drkohler said: greenmedic88 said: I would actually rather buy the model with 16GB of onboard flash assuming it has an empty HDD bay. That way I'm not boxing up a 160GB or 250GB HDD that I have little use for after I install a 500-1000GB replacement, or just install one of the many 2.5" HDDs I already have on hand. You might be out of luck then. The PS3 requires a SATA drive to boot and the console has that one SATA slot for the HD. The 16GB card could be a as-cheap-as-you-can-make-it slot card. The flash memory could also be somewhere else but that would require a second SATA slot (major mainboard changes), to that the end a HD-less solution could end up costing more..

I seriously doubt it.

It's a lot cheaper to simply solder the flash memory on board and the entire point of the redesign is cost savings. 

bouzane said: Galaki said: The gen is already over, what tide are we talking about? How is the gen over when there are tens of millions of consoles left to sell and potentially hundreds of millions of units of software?

i agree. how is it end of gen when sony and microsoft's next console aint even been announced yet. ps3 was announced E3 2005, in 2004 was the PS2 near the end of its cycle? no where near! we still had san andreas, MGS3, god of war to come and still 50m+ more sales for PS2.  who knows whats left to come on PS3.

Ajescent said: But the tide is already shifting...now?

Yes but those tides will turn into a tsunami!

The gen is basically over. Sony can swoop in and swallow up all the scraps they want, they have still lost this gen and lost a ton of momentum into next gen.

greenmedic88 said: I seriously doubt it. It's a lot cheaper to simply solder the flash memory on board and the entire point of the redesign is cost savings.

No can do. Protection mechanisms in the PS3 requires a SATA storage device. Either you design a second SATA bus onto the motherboard with the chip, or use the one available. The first solution would probably end up costing more than a hd.

J_Allard said: The gen is basically over. Sony can swoop in and swallow up all the scraps they want, they have still lost this gen and lost a ton of momentum into next gen.

The "scraps" as you call them amount to billions of dollars. Also, how can a system that is currently outselling the competition have lost momentum going into the next generation?

I believe this analyst is referring to holiday sales when he says the tides are changing. Considering the PS3 is typically the lower selling console during the holiday, especially in North America, he may be anticipating a big change for the PS3 this year.

bouzane said: J_Allard said: The gen is basically over. Sony can swoop in and swallow up all the scraps they want, they have still lost this gen and lost a ton of momentum into next gen. The "scraps" as you call them amount to billions of dollars. Also, how can a system that is currently outselling the competition have lost momentum going into the next generation?

Billions? Over the course of maybe a couple years with less than impressive hardware sales and who knows what kind of profit margin since it would have to be dropped in price to make an impact? No way.

 

PS2 is almost at 160 million sold, yes? Are you going to try and tell me the Playstation brand name is as strong entering next gen as it was entering this gen? Not even close.

Definitely possible. All Sony would have to do is strategically place counters on or before the release of Wii U and its games, as well as the release of the successor of Xbox 360 and its games by form of price cuts, bundles, abundance of AAA games preferrably exclusives, and most of all, persuasive marketing.

Sony will need to utilize its multimedia capabilities one of which being its main focus is Blu Ray, with emphasis on free Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Video access in comparison to Microsoft's subscription-based program.

PS3 Slim(mer) is just the instrument to make such a shift of sizable magnitude; and this will all commence at Gamescom.

J_Allard said: bouzane said: J_Allard said: The gen is basically over. Sony can swoop in and swallow up all the scraps they want, they have still lost this gen and lost a ton of momentum into next gen. The "scraps" as you call them amount to billions of dollars. Also, how can a system that is currently outselling the competition have lost momentum going into the next generation? Billions? Over the course of maybe a couple years with less than impressive hardware sales and who knows what kind of profit margin since it would have to be dropped in price to make an impact? No way.   PS2 is almost at 160 million sold, yes? Are you going to try and tell me the Playstation brand name is as strong entering next gen as it was entering this gen? Not even close.

The current generation of hardware still has billions of dollars of revenue in terms of remaining hardware and software sales, that's an absolute fact.

You seem to have a different definition of momentum. The Xbox brand performed well in the years leading into the current generation and therefore had momentum during the 360 launch. The PS3 is currently outselling the competition and that's without a recent price cut, the brand has more momentum at the moment in the console market. Sure, it's not as good as when they launched the PS3 but your assertion that they lost a "ton" of momentum is difficult to accept, especially considering the fact that they had much, much less about four to five years ago.

Edit: What you're saying makes sense though I guess, except the scraps comment which was ridiculous.