[Azumi]

Here's some information for the European members of this forum:


SCEE has just confirmed that the PS3 will be officially launched in Europe and the other PAL territories (Australia, New Zealand) on March 23. Only the 60 GB model will be available initially. The PS3 will cost 599 (or 425 £).


1 million units are reported to be available for the initial Euro launch (the UK alone should get some 300,000 units).


30 games have been announced for launch day, including Motorstom and F1 Championship. Heavenly Sword should be available as well.


I still don't know if Casino Royale will be bundled on some territories, although that seems likely. I also expect that Sony, Fox and Buena Vista will announce their european BD spring lineups in the coming days.

 

[Dixie Ruptin]

wow, 30 games at launch.

 

[ack_bk]

That is a lot of money.. I just do not see 1 million of these being sold very quickly until they drop the price.. The premium Xbox360 w Rainbow 6 Vegas is about 270 pounds in the UK.. Should be interesting to watch.

 

[gooki]

Looks like they're launching with the 60 gig model so when they introduce the 20 gig cloaser to xmas it gives the appearence of a price drop.


Will definetly be insteresting to watch. Especially when you consider many hardcore PS3 fans would have already imported their units.

 

[mboojigga]



Quote:
Originally Posted by gooki /forum/post/0


Looks like they're launching with the 60 gig model so when they introduce the 20 gig cloaser to xmas it gives the appearence of a price drop.


Will definetly be insteresting to watch. Especially when you consider many hardcore PS3 fans would have already imported their units.

I doubt that very much as far as some sort of apperance of a price drop. Originally it was stated they were not getting a 20 gig version. Everyone that would purchase the PS3 are very well aware of the 2 versions regardless of when they are released.

 

[HomerJay]

So basically Europe and company waited to pay $175 more?


599.00 EUR = 776.312 USD
http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi


It took 7 weeks in the U.S. for the PS3 to be readily available. I guess they're shooting for day 3 now?...

 

[Subotnik]



Quote:
Originally Posted by HomerJay /forum/post/0


So basically Europe and company waited to pay $175 more?


599.00 EUR = 776.312 USD
http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi


It took 7 weeks in the U.S. for the PS3 to be readily available. I guess they're shooting for day 3 now?...

You think that's expensive, don't ask a brit what he pays for petrol.

 

[gooki]

But at least their's an excuse for the petrol (over 100% tax).

 

[xbdestroya]

I created this conversion chart on another forum last July, but I think it's wrth posting here as well. Keep in mind that a number of things have changed since then (in terms of exchange rates and such), but it does the job needed of removing the VAT from the pricing. Just take the 'sans VAT' currency value and multiply by todays exchange rates. Remember that the Yen is the currency that matters in this conversion, not the dollar. Yen amounts should then after the fact be converted to dollars to get a relative sense of how Sony themselves is pricing relative to one another. This hedges out discrepencies in the Euro : Yen, Euro : Dollar conversion.

Quote:
In Sony's Fiscal 2007 Estimates, they assume a dollar exchange rate of 113 yen to the dollar, and 136 yen to the Euro - so we'll go with those for the sake of this math. For the Canadian dollar we'll arbitrarily use todays rate of 102 yen per dollar, and for the UK todays rate of 211 yen per BPS. Australia we'll use 85 yen to the dollar. We'll also go with a 17.5% VAT average for Europe.


So we have Sony's retail take on:


The US 20GB at: 499 US and 56,387 yen ($499)

The US 60GB at: 599 US and 67,687 yen ($599)


The Canadian 20GB at: 549 CA and 55,998 yen ($495)

The Canadian 60GB at: 649 CA and 66,198 yen ($586)


The European 20GB (sans VAT) at: 425 Euro and 57,800 yen ($511)

The European 60GB (sans VAT) at: 510 Euro and 69,360 yen ($614)


The UK 60GB (sans VAT) at: 360 GBP and 75,600 yen ($669)


The Australian 20GB (sans GST) at: 750 AUD and 63,750 yen ($564)

The Australian 60GB (sans GST) at: 910 AUD and 77,350 yen ($685)

One will readily see that in real terms, assertions such as HomerJay's that Europeans are paying ~$175 more simply lacks all context. When you remove the tax, things are much more comparable.

 

[911lad]

The price for the 60Gb unit is £425

The price for the Xbox 360 + external hd-dvd drive is £420.



It looks good value to me

 

[Azumi]

Guys, in consumer electronics and such, the prices in Europe have *always* been outrageously higher than in the US. Manufacturers never bothered with the conversion rates, and you can be sure that an hi-end Blu-ray player listed at 1290 $ will cost 1290 euros (1674 $).


Besides, when we buy iPods or any devices with hard drives or flash memory, we also have to pay additional taxes supposed to compensate artists for lost revenues.


I don't know for the UK, but in continental Europe the law prohibits retailers to sell at a loss. So, unless a manufacturer discounts a player or a device, we always have to pay it full price.


So, all things considered, 599 euros for the PS3 is comparatively a "fair price" for us...


If I had to go today to any parisian store specialized in imports, the prices of US BD movies typically go from 45 to 55 euros (58 to 71 $), while local BDs cost 30 euros (39 $).


