No current plans for 80GB PS3

By Robert Purchese Published 29 March, 2007

Sony shy on update rumours.

Sony has told Eurogamer this afternoon that it currently has no plans to produce an 80GB PS3, despite emerging reports that it filed with the FCC for the model.

"The 80GB we're not making a comment on, but we don't have any plans at the moment," a spokesperson for Sony Europe told us.

Rumours began after the company filed with the US Federal Communications Comission to request a class II permissive change to reflect some Bluetooth tweaks to the console. Among the models listed for this were the currently available 20GB and 60GB offerings, as well as a new 80GB model.

It does, of course, follow yesterday's news that Microsoft will be introducing a new black Xbox 360 Elite with an HDMI port and 120GB sometime in the late summer.

We find it a touch bizarre that Sony would only go as high as 80GB, especially considering Ken Kutaragi's past comments of wanting to hit the 250GB storage size. Then again, you can just buy a regular PC hard disk and put it in the PS3 anyway.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (40) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Captain Jax #1 5 years ago

    MEH!

  • lambtron #2 5 years ago

    Lol and so the HDD size war begins between MS and Sony.

    Mine's bigger than yours ;).

  • gizmo #3 5 years ago

    Bluetooth tweaks? Are there problems with the bluetooth in the first gen PS3's then?

  • Stormflood #4 5 years ago

    There's a problem with Bluetooth itself: http://ww w.short-media.com/articles/blue...
    Edited by 1 at 29/03/07 @ 14:37

  • skillian #5 5 years ago

    Then again, you can just buy a regular PC hard disk and put it in the PS3 anyway.

    Exactly. It makes it a bit pointless to release a new SKU where HDD space is the only difference.

  • zoidberg #6 5 years ago

    WHY? you can just buy a regular HDD...

  • Blerk #7 5 years ago

    "The 80GB we're not making a comment on, but we don't have any plans at the moment,"

    ?

    "We're not making a comment on that", said the panicky Sony rep, right before making a comment on it. :-)

  • Steroyd #8 5 years ago

    If it's to phase out the 20GB (who makes 20GB anyway?), and replace the 20GB with the 60GB which that version is replaced by the 80GB, without raising the price or introducing a new SKU then it would make sense.

    On the other hand how are people going to justify buying the 80GB over the 60GB if there's a $100 difference and the PS3 accepts any HDD.

    Very interesting to see what Sony actually does if they do bring in a 80GB whether it's an additional SKU or to phase out the 20GB SKU.

  • Beano #9 5 years ago

    Releasing a new PS3 with a slightly bigger HDD allready would be a mistake... and one so big I doubt even Sony would make ;)
    Edited by 1 at 29/03/07 @ 14:45

  • crouchy #10 5 years ago

    This is bulllshit fud.. If i want i can upgrade to a 5000gb hdd. Stop the fud eeurogamer.

  • Moz #11 5 years ago

    They probably just plan to increase the size of the drive in the top end machine at no extra cost some time in the next year or 2. And thought they'd save on processing charges by including it with the Blue Tooth adjustments.

  • SeesThroughAll #12 5 years ago

    Even if they do, it wouldn't be before Christmas time. And with that price difference, I also think I'd be better off just upgrading the HDD.

  • Dizzy #13 5 years ago

    "Bluetooth tweaks? Are there problems with the bluetooth in the first gen PS3's then? "

    Yes... that is why MS opted for a custom tech for wireless controllers. BlueTooth is not very good for this due to interference. These hardware changes might solve the sync problems.

  • crouchy #14 5 years ago

    Stop the fud eurogamer. Anyone owning a ps3 can already upgrade there hdd.

  • Peew971 #15 5 years ago

    It has to be bogus... It (kind of) made sense for the 360 but not for the PS3. What's the point when you can put any HDD in?

  • crouchy #16 5 years ago

    They probably just plan to increase the size of the drive in the top end machine at no extra cost some time in the next year or 2. And thought they'd save on processing charges by including it with the Blue Tooth adjustments.
    --------
    It's nonsense. Someones spreading fud again. Anyone owning a ps3 can already upgrade there ps3 to whatever hdd they want.

  • crouchy #17 5 years ago

    Aaah. Eurogamer got this nonsense from kotaku. That explains it all.

