The problem with being a video game analyst is that sometimes you have to read between the lines. That task is harder when the lines are written in Kanji.
That was the task when the news came across the ol' wire about the surprising price reduction in the Sony PlayStation 3. Price reduction, you ask?
Price reduction is right. Apparently, Sony announced a price reduction in the lower-end model of the Playstation 3 for Japanese customers -- a 10,000 Yen price reduction. That's $85 to us folks in America.
It sure looks true. But if you go to the page where it was announced, you have to do a little extra-hard reading to divine the information. Click here to see for yourself.
The page is written in Kanji, the simpler of many Japanese languages. There are just enough English characters on the page to pull the high points out of the page:
PLAYSTATION®3 HDD 20GB HDMI 49,980
The original price announced for the PS3 at E3 in May was nearly 60,000 Yen. That means Sony lopped off a full 10,000 Yen off the price. The 20GB model is the low-end model, which was announced to be selling for $499.99 in the U.S. come November.
We had to learn more, so we sicced Babelfish on the page. Here's the translation verbatim:
Once you get beyond the funny Pidgin English, there's something that you realize about the release. Not only is Sony reducing the price of the low-end PS3, they are also including an HDMI port on the thing.
Originally, the HDMI port was supposed to be included only on the $599.99 high end model. Now, by putting the HDMI port on the low-end model, it suddenly makes the low-end model a viable competitor to the high-end Microsoft XBox 360.
And then you stop dead in your tracks. Sure, the Japanese get an $85 price reduction and an HDMI port on the low-end PS3, but what about America? Will we see similar changes?
The next few weeks should be very interesting.
That was the task when the news came across the ol' wire about the surprising price reduction in the Sony PlayStation 3. Price reduction, you ask?
Price reduction is right. Apparently, Sony announced a price reduction in the lower-end model of the Playstation 3 for Japanese customers -- a 10,000 Yen price reduction. That's $85 to us folks in America.It sure looks true. But if you go to the page where it was announced, you have to do a little extra-hard reading to divine the information. Click here to see for yourself.
The page is written in Kanji, the simpler of many Japanese languages. There are just enough English characters on the page to pull the high points out of the page:
PLAYSTATION®3 HDD 20GB HDMI 49,980
The original price announced for the PS3 at E3 in May was nearly 60,000 Yen. That means Sony lopped off a full 10,000 Yen off the price. The 20GB model is the low-end model, which was announced to be selling for $499.99 in the U.S. come November.
We had to learn more, so we sicced Babelfish on the page. Here's the translation verbatim:
PLAYSTATION®3 HDD 20GB
HDMI standard loading
The Japanese domestic desired retail price 49 and 980 Yen (including tax)
Corporation SONY computer entertainment (SCEI), next generation computer entertainment system "place t Shaun 3" (PS3) HDMI* (Ver. 3 Deep Color correspondence) standard we load the output terminal in HDD20GB. In addition, desired retail price 49 and 980 Yen (including tax) we set the Japanese domestic price of the same type.
Announcing the specification of PS3 2005 May E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) in, from the fact that later, flat display of the full HD correspondence which loads HDMI is thrown by the market accelerating, high picture quality image and the appearance impression due to HDMI the demand for the digital sound which overflows exceeding expectation, has increased, we decided that standard it loads HDMI in the PS3 all type.
The software manufacturer each company way while receiving the cooperation, it starts propelling SCEI, at a stroke with the attractive only of PS3 and advancing the development of original title powerfully, PS3 as an entertainment platform of the next generation.
* High-Definition Multimedia Interface
Once you get beyond the funny Pidgin English, there's something that you realize about the release. Not only is Sony reducing the price of the low-end PS3, they are also including an HDMI port on the thing.
Originally, the HDMI port was supposed to be included only on the $599.99 high end model. Now, by putting the HDMI port on the low-end model, it suddenly makes the low-end model a viable competitor to the high-end Microsoft XBox 360.
And then you stop dead in your tracks. Sure, the Japanese get an $85 price reduction and an HDMI port on the low-end PS3, but what about America? Will we see similar changes?
The next few weeks should be very interesting.
Labels: evermore, Microsoft, PlayStation, PS3, selling, Sony, XBox-360
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