Sony Cuts Price on PlayStation 3, Axes Backwards Compatibility Too
Sony Computer Entertainment America has announced that starting from Fall ‘08 it would offer PlayStation 3 model with 80GB hard drive for the price of $399. Unfortunately for PlayStation fans, the new model may not be backwards compatible with games released for previous-generation platforms.
Starting in September 2008, the newly announced PlayStation 3 80GB model will become the mainstay of the company’s hardware line-up. The 80GB model will retail for $399, and will offer all of the features and functionality of the 40GB model with double the storage to accommodate more movies, graphics, music, photos and other entertainment content. Unfortunately, this also means that the 80GB model will not be compatible with games for Sony PlayStation and PlayStation 2 video game consoles.
It is unclear whether Sony plans to offer backwards compatible PlayStation 3 model going forward in the USA at $499 price-point. In fact, there is no backwards compatible PlayStation 3 models in Japan already.