14 DAY TRIAL // Other PS3 hot news from the wire? It seems that Kaz Hirai, president of Sony Computer Entertainment America, has stated in an interview with US consumer magazine on Friday that the prices for the PS3 upcoming games will be higher than the ones featured by the famous Xbox 360, informs Games Industry.
"Generally speaking, over the past twelve years or so, there has been a consumer expectation that disc based games are maybe US$ 59 on the high end to US$ 39 on the low end," said Hirai. "So, what I can say now is, I think it would be a bit of a stretch to think that we could suddenly turn around and say 'PS3 games now US$ 99.99."
Hirai gave a notice to all PS3 console & games fans, saying that the company will try to 'shrink' the prices as much as possible, but no one should expect miracles. "If it becomes a bit higher than US$ 59, don't ding me, but, again, I don't expect it to be US$ 100," Hirai added.
This will soon become, for certain, another subject for debate, as Sony is already blamed for the fact that it will release its upcoming console at the highest price on the market, and I'm strictly speaking about the leaders - Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PS3. It is expected that the PS3 will be available in November at an estimated retail price of US$/Euro 499-599.
Earlier last month, there has been another controversial official statement in which it was said that Sony plans to proscribe the resale of PlayStation 3 games, creating consequently 'a total war' in the gamers' world, as well as in the gaming industry.
Sony's strategy implies that when the consumer purchases the game, he/she will benefit from an exclusive license, meaning that every game has a license and the beneficiary doesn't own the game, even if he has paid for it. As a result, the consumer has only a license to play the game and others can not buy second-hand games. More precisely, Sony is the sole proprietor of every piece of software.
Sony representatives refused to comment upon these rumors, saying that: "We have made all of the official announcements at E3. We will be announcing more news running up to PlayStation 3's launch." It is also rumored that the company has already warned the British retailers not to put on sale second-hand games.