Sony’s PS3 has, hands-down, the best hardware among consoles currently on the market. The Blu-Ray player alone sets it in a category all its own. Unfortunately for Sony, it also left them in a price range all to themselves. Two years after the the PS3′s release, it still lags a far third behind both the Wii and the 360, a position everyone but Sony seems to have predicted from the onset.
The facts are simple. Most console gamers just want to play console games, not watch Blu-Ray movies. Selling me a $399 device to do both doesn’t exactly whet my appetite when I can get a comparatively competitive console that doesn’t play Blu-Ray (XBox 360) for much less.
With the worldwide economy the mess it currently is, experts are predicting that Sony will slash the 80 GB PS3′s price by a cool $100. In fact, they seem certain with their speculation, which is said to be based on recent channel checks. According to an analyst from Wedbush Morgan, the prospects look dim for the Japanese company otherwise – sluggish sales are almost sure to continue.
At the rate the PS3 is selling (or not selling, as the case may be), it’s not unlikely that we’ll see development companies pull out of the platform sooner rather than later. In all honesty, the price slash prediction actually makes sense if Sony wants to keep the PS3 alive. However, it is worth nothing that Sony is already making squat off the hardware at its current price point (a Blu-Ray cum next-gen console should really be selling for much more).
For $299, an 80 GB PS3 does look mighty tempting and may just be the deciding factor for a lot more people to invest in one. As someone wholly disinterested in getting a Blu-Ray player, though, I have enough games to keep me busy with an Xbox 360 and a Wii. I actually still have my old trusty PS2, which continues to see a flood of new game releases every week to this day. What about you, will a $100 markdown compel you to finally get a PS3?
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