PS3 shortage

New model slim coming out, read the other thread.

I think that Sony is trying to make money. The best way to do that is to divert shipments to the EU and Asia.

The new slim model coming out may have something to do with it, but this shortage has been going on for longer than that alone would explain. There has also been higher demand due to the new price, but I think it is a mix of all 3 (new slim, more demand, profit-seeking).

Here's the link with our discussions on the issue.

I just picked up a slim friday at Target. Lady said they only received two about an hour before i showed up. i might not open it yet in case the new slims come out soon.

It's just the standard technique: exhaust the existing supply thus ramping up speculation/conversations like this thus leading to an increase in the public's demand...then they release the new console.

Happens fairly frequently with hardware updates not just limited to Sony or gaming consoles...

Target's got a 90 day return policy, at least they do down here in Texas. Open it up. Just don't get carried away.

I returned mine after about three weeks because some videos were skipping.

That's not going to happen because the hard drive is mandatory on the PS3. It would mean that you are essentially buying a non-functioning machine, and that would confuse many of the casual buyers whom would buy it without doing any research because of the lower price point.

Love the conspiracy theories but the fact of the matter is: A) demand is not constant and B) shelf-space (and production capacity) is not infinite.

It is in the best interest of any CE manufacturer to aim for having exactly the number of units available for sale as will be purchased. Obviously, there has to be some margin to account for various factors (different demand in different areas, spikes in demand, etc). But if any CE manufacturer makes a ton of product that ends up sitting around in warehouses or on store shelves, even if they are eventually sold, it costs them margin. In CE hardware, margins are thin already, so it is worth optimizing this problem as much as you can. But that means sometimes demand spikes and you're left with empty shelves and frustrated customers.

Sony has already stated that the demand was outstripping their projected numbers and they were working to get larger numbers available.

Unless they are planning on a new price point, there's no point in allowing older hardware revs to drain before releasing the new ones. The new slim hardware is likely to be a silent rev that will be released alongside older models.

Its most likely because the production line has been switching to the new model with the smaller rsx chip. There should be a flood of new ps3s anytime now.

LOL. When I said "conspiracy theory" I was responding to the idea that Sony was deliberately holding back stock to somehow make the PS3 more desirable. I'll label that a conspiracy theory any day of the week and Sunday, you can feel free to agree or disagree as you like.

Regardless, I don't believe this has anything to do with a new hardware rev, but I would consider speculation along those lines as "informed guessing", not "conspiracy theorizing".

Microsoft is selling people 360 arcades w/o a hard drive....even when some games require a HDD

Which game requires a hard drive? The only one I know of is FFXI

A couple of games on the 360 require a HD, out of hundreds. You think this is a valid comparison to EVERY game on the PS3 requiring a HD? The PS3 cannot work without one.

While Sony could sell a PS3 "kit", it would not make much sense other than a entry level price point ($30-$50 cheaper?). But that would be offset by the support headache and negative PR.

Could it not be said that all games on the PS3 take advantage of the hard drive since they all have them, rather than looking at it the other way?

And can you download games from XBOX Live without a hard drive? (so it's not just a few...)

You can with a memory card. The arcade unit comes with 256 megabites of memory built-in, which is enough to download a few games.

Playstations OS is on the HD, XBOX doesn't. PS3 can not function with out one.

IMO that seems like an odd thing to do during the release of a big hit game like God of War III.

Some are, some aren't. My older 80gb PS2 BC PS3 does not have the OS on the HD. My newer 40gb does. Found out when I upgraded hard drives.

Don't know any physical way of knowing. It was news to me when I upgraded the hard drives.

Yup. Probably lost tens of thousands of sales because of that. Not smart.

Not sure when but Sony dropped the amount of flash from 256MB to 16MB. Most of the OS is on the HDD now.

It told me so when I installed the new hard disk on the newer 40gb unit I have. The older 80gb just went right through on restoring the data. The 40gb unit said that a valid operating system could not be found and must first be installed to the hard disk.