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Sony originally wanted to include camera at $399

Nope.

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So the PS2 BC really didn't cost much at all. $27. Hopefully this will quiet all the people who said they removed BC to cut costs. It must even be cheaper now, they should make a new PS3 sku that has the BC put back in.
 
$399 is a great price point. Why come out at $349 when they don't need to? If they introduce the hardware at $399, they have more room to drop it in 12 months or whatever when Microsoft drops the price on XB1. Where could they realistically go from $349, at least for the foreseeable future?

I agree 399 is a great price. I am super excited to get mine. Just saying I'd rather not be forced to get a camera and would rather have a lower price of entry.
 
I don't want to use Kinect. If ever there is a good reason to use it, then I will. MS better deliver something cool.
 
So the PS2 BC really didn't cost much at all. $27. Hopefully this will quiet all the people who said they removed BC to cut costs. It must even be cheaper now, they should make a new PS3 sku that has the BC put back in.

$27 is a lot of money, actually.
They even removed the sd card slots, they cut everything they could.
 
Even if you never used it, a packed-in camera is more functionality for the same price-point, which for the consumer is never a bad thing. Obviously for corporate they wanted to sell it at as little a loss as possible, but from my viewpoint a non-required accessory at the same price is the definition of added value.

Something that is never used is inherently a zero-value proposition, hence the resistance toward Kinect in the Xbone package.
 
I am surprised they didn't include the camera. if kInect has the potential to make a killing with targeted ads couldn't Sony have made the cost of the camera back?
 
I would expect the PS4 camera to be bundled in as the first "price drop". This way maybe the first 10M don't have the camera standard but everyone else will, and with compelling software they could be able to coax the first 10M people who are early adopters and have no problem paying for tech, to spring for that camera.
 
The PS3 is no good example.

They lost hundreds of dollars per PS3. Now they're losing less than a hundred. I'd say that's a big difference and it shows that they've learned.

If you're going to make a powerful console then you're going to lose money per unit if you're going to try to target a mainstream audience, but the key is to lose as little as possible.
 
If you saw what Adam Boyes said post the E3 conference and read this interview, they chose the $399 price first. They wanted to hit that "badly". Once Phil mumbo-jumbled the "four hundred and ninety nine" at the Xbone conference, people rehearsing at Sony presser were walking up the halls high-fiving each other.

I am not saying they wanted to go with 499. I am saying they would have been under more pressure to include the camera @399 if MS had priced the X1 @399.
 
I think it's also a good strategic decision not to include it as well as a financial one:
They knew the camera wouldn't be as good as the Kinect 2. By not including it, they are basically encouraging every multiplatform dev to treat camera-specific features as low-priority 'bonus' content, thus severely diminishing the value of the Xbox One's differentiator.
 
I think it's also a good strategic decision not to include it as well as a financial one:
They knew the camera wouldn't be as good as the Kinect 2. By not including it, they are basically encouraging every multiplatform dev to treat camera-specific features as low-priority 'bonus' content, thus severely diminishing the value of the Xbox One's differentiator.

So you're saying that developers are going to basically develop for the least common denominator?

Er..wouldn't that ALSO apply to graphics and actual games with regard to the PS4 and Xboxone?

How is this a good thing?
 
I am not saying they wanted to go with 499. I am saying they would have been under more pressure to include the camera @399 if MS had priced the X1 @399.
They were locked in at that point, it's not like the Xbone conference was two days before for them to do any last minute changes.
 
So the PS2 BC really didn't cost much at all. $27. Hopefully this will quiet all the people who said they removed BC to cut costs. It must even be cheaper now, they should make a new PS3 sku that has the BC put back in.

That's just the estimate for the chip.

Having it in there required a lot of motherboard real estate too.

Taking it out simplified and shrank the motherboard significantly IIRC. So the knock on effect on cost was beyond just the cost of the GS or GS/EE chip.
 
Good move, Sony - cameras are useless for gaming and I am not interested in video chatting. Sony understands that once the gamers (naturally, the hardest to please) love them, everyone else will slowly fall in line. Prime example: Xbox 360.
 
Honestly not at all bothered about the camera. Give me better hardware specs over the former, any day. Adding to that, 8GB GDDR5 was a considerably smarter inclusion.
 
