While Amazon and SonyStyle don’t yet have inventory, the new 80GB Playstation 3 SKU slated for a September release started shipping to various other retail outlets as early as August 20th. In fact, my local GameStop received inventory last week. And today I swapped my (former) Xbox 360 for the new PS3. Sony’s more compact and less noisy design appeals. But Blu-ray winning the HD optical disc war coupled with inclusion of the new DualShock controller are what finally moved me.
Why get rid of the 360?
I have both and the PS3 is pretty noisy too especially when I was watching Mad Men last night.
I’ve spent much of this long holiday weekend “de-cluttering” – if it had been any other weekend, I’d probably have kept both. But as a casual gamer, I don’t know that I need multiple systems full time. (And I also have the Roku Netflix box – offsetting that Xbox feature coming this fall.) Supposedly this PS3 uses a smaller and more energy efficient chip – ultimately resulting in less heat and noise. We shall see…
I forgot to say something else. The dual shock 3 is not as good as the 360 controller either.
I know what you mean about clutter though. I sold my HD DVD player when I bought my PS3.
Yah, I will miss the Xbox controller – I’ve always found them (Xbox, Xbox 360) more ergonomic and comfortable in my hands than the PS2/PS3.
What is 80Go? I know it is the european GB but what does it mean?
I bought one. This being my second PS3 it was just for Playing blu-ray movies upstairs. The the dual shock though is a nice addition. Although the Xbox 360’s one is much, much better – in my opinion.
I love the 360 controller. I just wish that I could do Blu-Ray on it.
This is a response to Travis about 80 Go
that stands for 80 Gigaoctets
I will wait until they release Gran Turismo 5. by then it should have a 500 gig HD and cost $99 out the door
Have they re-introduced the PS2 emulation hardware in this SKU, or is it still the crappy software-based solution that they moved to?
Josh, I believe this version has no backward-compatibility whatsoever.
Correct, no PS2 emulation. (No card reader either.) The Game Stop guy made sure I knew that. Today’s goal: I gotta figure out if any of my Bluetooth headsets have a mute button for online play. Sony really should bundle a headset for uniform online gaming. Looks like SOCOM bundle will include a BT one next month.
You know, I didn’t like PS1 controller when I used it a few times ages ago and I like 360 controller (aside from lame D-pad), but I didn’t find DualShock3 to be a burden and I especially like the fact that it has more weight than original SixAxis.
P.S. MGS4 bundle w/ 80GB console was the last console to have backwards compatibility. Dave’s 80GB version and upcoming 160GB version will not be backwards-compatible. All the folks who scored MGS4 bundles on eBay with Microsoft poneying up the money through Live.com Cashback got a heck of a deal :)
BTW, I *did* try to get in on Microsoft’s Live Search discounts but couldn’t make it work – it never carried through the ebay. And the % cash back had dropped anyhow. Besides, GameStop gave me an easy way to unload my Xbox. Feeling a bit remorseful – I may end up repurchasing at some point. We’ll see how the online gaming works out. Related, I preordered SOCOM bundle today – game and Bluetooth headset (with mute button) for $60. Though I only left them with $5 which gets me beta access later this week.