Sony Scuppers Talk of Downscaled PS3
You can safely ignore those reports out there, says Sony.
The PlayStation 3 has been out in Europe for only six months and already there is clamour for a price cut. For a while this week, it seemed like would-be owners might be getting just that, but Sony has shot down reports of a cut, calling them mere "speculation".
On Tuesday CVG cited "several" unnamed sources at retailers and publishers saying that Sony is planning to release a cut-down PlayStation 3 at the discounted price of £299.
CVG says the rumoured console will have no USB ports, will not support backwards compatibility and would come with a 40 GB hard drive. No release date was mentioned.
Even with those concessions, such a console could be the shot in the arm the PS3 needs. The console has consistently lagged behind the Wii and the Xbox 360, not just across Europe but in the US too.
Sony said in an e-mail to us that the CVG report amounted to "rumour and speculation", refusing to confirm or deny any details.
Until now, Sony has taken a different tack, using more attractive bundles to draw in newcomers.
Recently the company said it was working with retailer HMV on an exclusive bundle that would include the PS3, two Sixaxis controllers, and three games, all for £425.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo
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