Makes sense - they'll either leave the camera out depending on how the market goes or start bundling it in when they get HW costs down a notch at some later point.

I mean I obviously wouldn't care if the camera was in there if the price didn't change but it they had to make choices I'd rather it was out vs any other option.
 
So you're saying that developers are going to basically develop for the least common denominator?

Er..wouldn't that ALSO apply to graphics and actual games with regard to the PS4 and Xboxone?

How is this a good thing?

um, yes, that's how it's always been; not a lot of effort is going to go into something that's exclusive to a version, unless it's additional paid content (like exclusive DLC or something). I'm not saying it's a good thing for customers, I'm saying it's a known practice that makes sense so there might be more behind the choice not to include the camera than just costs.
 
Glad they didn't.

No matter what. Even if it was free or not. People would argue that they would rather have the machine cheaper than have the camera.

Basically is just asking the internet for "Take the camera out and make the system $349". Even if the camera is free.
 
I wonder how many Kinect 2.0 devices will be on eBay once the XboxOne releases?

The machine will still function without it, right?
If a person could fetch $150 for the sophisticated NSA/advertising device, it would make the XboxOne a more attractive deal.
(Not saying I'm buying one, but if someone were to gift it to me for Xmas for instance.)

It would still be underpowered compared to PS4, and there's still the fact that XBL isn't as rewarding as PS+.
But then I'd still get to play CoD with all my XBL cronies, enjoy Titanfall now and not later, not to mention try out that sweet headset & lighter controller.
 
I wonder how many Kinect 2.0 devices will be on eBay once the XboxOne releases?

The machine will still function without it, right?
If a person could fetch $150 for the sophisticated NSA/advertising device, it would make the XboxOne a more attractive deal.
(Not saying I'm buying one, but if someone were to gift it to me for Xmas for instance.)

It would still be underpowered compared to PS4, and there's still the fact that XBL isn't as rewarding as PS+.
But then I'd still get to play CoD with all my XBL cronies, enjoy Titanfall now and not later, not to mention try out that sweet headset & lighter controller.

I'd assume none - unless people start selling the X1 piece meal after launch, lol.
 
Having a camera with every PS4 would mean more developers would be willing to design their games utilising the camera.

But we have yet to see any significant gameplay feature that uses a camera. It's either gimmicky, tacked on bullshit or Dance Dance Something....

As a gamer who spends a lot of money on gaming stuff, I have no desire for a camera on my console.
 
I wouldn't mind a camera at the same price but only because it would be free, I can't think of any other reason.

Even if the beloved Sony included a camera, there would be the cry of a thousand fanboys that would be saying "take it out and make it $350! consumer choice! some other trendy thing that makes sense of me wanting to spend less!"
 
I'm totally ok with that.

Me too, the hardcore guys that don't want a camera on launch and will buy it day 1 have the option. But after a few months/years it can be mandatory and then devs can focus on it because of the wider (Casual?) audience.

Sony have made all the right moves imo.
 
I'm glad they didn't include it. It would affect their ability to be competitive in pricing. Hell, they're already making a loss so a price cut within the first year is very unlikely.
 
Even if the beloved Sony included a camera, there would be the cry of a thousand fanboys that would be saying "take it out and make it $350! consumer choice! some other trendy thing that makes sense of me wanting to spend less!"

Maybe, but maybe they'd look at the xb1 at $499 and go "wtf?" and realize it was actually free for the consumer and not just a hidden cost.
 
I am not saying they wanted to go with 499. I am saying they would have been under more pressure to include the camera @399 if MS had priced the X1 @399.

More generally speaking I think they'd have been pressured to throw the camera in and take the hit to maintain parity with Xbone's Kinect if they thought Xbone was going to be a bigger threat- Kinect is almost certainly why they were even considering throwing it in in the first place. But then MS started doing everything wrong between February and E3, so Sony decided they didn't need it.

The price difference certainly justifies the decision, though- had they dropped the camera and Xbone was the same price, they'd have created the impression that Xbone offered more for your money. With Xbone being $100 more the narrative has become that MS is charging $100 for a peripheral that most people (most of the day-1 buyer crowd, at least) don't care about.
 
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