Good for Sony. Maybe I can dust off my PS3 next year if this spurs some game development.

I wonder how many people bought the $400 version without realizing it won't play their PS2 games.

I am not here to start a format flame, but Im just curious.

I wonder what, if any, affect this will have on the BD vs HDDVD war?

And on another note, one of my biggest gripes about the PS3 is its funky shape and cheap shiny plastic. I wish they would have put it in a more conventional enclosure. Oh well.

I think Homer Simpson could have figured this one out. Lower price - sales go up. Hmmmmmm. It only took a year to realize that basic economics lesson.

And this proves nothing. This stat would only seem normal after a price cut and new cheaper version just before the Xmas shopping season. At least Sony knows how to generate a buzz.

great credibility when you can't even get the models right. for anyone who doesn't know, the 60gb was the launch model partnered with the 20gb and is also discontinued, whereas the 80gb is the one that is at $500 now.

Noah hit the nail on the head. He'll dust off his PS3 when the games are there. This has no long-term effect on BD vs. HD-DVD, because PS3 is a red herring. It was designed for games and that is what it will be used for in the future when games are plentiful for the system. Watching movies will be a secondary use.

Disclaimers: I own a 360 and its HD-DVD drive. I love the games on the 360, but I was one of the people that picked up a PS3 over the weekend. Walmart had a Saturday 8AM special "80G PS3 any 10 BluRay movies off their rack for $500" plus you also get the mail in for 5 more blu ray movies. So as a blu ray player, it was a great deal. The only reason I can think that they are giving away so many movies with the PS3 is to increase the movies per player ratio in their war the HD DVD.
Now I also have the option of playing a PS3 game if they get a good exclusive over the 360 - which I haven't seen yet.

I work at circuit city and we did have a huge jump in sales the last few weeks. Most of the people purchasing didn't care about PS2 games, they only wanted it as a blu-ray player. I barely sold any HD-DVD players but must have sold at least 30 or 40 PS3's over the last weekend

The 20GB machine was released along with a 60GB model, which was discontinued when the 80GB came out in the summer.

thanks fordry for pointing out the launch model mixup so I don't have to even though its still not fixed. Also whats with people saying maybe I can dust off my ps3 now? I play it daily and i don't even have the best games for it. I have NHL 08, Guitar Hero 3, Warhawk, and resistance. Now I only have 1-2 hours a day to play usually so I play a couple online games of NHL 08. If I don't feel like NHL I will play some guitair hero, If I don't feel like that then I will own at a couple matches of warhawk. and if I don't feel like playing any of those three games....who am I kidding I always feel like playing one of them haha I would play warhawk more but it has a nasty habit of not counting my ranked matches which is frustrating when you get top player after joining the match when its half done or 10 minutes in:P happened on many occasions. So stop wining and start gaming ps3 is great

KMART HAD A 20% OFF COUPON THAT DIDN'T EXCLUDE KMART ELECTRONICS BUT SEARS ELECTRONICS.. ROFL
$399.99 20% OFF STATE OF DELAWARE = $320 =D

This is great news! People will finally have a chance on a larger scale to experience this excellent piece of hardware. Cut all the fanboy crap & look @ the specs of this system. It is extremely powerful. Now it is just a waiting game while developers catch up with the hardware & release more titles that utilise this technology. Be patient people, the best is yet to come . . .

I guess I jumped the gun at launch last year. Early adopters take one on the chin, again...

and i know very well it doesnt play PS2. Didnt care since everyone i know already has a ps2, so whats the fuss? I can still play ps2 games.

If i had a Ps2 would i buy the ps3 and then take it to game stop for them to buy it for 10 bucks?

nope. :o)

How many have HD wide screen tvs? lol Im surprised at how many people are buying it with out real knowledge PS3 was meant for HD tvs. Start getting to know Target warehouse organizers for your 5 finger discount specials! haha

I own zero gaming machines but I watch the Sony vs. MS war closely. I'm also no big fan of Sony having owned a Vaio that had a power port go bad, making it cheaper to buy one on ebay than repair ($700!!) it. I also owned an early Cybershot. Sony could drop off the face of the planet tomorrow and I wouldn't give a rat's ass. However, it looks like Sony's PS3 is going to become the juggernaut Sony always thought it would be. Clearly, they are in this console war for the long term. They economically raped their most loyal customers long and hard, willing to bide their time an entire year before grabbing better sales at a lower price. It appears they figured out some time ago that this holiday season was the time to make their move. If the PS3 can sustain these quadrupled sales by continually cutting prices as required, the PS3 will be unstoppable until, perhaps, Nintendo and/or MS release their next gen consoles. All this, of course, bodes well for BD. But we will see...

It means to double. Therefore, a three-fold increase in sales would be EIGHT times more sales, not three times. Folded once = 2^1 = 2 ... Folded twice = 2^2 = 4 ... Folded three times 2^3 = 8 ... etc.

