ASDA drops 80GB PS3 price to £250 News

1 film and 2 games for 250? bargain

No, I think it should be £227 at most.

Actually, £223.58 + 6 games and 12 BluRay. Otherwise $ony can go fuck 'emselves.

Edit: And they should throw in a 40" Bravia with that, otherwise they are just ripping us off.

Still not cheap enough for me to buy one. I hope the Slims have PS2 compatibility or I will happily wait even longer before I get a PS3.

lol @ Edwin.

Good price when you think about it.

It's not a bad price, considering you're getting a Blu-Ray Drive and a console for £250, never mind the free games.

@ Eraysor

PS2 compatability apparently through firmware...hopefully announced today also. This has to be the last year of the PS2.

Be careful that this price drop isn't just to clear stock before the slims arrive!

@penhalion,

Of course this drop is to clear stock pre-slim.

However, that doesn't mean the slim won't be similarly priced when released. I'm guessing £249 - no bundle.

Just had word at work that Sony will announce a PS3 price cut today. New retail price of £239.99.

If it has PS2 compatibility I'm not sure I can stop myself from buying one.. Would be great to finally get a Blu-Ray player, get rid of my old, fat PS2 (yes, I have the old version) and gain a PS3 in the same purchase.

With my countdown maths I make that 170.05 for the PS3 taking off the extras... now that is a bargain considering the XBOX is actually going up to 159.99.. taking into account all the extras you have to add for the 360 (wireless charger, wireless conector and paying for xbox live) that is pretty atractive deal.

The question is.... wouldn't it be better to buy a slim then?

vanmunt: considering all that, the PS3 has always been an attractive deal...

Surely the PS3 is capable of emulating PS2 architecture with a firmware update...

Would be nice, but the included stuff is rather crap to be honest. The movies are at least. The should pay me for owning a Michael Bay movie. Otherwise I guess it's okay. Why not bundle Drake's Fortune or something?

The price is getting there, although I hope there will be better bundles. The Terminator game is worthless, and the movie is rental only, of that. InFamous is pure brilliance tho.

Make the x-mas bundle something like 2 games from a selection containg Killzone 2, InFamous, LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2, Drakes 2 and MAG + pick one blu-ray movie from a decent selection, including Batman: Dark Knight, The Watchmen and whatever the kids are watching these days (GI Joe? Harry Potter?) and we're in business. That would be well worth 250 quid, I'd like to se a valid arguement against the value of such a bindle.

Of course, the movies would have to be Sony movies, and I don't know what big hits they've had recently. Probably not a lot of them.

Maybe throw in PSN cupon codes for Warhawk, WipeOut HD and maybe Flower for good measure. If the box itself is even smaller, sleeker and even more quiet, I'd concider getting one myself. ANd I already own a PS3.

Then there's the TrICO bundle coming down the line, some time... and the God of War III bundle... I think 2010 will be a good year for the PS3, even if 2009 so far has been so-so, in terms of system-selling software. The big, system selling exclusives are still ahead for Sony.

What year is this? Oh were still talking about how expensive the PS3 is despite all the bundled hardware you get with it.

should see some good sales that.

especially with others rising in price.

"all the extras you have to add for the 360"

I have mine on live and never had to pay for a wireless adaptor. where does "have to" come from? old argument. what they cost at retail is the main factor and this price cut will help for sure.

The original European PS3 had PS2 software emulation did it not (as it did not have the same hardware inside as the US version? Pretty sure I played a couple of my old PS2 games on it when I first bought it - so should be pretty capable of putting it back on there, especially as Sony have now had a couple more years to possibly work on the emulator.

Would be nice to see PS2 compatibility come back as I think they alienated a lot of people removing it. I know the xbox backward compatibility was a bit naff as well but the back catalogue for the PS2 was much richer. Hmm £250 - tempting if only for the blu ray player. I have a 360 so generally speaking I wouldn't gain much from the games but there are some fun games online that are exclusive I've played at friends.

@ Edwin

Wake up on the wrong side of the bed did you? Granted, it's a much better deal then before, but I honestly think it's still not great - 1 good game, 1 filler game and a Blu-ray of a bad movie? This might sound odd, but I'd rather pay for £230 for a PS3 just with Infamous then pay £20 extra and get filler that's going to end up gathering dust. I can use that £20 to buy Uncharted.

if there's a price drop announced tonight, I'd make it lower than £250 ~ something £224,95 like...

but who am I. I guess Sony knows what it is doing...

@flamming.carrot Yup the original Euro PS3 had backwards compatibility (very slightly limited when compared to the US version). I had to shop around for ages to get my one when after the new models came out.

It doesn't matter how much Sony drop the price some people, especially on these boards, will never be happy.

I think it's very reasonable myself for a 1 film & 2 games bundle. Let's not forget that Sony's current RRP is £300 but some places were selling it for £20 or £30 less. If Sony officially slashes the price by £50 don't be surprised to see places like Asda or play.com start selling the PS3 at prices closer to £200, especially when the christmas price wars start.

Still too expensive for me.

I've no interest in blu-ray movies, so it comes down to (shock/horror!) the games alone... and I can only think of 3 exclusives that I'm interested in (Killzone 2, LBP and Wipeout), neither of which have swayed me enough to get my wallet out.

As of now there is more than enough stuff on the 360 to keep me occupied and more than I have time/money to play so - thanks but no thanks.

Maybe in another 2 years ?

