New PS3 Model Can’t Combat the Wii U

2 min


Yesterday at the Tokyo Game Show, Sony officially announced a new PS3 model, with the same design that was leaked several months ago. It sports a slimmer build, impressive specs for its size, and a fair price tag of $270–but none of that will help Sony in the least. The addition of this new model just shows that Sony is running out of ways to compete with Nintendo and Microsoft. While the next generation XBOX is already in development and the Wii U is slated for release this holiday season, all they can do is wave around a brand new model that has the exact same capabilities as their older Slim version. Although I’m a fan of many of Sony’s games and products, I have to say that their showing at TGS was very lackluster and only shows that the company has hit a rut as far as marketing creativity is concerned.

While this new version’s price is fair, it’s far from competitive. For just a little extra, consumers can purchase both a new console and a tablet for their homes, and that Wii U also doubles as a next-generation console. Regardless of whether you consider it to be next-gen or not, the Wii U is still a powerful machine on the market, and will be receiving more games than any of the other consoles this holiday season. Considering the new PS3’s unchanged price, even with a smaller and more efficient design, it’s obvious that Sony is pocketing money that they could always mark down instead. This move is an absolutely terrible one with both the Wii U and 3DS directly competing with their PS3 and PS Vita in both price and capability.

With no awesome exclusives in the PS3’s holiday lineup (excluding PS All-stars Battle Royale, which may not be up to everyone’s taste), the PS3 has nothing to show for this holiday season and no way to compete with the Wii U. The most that their new model will generate for them is buzz–but overall, there’s no way for them to outpace the upcoming Wii U on that alone. They need actual content and actual price cuts to entice the consumer, and frankly, they haven’t done any of that in any of their recent shows. Nobody has been holding out for a PS3 that is slightly smaller. At best, people will dive for the older slim as it goes on clearance, especially since it has all the same capabilities as the new version, plus the bonus of a slot-loading disc (the new version chooses to get rid of this to save on manufacturing costs, despite sharing the same price tag).

It may seem selfish to say so, but it’s true–what gamers really want out of Sony right now is a PS4, not another model of the PS3. With the next generation on the horizon, it’s obvious that Sony is lagging behind their competitors. The Wii U will likely outsell the PS3 and the Vita because it is more reasonably priced. Overlooking something like a price drop when consumers have been waiting for one for months spells the PS3’s loss for this generation once and for all. It’s a shame that they could not emulate the success of their PS2 console, but there’s always next generation to look forward to…whenever Sony decides to catch up.


60 Comments

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  1. Im sure the ps4 is in development. Just because they haven’t announced it doesn’t mean its not being developed. I think the new model is pretty slick, plus a 500 gig ps3 with bluray, free online, Assassins Creed III, and tons of multimedia options is pretty much on par with nintendo’s offerings. Considering ps3 getting the same 3rd party games with exclusives like The Last Of Us, All Stars, Beyond, and the new God Of War, I think they’ll be fine.

  2. darling, go and play with your wiiuuuuu and stop pretending you know better than sony how to run their business .
    And sony doesn have any games this holiday season? they actually have the same game than wiiu launch . Except for mario u,pikmin and zombiu and all the other games that already been out on ps3 for like a year or so.
    your wiiu is in my and many core gamer opinion a stop gap console . not a next gen .
    And when ps4 comes out i will make sure to send you the tech specs so you can see why playstation has nothing to learn from you and your silly wiiu.

  3. WiiU is a utter joke, visuals barely on par with PS3/360, an online experience sure to suck, and games iv’e already played years ago on real consoles.

    1. Your a joke for saying the WiiU is a joke , the console hasnt even dropped yet so how are you bashing it already. When the 360/PS3 first launched the graphics wasnt all that but give it time I bet the WiiU will pick up.

    2. Wow dude, thanks for providing most console owners are technologically illiterate. The graphics in the Wii U is more powerful than RSX in the PS3 and the R500 Radeon GPU in the Xbox360 combined. You have a GPU that’s fully capable of tessellation, dynamic lighting and has 1GB of VRAM onboard, coming from a Radeon HD family. That’s at least 2-3 generations ahead of the Xbox360’s graphics unit from 2005. You are smoking some serious crack if you think the Wii U is on part with PS3/360.

