E3 2008: 80GB PS3 coming to Europe, Australia on August 27

  • By Randolph Ramsay and Luke Anderson, GameSpot UK
  • Posted Jul 17, 2008 6:18 am GMT

Larger-hard-drive PS3, Platinum titles confirmed for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe countries.

Sony Computer Entertainment's E3 2008 press conference earlier this week unveiled quite a few juicy tidbits of news, including confirmation of a new 80GB PlayStation 3 model, the launch of a Platinum games range for the PS3, and release dates for some of its major first-party titles. Unfortunately, those details were only relevant for North America, with Sony saying more information would be coming soon for other territories.

At a Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) event held in Santa Monica, California, tonight, SCEE boss David Reeves finally announced those details, saying that the 80GB PS3 would be arriving in Europe, the UK, Middle East, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand on August 27 (with Russia to follow two weeks later). The 80GB PS3 will cost €399 in Europe and £299 in Britain. No other pricing details for other territories were announced, though a Sony Computer Entertainment Australia spokesman said Australian pricing would be announced soon. As for the PSP and the PlayStation 2, Reeves said there would be no European price drops, although he did confirm that new bundle deals were on the way.

Just like in the US, the 80GB model will replace the current 40GB SKU. Reeves said there would be no price reduction on the 40GB model in the interim, saying that there were only a small number left in the channel (particularly in the UK).

Reeves also confirmed that the Platinum range of PS3 games would be coming to the SCEE territories, saying titles such as Resistance: Fall of Man, MotorStorm, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Virtua Tennis 3, and Assassin's Creed would be coming at a knock-down price from August 1 (with WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2008 arriving in September). The Platinum games will cost €29.99 in Europe, £19.99 in the UK, A$49 in Australia, and NZ$59 in New Zealand.

Europeans and Aussies won't be waiting for their PS3 games either, it seems. MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, LittleBigPlanet, Killzone 2 and Siren: Blood Curse are all planned to arrive in SCEE territories on the same "day and date" as the US. God of War III is scheduled for 2009. And as for the Home open beta, Reeves said it would open in Autumn 2008, with more details to follow. GT TV, on the other hand, is confirmed for an August 1 launch in SCEE countries, although no pricing has yet been released.

"We're making every effort to make these day and date with US releases, but please appreciate we don't have one language--we have 13 languages, and we have 27 stores--it takes a while to get these localized and uploaded," he said.

As for the video download service recently announced for the US, Reeves admitted that it would not be heading to Europe and Australia in 2008.

"This will not come to the PAL markets this year, but Sir Howard Stringer has made the commitment that non-games will come to all regions in due course and it will. The dates for video content will come later this year. For us, and I think you appreciate most of you European, that local content is important, and that's what [we are] working on right now," Reeves said.

112 Comments

  • felipenet7

    Posted Jul 23, 2008 11:27 pm GMT

    psfanboys all have backward compatibility... why?? because they all own the original 60 gig launch model... why?? because they're fanboys and didn't take soooo long to take such a simple step... i.e. buying a ps3!

  • jandogg

    Posted Jul 22, 2008 9:41 pm GMT

    Why don't you just give
    us Backward compatibility
    or the cardreader and more features,
    with a small Hdd,
    We could always upgrade to 320Gb

  • Devvy01

    Posted Jul 20, 2008 11:19 pm GMT

    two questions, why is the unit costing double when landed in foreign countries, the for us here in Australia, the US -AUD is $1 for $1 so adding some freight, the unit shouldn't be any more than $500? yes? Or are they going to base it on that Australia doesn't buy enought so slap'em with $1000RRP again, they'll buy it if they want it....... Yeah bollocks we will. And secondly why no backwards compatibility. Sounds like Sony and MS just love forcing us to upgrade and throw our old much lovely games in the bin. Yeah nice one NOT

  • shinian

    Posted Jul 20, 2008 6:41 pm GMT

    Again no Emotion Engine. And again no full BC. Why, oh why:/

  • ognen

    Posted Jul 20, 2008 7:40 am GMT

    This is great.

  • Mehfuz

    Posted Jul 20, 2008 7:26 am GMT

    at last some cheap but great PS3 games

  • shrolag

    Posted Jul 19, 2008 11:16 pm GMT

    80gb is not important, when u can install a 320gb very easily and they dont cost much.

  • Philo350

    Posted Jul 19, 2008 6:36 pm GMT

    I only uses my ps3 for games not really for saving movies and music. So extra 40G doesnt really worry me.

