Foster City (CA) - The factory presses are no longer pumping out 60 GB versions of the PS3.

The only new PS3 consoles in manufacturing are now the 80 GB units, according to a statement made by Sony communications officer Dave Karraker.  "We no longer have any inventory in SCEA warehouses. All inventory has been purchased and shipped to retailers," he said.

Last month, Sony announced it would be cutting the price of the 60 GB PS3 by $100, and that it would launch a new 80 GB version of the system.

In the days following the announcement, it was discovered that Sony's actual plan was to phase out the 60 GB PS3.  The 80 GB console has a retail price of around $600, the same price as the 60 GB model when it launched.

Thousands of 60 GB units remain on store shelves across the country, and they will continue to be sold at around $500 until existing inventory is depleted.  However, the consoles on the shelves in the next week or so will be the last ones the store receives.

Sony also once produced a 20 GB version of the console, but that was scrapped in less than six months after its debut.  A total of three SKUs (stock keeping units) have existed for the PS3 but only one is now being actively produced.

On the flip side, Microsoft has managed to continuously manufacture three different versions of the Xbox 360 - the Core, the Pro, and the Elite.  A fourth will soon be added to that list when a special edition Halo 3 version of the console comes out next month.  The Wii launched with one basic model, which continues to be the only version of the hardware sold worldwide.

crap

Aug 31, 2007 12:27     

I bought one from SonyStyle utilizing that $150 SONY VISA credit deal thingy. It says it is out of stock. Does that mean my order will not be fulfilled or cancelled? Screw SONY! If they are going to pull this stunt, the least they can do is to pull the 60gb from their website so as not to give us false expectation/information. I still await to hear from SONYSTYLE rep. to get back to me on that. Looks like I may have to turn to ebay instead.

Jerry report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -1

PS3 hard drive differences do not...............

Aug 31, 2007 12:28     

PS3 hard drive differences do not constitute being called a different model as the hard drive in all units can be replaced with any SATA Laptop hard drive you want. Replacing a hard drive is very simple and can be done without voiding the warranty. I plan to replace mine with a 300GB 7200rpm drive at some point. Other than the hard drive the PS3 are all exactly the same unlike the Xbox which has been plagued with problems and is really due for replacement as it is really not capable of competing with the PS3 in the years to come. Cheers,

Shark report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Brilliant move by Sony......

Aug 31, 2007 13:17     

Lets lower the price $100 to clear out inventory and then produce a striped down model with a slightly larger hard drive and jack the price back up. I'm pretty sure the additional cost of supplying a slightly larger drive does not begin to justify the $100 hike in price especially considering that they are striping the hardware backwards compatibility out of the 80gig units. One more reason not to buy a PS3, plus Blue Ray players are coming down in price so its not even work it as a Blue Ray player any more. You could use it to play games. That is if they ever release anything worth playing.

kal report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

scam=Sony

Aug 31, 2007 13:55     

I am tired from hearing this Sony BS. It's all made to make people to hurry up and buy 60GB version, I do not believe that they stopped production.
sconny report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -1

Backward Compatibility Removed???

Aug 31, 2007 15:06     

What has been removed??? I seem to have missed that part... Thanks
Eric Lund report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

80 Gig Version is differant

Aug 31, 2007 15:29     

It does not contain the hardware backward compatibility of the 60 Gig Version.
CB report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

60GB drives are no longer in production

Aug 31, 2007 15:31     

In fact they simply can't get any more 60GB drives as they are no longer in production. The hard drive in the PS3 is simply an SATA laptop drive and can be up graded to any size you want and it doesn’t void the warranty. Scanny, jump to conclusions is the best way to make really bad decisions. Cheers,
Shark report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Re: PS3 hard drive differences do not.............

