This article has just reminded me of the growing list of abilities that today's "games" consoles now have. I mean the list is truly staggering when you think about it...

PS3 abilites:
Blu ray player
PVR (personal video recorder)
Games console with online gaming
CD player
DVD player
Streaming music video service
Movie download/rental service
Web browser
media server & mp3 player
TVOD (tv on demand)

Did I leave anything out?

... And of course the Xbox 360 has a similarly impressive list. My goodness how things have changed, and so quickly!

And of course the Xbox 360 has a similarly impressive list?

Well you can drop the Blu-ray and Web browser for a start, online gaming is not free, to name a few.

@Geeq! Very mature comment and really refreshing to see humbleness about both consoles for once! I'm a ps3 obsessive but technology is technology and not worth getting uptight about! SteveQ take note... It might be obvious to us that ps3 is superior in some ways but I'm sure that xbox must be better in others! For example, has everybody in cod4 ps3 forgot that the up button makes your character go forward...? It's getting pathetic to watch whole games with just the background noises whilst everybody sits in the dark... It used to be a minority that camped but Ive never seen anything like recent events... Example scores today, me 28 kills, nearest on my team, 5! What a joke! Stop being pussies n00bs! Anybody feel the same? Wanna form a clan of run n gunners my psn id is Necromantik.... Message me! Off topic I know but I'm tired of this!

i dont know how wise it is to release yet another version of the ps3 console, and after a price cut if they include all these extras the price will go back up, so i wonder if this would be affective or not ?
of course the idea of all these things bundles together is great and you would need a larger hard drive to save all the movies and programmes but will consumers go for it if the price goes back up ? sometimes i think sony are confused on what they want their console to be, a games machine, multi media machine, home theatre ?

@Henry Ford
I agree, PS3 has an impressive feature list but they need to do more to market it as a premier games console.

Even now i think th average consumer is confused by Sony and their approach Which to fair is not new to Sony. since the early days of PS2 Sony have been telling us that their machines are multi media machines etc.

Microsoft appear to have the upper hand in telling the average consumer what their machine does, it plays games. and MS do a better job than Sony in marrying up with publishers output when advertising.

A new SKU could be great for xmas but the confusion at what it does could lead consumers to buy another manufacturers machine altogether.

Well I think these bundles will certainly help drive home the message that the PS3 is capable of much more. Will consumers understand and pay more for the extras? I don't know. However since the recent launch of PS3 slim Sony appear to be getting their house in order. In the past many companies have tried and failed to market a 'one box does all' system... Commodore CDTV anyone? It was never going to be easy but what appears to be different this time is that their are more consumers now whom understand what these things can do. They have grown up with the intergrated phone/camera/internet browser mentality and know what it means to be 'connected' to a larger community. This I think has and will continue to help Sony and Microsoft gain a substantial foothold in this sector and could be the trojan horse that eventually leads to a much much bigger market. One in to which will appeal to all - casual, hardcore, young and old etc.

I actually think it is probably now time to rebrand these "games" consoles. Perhaps they should now be called Video Consoles or something like Integrated Media Centre's (IMC's) to help drive the message.

Have sony forgot what is selling the PS3 Slim? PRICE! IF they bundle loads of things with the PS3 Slim 250GB then the price rockets and sales stop!

PS3 Slim
http://www.ps3slimconsole.net/

In fairness to them, they seemed to make everyone believe the PS3 was the most powerful games console at the beginning and perhaps they believe this message is firmly set in consumers' minds. The ones who are going to buy a PS3 with a big hard-drive will be techie ones who know that they are saving £x buy getting the harddrive included as opposed to going out and buying one and fitting it themself.
I'd imagine the Sony marketing brain is thinking: "Everyone knows the PlayStation brand plays games, so let's tell them what else it can do so we can sell more movies and music to them." It's not as blatantly obvious as microsofts marketing which I must say has been good in terms of games but I didn't even know you could download content on live without paying for it until the other day...

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