You really don't imagine how being an early adopter can be dreadfully expensive for us... ;-(

 

[ack_bk]



Quote:
Originally Posted by 911lad /forum/post/0


The price for the 60Gb unit is £425

The price for the Xbox 360 + external hd-dvd drive is £420.



It looks good value to me

Sure, but look at the attachment rates for the HD-DVD add-on for the 360 and the number of 360's sold.. Plain and simple, the majority of 360 owners probably do not plan on buying the add-on because they bought the 360 to play games, not movies. Many people are not sold on either the Blu-Ray or HD-DVD format and do not want to invest in a player yet.


IMHO, Sony should have released their games in DVD format and also shipped a PS3 with all the same specs as the 60 GB model minus the BR drive (just a standard DVD drive) and sold it for $350-400 (US). My guess is that this player would outsell its BR counterparts UNTIL games start being released which actually utilize all the space of the BR disk..

 

[ottscay]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ack_bk /forum/post/0


Sure, but look at the attachment rates for the HD-DVD add-on for the 360 and the number of 360's sold.. Plain and simple, the majority of 360 owners probably do not plan on buying the add-on because they bought the 360 to play games, not movies. Many people are not sold on either the Blu-Ray or HD-DVD format and do not want to invest in a player yet.


IMHO, Sony should have released their games in DVD format and also shipped a PS3 with all the same specs as the 60 GB model minus the BR drive (just a standard DVD drive) and sold it for $350-400 (US). My guess is that this player would outsell its BR counterparts UNTIL games start being released which actually utilize all the space of the BR disk..

That would have been a disaster, because then game manufacturers would never have migrated to BD, because only a small fractiuon of the market would have supported the BD-bsed games. It's the same problem MSFT faes today if they choose to try and introduce an HD DVD-based 360 over a year after launch.

 

[ack_bk]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ottscay /forum/post/0


That would have been a disaster, because then game manufacturers would never have migrated to BD, because only a small fractiuon of the market would have supported the BD-bsed games. It's the same problem MSFT faes today if they choose to try and introduce an HD DVD-based 360 over a year after launch.

Good point, but the truth is that very few games over the next year or more will even take advantage of the size of Blu-Ray. Due to the head-start and success of the 360, most games will most likely just be ported over to the PS3 anyway. Game manufacturers are not going to take the time to offer content to fill-up a Blu-Ray disk unless they sold the game for $80-100... It is too expensive to produce until there are many, many more PS3's out there. For the next year (probably 2-3 years) standard size DVD's are plenty large enough to support games.


I do not see the 360 having a problem with their format (SD DVD) for games, and can only imagine that they will incorporate an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray drive in the future when games require the space..

 

[2cents]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ack_bk /forum/post/0


Sure, but look at the attachment rates for the HD-DVD add-on for the 360 and the number of 360's sold.. Plain and simple, the majority of 360 owners probably do not plan on buying the add-on because they bought the 360 to play games, not movies. Many people are not sold on either the Blu-Ray or HD-DVD format and do not want to invest in a player yet.


IMHO, Sony should have released their games in DVD format and also shipped a PS3 with all the same specs as the 60 GB model minus the BR drive (just a standard DVD drive) and sold it for $350-400 (US). My guess is that this player would outsell its BR counterparts UNTIL games start being released which actually utilize all the space of the BR disk..

What a dumb statement?

Sorry if I'm so blunt.

Do you know games are BD, 50G disk? How do you plan to give 1080P pic?

You mean give the Europeans 480P? I thought it was out years ago as PS2??

 

[AnthonyP]



Quote:
Due to the head-start and success of the 360, most games will most likely just be ported over to the PS3 anyway

there is one problem with that statement. There are already some games that have been ported and the developers included(or added) stuff that the 360 did not.

 

[Gekkou]



Quote:
Originally Posted by AnthonyP /forum/post/0


there is one problem with that statement. There are already some games that have been ported and the developers included(or added) stuff that the 360 did not.

That's not even mentioning all the (many) PS3-exclusive studios/games that won't have anything to do with the 360. There are even games now that fill up more than 8.5 gigs.

 

[aus]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ack_bk /forum/post/0


and also shipped a PS3 with all the same specs as the 60 GB model minus the BR drive (just a standard DVD drive) and sold it for $350-400 (US). My guess is that this player would outsell its BR counterparts UNTIL games start being released which actually utilize all the space of the BR disk..

You are not seeing the BIG picture for Sony... to make BR the standard for high def DVD- end of story. My making the PS3 come standard with a BD player, they just introduced BD to all those gamers so when they want a high def disc, which one do you think they will buy?


Also, when you add up the price of the 360 + HD-DVD player + WiFi, it's actually more than a PS3. Not to mention you'll hae multiple attachments pieces, including that ugly power supply.

 

[gandley]

Well you have to remember our £425 price tag includes 17.5% vat, so thats our price including tax.


I was talking to my online provider for the PS3 just to make sure i will get 1 at launch (i have a USA version at the mo) which i will but in genearal chat pre orders evidently are very high, some placed as far back as june 06 but he said they may not meet all preorders, but it will depend if sony meets there allocation.


Does not sound to bad, so demand seems OK for the UK at least.

 

[sneals2000]

Reports are that the UK will only be getting 220,000 PS3 units at launch now...