  • Moz #18 5 years ago

    "It's nonsense. Someones spreading fud again. Anyone owning a ps3 can already upgrade there ps3 to whatever hdd they want. "

    Yes they can but there will be a time, possibly not too far in futur when a 80Gb drive will actually be cheaper then a 60Gb drive so would make sence for them to have it as an option (The later models of the original xbox had bigger drives then the first models for this same reason, just they never made a big thing about the HDD size in the machine anyway) and as they were filing paper to the FCC any way it made sence to include this to save a little extra.

    But I complete agree that this is no news FUD by eurogamer, but doesn't change the fact that that was what they filed to the FCC!

    /EDIT missed an 'a'
    Edited by 1 at 29/03/07 @ 15:04

  • andyk #19 5 years ago

    But can the hdd be upgraded to any size. I haven't checked, but I thought the PS3 hdd size was 2.5 inch, which is notebook size and not 3.5inch are used for desktops.

    large >200gb 2.5 inch drives seem harder to come by than 3.5 ones.

  • penhalion #20 5 years ago

    The filing is to fix the blue tooth issues. The drive size is probably simply a natural upgrade of the 60 to 80. This isn't a new model or anything like that. It probably wasn't even menat to be noticed i.e. how shafted would (well now I guess it's do) the current owners feel knowing that their kit has known blue tooth issues with controllers and syncing and the new ariel in the filed model sorts that. It's worse when you realise you can't retrofit this part due to circuit board changes!

  • Nova5lag #21 5 years ago

    Is this like MS levels of denial?

  • Steroyd #22 5 years ago

    No it's Nintendo levels of denial.

    We're not making a DSlite...honest.

    *one month later*

  • kangarootoo #23 5 years ago

    Not only can you upgrade the PS3 drive as has been mentioned numerous times, but the HDD you remove is of course also standard so you can flog it on to further reduce the upgrade cost.

    There IS no competition between MS and Sony on the HDD front as I see it. Its a done deal.

  • Xerx3s #24 5 years ago

    *one month later*

    I believe it was 2 days actually.

    Anyway, what's up with all this stuff. Seriously, do we NEED bigger HDD'S? At the end of the life of my xbox, I only used about 30% of the HDD space. With my 360, 90% is filled with crap that really doesn't matter anyway (and will be deleted when I can be bothered to clean the HDD up). People seem to compare console HDD's with PC HDD's. Truth is, you wont be needing that stuff for games (you know, the reason we buy consoles) because you can delete and redownload stuff as you see fit. 30-60 gig is more than enough.

    After one full year of console use, my HDD's is filled with just over 500 mb of savegames and another 1 gig of DLC. The rest are just trailers.

    The only point when larger HDD's will become relevant in Europe is when Sony and MS introduce their DD film services in Europe. And when you hear the comments from MS, that won't be any time soon (because film and tv companies sell the rights to European broadcasters and theatres, allowing people to download here would be a violation of those contracts - nothing that MS can do about them). Even so, it would still be irrelevant for the purpose of the console: Games.

    /anecdotal rant off

  • crouchy #25 5 years ago

    Is this like MS levels of denial?
    -------
    Denial of what?

  • stevencole7 #26 5 years ago

    Them EA, pop sideway ads are bloody doing me head in!

  • skillian #27 5 years ago

    @Xerxes:

    I have 60GB of music alone, and nearly all PC demos are more than 1GB in size - I'd imagine PS3 demos will be much the same.

    You might want consoles to just be games machines, but like it or not PS3 is marketed as a media hub, so extra space for audio/visual content is hardly "irrelevant".

  • kangarootoo #28 5 years ago

    Both companies are talking about IPTV and related tivo type functions. That sort of thing needs a decent chunk of storage if you want to get the best out of it.

  • Xerx3s #29 5 years ago

    I have 60GB of music alone

    Yeah, but the question is: Do you want to put that on your server? As it stands now, I have a media server that is doing it's job just fine. It doesn't need to be replaced by some halfarsed solution that is locked down by drm crap. My 360 streams everything from the server just fine, the ps3 will do that as well. Why would I need the HDD when the console in the end will be nothing more than a frontend to the real media hub?