Aug 31, 2007 15:40     

As Kal mentioned in the post below they are diffent machines. The 80GB model no longer has a PS2 inside for full hardware backwards compatability, they stripped it out in favor of software backwards compatablity, which from what I hear, is pretty bad right now. Personally I think it was a stupid move to strip out the PS2, it was one extra chip in there and they probably just bridge the connections on the board to bypass it so they wouldnt need to design a whole new motherboard and for as many PS2 chips they must have laying around I dont think they are reducing the cost of the system much at all. If anything this was a ploy to get people to buy another PS2 if theirs breaks down since, you know, they just came out with a shiny new model PS2. Personally the new 80GB should be cheaper then the 60GB model since it is an inferior system (an extra 20GB and losing hardware backwards compatability and it costs $100 more, gee what a bargain there sony) Its really sad since I was a huge fan of the PS2, I must have over 100 games for it. But right now I just havent felt the need to own any of the next gen systems yet, maybe this christmas when the holiday line up hits I will consider one of them. Until then I'll just keep playing on my PS2.

Methos report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

to Eric Lund

Aug 31, 2007 16:06     

Eric Lund, That information is absolutely incorrect. They are simply replacing the hard drives with 80GB drives as the 60GB drive are no longer in production. The PS3 will remain backward compatible. Cheers,
Shark report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

CB read Carefully!

Aug 31, 2007 16:08     

PS3 hard drive differences do not constitute being called a different model as the hard drive in all units can be replaced with any SATA Laptop hard drive you want. Replacing a hard drive is very simple and can be done without voiding the warranty. I plan to replace mine with a 300GB 7200rpm drive at some point. Other than the hard drive the PS3 are all exactly the same unlike the Xbox which has been plagued with problems and is really due for replacement as it is really not capable of competing with the PS3 in the years to come. Cheers,

Shark report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

The PS3 Remains Backware Compatible!

Aug 31, 2007 16:11     

Changing the Hard drive in noway changes the PS3 as the hard drive only stores data. The same data as any PS3. Cheers,
Shark report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Jerry Don't worry!

Aug 31, 2007 16:13     

Jerry, there are thousands still on store selves, you just have to make a few phone calls to find one. Cheers,
Shark report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Methos your spreeding a lot of BS

Aug 31, 2007 16:17     

The PS3 remains exactly the same except the size of the hard drive. Cheers,
Shark report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

shark, do some research please

Aug 31, 2007 16:56     

The 80gb Ps3 does not have the hardware backwards compatibility. It has the software emulation, which launched with the Euro Ps3's. Please get your facts straight, the increase in HDD size is NOT the only revision.
Johnny B report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

80gb version also come with a game

Aug 31, 2007 16:58     

$100 extra buys you the PS3 game, Motostorm and 20gb of HD space. Just want to point that out.
George report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

You really need to check your facts

Aug 31, 2007 17:09     

Sony now only produces 1 motherboard for all there PS3's . This is the Euro model mother board. The Euro motherboard does not have the PS2 emotion engine. The production line is in two parts up to the last process of placing chips on the board is indentical . American PS3s get a differant video converter chips so it can do NTSC vs PAl. Again it is fact they 80 gig does not have a emotion engine chip on it. It only uses software for backward compatibility. Now I own very few PS2 games. So I have no idea how good it is compared to MS compatibility. I suspect since Sony had less of a open architecture it will be better than MS.

CB report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Also read the side of the box

Aug 31, 2007 17:12     

Its says it all!!!
CB report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Shark, back that statement up with facts

Aug 31, 2007 17:58     

Prove that they didn't remove the Emotion Engine from the 80GB model. We've been told they did all these times, and now you are saying otherwise. It's obvious enough that you're a big Sony fanboy, and that's great. But you're spamming this new tidbit with nothing to back it up.
Alexvrb report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

@Shark, backwards compatibility

Aug 31, 2007 18:28     

This 80gig version is not the same as 60gig version, at least for u.s. It is lacking the emotion engine for full PS2 backwards compatibility, a thing that was already missing in European version. I personally couldn't care less about full PS2 compatibility, but this can't be the case with all the people. Luckily, PS2's are relatively cheap if you are owning a vast selection of PS2 titles. A PS2 costs 2-3 games at most. If you have 20 games, a real PS2 is a good investment if your current one went bonkers. If you don't own a PS2, just buy next-gen games, and the compatibility of last years games of PS2 should be good too. That sad, I consider this a bad move. Sony is bound to see a sudden drop in sales as the price goes back up. 20gig extra doesn't cut it. You could buy a much bigger drive for 100usd. The 80gig version should have only been more expensive by 20usd at most, and only when two versions co-existed on retail. After all 60gigs are gone, they should wait for a short while (1-2months at most) and reduce price of the 80gigs version to 60gig price. Do I know about runing a multi-billion dollar firm? No. But I believe in common sense :=)

Emrah report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

My Bad!

