanted BD???

    lol hah.

    blue ray was added so that Sony could say look more people have blue ray players than HD DVD players. Now they are hoping all of those magical PS3 owners will go out and buy blue ray disc movies creating a demand. It aint happen folks.

  8. Kevin Peacock

    What about choice?

    You are not quite comparing like with like Gavin.

    For £280, you would get at least one bundled game with your console, probably more if you shop around.

    Wireless adapter - not required if you have a physical cable connection or an existing wireless bridge.

    Play & Charge Kit - again not required. You can use normal or rechargeable AA's, you don't HAVE to use a play and charge kit.

    Xbox Live for £40? Better deals are available if you shop around. It would also be churlish to point out that the PS3 equivalent is far inferior, but I've no problem with being churlish. The PS3 equivalent is far inferior to Xbox Live.

    But of course the biggest difference is £120 for the HD-DVD. This is all about choice. If you WANT to play HD-DVDs, then this is a cheap option. You are not FORCED to pay for it.

    It is amusing to see someone defending the cost of the PS3. Sales would seem to show that most do not see it as value for money.

  9. Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware (Written by Reg staff)

    Re. BTW... the survey they did that says we wanted BD???

    Sorry, Kain, but BDs are outselling HD DVDs in the US, or were as of 18 March, which is the last set of stats I've seen.

    Nielsen Videoscan numbers put the number of pre-recorded BDs sold this year to 18 March at 549,730. The equivalent figure for HD DVD is 249,451 - fewer than half the Blu-ray number.

    Total sales of discs to date is BD: 844,000, HD DVD: 708,600.

    Unless there has been some major HD DVD sales since then, I can't see the BD vs HD DVD content ratio shifting in HD DVD's favour.

    Mind you, both figures were undoubtedly microscopic compared to DVD sales...

  10. Gavin Morgan

    Re; What about choice

    What I am doing, is stating that if you want to mould the Xbox 360 into the same kind of hardware available by spending money on a PS3, then it'll cost you more.

    Of course you don't have to buy those add ons, but to get a console of similar capability, then you pay extra.

    That being the case, you get what you pay for and the 360, when having these 'add-ons' doesn't seem quite the 'easy choice' its made out to be.

    I'm not defending the pricing, merely pointing out the differences and what you'd have to spend to get something similar from Microsoft.........

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    BD Sales fiasco.

    To the poster who claims BD is outselling HD DVD, you do realise the Blu-ray association include titles bundled with PS3 in the US, so to prove BD is outselling, (notice the word SELLING) a movie that it is GIVING away for free with 500,000 PS3 consoles these are somehow classed as sales.

    People are not actively going out and buying those disks so how is that proof of demand.

    PSP UMD sales are superior to Video CD sales in the US & UK but no one will say UMD is new standard and Video CD is the looser. Neither is a contender for world domination.

    Remember 50% increase on 1 sale is 2 sales, whenever percentages are used then you know sales are not strong, whenever freebies are counted as sales again sales are not strong.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No it isn't.

    "Remember 50% increase on 1 sale is 2 sales" ?

    No it isn't.

    A 50% increase on 1 sale would be 1.5 sales.

    A 100% increase on 1 sale is 2 sales.

    A 50% decrease on 2 sales would be 1 sale.

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