I’ll start this out with a caveat: I personally think this rumor is borderline horeshit. But I would have printed it too.
The rumor goes something like this: Ars Technica (which is actually a pretty great site that I try to read as much as I’m able) has a rumor mole of sorts that predicted both the Xbox 360 Elite and the lack of wireless in the retail box of Rock Band for the 360. Both of these proved to be true, but I would also argue that they border on the ridiculously obvious.
Wedbush-Morgan analyst, Michael Pachter, has decided that the 499$ PS3 SKU is here to stay. He stated that once the “2-3 million” unsold 60GB PS3s are sold, that “we expect the company to lower the price of its 80Gb model to $499 on a standalone basis.” Because the 80GB version does not contain the backwards compatibility Emotion Engine, they believe that the production cost of the 80GB unit will be equal to or less than the 60GB. They also predict a further price drop of the system to 399$ by early next year.
While it certainly would be nice if Mr. Pachter was correct, we at ESG have some doubts. Sony may have gotten themselves a lot of good PR when they lowered the price, but we don’t put it past them to squander that with some idiotic decision. Hopefully Sony really does give the system out for 499$ due to the lack of hardware based backwards compatibility, but somehow I feel they will justify the higher price by pointing to the larger hard-drive. Or, they will continue to package the system with a bunch of items, like Motorstorm, controllers, etc., in order to justify continuing the 599$ price point.
Prove me wrong, Sony.
Chufmoney