Playstation 3 80 gig officially being considered for U.S and Japanese release

-Sorry if old-

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/finan.../D8PA06OO1.htm

By YURI KAGEYAMA
BW Exclusives

TOKYO

Sony's PlayStation 3 video game console will come with a beefed up 80-gigabyte hard-disk drive in South Korea, and that model is being considered for the U.S. and other markets, a company official said Wednesday.

The PlayStation 3, which competes against Nintendo Co.'s Wii and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360, now comes with a 60-gigabyte hard drive. A 20-gigabyte version, which has been discontinued in the United States, still sells in Japan and some other regions.

"Increasing capacity for models is one of the options," said Satoshi Fukuoka, spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. "We make such decisions depending on the needs of the market, and every country is different."

The 80-gigabyte version will start selling June 16 in South Korea, where online games are enormously popular and broadband connections are more widespread, he said. Broadband can enhance some games, and players can also download features for games from the Internet.

No decision has been made on other markets, although the company is considering selling it in the U.S. and elsewhere, Fukuoka said.

Sony isn't expecting to post a profit in its game business until the fiscal year ending March 2009.

Earlier this month, Sony reported losses for the January-March quarter widened from the same period a year ago to 67.6 billion yen ($555 million) in red ink, largely on PS3 launch costs. But it projects net profit in the current fiscal year to grow to a record 320 billion yen ($2.7 billion).

The machine went on sale in November in Japan and the U.S., and in March in Europe.

Sony shipped 5.5 million PS3 machines in the fiscal year through March 31, fewer than the 6 million the company had targeted. Nintendo shipped 5.84 million Wii machines worldwide during the same period.

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^ To my knowledge the Emotion Engine chips are still in U.S Playstation 3's aren't they?  Well, what if the 80g replaced the 60g and was the way Sony planned on removing the EE and taking away some of the sting...

Can anybody confirm that the Emotion Engine HAS DEFINITIVELY been removed from the U.S. PS3's?

I'm pretty sure the EE was cut to reduce costs, so older games are now being software emulated instead a la Xbox 360. As for the bigger HDD, I don't care. I'm putting in my own 120GB SATA drive.

Hopefully it will just replace the current version and not be sold for more.

Problem with it though is that it lacks the emotion engine so backwards compatibility will suffer. 

omg please dont bring a full fledged Ps3 elite. I cant begin too imagine how much money that would be. If it is true they BETTER bundle some games on it.Solid-CELL

Why not? In US dollars, the 80gig version in Korea is cheaper.

omg please dont bring a full fledged Ps3 elite. I cant begin too imagine how much money that would be. If it is true they BETTER bundle some games on it.Solid-CELL

That's why I said it might be their way of eliminating the 60g SKU and removing the EE without causing an uproar.  People without the EE get 20 extra gigs, while people with the EE get less gigs but better backwards compatibility. 

Hopefully it will just replace the current version and not be sold for more.

Problem with it though is that it lacks the emotion engine so backwards compatibility will suffer. 

cakeorrdeath

Don't you think with the new firmware update that will solve the mystery "lack of emotion engine" issues? I mean it is after all a software emulator. Like Bleem. If there are games that are not compatible, all it will take is some software updates in the future.

Hopefully it will just replace the current version and not be sold for more.

Problem with it though is that it lacks the emotion engine so backwards compatibility will suffer.

cakeorrdeath

Speaking of that... how much is an emotion engine chip? Seriously? How much money does Sony save by skimping on that little piece of silicon? 

Hopefully it will just replace the current version and not be sold for more.

Problem with it though is that it lacks the emotion engine so backwards compatibility will suffer.

cakeorrdeath

That was my thinking.  Its a way of softening the blow, I want a 60g just because of the EE...I won't lie... 

Don't you think with the new firmware update that will solve the mystery "lack of emotion engine" issues? I mean it is after all a software emulator. Like Bleem. If there are games that are not compatible, all it will take is some software updates in the future.

hotdaisy18

Sony don't appear to be putting any more resources into improving the BC via emulation. 

[QUOTE="hotdaisy18"]

Don't you think with the new firmware update that will solve the mystery "lack of emotion engine" issues? I mean it is after all a software emulator. Like Bleem. If there are games that are not compatible, all it will take is some software updates in the future.

cakeorrdeath

Sony don't appear to be putting any more resources into improving the BC via emulation. 

I don't know. At least they're adding the upsaling to the games and dvd's. Finally. I know a lot of people over at the PSU forums have been begging for this feature. I guess this is Sony's way of answering their fans. And don't you remember those pics way back when they were showing off the upscales images of FFXII. You think we're getting the same treatment? If that is the case, I have high big reasons to go back and play my PS2 library of games again.

[QUOTE="Solid-CELL"]omg please dont bring a full fledged Ps3 elite. I cant begin too imagine how much money that would be. If it is true they BETTER bundle some games on it.hotdaisy18

Why not? In US dollars, the 80gig version in Korea is cheaper.

[QUOTE="Solid-CELL"]omg please dont bring a full fledged Ps3 elite. I cant begin too imagine how much money that would be. If it is true they BETTER bundle some games on it.TheSystemLord1

That's why I said it might be their way of eliminating the 60g SKU and removing the EE without causing an uproar. People without the EE get 20 extra gigs, while people with the EE get less gigs but better backwards compatibility.

Needless to say, if a cheaper 80gig is released else where and not here, their would be a hell of an outrage. 

[QUOTE="hotdaisy18"]

Don't you think with the new firmware update that will solve the mystery "lack of emotion engine" issues? I mean it is after all a software emulator. Like Bleem. If there are games that are not compatible, all it will take is some software updates in the future.

cakeorrdeath

Sony don't appear to be putting any more resources into improving the BC via emulation.

Here's a question for you Cake, do you think that Firmware 1.80 will upscale games on systems using the EE chip?  I seem to remember a quote saying that EE systems would never upscale games... 

Here's a question for you Cake, do you think that Firmware 1.80 will upscale games on systems using the EE chip? I seem to remember a quote saying that EE systems would never upscale games...

TheSystemLord1

No idea. But if you read the Joystiq article on the update it doesn't specify how the games are upscaled. If it isn't native upscalling then I think that could be easily done.

[QUOTE="cakeorrdeath"]

Hopefully it will just replace the current version and not be sold for more.

Problem with it though is that it lacks the emotion engine so backwards compatibility will suffer.

hotdaisy18

Don't you think with the new firmware update that will solve the mystery "lack of emotion engine" issues? I mean it is after all a software emulator. Like Bleem. If there are games that are not compatible, all it will take is some software updates in the future.

there is no guarantee that sony would keep putting money into doing so. in fact wasn't there an interview where they practically said they weren't concerned about it and are look to put resources for future projects instead. 

besides the extra 20gb of space(unless you put in your own drive)what else is new?lazzordude

Lack of Emotion Engine for the extra 20 gigs.