DailyTech - 20GB PlayStation 3 Lives On in Japan

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Gadgets 20GB PlayStation 3 Lives On in Japan
Marcus Yam (Blog) - April 13, 2007 3:02 AM

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19 comment(s) - last by Spivonious.. on Apr 18 at 4:33 PM

You won't ever see this box on North American shelves again

Gamers in Japan still get to choose their PS3

This week, SCEA officially confirmed that the 20GB PlayStation 3 would no longer be offered in North America, leaving only the $599 60GB model the only one available . In Japan, however, the 20GB model will live on.

IGN cites Famitsu.com’s question to Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. asking about the status of the 20GB console in Japan, to which a company representative replied, “We're currently not considering changes akin to North America. However we would like to react flexibly with the market.”

The Japan correspondent for IGN conducted a quick check of various Tokyo game shops and found both 20GB and 60GB models readily available, both new and used.

The Japanese 20GB PS3 is one of the cheapest versions of the console worldwide. With its price cut before the console launch, the 20GB PS3 currently costs 49,980 yen, or about $421. In contrast, the same console was priced at $499 in the U.S. when it was still available.

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Payasia

By tuteja1986 on 4/13/2007 4:22:55 AM , Rating: 2

You can buy a 20GB PS3 on play asia for $499 and they will ship it anywhere in the world ; )

So $499 + $50 shipping to australia = $550.00 USD
(661.099 AUD)

Beats paying $999AUD !!! ... don't care about 60GB hard drive or Wifi as i got a home network and i don't see 20GB getting used up if Sony doesn't start to release more online content.

RE: Payasia

By Lord Sear on 4/13/2007 8:18:29 AM , Rating: 2

Yup - and when you receive it - throw out the 2.5" 20GB drive and put in a standard 500GB 3.5" - for a poultry price.

I'm a UK resident and am visiting Canada in May. I shall buy my PS3 there. PS3s have dual-voltage PSUs and the games and not region set. The blu-ray movies are but there are tonnes more R1 titles available than R2, they're cheaper and are released there first.

PS3 60GB UK retail: - £425 ($1,016 Aus, $956 Can)
So - if I buy in Canada my PS3 costs £310 ...

& no I will not be paying import Tax or VAT - I shall unbox and tuck inside my main bag and shove it in the hold - bonza, as I believe you say.

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RE: Payasia

By Spivonious on 4/13/2007 9:25:55 AM , Rating: 2

You better hope customs doesn't want to look in your bag. I would imagine that the VAT on it is what makes up the difference in price.

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RE: Payasia

By alifbaa on 4/14/2007 9:29:30 AM , Rating: 2

If they do, you just say you took it with you from home and didn't purchase it in Canada. "The VAT is already paid."

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RE: Payasia

By Spivonious on 4/18/2007 4:33:42 PM , Rating: 2

I don't know how the EU does it, but in the US you have to declare anything over a certain amount before you go over if you're taking it with you. That, or have a receipt proving that you bought it in your home country. If you don't do either, then customs can charge an import tax on the laptop you took to Europe with you.

Does this happen frequently? Not really, but they could if they wanted to.

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RE: Payasia

By JimFear on 4/13/2007 10:24:15 AM , Rating: 3

You do know that not all games are region free don't you? The developers still have the power to region lock depending on content ratings.

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RE: Payasia

By Scalptrash on 4/13/2007 10:32:30 AM , Rating: 1

The 20GB was a no brainer for me. I saw the only benefit of the 60GB was really the built in WiFi, which has inherently more lag issues when playing games online anyway.
I used the $100 I saved to purchase a 120GB HDD and if you think you need the memory card slots, USB thumb drives work just fine.
The 60GB just adds $100 more up front, when the money could be better spent elsewhere. Plus, 60GB eventually won't be enough and it will have to be upgraded as well. Too bad they discontinued the 20GB already, it truly was the better buy. I remember reading here that Sony actually loses more money on the 20GB systems, not sure why, but apparently they do.

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RE: Payasia

By doctor sam adams on 4/14/2007 12:18:08 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
I remember reading here that Sony actually loses more money on the 20GB systems, not sure why, but apparently they do.

Because the wi-fi and 40 GB cost it less than $100 to put in.

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RE: Payasia

By PrinceGaz on 4/13/2007 11:09:16 AM , Rating: 4

quote:
Yup - and when you receive it - throw out the 2.5" 20GB drive and put in a standard 500GB 3.5" - for a poultry price.

The last time I checked, 500GB 3.5" drives were rather more expensive than chicken, turkey or any other fowl ;)

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RE: Payasia

By WiiKnee on 4/13/2007 1:01:08 PM , Rating: 2

LOL!

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RE: Payasia

By Wagnbat on 4/13/2007 8:19:34 AM , Rating: 2

I for one, don't want a Japanese based console. I remember hacking the PS1 so I could play Japanese games and being pissed that I couldn't read anything. Kind of ruins the experience.

And sure you save 300AUD now... What about when you have to buy any game you want to play from overseas, and pay overseas shipping and duties/tax on them.

No thanks.

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RE: Payasia

By MrTeal on 4/13/2007 9:44:44 AM , Rating: 4

So, before you went to all the trouble of hacking the PS1, it never occured to you that the japanese games you wanted to play might require an understanding of japanese?

PS3 games aren't region locked, it doesn't matter what region system you have for game playing.

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RE: Payasia

By kmiller1700 on 4/13/2007 10:16:44 AM , Rating: 2

he thought he knew Japanese....but obviously he didnt...

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RE: Payasia

By Senju on 4/13/2007 10:54:53 AM , Rating: 2

You do not need to know Japanese. It is called Asian settings. What I mean is (like XBOX360), software needs to be NTSC-J compliant. Singapore and China have these and work great on Japanese consoles. They are bilingual English/Chinese so just select English. Also "PAL" can work as well. I got CallofDuty3 using PAL and works fine as well.
Of course you can get the orginal Japanese version but it does not include English. Just look for NTSC-J or PAL.

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Great PR for Sony

By HaZaRd2K6 on 4/13/2007 11:44:31 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
...a quick check of various Tokyo game shops and found both 20GB and 60GB models readily available, both new and used.

New and used?! The console's only been out for five months and people are already selling it off! I hate to come off sounding like a fanboy here (I'm not, I only own the original Xbox, and I barely play it), but there's gotta be something Sony's done way wrong to make people not even wait for a stronger games catalogue. The Xbox 360 also had a crap catalogue at launch (if I remember correctly), but it's still going--and going strong. Oh, Sony... what have you done?

RE: Great PR for Sony

By Goty on 4/13/2007 2:00:07 PM , Rating: 2

I'm going to buy a 360 core system along with Halo 3, own it long enough to play through the game, then sell it. It essentially comes down to the same thing here (though I don't know what killer app there was to play at the time). It could also be that people shelled out the money to buy the system and then realized that they really couldn't afford it.

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RE: Great PR for Sony

By othercents on 4/13/2007 2:34:54 PM , Rating: 3

Or those people who purchased them to resell on ebay and found that there really wasn't a market for the PS3.

Other

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RE: Great PR for Sony

By Zoomer on 4/13/2007 8:49:11 PM , Rating: 2

Its not uncommon in Japan now to buy, then resell it a little bit later for something else.

I wouldn't be surprised if some sold 20GBs for 60GBs. Or perhaps for <insert fancy $1000 mobile phone, digital camera, micro laptop, etc>.

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