I agree with Villain_xx. Especially when you see that a huge spike in HDTV sales is all in the 720p area. People don't even realize that 1080i content gets downgraded to 720 on these systems.

Most people are "fat, dumb and happy" with their HD systems that they think are playing at 1080i, not even realizing that there is some digital manipulation going on. I'm "fat, smart and happy"; I know that I'm watching 720p, but don't care because it looks great anyway and I didn't pay a huge premium for a barely noticeable resolution increase.

Once I get in the market for a 70" TV, I'll look at 1080p, since you can tell the difference at that size.

But people will swear that BD looks better than anything else on their standard TVs. We call it the placebo effect in the scientific world.

What are the total sales? A statistic of 3X isn't good without this.

1 sale per week x 3 = still not a lot of sales, but it's 3X!!!!

Getting tired of the arguments over what's better. Our household has 3 Nintendo DS lites, 2 PS2s, 2 Xboxs, 1 Xbox 360 and I have all intentions of getting a PS3 as soon as I upgrade our main television. I've put it off for a while specifically because I do want to invest in something to watch HD movies on, but wasn't sure who was going to win the 'war'. I don't want to be stuck with a Beta that I can show my grandkids and brag about how cool it was ... while it was still being supported.

A threefold increase in sales of PS3 also equates to a threefold increase of BR players, so for all intents and purpose this is also a lessening of the possibility that BR is the next betamax. Even if BR loses then you still have a next gen console with a built in next gen optical storage drive for all those beautiful games to come in the future. It is Win/Win at $400 don't you think? Sony knows this all too well.

"If the PS3 can sustain these quadrupled sales by continually cutting prices as required, the PS3 will be unstoppable until, perhaps, Nintendo and/or MS release their next gen consoles."

A 245% increase is not that impressive when you consider how poor it was doing before. Also the Wii still stomps all over it, and the only thing holding it back are shortages.

Stop being so literal and learn some alternate definitions, like this one for fold...

2. Times or repetitions; -- used with numerals, chiefly in composition, to denote multiplication or increase in a geometrical ratio, the doubling, tripling, etc., of anything; as, fourfold, four times, increased in a quadruple ratio, multiplied by four.

I keep hearing about this nowadays (shortages). Where are these reports coming from? Im not raggin on the Wii, I bought one already, but my Gf loves it more than i have, so we traded off Wii for PS3 for Xmas (she got a shit load of new games, im not ripping her off lol). So its best of both worlds now.

To the point,

Im starting to see nintendo Wiis USED at our gamestops in sacramento CA. Come flock here if you think your store doesnt have em. Our Circuit cities and walmarts start to carry them more frequently also. maybe 2 days out of the week they wont have any, but the store across the street will.

Why is there fan boys saying Xbox, PS3, or Wii is better than the other? Sure 1 of the 3 is more expensive or cheaper but why rag on them for that?

Who cares on your decision! They play games (or movies) that are fun to you! Buy what you can afford and show loyalty to your friends and family.

Wii jsut posted numbers that make these numbers look like a joke, and I'm sure xbox 360 will post similair blowout numbers...doesn't mean PS3 is gaining traction on them...it's jsut the seasonal bump!

The fact is, while most new HDTV's being sold today are 1080p-capable, most PS3 games run in 720p out of the box. So while, a 720p set might not be techically a perfect fit for HD movie discs, it's still sufficient. Buying a new 720p set today, though, may not be the best idea, nonetheless.

Fredo,

If you read other articles on this site, you will see that the biggest selling TVs by far are the 720p HDTVs. They are about half the price of 1080p and as you pointed out a lot of HD content is not 1080p anyway.

I would also challenge anyone with a TV

I own all game consoles to date that hit north america and I got my 60gig in december of 2006 for 650.00 Canadian.

I can't be happier with any of the game consoles as far as performance and technology.

Not to mention it is my ONLY Blue ray player that I use and I own 3 blue ray players.

Its start up time is fastest and blows HD-DVD away with load up times.
Not to mention if you want to view High Deffinition Footage that you taken this is the perffect system for it. I have a 15 mounth old and I't out performs even my quad core Intel for playback.

I expanded the HD to 250gig simple swap out. Not to mention that you can easly expand it with a WD external hard drives.

BEST of all this thing actualy puts out uncompressed audio at 7.1 chanelss unlike other hd-dvd and blue ray players.

My list goes on and on. As for technology for you $ this is the way to go if you do any photography or High deffinition video.

P.S. I cant tell how impressed I am when it comes to speed and photo's I enjoy using the PSP Remote play to link up to the ps3 remotly even over the internet and show off my 15 mounth old and family photo's with friends

where do you get you info from? that is the biggest load of crap ive heard on here. the time it would take a system to do that would be stupid. why scale it when the tv might if it has to. my tv displays it and even tells me what the resolution is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/720p#720p_versus_1080i
http://ezinearticles.com/?720p-Vs-1080i-HDTV&id=91443