      Black Ops 2 already runs at full 1920×1080 60 fps on the Wii U but the same game can only run at 960×544 @ 60 fps on the PS3. Your entire theory is squashed.

      1. google “will wiiu graphics look as good as ps3 or 360″………….only 1 site out of the first 20 articles say wiiu will look better – and it’s a wii site.
        your comment is now squashed.

        1. Right now developers aren’t going to make games using DX11 game engines specifically for the Wii U. Give it 12 months and the graphics of Wii U games will shit all over PS3/360. I am not saying that Wii U will have better graphics than PS4/next Xbox but Wii U is miles ahead in hardware and especially graphical capabilities compared to the 6-7 year old consoles.

          Wasting $270-300 on a 6 year old PS3 is laughable and only an uneducated person or a Sony fanboy would do it. Even if you are a hardcore Sony person and waited 6 years for PS3 (then it begs the question WTF were you doing for all this time when PS3 slim was $299 in August 2009….), you are better off waiting 18 months and putting $300 towards a PS4 and it’s like getting a PS4 for $200 more (if say it’s $500).

          Seriously, only an idiot would buy a PS3 for $270 at the end of 2012.

          1. I’m thinking that Sony will wait till the Wii U release week and announce a price cut for the new consoles.
            And I may be one of those idiots who would buy a PS3 over the Wii U, because I can’t even begin to tell you how dissapointed I was with the Wii.

          2. I am not saying you should buy the Wii U either. My point is Sony has done all these things:

            1) Shrunk the CPU to 32nm manufacturing node
            2) Shrunk the GPU to 28nm manufacturing node
            3) Removed the higher end automatic BluRay disc feeder and replaced it with a disc tray on top (from the 1990s of PS1!)
            4) Reduced motherboard, heatsink, fan and power supply costs

            And then they raised the price from $249 to $269 and they are saying this is value because they increased the HDD space from the already useless 160GB to 250/500GB?

            Sorry, but I think Sony is full of it. Most gamers would have been better off if they just took the Slim and dropped the price to $199. 6-year-old console for $270-300 is a huge rip-off and everyone knows it.

            Now you might be disappointed with the Wii U but that’s mostly because you probably don’t understand Nintendo’s strategy. Nintendo isn’t trying to put in the most powerful components and sell their console for $400-500. That’s not their goal. Besides, if you want the best graphics you are gaming on the PC in the first place.

            Right now the Wii U is already much more powerful than the 360/PS3. The greatest risk factors are:

            1) Will it have many third party and mature titles?
            2) Will PS4/next Xbox cost close to $300 or more like $450-500?

            I have a feeling in 15-18 months when the next Sony/MS consoles launch, Nintendo can just drop the price but I somehow doubt you can even get a next generation Sony/MS console for just $299. And keep in mind that if Sony and MS will sell us a next gen console for $299, it’ll probably be very weak in horsepower too then.

          3. i agree that buying a ps3 (right now) for that price isn’t being a good consumer. i figure anyone who wants a ps3 should wait till the price gets cheaper….which will happen as ps4 launch gets closer. (when/if the price of a ps3 drops to 129.99 or less, i’m getting another one – if ps4 doesn’t have BC, there are MANY ps3 games i’ll buy on the cheap and play.) i don’t know that i’ll be buying a ps4/nextbox at launch – i think i’ll wait until the price is around 300 dollars.
            BUT – i ALSO think buying a wiiu right now is just as foolish – surely ps4 and nextbox will blow away anything the wiiu will be able to do. i’m really lost on nintendos idea in bringing this thing out. it should have come out several years ago.

          4. Did you not read my comment? I am specifically saying that PS3 for $270-300 is overpriced, especially in light of imminent PS4/Xbox next launch in 1.5 years. See your logic doesn’t make sense. You want to wait after PS4 drop to $300 but you are spending $270 on the PS3? Just take the $270 you’ll waste on the PS3 and get a $500 PS4 in a little more than a year. Then you’ll be playing next generation games not games with graphics from 2006. $300 into PS3 is sunk cost – just wasting $ since that console is near EOL (same as 360 and original Wii). It’s like buying a PS2 or N64 for $270-300 after their 5-6 year run. Would you have done that?