  • ReturnOfShinobi

    Posted Jul 19, 2008 6:29 pm GMT

    No BC, thats lame

  • zombieman666

    Posted Jul 19, 2008 3:01 pm GMT

    Cool

  • D-Camo

    Posted Jul 19, 2008 9:34 am GMT

    A price drop for the 80GB. Very good move by Sony, especially since they are phasing out the 40GB.

    I'm going to get this, especially since I own a 40GB, which doesnt have backwards compatibility.

  • IPHANTOMI23

    Posted Jul 18, 2008 12:48 pm GMT

    To all the European peeps out there thinking of buying this... Not really a good deal! Your better off getting a 20GB HDD and just changing it for a 500GB HDD. If you really got some money to spend then go for a Scan Disk Hard Drive. They are faster in performance and less loading time. It doesn't have backwards compatibility so your not gaining anything new.

  • TehFuneral

    Posted Jul 18, 2008 11:28 am GMT

    Sony way to keep up with Microsoft.

  • Macgyver40

    Posted Jul 18, 2008 11:12 am GMT

    sony should have given us the 80gb to begin with

  • akiwak

    Posted Jul 18, 2008 10:24 am GMT

    The bigger HDD to go along with the ability to BUY Hd movies sounds like this arrived just in time. About time they started slashing prices on their games. I tried the RFOM demo but was not impressed. Now if i buy the game and not like it I won't be out as much money. I want to give the game a try because R2 is looking like a real sweet game.

  • andjeff

    Posted Jul 18, 2008 9:26 am GMT

    Will this PS3 have backwards-compatibility???

  • MC_Raptor

    Posted Jul 18, 2008 8:39 am GMT

    @andalore..... ps3 has 40gig less? and so much more! stop with the fanboy crap!

    on the news... LITTLE BIG PLANET... i can't wait, I'm a bit bummed about no price drop but a better ps3 is always cool

  • andalore

    Posted Jul 18, 2008 3:22 am GMT

    I've Saw Assassin's Creed for A Tenner in my local gamestation, as for the £299 80 Gig PS3 Congratulations you're now the same price as the 120 gig Xbox 360, Keep pushing that price down sony, I dont wanna be screwed over when i buy my PS3

  • yabbal

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 9:37 pm GMT

    They should release a cheaper model with no hard disk for people who intend to upgrade the hard disk immediatley, so we are not paying for a hard disk we wont use.

  • Hungry_bunny

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 7:17 pm GMT

    Suddenly, an avalanche of killzone 2 updates. Looks like Feb 2009 might only apply to US...

  • DarkDamo

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 6:44 pm GMT

    rocket9434 "Good news for people that wanted the 80 GB that are not in the U.S." No not really. The 'new' 80GB model is the same as the current 40GB model except they have a larger HDD. The 'old' 80GB model had software emulation for some backwards computability. While you may think its good we are getting the 80GB, it is essentially no different to the current 40GB model other then the HDD.
    If I was to get a bigger HDD I would spend $150 and get a 750GB (Assuming the PS3 can use that big)

  • gameflogger

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 6:21 pm GMT

    cool i guess

  • aposnonas

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 4:16 pm GMT

    Have Sony lost the plot? I bought Resistance and Assassins Creed for AU$40 each. why the hell would I wanna spend $50 on a platinum game? That's a bit steep. I know the 360 sell their classics for about $30-40. Come on Sony I think you're milking a bit too much out of us.

    Also hard drives are dead cheap now, I would rather buy a huge one and throw it in my 40gb, then this petty 20gb increase, and I can see why they are doing this. Despite the fact that you have a 50gb blueray, a lot of games are installing data on the HDD. I'm down to 19gb left on mine. Lets have a big 320gb and be done with it.

  • lettuceman44

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 3:00 pm GMT

    I guess thats good.

  • kalipekona

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 2:56 pm GMT

    Yeah, it's disappointing that the new 80GB PS3 won't have backwards compatibility for PS2 games but it's not the end of the world. After all, for $399.99 you are getting a top performing Blu-ray HD movie player, and a powerful gaming system with a huge number of multi-platform and exclusive games, as well as 80GB of hard drive space. I think that is a better deal than the $349.99 Xbox 360 Pro SKU which has just a 60GB hard drive and no HD movie playback capabilities at all.

