Price cut and new PS3 model for Japan

Mike Bantick
Wednesday, 10 October 2007 04:04

Your IT - Entertainment

Sony keep rolling out the regional changes to the PlayStation 3 configuration.  This time it is Japan seeing a price cut and the introduction of a new PS3 model.

The new 40GB HDD PS3 will hit the Japanese gaming market in November.

This is the same 40GB model , without PS2 backwards compatibility and cut down multimedia options, that will launch in PAL regions today.  In Japan the new model will retail for around US$340.

In the Japanese market, consumers will still have the current range of PS3 models to choose from, now at new holiday season prices as well.

The 20GB PS3 will this week cost around US$385 a cut of about 10 percent.  Meanwhile the top of the range 60GB model will have its cost reduced from around US$510 to US$470 per unit.

Sony will also through in a Blu-Ray version of Spider-Man 3 with the first 200,000 customers purchasing any PS3 SKU.

This contrasts with Microsoft’s recent rebundling of the Xbox 360 with two games (Forza Motorsport 2 and Marvel: Ultimate alliance).  Offering the Blu-Ray movie as a bundle with the PS3 continues the theme of Sony’s push of the console as a broad living room entertainment system, rather than a pure games machine.