            PS2 at the end of its life was $149 tops and the $99. Sony is ripping you guys off and laughing too.

        1. Ya, that’s fair. The Wii U will have all the same games as PS3/360 like Black Ops II, Assassin’s Creed 3, Darksiders II this holiday season. All I am saying is if I had to go out and spend $270-300 (and couldn’t put that $ away for the PS4/720 for some reason), I’d buy the Wii U over the PS3/360 any day. Those last 2 consoles are dead in 1.5 years. They’ll still have an occasional game, but Wii U will be around for 5 years.

          Also, for me as a PC gamer the Xbox360 is just crap to begin with since it offers nothing besides Forza, PGR, Gears of War and Halo. Then you have the PS3, well I can get PS4 in 1.5 years and buy all the platinum PS3 hits on the PSN network. If you never purchased this round of consoles, skip it entirely. $300 for a 6-year-old box is a total waste.

    3. Come on. If you’re going to defend PS3 and Xbox (which I agree with) put some effort into it, not just “WiiU sucks” or “utter joke”.

  4. It’s shocking that sony is pocketing so much money on these new ps3’s. If the new console was selling for about $100 cheaper I think it might, jsut might, be a fair deal. But at the same ridiculous price… NO WAY SHOULD YOU BUY IT!

    Once again sony shows us that it doesn’t care about the customer, it’s just looking to take more of your money for a shoddy experience.

    Where are the exclusives this year?!?!?! sony have failed badly in 2012, and the cost of this cheap re-design is disastrous for their reputation.

    1. sony doesn’t care about the customer? MS launched the 360 even though it was defective…..RROD anyone? and then they denied it for more than a year before addressing the existence of the problem.

    2. Change provokes reaction. A new slimmer PS3 is not designed for those that own a PS3 already but for those who don’t.

      Every company takes hits to their reputation at one time or another, it’s the nature of business. Microsoft’s RROD was a PR nightmare but not as bad as Vita; Sony have had a few themselves. You just have to get on with it.

      As for not caring about customers, I think a PS3 and a year’s subscription to PSplus represents the best value of any console currently.

      1. You just realized, it only does less? haha
        You PS3Tards really do get butt-hurt way to easily, i have a feeling all these trolls have nothing better to do (like actually play their Playstation) but instead post angrily online with their free time seeing as they don’t got no games. Bet most of these people actually come from N4G lol, least i actually show my PS3 some love by using the web browser to type this.

        As for the Wii U, it looks really promising, can’t wait to pick one up.
        The PS3 slim oh wait, PS3 Ultra slim is ugly, i like the original slim design way better.

        1. Guy railing against “PS3Tards” posts online about people with “nothing better to do” than “post angrily online.”

          Irony is obviously lost on him.

          1. Oh aren’t you cute. Actually, I’m at work, on my lunchbreak. See, “work” is this thing that grown-ups do to make money and support themselves and their families, as opposed to “chores,” which is what you probably do when you need a few bucks to pick the latest ZelMariMon Kart Party 7.

            And when I get home, I’ll be playing the fuck out of some Borderlands 2. BTW, I’m curious… Does the Wii version of BL2 support the local splitscreen? What’s the release date for the Wii U version of BL2? Hmm…

          2. Oh aren’t you cute. Actually, I’m at work, on my lunch break. See, “work” is this thing that grown-ups do to make money and support themselves and their families, as opposed to “chores,” which is what you do when you need a few bucks to buy the new ZelMariMon Kart Party 7.

            And when I get home from work, I’ll be playing the F out of some Borderlands 2. BTW, I’m curious… does the Wii version of BL2 support local splitscreen multiplayer? What’s the release date for the Wii U version of BL2? Hmmm…..

        2. Oh aren’t you cute. Actually, I’m at work, on my lunch break. See,
          “work” is this thing that grown-ups do to make money and support
          themselves and their families, as opposed to “chores,” which is what you
          do when you need a few bucks to buy the new ZelMariMon Kart Party 7.

