Hacking the PSP Blog

Hirai confirms phase out of 60GB PS3

Sony Computer Entertainment president Kaz Hirai has confirmed David Reeves' comments that the 60GB PlayStation 3 will be phased out by the end of July.

Reeves told GamesIndustry.biz last week that once current stocks of the USD 499 model have sold out in North America, the 80GB 599 SKU will be the only version of the console on the market.

"Once that product is gone from the retailer's shelves, then we're back to the USD 599 SKU only," said Hirai speaking to VG Multimedia.

"It's not like we have a two price strategy here in the US market. We found out very early on that consumers react mostly to having one SKU as opposed to two," he said.

Matt Martin
July 16, 2007

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

E3 2007: Old PSP to be Phased Out

Senior Public Relations Manager for Sony Computer Entertainment America, Patrick Seybold, has substantiated this news to IGN: the 60GB will not be continued in North America, either. In effect, this means the $100 price drop is only temporary.

"The 60GB PS3 will be available in North America for $499 until supplies of that unit are depleted," Seybold said. "We have ample inventory to meet the immediate needs of consumers in this territory for several months to come. We won't be making any further announcements regarding our PS3 model hardware strategy in North America until the 60GB model is exhausted and market conditions are evaluated."

Seybold also shed some light on the company's plans for the older PSP model now that a redesign has been announced. Will it be phased out as well? Or receive its own price drop?

"The newly designed PSP will replace the original PSP design starting in September with the $169.99 PSP Core Pack and the $199.99 Daxter PSP Entertainment Pack."

Read the full article here...

Daemon Hatfield
July 13, 2007

Source: IGN

Off Topic: EB Games Australia Issues 360 Recall

From Kotaku:

EB Games Australia have issued a recall on their Xbox 360s. Not just their own personal display or demo units. Every single Premium Xbox 360 they had in-stock. Sources within the company have confirmed that two weeks ago (approx June 29) store managers were first asked by Head Office to test every unit in-stock for errors, but were then ordered last week to return their entire inventories of the console, as well as remove all 360 promotional material and dummy boxes from their stores. The recall is believed to be due to a faulty batch of HDDs, as it did not include Core units.

Read the full Story here...

Luke Plunkett
July 15, 2007

Source: Kotaku