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PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 Elite to share price in Canada - but which is the better value?

Along with the U.S. price drop, Canadian retailers have also been instructed by Sony to reduce the price of the 60GB PlayStation 3 to $549 – the level previously occupied by the 20GB version.

Platformers.net is carrying a leaked upcoming flyer image from Best Buy showing the PlayStation 3 selling at $549, representing a $110 price drop.

Earlier this year, Canadian retailers even raised the price of the PlayStation 3 from the initial $549 and $659 – for the 20GB and 60GB, respectively – to $599 and $699.

Interestingly enough, the upcoming Canadian price of the PlayStation 3 after its drop will be exactly on the same level as the Xbox 360 Elite, which also retails for $549.

It is unclear if Microsoft will change the pricing on its Xbox 360 Elite model in Canada to reflect the position of its U.S. counterpart. In the U.S., the Xbox 360 Elite sells for $20 less than the new PlayStation 3 price.

Although more storage space is almost always welcomed, the Canadian market benefits significantly less from the added 100GB on the Xbox 360 Elite’s 120GB hard disk drive. U.S. gamers have access to a decent library of movies and TV shows on Xbox Live Marketplace, but Xbox Live accounts in Canada have no such service.

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I had no idea sales tax was that high!
By VoodooChicken on 7/9/2007 9:11:22 AM , Rating: 2
I haven't been up to Canada this millenium. I'm in the Dallas, Texas area, and our tax is 8.25% (as low as 6.25% in some of the suburbs).




RE: I had no idea sales tax was that high!
By michal1980 on 7/9/2007 9:13:30 AM , Rating: 1
"FREE" Health care costs money.


RE: I had no idea sales tax was that high!
By aos007 on 7/9/2007 11:57:22 AM , Rating: 3
Actually the 6 percent or so that is the federal sales tax only nets a few billion a year - nowhere close to 70+ billion health care budget. Health care is paid by the federal government from general revenues (mostly income taxes), but administered by each province. The other (roughly) half of the sales taxes - for the provinces that have them, which is all except Alberta - goes to the province own general revenue which spends it on other things (education, transportation, whatever).

We pay for health care mostly through income tax and also - contrary to belief - we also have to personally pay monthly premiums! E.g. $55 a month in BC. These are typically picked up by employers or by the province if the person is destitute. $55 a month is much less than in US but it's nothing to sneeze at if you are self-employed or unemployed - plus it's MANDATORY to pay it.


RE: I had no idea sales tax was that high!
By Tsuwamono on 7/9/2007 2:55:08 PM , Rating: 2
actually Alberta doesnt have a PST they only have GST(federal) because of the revenue they make off oil and the fact that even cashiers there make 30g a year so their income tax revenue is ridiculous.

Most other provinces have something around 6% PST. and the GST is currently 8% so that adds up to 15% which is pretty standard.

as for the paying premiums i dunno what your talking about because i have never paid a premium for health care. I have paid for dental however but not health care and i have lived in both Ontario and Quebec. As far as Mandatory things go the only thing mandatory is that you have car insurance if you have a car and you pay your taxes. I know of no premium and i have never had to pay a premium.


RE: I had no idea sales tax was that high!
By Tsuwamono on 7/9/2007 2:57:11 PM , Rating: 2
oops sorry i got the sales tax numbers reversed. GST is 6 and PST is 8 generally.


RE: I had no idea sales tax was that high!
By inflames99 on 7/9/2007 9:04:44 PM , Rating: 2
GST was 8%, it is now 7% for a combined 14%. it was dropped by the harper government last year.


By inflames99 on 7/9/2007 9:05:59 PM , Rating: 2
oops gst was 7 now 6


By InsaneGain on 7/9/2007 1:37:43 PM , Rating: 2
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18674951/
"America ranks last among six countries on key measures, group finds...Germany, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada all provide better care for less money, the Commonwealth Fund report found."


RE: I had no idea sales tax was that high!
By Flunk on 7/9/2007 9:29:46 AM , Rating: 2
It's actually 14% where I live (Ontario).


RE: I had no idea sales tax was that high!
By ATC on 7/9/2007 10:15:52 AM , Rating: 2
It's 6% in Alberta


RE: I had no idea sales tax was that high!
By InsaneGain on 7/9/2007 1:51:43 PM , Rating: 2
There is no sales tax in Alberta. The only tax is the federal 6% tax which applies across Canada.