    There is also a good chance that Sony will be able to implement software emulation of PS2 games with a future update. And at least the 80GB PS3 does include backwards compatibility of PS1 games. I still play some PS1 games like Wipeout XL, Metal Gear Solid and Tenchu.

  • Cube_of_MooN

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 2:06 pm GMT

    That is good for them I guess.

  • 23a9

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 1:56 pm GMT

    I agree with Darkblyth, i got a 60gb, why would i want to buy an 80gb if i got a 60gb, and what is the difference apart from price and the amount of gb's

  • SalarianChemist

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 12:26 pm GMT

    I found out the PS3 video downloads mentioned at E3 will not be coming to Europe until later on in 2009. And in Japan the service may not be released at all, because no release date was mentioned.

  • Darkblyth

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 12:12 pm GMT

    Why Would I Need To Buy it If I Have My Saves On the 60gb Ps3?

  • stevo_360

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 11:55 am GMT

    Its good that they are not bumping up the price in the U.K because of the bigger hard drive.

  • MFDABADKID

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 11:32 am GMT

    I have a 60gb ps3 & i never touched a ps2 game i got rid of those a long time ago.

  • rocket9434

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 11:30 am GMT

    Good news for people that wanted the 80 GB that are not in the U.S.

  • gtjava

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 11:24 am GMT

    wow i really feel sorry for the ppl who bought the 20 gig lol
    who remembers those anyawy!!
    hahaha

  • zaokamura

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 10:52 am GMT

    No bc, no one cares!

  • kweeni

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 10:13 am GMT

    what?! no bc!!!??? damn that sucks, in that case i dont care no more
    whats the point anyway? give us 40gig more? wow how awesome....
    y think they should rather leave the other versions on the market 2, like microsoft dus all diffrent versions, then i bet the 60 gig will sel the most or atleast i would buy the 60 gig, oh wel atleast is a bit better deal...

  • Laurence114

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 10:10 am GMT

    wow is that it extra 40gb space no bc whats the point

  • whantwhant

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 10:04 am GMT

    i wish they would still alow people to buy the old 60g and alow the 40 g at the same time show people have got the option of the both sisterms

  • Lucidmike78

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 10:00 am GMT

    C'mon Sony. Enough with this 20GB increment BS. A dual layer blue ray disc holds close to 50GB. Doesn't that tell you how unattractive an extra 20GB sounds? They announce these like they discovered oil. How about a 160GB PS3? Its only a few dollars more.

  • SuperGotenks

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 10:00 am GMT

    @kweeni

    The new 80g won't have PS2 BC. It's the current 40g model with a 80g drive instead.

  • ColdRush88

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 9:49 am GMT

    Finally! Some great news for us Europeans.

  • kweeni

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 9:45 am GMT

    thats awesome, somehow im kinda happy i dont have a ps3 yet, cus the 80GB has bc i there are some ps2 titles i want to play but cant cus my ps2 dusnt work wel so im glad the 80GB is comming, and there will also be 40 gig more wich is also a big extra :-)

  • TwiztedMetal

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 9:44 am GMT

    good for them

  • monkeyd_93

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 9:20 am GMT

    maybe thats why sony are having their free 40GB bravia giveaway again, to clear up space

  • masteryoung

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 9:14 am GMT

    I don't no why everyone complains about backwards compatibility, ok so its gay not being able to play ya old games, but when i went back an played em i just couldn't not after playing stuff on the ps3, you realize how much of a step down it is!

  • teirdome

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 8:54 am GMT

    Backwards compatibility is an absolute REQUIREMENT. Sony spent a ton of time talking about PS2 titles at their press conference, so why isn't it there? Personally, I'm not getting one without it, and the price point is still too high on the old 80GB.

  • playstation_wii

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 8:54 am GMT

    At least there will only be one SKU instead of many. Uncharted a Platinum Title? Is it a Greatest Hit in the states?

  • desert_e_909

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 8:52 am GMT

    Though there may be no BC at all in this SKU, an emulator could become available through an update.

  • Kenji_Masamune

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 8:38 am GMT

    BC is nice.. but not a requirement. I've tried to go back and play some of my beloved PS1 games.. and I just can't. The controls, horrible (but were top notch when it was released) graphics.. can't do it. So much like many people who have a PS3, I also have my PS2 and my first gen PS1, so I could care less about BC. It's a nice thing to have, but truth be told unless more than 20% of the PS3 owners actually use this, there is not justifiable cause to include BC.

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