    The pc is the one and only media hub a person needs and consoles can complement that by streaming functions but there really is no need to replace the pc with a device that can do less.

  • Darren #30 5 years ago

    My PS3 now has a 160 GB HDD but it was a bitch taking the screws off the internal caddy as not only were the screws needlessly overtight but they're also cheaply made so it's all to easy to strip them as I found out...

  • skillian #31 5 years ago

    @Xerx3s (sorry, spelt it wrong before):

    I couldn't agree more with you. If you want a home media hub, a PC (or two) is by far the best way to go.

    But I think Sony are trying to appeal to people who might not have a clue how to get their media out of the study and into the living room, and for that the PS3 (and 360) does a decent job (I'd imagine, I don't actually have one). Plus as kangarootoo says, the whole IPTV thing will be pushed pretty soon.

  • crouchy #32 5 years ago

    My PS3 now has a 160 GB HDD but it was a bitch taking the screws off the internal caddy as not only were the screws needlessly overtight but they're also cheaply made so it's all to easy to strip them as I found out...
    ------
    You could've used an external drive?. Why make things complicated for yourself.

  • justsomeone #33 5 years ago

    i feel your pain darren. had the exact same problem - the fooking modders guides didn't mention the machine-tightened screws. had my 160gb wedged into the PS3 with a piece of card until i finally managed to prise all the screws outta the carriage thingy.

    ps crouchy, you can't use external HDs. the usb ones aren't recognised, and even if they were it wouldn't be recognised as the main HD. you *can* mod the base unit, i believe, to allow an external HD to hang out of your system, but then we're getting back into "complicated" territory again.

  • Vandrius #34 5 years ago

    Who gives a rats... PS3 at least takes normal HDD's. Just go buy one from your local (or online) retailer... for half the cost of the 360's 'official' one.

  • Les #35 5 years ago

    "The pc is the one and only media hub a person needs and consoles can complement that by streaming functions but there really is no need to replace the pc with a device that can do less."

    That depends entirely on personal needs. Besides, with Linux, a PS3 can do almost anything a Windows PC can do.

  • Darren #36 5 years ago

    @justsomeone - I'm glad I wasn't the only person with this issue then but when I rang Sony they more or less implied it was my fault as they said no-one has had complained about it (this was the day after the PS3 launched in Europe by the way; Saturday). Thus they wouldn't send me a replacement caddy and screws yet Sony US offer replacement screws incase you strip them and page 16 of the PS3 Support and Safety impy that you can contact Sony for replacements should you "lose" them! /rolls eyes

    Anyway, I managed to remove the stripped screws using a pair of wire cutters by firmly gripping and biting slightly into the outside of the screw which then made it very easy to actually turn them with the minimum of effort. The new HDD is secured with higher-quality screws that don't strip when you use a screwdriver on them... you hear that, Sony!!!

    Fortunately I was able to backup the contents of my old PS3 HDD onto an external USB Iomega HDD and then restore everything back to the new one.

    P.S. An external drive is one solution but it's not very practical when it requires its own power supply and space so isn't as ideal as having the HDD completely internal. ; )

  • kangarootoo #37 5 years ago

    Searching on a whim, found this. Christ knows how much use it would be, but for those interested in swapping drives often (Linux hom devs perhaps) it might be handy.

    [link url=http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=56453
    ]    http://ww w.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthr...[/link]

  • kangarootoo #38 5 years ago

    Update, the link in the thread goes here.

    [link url=http://www.mrmodchips.co.uk/catalog/in dex.php?ref=20&affiliate_banner_id=2
    ]http://ww w.mrmodchips.co.uk/catalog/inde...[/link]

    Which is really where you want to be if you are interested in this.

  • ronuds #39 5 years ago

    Sony could sell anything in the UK.

  • Obsequious #40 5 years ago

    -Sony could sell anything in the UK.

    Could probably even flog dead hooker memorabilia to the fine people of Norfolk, and "Ayatollahs do it rarely" t-shirts to the family of Kaye Turney, if they wanted to.

  • Les #41 5 years ago

    "I use a Bluetooth Keyboard and mouse with my Dell in my Living room"

    Might have something to do with your Dell. Bluetooth in my Dell laptop is terrible, has broken down two times already.