By ATC on 7/9/2007 3:45:00 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
There is no sales tax in Alberta.

Actually there is; it's 6%. That's what I meant by the 6% (total taxes which are 6%GST and no PST). GST is a sales tax, it's just not a provincial sales tax.

Incidentally, I guess this price is effective immediately. Future Shop online is already $549.


By pekingu on 7/9/2007 11:57:23 AM , Rating: 2
here in Europe vat ranges usually between 15 to 25%
but as i have heard countless times from you
you get wht you have paid for.


By Goty on 7/9/2007 12:17:28 PM , Rating: 2
Just because sales tax is low in comparison doesn't mean that you won't make up for it in property, income, and other miscellaneous taxes that get slapped on to your paycheck.


To answer your headline..
By randoljt on 7/9/2007 9:07:33 AM , Rating: 1
The 360 remains the better value thanks to the game library, if you're using your console strictly to play games.

PS3 seems to hold the overall better value as an entertainment center piece.




RE: To answer your headline..
By Gul Westfale on 7/9/2007 9:29:01 AM , Rating: 2
i think the only real disadvantage the xbox 360 has is that the HD DVD drive is not built in; other than that it does remain the better value thanks to the much larger game library. but then there is also the issue with the defective machines... what was the failure rate on the 360, 25%? better get an extended warranty then.

truth be told, i'm still sticking with my PC, the games are better and i don't have to pay a fee to play online. sure PCs are more expensive still than consoles, but they're also more versatile.


RE: To answer your headline..
By BioRebel on 7/9/2007 9:44:57 AM , Rating: 1
I would rather deal with microsoft over a broken system than have to deal with sony over a broken system. From what I've heard even if it was a manufacturing defect, they still charge you to fix the system.


RE: To answer your headline..
By omnicronx on 7/9/2007 9:53:41 AM , Rating: 1
actually I am glad it is not included. Does nobody remember the ps2 days? half the consoles that died were the result of people using their ps2 as their primary dvd drive. the ps2 has come and gone but one thing remains true.. a disc drive is a disc drive.. playing countless hours of movies on your system will greatly decrease the lifetime of your console. I think this could be the only weakness the ps3 has right now hardware wise.

and as for pc's, yes they are more versatile, yes some pc games are more fun, but i would rather pay 60 dollars any day to play online instead of having to buy 2 video cars every year and a half to be able to play new games with decent frame rates. Then again.. cs is so damn fun who needs a vidcard ;)


RE: To answer your headline..
By BioRebel on 7/9/2007 10:49:22 AM , Rating: 1
Or you could just not be cheap and buy a nice video card every 4 years. My 7800 GTX still gets great performance.


RE: To answer your headline..
By Schadenfroh on 7/9/2007 11:00:28 AM , Rating: 1
Microsoft has a 3 year warranty on the xbox 360 now, check the hot deals forum of anandtech for more info.


RE: To answer your headline..
By Lord Sear on 7/9/2007 11:59:23 AM , Rating: 2
I bought mind in Canada for $600 brand new via Korean exporter and took back home to UK.

I use if with TVersity (free) to stream iTunes tracks (remove protection via free software on web), QTime (up to 1080p), DIVx, podcasts, video podcasts, photos - there's nothing it can't play with TVersity.

That coupled with a superier Bluray R1 catalogue, games like F1 Championship, Motorstorm and a billiant line up to come - couldn't be happier.

I have a high-end PC with a 8800GTS, so just prefer change to MS and have a SONY experience instead.

Nice!


RE: To answer your headline..
By aos007 on 7/9/2007 12:31:06 PM , Rating: 3
I agree, after 1.80 update PS3 became much more useful as a media device. You can stream anything if you set up the TVersity properly, though video quality is not very good for non-native codecs (which is pretty much everything right now). Audio and pictures are fine. And it's ALMOST quiet enough to be used as a media playback device (Xbox360 is much too loud). Blu-Ray and DVD upscaling are working very well, too.

I don't know how many times did the memory card reader come in handy for showing pictures immediately after a group outing. I never expected that feature to be useful to me. Sony did a great job with photo management.

