Sony delivered price cuts for the beleaguered PS3 in Europe and Japan this week, taking 10% off the price in Japan, and dropping the price in Europe of the new 40 GB version to €400 ($568) and the previous top of the range 60GB version to €500 ($710) ‘ both substantially more expensive than they are in the US or Japan.
Sony promises 65 titles available across all genres by Christmas, and the new 40GB version will include the recent firmware update which lets the PS3 to upscale DVD’s to full 1080P High Definition.
The idea is to make the device cheaper for Sony to make, but without denting its capabilities too much, if at all. It has two USB ports instead of four, and no longer includes the multi memory card port.
The controversial point is that Sony is selling as a feature, the biggest drawback, because this new model can’t play older PS2 games, claiming the most recent purchasers of the PS3 didn’t rate this feature highly, while a number of games sites have crucified Sony for this move, and it has lost it thousands of fans.