          And when I get home from work, I’ll be playing the F out of some
          Borderlands 2. BTW, I’m curious… does the Wii version of BL2 support
          local splitscreen multiplayer? What’s the release date for the Wii U
          version of BL2? Hmmm…..

  5. I’m kind of confused as to why people are pointing to this new slim PS3 as a sign of them trying to compete with the next generation of consoles. This is just them refining their production and finding a way to not cut the price of the PS3. For the price of the current slim PS3 you can get a new one with a larger hard drive that takes up less shelf space.

    This has nothing to do with the next generation. They did this with the PS2 as well, this is just the model that they intend to let live on after they drop the PS4 (and will probably shut people out of backwards compatibility, again, sigh)

  6. This article is so terrible i can’t even finish it. First off, it is so bias, i can’t even…
    Next Sony did not, ….i repeat…Did NOT, make a slimmer PS3 to compete with the Wii U, but of course this “so-called” journalist wouldn’t know that. The slimmer PS3 was made for Sony to make a better Profit off the console. Sony doesn’t have to prove itself this holiday season. They have millions of games available for gamers and new adopters to play. Its a 6 year old console. How can it compete with a new console? WTF?

    “With no awesome exclusives in the PS3′s holiday lineup (excluding PS All-stars Battle Royale, which may not be up to everyone’s taste), the PS3 has nothing to show for this holiday season and no way to compete with the Wii U”

    This statement is so ignorant i wish i could flag it as inappropriate. The PS3 doubles as a third party device. This person made it seem like everyone in the world only has an Xbox and a Wii or a PC. People who have PS3’s will have the choice to play 1st party exclusives, on top of the 3rd party exclusives coming out this holiday season. On top of that PS+ will bust out more games for the holiday’s like they did last year. I’m far from a Sony fanboy but these stupid articles comparing an old system to a new system is ridiculous and this by far is the worst. People are goign to buy a Wii U because its a brand new console. If a PS4 or new Xbox came out at the same time, then this conversation would be a whole other story but it’s not. Sony and Microsoft have no intentions on making or discussing a new console right now so the Wii U is all we got. I can’t wait to get mine but this article needs to be scrapped. It’s stupid, makes no sense and sounds like fanboy BS.

  7. Excellent article.

    sony are going to FAIL badly this Xmas. They have no exclusives worth mentioning this year… NONE.

    WiiU is going to push ps3 even further into 3rd place(can we call it 4th place when the Xbox360, WiiU and the Wii out sell it this Xmas?).

    I find it hilarious how these ps3fanboys are slagging this article…. what’s a matter little sonyfanboys… feeling a little scared as sony slowly but surely slide into oblivion?! Come on, we all know sony is a dying company. I’ll be very surprised if sony is still here to actually release a ps4. Vita has failed… the ps4, if it makes it to market, will fail.

    sony is dead.

    1. So basically, sales matter to you more than actual games. Sales don’t equal quality. I have not seen Nintendo do anything that’s worthy of quality right now. How long will they continued to ride on the curtails of Mario?

      Gaming is screwed if fanboys like you run around flapping your cocks over sales.

    2. Oh yes! Let’s talk sales.. Have you even bothered to check any recent sales stats on consoles? The Playstation has been outselling the Xbox and Wii for months now. And even with the lowest install base of the three companies, they sell the most games every month as well. Sony may be struggling as a company, but the Playstation product is not a part of that problem.
      As for the person who wrote this “article”, maybe you should stick to poetry.

      1. well – take away the year headstart numbers, and ps3 has outsold the xbox. as far as the wii – it was a gimmick – and the general public loves gimmicks/fads. truth is, the wii was the first successful console the big N has had in 3 generations. their business is in gimmicks and handhelds…..i’m not into either, so i’m really not interested in what they offer……although “zombies ate my neighbors” is one of my all-time favorite fun games to play!

    3. Agreed, PS3Tard’s have nothing better to do with their spare time but bitch, and because they have a lot of spare time due to not actually playing “GAMES” on their console we get a shit load of butt hurt comments like the ones below this.