Xbox360 is much better regarding the library of games though, so much so that PS3 isn't even in the running. For strictly a gamer, it's still too early to buy a PS3.

I personally like Microsoft's product CONCEPT better. The execution is another thing - someone already said that you can see which company is in hardware business and which one is in software business. The Xbox component design is excellent (symmetrical triple core, graphics etc.). But when it comes to putting it all together - mainboard design, cooling and construction - Microsoft committed mistakes that only can be due to inexperience. And they are paying for it - over a billion bucks too much. Why didn't they just hire or contract a few experienced hardware designers to throw that box together? It would've cost them far less.

In the end, any serious gamer will have both anyway.

And this price drop is welcome. A friend of mine was waiting for it, and has committed to buy as soon as stores actually start selling at $549. $100 off and 5 free Blu Ray movies did it for him. So the strategy is working with at least a certain segment of population (the ones wanting a Blu Ray player).


RE: To answer your headline..
By bplewis24 on 7/9/2007 1:55:07 PM , Rating: 2
Great and articulate post. I would've voted you up but I wanted to post this link:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat1...

Best Buy (I realize you were speaking for Canada and not the U.S.) has officially started selling the PS3 for $499 online. So that is a step in the right direction as far as confirmation for other territories is concerned.

Brandon


lol
By Mithan on 7/9/2007 8:58:42 AM , Rating: 2
I just payed $699 plus 12% Tax in May for the system so this sucks for me :)

This will make a HUGE difference for the system here in Canada as the $699 price tag was horrendous but still, I would like to see them go for another $50 and drop it to $499 as I think that is where they will find a big emotional barrier that could effect sales a lot more..

A lot of my gaming friends who are between 20-35 years of age have been waiting for it to drop below $500 before they bought in and while it is still hugely expensive, I think it starts to become worth it at the $400-500 price tag, considering everything the system can do.

As for the PS3's success itself, I think Sony shouldn't worry too much. I think by 2008 the legions of PS2 fans will start looking at upgrading and many of them will be looking at this system.




RE: lol
By FITCamaro on 7/9/07, Rating: 0
RE: lol
By aos007 on 7/9/2007 11:58:53 AM , Rating: 2
Yes, but if he bought it in May, it's too late - it's July already.

Most major retailers here in Canada do have the "price protection" policy also.


RE: lol
By darkpaw on 7/9/2007 12:29:05 PM , Rating: 2
Completely depends on the store. The tech stores like Fry's or Best Buy are limited to 30 days or less. Target I think does 90 days as does Sam's Club and Costco.

I'm not sure what you got up north for major chains, but it could still be matchable.


RE: lol
By aos007 on 7/9/2007 12:37:30 PM , Rating: 2
Price protection is typically 30 days here, except on things like laptops and PCs and software/games where it's only 15 days. Some smaller stores - e.g. Visions - have an interesting policy where the price protection is 30 days in cash and then another 30 days where you get in-store credit. That's why I bought my TV there. But in general no one gives you more than 30 days. I don't know about Costco though - we do have them here but I'm not a member (I only shop there when I go with friends who are members). We don't have Target and Sam's Club here.

It's always worth trying though, once I got a price protection refund for a $500 (!!) price drop on a Toshiba laptop even though I was one day too late (16 days later).


Good Move
By Zigazoid on 7/9/2007 10:13:01 AM , Rating: 2
Microsoft will have to respond to this with a price cut once Sony gets a good library of games in order. That should happen late in the fall.

The 360's only strong point currently is a great gaming library.




RE: Good Move
By FITCamaro on 7/9/2007 10:34:23 AM , Rating: 2
I think they'll probably drop the price when Halo 3 comes out. By then the 65nm chips should be in.


RE: Good Move
By bkm32 on 7/9/2007 10:52:59 AM , Rating: 2
Not good enough. MS needs to move now, before E3 and before Sony builds momentum with this. MS should have a Halo 3 bundle with a slight price drop (include a Halo 3 faceplate, too).


Exchange rate
By Deaks2 on 7/9/2007 1:22:15 PM , Rating: 2
So let's see, the price south of the border is $499.99 USD, which at the current exchange rate of 1.0489, should make a PS3 $524.44 CAD, and I will round that up to a nice $524.99.