The price is getting there, although I hope there will be better bundles. The Terminator game is worthless, and the movie is rental only, of that. InFamous is pure brilliance tho.

Make the x-mas bundle something like 2 games from a selection containg Killzone 2, InFamous, LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2, Drakes 2 and MAG + pick one blu-ray movie from a decent selection, including Batman: Dark Knight, The Watchmen and whatever the kids are watching these days (GI Joe? Harry Potter?) and we're in business. That would be well worth 250 quid, I'd like to se a valid arguement against the value of such a bindle.

Of course, the movies would have to be Sony movies, and I don't know what big hits they've had recently. Probably not a lot of them.

Maybe throw in PSN cupon codes for Warhawk, WipeOut HD and maybe Flower for good measure. If the box itself is even smaller, sleeker and even more quiet, I'd concider getting one myself. ANd I already own a PS3.

Then there's the TrICO bundle coming down the line, some time... and the God of War III bundle... I think 2010 will be a good year for the PS3, even if 2009 so far has been so-so, in terms of system-selling software. The big, system selling exclusives are still ahead for Sony.

I'm struggling to figure out whether this is a joke or not...

For the soon to be ceased 80GB model:

US reduces $400 to $300 = 25% reduction
Europe rumoured to reduce €400 to €300 = 25% reduction
UK reduces £300 to £250 = 17% reduction

If PS3 owners are like 360 ones, then more than half are plugged into SD televisions so Blu-ray discs are completely irrelevant as a bundle items (unless they have some inventory they want to clear down).

I love "trendy George clothes"! I also love shopping with chavs.

Really makes me wish I'd waited - I paid £300 for my 40gb PS3 last May in preparation for MGS4. Over a year later and the only games that have been worth playing are MGS4 and drunken Singstar. I feel like I've been raped and my ringpiece is in tatters everywhere. If I'd waited til now I could have only spent £250 (plus £20) to play MGS4. Shit!

£250 for a PS3 with two free games and a BD movie is great value, assuming you want a BD player and built-in Wi-Fi too. I still think the ideal price for any console should be sub-£200 and I can't see that happening for the PS3 any time soon. As long as the bundles add value it makes up for the high price somewhat (unless the games and BD movie don't interest you... you could always sell them though).

About the PS3's BD player... I wonder how many of the console's 24 million user base have the means to watch BD movies on an HDTV and how many of those have 1080p displays? I'd love to know myself.

"Still too expensive." There are people who will troll a thread with no intention of buying a ps3 even at £99.

@andywilkie35 - Don't you use your PS3 as a BD movie player at all?

And if it helps I paid £425 for my launch PS3 in March 2007 though I don't regret it one bit. For one thing it has extra features that current PS3s don't have such as PS2 emulation, memory card slots and additional USB ports so it does feel like a special edition version. I admit that my PS3 has probably been used more for watching BD and upscaled DVD movies on and less for games.

As for PSN going offline... rumours are that firmware v3.0, a major update, is supposed to be launching soon so I wouldn't be surprised if it was in preparation for that. Don't quote me though, it's only something I've "heard".

Do they supply it with a HDMI cable yet?
I always thought it bizzare that you open the box of sonys next gen HD console and find an s-video cable and scart adapter.

I hope they do something with the backwards compatability.
I have an older euro model that has it, but it's not perfect.
The first game I tried got a big unsupported error (gitaroo man).
At least the God of War series was fine.

@dloob

No HDMI and now MS new Elite pack comes with standard cables only.

Hey guise - I have a 360 already, and I want to justify buying a ps3 now that the price might be coming down... persuade me to buy one!

The only game I have found that I own that does not work properly on the 60gb machine is Tekken Tag Team Tournament. It runs at half speed.

@Ranger101 - buy one and import a copy of Demon Souls. While you're waiting for that to arrive, play Killzone 2.

"ps3 is a much better machine and its now cheaper, you cant complain. especially not with 2 games thrown in. "

matter of taste.

good machine though and the price is decent when you look at it.

@rotmm

What I mean is that this may be just like the american price cut before they released the 80gb i.e the new machine was priced higher than the old stock. The price drop may end up being a temporary measure just to shift old stock.

If that is the case people would be better off seeing what the new slim actually does before commiting to buying the old stock machines. For all we know it may well include backward compatibility again (unlikely I admit).

The better machine is the one that suits your gaming/media needs, end of story.

All this talk of PS2 software compatibility..

If they made that work I'd be amazed. They can't even do it on state of the art PCs and the PS3 and PS2 are quite different. I'm sure I remember someone saying the PS3's graphics chip didn't have enough bandwidth, whatever that means.

And the launch US PS3s did not have software compatibility.. the ones that played PS2 games either had the full hardware EE chip included (launch models, I have one :p); or they at least had the PS2 graphics chip inside.

@Gaol

"If they made that work I'd be amazed. They can't even do it on state of the art PCs and the PS3 and PS2 are quite different."

Who is "they" exactly? Indie coders who have no access to the original architecture source, who have to muddle their way through using a combination of reverse engineering and trial'n'error?

That is hardly a reliable comparison to the limits of engineers who work for the platform vendor and have access to all that position provides.

@ Gaol

Sony patented something recently to do with PS2 and the cell and i am sure they have a timeframe of when they will stop supporting the PS2 and release the update via firmware. All they have to do is make the big titles work..gamers will accept that.

Also release them on the store as well

You'd have to pay me to take either the Terminator Salvation game or Terminator 3 Blu-Ray.