Sony Shakes Up U.S. PlayStation 3 Lineup
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sony Corp. on Thursday cut the price of its PlayStation 3 game console in the U.S. and announced an even cheaper model that will arrive before the holiday shopping season.
The top-line PlayStation model, with an 80 gigabyte hard drive, now costs $499, down from $599. That effectively eliminates the lower-end model, which has a 60-gigabyte drive and has sold for $499.
A new low-end model with a 40-gigabyte drive will go on sale Nov. 2 for $399.
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Unlike the other PlayStation 3 models, the new one won't be able to play games made for the PlayStation 2. In a statement, Sony said this was due to a more extensive lineup of games of the PlayStation 3.
The U.S. launch of the 40-gigabyte model was widely expected, since Sony has already announced it for Japan and Europe.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It narrows the price gap with competing game consoles, but the PlayStation is still the most expensive.
Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 costs $350 and Nintendo Corp.'s Wii costs $250.
The PlayStation 3 has been trailing them both in U.S. sales, and the Wii has been a breakout hit for Nintendo, with more than 9 million units shipped.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sony has sold 5 million PlayStation 3s since they went on sale in November last year.