Where is this $550 CAD price coming from?

And don't get me started on the 360, the Elite should be much cheaper than $550 CAD considering it retails for $479.99 USD.




RE: Exchange rate
By Scott66 on 7/9/2007 1:59:57 PM , Rating: 2
Why are you comparing Canadian to U.S.. You should be comparing to Japan. Such pricing decisions are made there. We have not gained on the Yen like we have on the Greenback.


RE: Exchange rate
By Smoza on 7/9/2007 8:44:34 PM , Rating: 2
If you think thats bad, try the Aussie PS3 price. AUD$1000! At current conversion rates works out to be about US$860.

Methinks we're getting a raw deal down here...


360 Failures
By Supersonic3474 on 7/9/07, Rating: -1
RE: 360 Failures
By OxBow on 7/9/2007 11:34:31 AM , Rating: 2
I agree, there's no way I believe Microsofts claim about the failure rate on the 360. It's easily six times higher than what they're claiming. 5% x 6 = 30%. Actually, my guese is that it's closer to 50%, but 30% is a bad enough scandal.

With 12 million 360s in the wild, MS has to up their warrantee, since a recall would be devastating, even to MS. While a $1.5b hit on their '07 balance sheet is tough, if they had to issue a recall on the 360 they could easily be looking at a $300b to $500b hit. While MS has buckets of money lying around, even they would have to think twice about loosing that much money over a couple design defects. That would give them over 300,000,000,000 reasons to hide the ture failure rate.


RE: 360 Failures
By zombiexl on 7/9/2007 12:18:10 PM , Rating: 1
I doubt the 30%. Almost no one I know (personally) has had a single problem. I had one die right out of the box, but I got it replaced its been smooth sailing for a year and a half.

I think its like anything else. You never hear a peep from the happy customers, but the mad ones scream loud enough for everyone to hear.


RE: 360 Failures
By Darthvoy on 7/9/2007 12:56:51 PM , Rating: 2
well there you go...just because no one you know has had their xbox 360 break on them means that the stuff all over the news must be false!


RE: 360 Failures
By zombiexl on 7/9/2007 2:29:12 PM , Rating: 2
I never said that the news is false, I just stated i think the number is inflated.

I said that MINE was broken out of the box. So I didnt say no one I know has had a problem. I said ALMOST no one I know.

I'd guess the failure rate is of 10-15%, not including dumb asses who store their 360's in their oven and leave it on 72 hours at a time, while baking a pizza at 450 in the same oven.


360
By Supersonic3474 on 7/9/07, Rating: -1
RE: 360
By OxBow on 7/9/2007 11:24:56 AM , Rating: 4
Other than the fact that the PS3 is far more reliable than the 360, let's look at your argument.

Better Graphics- Oblivion on the PS3 looks far better than on the 360 (comparing apples to apples) with none of the frame rate issues that the 360 version has (I've played both). Since Oblivion is considered one of the heavy weights in terms of graphics load, I feel that this is a pretty good measure.

It's smaller- Yes and no. The dimensions on the 360 are a little less, but the 360 has an external power brick, the power supply on the PS3 is internal. In spite of having an external power supply, the 360 still has heat problems which the PS3 has been able to avoid. That said, I do like the changeable face plates and fingerprintless surface of the 360. Gloos black has never been my style.

More Games- If all you like to do is shoot things, the 360 has you covered in spades. If your interests are more diverse, then the difference is not nearly as pronounced. If you factor in the lead time the 360 had over the PS3, then you start to wonder what MS was doing with that extra year. Live is nice, but it's not perfect. Sony is open about the plans they have for expanding their online lineup, far more than MS is. MS seems to be resting on it's laurels with Live, and could be easily over run by the Wii and PS3 in this area.

More Media Content- I don't follow you at all here, but let me try to take a stab at your argument. Live has some music videos and movies available for download. That's fine if you're willing to wait a couple hours for the movie to download, then commit an additional time to watch it within it's alloted rental time before it self deletes. I've tried it and personally can't get around the bandwidth/time limit problem. As for other media, well, the PS3 trounces the 360 in that realm. Both can serve as media servers (music, utube, photos, etc.) Both can play CDs and DVDs (both with upscaling). No big deal there. The PS3 can also play blue ray disks which have a much bigger library than HD-DVD, even if you wanted to pony up the extra money for a HD-DVD add on.