      Oh well, gamers these days really got it bad, i’ll go back to playing my dreamcast for a bit :).

    4. Wow…how old are you? Sony is a massive company son, far FAR from “dying.” Do honestly believe that Sony, a company worth over 40 billion, is going to go bankrupt and be unable to release a new console?? You are truly ignorant.

  8. Why in the world would anyone buy a Wii U? Sure it’s more powerful than the PS3 and 360 but it won’t be able to touch Sony and Microsoft’s next consoles. So don’t waste your money. Wait and buy one of those consoles. You’ll be happy you didn’t waste your money.

    1. Why do people buy the new iPhone 5 even though the Samsung Galaxy S3 is more powerful (and has been out for 6 months)? It isn’t about power. If so, then why does anyone buy any console when PCs are always VASTLY more powerful? Trollll

  9. Let me say this – do you think that the Wii U, as a next gen console, can compete with the PS4, as a next gen console? Well …

  10. Slim models surely cost less to produce, yet the retail price is just comical, not to forget the look and quality which looks really poor. With the PS3 in third place, the Wii U is out in 2 months, how many more PS3s does Sony expect to sell? I’m guessing the PS3 will outsell the Xbox 360 because Microsoft will soon ditch it for the Xbox 720. It begs belief the road Sony has taken since say 2006. I’ve been saying for years that there’s too much dead wood at Sony and it’ll still be the case with the PS4. All in all, even if this new PS3 was say £129.99 in the UK, it’d struggle. The PS3 versus the Wii and Xbox 360, then the Wii U comes along. Sony are fecked.

    1. Sony is not fecked because as you have seen from the comments on this board and other forums, the average console consumers doesn’t understand technology. So if you just tell them the Wii U is slower than PS3, they are so gullible, they’ll believe you. Someone started the false rumor that Wii U is only as fast as current generation consoles and this meme won’t go away.

      Ironically, when PS4 and next Xbox launch, someone will start another ridiculous statement how they blow PCs out of the water. It’s actually the same story every generation of consoles. Right now a $220 videocard is 10x more powerful than the Xbox 360:
      http://techreport.com/review/23527/nvidia-geforce-gtx-660-graphics-card

      1. Yeah it would do 10x better than the xbox 360, but you know develepors really develop for consoles and do to limitations consoles have, the pc counterparts of the game dont actually look as good as they can be.

  11. WOW! What a waste of time! This moron think Sony is lagging behind when Nintendos Wii U is what we should of got 6 years ago when every other console already had the capability to run HD. As soon as PS4&720 release Nintendo again will have a under powered last gen console compared to Sony and Microsoft. The guy who wrote this is also obviously not much of a gamer or would know Sony has some of the BEST exclusives this gen. I will nit be buying a Pii U but instead a 2nd PS3 in this new Super Slim PS3. Lol!

    1. Another Nintendo system that will be riddled with Last Gen Ports. I agree the only ones excited about Wii U are people who get a boner for Zelda.

  12. Is this guy dumb or something??? They still going have the $250 ps3 but the bundle one is $270. The ps4 is coming out next year they been talking about just like the xbox 720. This guy thinks because sony came out with smaller ps3 the price should have been cut, Well they will cut it but not until next E3 because everybody watchs E3 or knows about it. This is not to compete with the wii u it is show people will see the new ps3 slim and say wow that is better then the other slim if they haven’t got one already.

  13. Oh dear god i could not even read past the 3rd sentence before being disgusted with this guy. You are freaking pathetic man, you have the entirely wrong perspective on everything in this industry apparently and are using this as an outlet to attack sony. Youre talking as if Sony is releasing this INSTEAD of a ps4 like they arent going to make a ps4 and are doing this instead… This isnt supposed to compete with anything that it isnt already competing with, boy. Its just a new model…

  14. @Nickolas Hemp I agree article= FAIL

    “They need actual content and actual price cuts to entice the consumer, and frankly, they haven’t done any of that in any of their recent shows. ” FALSE….

    “Nobody has been holding out for a PS3 that is slightly smaller.” FAIL.. this is for non PS3 owners ot people who already have a PS3

    this slim also has more value.

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