20GB PlayStation 3 To Ship With HDMI Port
So an extra $100 now buys you Wi-Fi, a bigger hard drive and a card reader.
Published: September 21, 2006
One of the biggest points of contention over this whole "1080p is true HD!" debate in recent weeks has been the fact that, apparently, the low-end PlayStation 3 wouldn't be able to output Blu-ray movies in 1080p because it lacked an HDMI port. 1080p with DVI or even component cables (both of which the 20GB and 60GB versions support) is absolutely possible, and games will run just fine in those resolutions with those cables, but it would seem Hollywood was the biggest stumbling block.
The copy protection scheme Tinseltown cooked up requires that a pure digital connected be used to output 1080p Blu-ray movies as a core part of the format's hi-def functionality. It's been a sort of see-saw, back-and-forth, he-said she-said, tug-of-war (dude, we rocked the clichés there!) on whether or not the PS3 would enforce this whole HDMI issue or allow Blu-ray movies to output at full resolution via something other than that sexy little black cable.
As of right now, it's a moot point. Both versions of the PlayStation 3 will now come with a HDMI port, meaning the price difference between the two systems of $100 now covers an extra 40 gigabytes of storage space, Wi-FI support, and that all-in-one card reader. Everything else between the units is the same. In Japan (and Japan only as of right now), Sony is actually slashing the price of the low-end PS2 to 49,800 yen including tax. That works out to about $428 bucks with a straight conversion.
This is likely meant to counter the fact that Microsoft has absolutely gutted the price of the 360 in Japan, bundling it with a couple of Japanese-developed games -- as many as three in one case -- to help spur sales, which have been absolutely abysmal since the system launched. With the Wii coming in at $250, it's going to make for a much closer race over there than previously expected.
So there's the poop. HDMI is now go in all versions of the PS3. 1080p for all! Hooray! Now if we could just get Sony to drop the price of the system over here...
The copy protection scheme Tinseltown cooked up requires that a pure digital connected be used to output 1080p Blu-ray movies as a core part of the format's hi-def functionality. It's been a sort of see-saw, back-and-forth, he-said she-said, tug-of-war (dude, we rocked the clichés there!) on whether or not the PS3 would enforce this whole HDMI issue or allow Blu-ray movies to output at full resolution via something other than that sexy little black cable.
As of right now, it's a moot point. Both versions of the PlayStation 3 will now come with a HDMI port, meaning the price difference between the two systems of $100 now covers an extra 40 gigabytes of storage space, Wi-FI support, and that all-in-one card reader. Everything else between the units is the same. In Japan (and Japan only as of right now), Sony is actually slashing the price of the low-end PS2 to 49,800 yen including tax. That works out to about $428 bucks with a straight conversion.
This is likely meant to counter the fact that Microsoft has absolutely gutted the price of the 360 in Japan, bundling it with a couple of Japanese-developed games -- as many as three in one case -- to help spur sales, which have been absolutely abysmal since the system launched. With the Wii coming in at $250, it's going to make for a much closer race over there than previously expected.
So there's the poop. HDMI is now go in all versions of the PS3. 1080p for all! Hooray! Now if we could just get Sony to drop the price of the system over here...