Playstation fans look back in anger | Uk News | News | Telegraph — FYI
British fans wanting to get their hands on the new Playstation 3 will have to pay £100 more than American users for an inferior machine.
Sony announced yesterday that the European version of its games console will play only a “limited number” of old Playstation 2 titles when it goes to sale next month.
The American model has much better “backwards compatibility” and plays almost all the old games.
Angry British games enthusiasts called the decision a disgrace and said they were repeatedly treated like second-class citizens by Sony.
Not only was the launch of the Playstation 3, or PS3, delayed in Europe for three months, but the console costs £425 in Britain — £105 more than in America.
Sony also refuses to make the cheaper 20GB version of the PS3 available in Europe despite selling it in America and Japan. British gamers will have to buy the most expensive 60GB model.
Sony shoots themselves in the foot again, game over.
Nintendo and Microsoft win.
What a great way to create a grey market.
Sony, meet toilet…
The foot?more like the head. Sony just pull the trigger.Your days as a media conglomerate are over.
I was originally planning on buying one on launch day, but then the delay and ridiculous price put me off totally. Now recently watching the demise of the ps3 in Japan and US, has told me to wait at least a year, or for the Microsoft zepher–mean while il build a decent vista pc or a mac…not sure…
UK consumer taking his hard earner money elsewhere
There was a time not long ago that I would look to a Sony product first. Now Sony is no-where on the go-to list, and has now migrated to the stay away from at all costs list.
What’s really sad about this story is that Sony used to be a technology leader that was very good at anticipating what people wanted in their technology and putting that into their products (Walkman, Trinitron TVs, Discman (actually still very good), and so forth).
The company is now putting out products that no one wants (crippled PS3s), or prices/licenses themselves out of the market (BluRay).
British fans wanting to get their hands on the new Playstation 3 will have to pay £100 more than American users for an inferior machine.
Who said they have to pay more? They could always buy a Nintendo Wii or X-Box. Then they would get quality AND an affordable price.
It’s a shame. Sony used to be so good. Maybe you’ve already seen the power efficiency of the Wii at game playing.
Yeah, Sony still does a couple things well, but not much. I have a decent sounding (for the (low) price) pair of Sony earbuds, and a (discontinued one model ago) Sony mini stereo that sounds amazing … Sony should stick to basic audio hardware and get out of everything else (especially anything that even remotely smells like a computer)
They’ve finally managed to turn me against ’em, too.
I’ve always watched my vid on Sony pro monitors and XBR TVs, and was, until now, gonna get a ~50″ XBR3, but now? fuck ’em.
The picture on a Panasonic might not be quite as nice, but I’ll be able to look at it without feeling guilty for supporting a company that seems to’ve made shitting on their customers a policy… besides, unlike some Sonys I’ve had, not one of the dozens of Panasonic / Technics / National products I’ve owned over the years has ever failed on me, except from accident or abuse…
Mend your ways, Sony, or you’ll never get another $ outta me.
http://www.thelastboss.com/post.phtml?pk=2287 a sweet little song about Sony.
I’ll never understand why noone grabs the uncharted middle ground (well charted?) on this issue.. other than the pirates
youtube is trying and dieing
google is sweating
MS is gonna wait it out and steal the idea
Sony is going in the U2ubes
good times…
Serves the Europeans right for backstabbing the US.
Let them play Super NES and colecovision.
It must have been around the time the sony walkman came out when this corporation was thought to be “cool”. (I guess I’m getting old) I always considered sony products as being with the top of the line. But for a few years now, not just because of this, I will avoid any sony/bmg product if somehow possible, as I do with walmart and nike too.
I am curious what are the underlying business reasons for the higher price in Europe and the decision not to sell the lower cost version? PS3’s are not exactly flying off the shelves in the U.S. anymore so I don’t think supply/demand/new gizmo and “charging what the market will bear” is a factor. Is there some financial reason for this like the VAT tax (which, by the way, I still do not understand the reason for!)? Sony must know this is going to give them yet another black eye. And before yet another person says “Sony is being an a$$hole because they can”, there must be more to it than that. What business decisions are at play here?
20 – According to that fine little YouTube (#13) the reason is uh… uh… uh…
#20 – Steve S
“What business decisions are at play here?”
No obscure, mysterious business strategy, just what they appear to be – idiotic ones…
What? No apple fan is going to shout “the apple pippin can outperform the ps3 just because it runs MacOS inside it’s underpowered and overpriced machine!”