Aug 31, 2007 19:11     

What I don't understand hear though is that the games for the PS2 are unbelivably inferior to the PS3 game. Why would you be so stupid as to continue to suport that crap anyway? You must be retarded.
Shark report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

To Shark

Aug 31, 2007 20:36     

1. Look at a 80- Gig Box it clearly states it has reduced BC. 2. Stop being a fan boy! 3. Learn to look up information online there are these awesome inventions called search engines. 4. I am not a fanboy of any system as I have both a PS3 and Xbox360 and love them bith for very differant reasons. Now the bad news the most you will ever be able to upgrade the Hard Drive in a PS3 is 160 Gigs. Why do you ask ? Well any laptop HD over 160 is SATA2. Unfotunately a SATA2 laptop HD interface connector is not backwards compatible with SATA1. Unlike the larger desktop drives. Now only if I could plug in a Usb 2.0 external hard drive and get it to work.

CB report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

60 > 80

Sep 01, 2007 01:53     

The reason I wanted the 60gb version is solely due to its built-in PS2 board. As currently, the state of PS3 game selection is pathetic. I plan to play some cool PS2 games while and blu-ray movies and wait until better games comes along. And SONY better get its act together and get those HD DVR addon ready soon. As that is also one of the reason I am buying a PS3. Lasty, with $150 credit from my SONY visa card, I am supposed to get the 60gb PS3 for about $392 5 free blu-ray movies only @ sonystyle store. I just could not pass it up. Now, I just hope I won't have any problem with HDMI connection of my Westinghouse and PS3 (finger crossed).

Jerry report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

60GB still exists elsewhere

Sep 01, 2007 04:20     

Hate to state the bleeding obvious, but to clarify, production on 60gb HDDs has not ended at all. Only US supplies has been allowed to run dry in favour of 80gb. SCEA is upgrading the hard drive in order to justify the removal of the Emotion Engine. But the 60gb hard drive is still very much going strong throughout the rest of the world. We in PAL regions won't be treated to an extra 20gb slapped onto our PS3's because we have had to live without full backwards compatibility from day one.

spanky report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

David Karraker

Sep 02, 2007 14:36     

"also remarked that the US$599 80GB PS3 bundle may be reduced down to $499 once the complete supply of the 60GB version dries up." -PC World http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136681-c,gameconsoles/article.html
Matt report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

...look

Sep 03, 2007 09:27     

ok sony releases at the start a vary limited edition of the ps3 and a 60gig. later sony takes out the backwards compatibility chip (no idea why saves them 30bucks a ps3) and releases a 80gig and drops the limited edition after this sony stops production of the 60gig Now a blu-ray player is what? 1000 bucks, a blu-ray drive is o what 600 wow thats odd the same price. yah um quit complaining sony is already loosing cash on it so its either a 1000 buck blu-ray player, a drive, or the ps3 with its 8 core cell processor and rsx video card the ps3 has more horsepower under the hood than allot of gaming computers and to top it off you can install linux on it. now with that said look at the 360-E its 450 bucks however it uses a dvd wait dvd oo hay for hd you need a addon how much is it again lets see o 150 hmm for some odd reason wait let me do the math again 600 no way thats the same price as the ps3 but the ps3 has better cooling more power and hd standard and with blu-ray having more storage and faster transfer rates hmmm.... o I see a slight difference 40gigs of stage more I'm now going to take the 360 over the ps3 because I want the ring of death and that 40gigs more space for the same price. (we could do this with the Platinum edition of the 360 and save a 100 bucks but thats only 20gigs)

Rob report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Re: To Shark

Sep 04, 2007 13:37     

Umm... SATA2 is completely backwards compatible with SATA1.
Dan report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0