| Sony Removes Functionality from the PS3 to Reduce Cost |
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- At E3 this year, Sony announced that the new PS3 would be the “Heart of household entertainment centers.”
- The PS3 is supposed to be an all-in-one unit for games, movies, and audio.
- It was also supposed to have 3 Ethernet ports which will allow the system to work like a broadband router.
- Since the PS3 wowed everyone at E3, rumors of it being one of the most expensive consoles of all time have run rampant.
- Industry analysts have had a field day trying to guess what the price of the unit might be.
- Sony has already shown concern with what the cost will be when Ken Kutaragi said that they wanted “…consumers to think to themselves: 'I will work more hours to buy one.' We want people to feel that they want it, irrespective of anything else.”
- A few weeks ago, it was announced the PS3 would indeed NOT ship with a hard drive, noting that an 80 Gig removable hard drive will probably be available as an add-on soon after launch.
- This sounds familiar to the promises of the great PS2 hard drive which is now virtually only used to play Final Fantasy XI.
- Also, if a system doesn’t ship with a hard drive, then it will be nearly impossible for game developers to depend on using it for any practical purposes.
- Now, Mr. Kutaragi has told Nikkei Electronics that all router capabilities for the PS3 have been removed in order to make the unit more cost effective.
- However, the 3 Ethernet ports would probably remain for future uses.
- So now the question remains: Will Sony be able to deliver on its promises?
- How many of the other features will be removed so that consumers might actually be able to afford the machine?
- Perhaps next they’ll announce that controllers will be sold separately.
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