Although this has been advertised as a drop in price, it is not that at all. Turns out that Sony is actually dropping the 60GB model in favor of a new 80GB model with better technology for backwards compatibility with PS and PS2 games.

The current $499 price is actually a firesale to move all of the existing 60GB units out of stores before the new $599 priced 80GB makes its way on to shelves.

1. Don't understand the point of this article. Just a straight out attack on Sony? And for what? Reducing the price of their PS3 Media Center Console? This product is proving to be one of the greatest next generation offerings of any electronics product. It houses the best next generation DVD technology - Blu-ray, a full media center (music and video management), Internet browsing and online gaming (Playstation Network), a virtual social gathering enviroment (HOME), and a gaming system. This is the first console that is truly bringing convergence of all of these different features to one centralized system. The only thing this article should have been about was the unbelievable savings such a break through electronics product like the PS3 is delivering to consumers worldwide.

2. The price reduction is a price reduction plain and simple. The thing that amazes me is how people take a really silly and lame response from the Microsoft people and actually repeat it regardless of how silly and stupid their comments really are.

Pre July 10th 60gig PS3 was $599 after July 10th 60gig PS3 is $499. Clearly a $100 price reduction. However it is clear though the attempted dissemination of misinformation, by their closest competitor, SONY has really struck fear into Microsoft. When executives start to lie publicly it is a concern that Microsoft share holders should be very weary of.

Kudos to SONY for being a visionary company and truly delivering on those visions!

You've gotta be kidding me.

Actually, no it's not a 'firesale' to move product out of th way of something to replace it. The comments about the 60GB model were made by a representative of the European branch of Sony, not the US branch. Hooray for off the cuff, uninformed industry comments.

Where Sony is looking to recoup money is down the road. With more PS3s in homes, that happens to be more Blu-ray drives in homes. If people are buying Blu-ray to the point where it beats out HD DVD, Sony can reap the rewards of that. Given, of course, that it also takes over as the format of choice from standard DVD.

One other thing to consider is that every game that's honestly been worth purchasing for the Xbox360 .. oh that would be Gears of War .. is being ported to PC. First person shooter .. PC or console .. No comparison. The desperation here should be from 360 owners who watch the sole reasons for having that console come out for a PC they already had.

And that, all, is called wasting money.

Well... in response to the story.

I seriously doubt the PS3 is costing Sony $600+ to manufacture at this point, with the production of Blu-Ray drives gearing up and costs coming down. $500 should hardly kill them.

Furthermore... do you not realize that the extreme bump in sales is mainly because this price cut has been HEAVILY rumored for the last 1-2 months. I'm sure there was a healthy backlog of PS3 buyers just holding off on purchase until the price cut was announced. That's not enough buyers to "save" Sony, but it's certainly more than enough to give them a huge bump for a week or so. And that's exactly what you're seeing on Amazon. Granted, the real issue would be seeing if Sony can sustain a decent volume of sales.