So, if the price of the Elite and the PS3 are identical in Canada, I fail to see why someone would choose the Elite over the PS3 unless all they wanted to do was shoot things. Given Canada's reputation as a much more peacefull society than the US, it seems to me that the only thing going for the Elite over the 60gPS3 is a library of games that cater to something the average Canadian doesn't like.

So, Supersonic, what the heck is so good about the 360?


RE: 360
By Chaser on 7/9/2007 12:22:54 PM , Rating: 2
Very good points.

Although I'm not sure if the "Canada being a more peaceful society" is a credible marketing factor. And I doubt those peaceful souls are into console systems.

Unless there's a fuzzy bunnies and blooming daffodils PS3 game.


RE: 360
By OxBow on 7/9/2007 12:33:55 PM , Rating: 2
Stragely enough, the 360 does have fuzzy bunnies and blooming daffodils game in Viva Pinata. That should be countered when Little Big Planet comes out, however.

There are a couple non-shooter 360 games. A decent lineup of racing games and, of course, Madden. However, when everyone claims this extensive line up of games, it's almost completely filled out with shooters. Don't get me wrong, I'm in Texas and like a good shooter as much as the next guy. However, the differences between shooters is almost completely superficial, with one brief nod to GOW for at least trying to change how the game is played. To claim that there are so many more games for the 360 when the vast majority of that are shooters if disengenous at best.


RE: 360
By bkm32 on 7/9/2007 1:25:20 PM , Rating: 2
Don't forget the interaction with the PSP-soon-to-be-the-PSPhone. With this $179 add-on (not the X360 120GB HDD), your entertainment solution becomes mobile, too.

Sony is building momentum. Last time it did that, I ended up with a defunct Sega system.


RE: 360
By DTAllTheBest on 7/9/2007 7:22:16 PM , Rating: 2
Go PS3. I'm not a Sony fanboy but I like PS3 more than 360.


RE: 360
By aos007 on 7/9/2007 12:09:13 PM , Rating: 2
Uhm... did you even read the article? In Canada, there is *NO* media content to download, except for an odd thing here and there. PS3 store has *FAR MORE* content - previews, trailers, demos AND downloadable games. Hence the extra space on Elite drive means squat.


RE: 360
By OxBow on 7/9/2007 12:26:43 PM , Rating: 2
I missed that portion of the article the first time I read it. Silly me for thinking that MS would be treating Canadians fairly by offering them the same content as those of us south of the border. It just goes to reinforce my point that the 60gPS3 is a better deal than the Elite in Canada.


RE: 360
By aos007 on 7/9/2007 12:42:32 PM , Rating: 2
I think media donwloads are only offered in States but this is not really Microsoft's fault. It's the content owner's and it's about distribution rights. Microsoft would need to obtain rights for every country they want to sell and from every owner, and that's just way too much hassle if there's no clear benefit.

Besides, all providers here have monthly download limits. Not very conducive to downloading humongous HD videos.


ODD
By Supersonic3474 on 7/9/07, Rating: -1
RE: ODD
By OxBow on 7/9/2007 11:41:52 AM , Rating: 3
What's so odd about one news report coming out several days after another one? Since they are from completely different sources about fairly different events, I don't see anything odd here.

Oh, wait, one hits a nerve for you since it doesn't look good for your favorite toy. They other is good news for their competitor. Hmm, seems to me you are letting your preferences color you ability to parse dates.

Claiming that DT has a pro-Sony bias is about as laughable a comment as you could post here. Enjoy your 360 and I hope you find a good way to recycle all those shipping cartons you'll be receiving from the Microsoft service center over the next two years.


RE: ODD
By kamel5547 on 7/9/2007 12:14:38 PM , Rating: 2
Whats even odder is that over the weekend Microsoft extended the warranty due to an unacceptable rate of failures. They must be in on the conspiracy to sell more PS3's!!


RE: ODD
By Goty on 7/9/2007 12:22:15 PM , Rating: 2
Those dates are just when DT reported the stories.

Let's just say they're not quite up to date most of the time. Bit-Tech reported the same failure rate story on June 26th !


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