I'm sure this decision has NOTHING to do with the fact that Sony loses more money on the 20gb model than they do on the 60gb. Glad I got mine when I did.

This really means that Sony has admitted defeat for this round. Guess who was the primary buyer of 20GB PS3? A/V guys that wanted to get a Blue-Ray player on the cheap a.k.a not console gamers. 20GB PS3 was a bigger lost for Sony due to forementioned reason. Sony is trying to cut their massive losses on PSP and PS3.

There is really no way to make it sound easier. The PS3 is officially a complete flop as a gaming console. It is the new Sega Saturn. Ironically, Sony did most of the damage to themselves. The PS3 was just far too ambitious as a gaming console for its own good.

It could of have stood a chance if it was released around the same time as the 360. This couldn't happen of course due to Blue-Ray and overhyped Cell chips. What the heck Sony was thinking when it was damm clear in the design phases that the Cell would be a PITA to fab in mass quanities. Blue-Ray drive just added an unnecessary overhead that console gamers didn't care about. On the other hand Sony couldn't resist the chance to force its media standard down people's throats.

Good for Sony.

The $499 version was the fall-back product for Sony in case the $599 system didn't sell as well as planned. If Sony had only released the $599 version and it didn't sell well because of the price they would have been forced to lower the price in a panic. The $499 version gets them out of that situation by allowing retailers to simply order the cheaper version if sales were too slow. Sony dropping the $499 version obviously means the $599 sales are strong enough.

With the PS2 still selling well in it's 8th year, the PS3 is on track to becoming Sony's third 10 year, 100+ million console. The Xbox 360 will never reach that level of success because it's a dull, calculated product.

[EDIT]
Also, with the Wii's low price and new controller, and the PS3's superior, cutting edge HD design, the Xbox 360 can't win as the low-end choice or the high-end choice. The Xbox 360 is going to get squeezed out of the market. Microsoft's next console will be it's last. They don't know what they're doing. They think selling video games is no different than selling car insurance or laundry detergent.

OH CRAP!! I take it all back.

Microsoft has just issued a press release announcing 3 new Xbox 360 SKUs:

Xbox 360 Basic ($99): Which drops the unnecessarily extravagant DVD drive and uses punch cards.

Xbox 360 Illuminati ($999): Which has built in HD-DVD, a 500GB HDD, the entire Girls Gone Wild collection, and a bag of Cheese-Puffs.

Xbox 360 Playstation 3 ($599): Which has an actual next-generation system.

Here's the REAL reason: nobody on the planet makes 20GB drives anymore, duh.

Hey, if there's no demand, there's no point in keeping it around. I wish Microsoft would listen to that notion.

Further, I have been led to believe that Sony loses more on the $500 model, anyway. Even better for them.

I'm in a weird position. I bought a PS3 60gb and an Xbox360 20gb, because neither console offers enough content(in my opinion) for me to pick one side and stick with it. 20Gb PS3s were available when I bought mine, but I never considered the 20gb as a valid option, anyway. The wifi keeps me from having to string a second 50 foot ethernet cable to my television.

When you total up the price for wifi and DVI for the xbox 360, it gets pretty close to the price of a PS3, anyway($100 for the Microsoft wifi adapter and $40 for a DVI cable). Take out 40gbs of missing hard drive space, and you can almost claim that the 360 with wifi and DVI is as expensive as a PS3. :)

I just sent my 20GB system back for service yesterday......wonder if they will upgrade me...hm........curious mind inquires...

At the moment, no one really cares if its DVD or BluRay, they just want the games and both the xbox 360 and PS3 can deliver next generation gaming (although the titles on the pS3 have been unimpressive).

Since the PS3 60 gig hd will be replaced with an 80 gig, they might be in a better position if they lowered their console down from $600 to $500 matching the xbox 360 elite - that would be some good competition.

I've considered the Wii but to be honest, theres really no interest games on it except Wii Sports and Zelda. Regardless of what people say, you really do need pretty graphics and 5.1 sound, and the system just doesn't deliver.

What is a PS3? Is it those grill looking perma shelved items? :P

I don't even know why they bothered with it in the first place. The whole shabbang probably cost them quite a bit more than having only one standard (manufacturing, packaging, inventory, etc).

Isn't Microsoft phasing out the core to make room for the elite?

The 360 Elite doesn't look so bad now does it?

I looked for 20GB model since the beginning, I never found one. This is a case of getting rid of the model that has bigger losses.

I think a lot of people looked for the 20GB and gave up. Sony would have had higher sales if they had a cheaper 20GB model, but they never really did.

This is merely making it official. But it is really this high price that is handing the market to Xbox360 and Wii.

Sony is still managed by out of touch, out of time, aging executives.

The 60gig version will be next:)

pretty clever, they don't bother shipping the units so none are sold so then they can claim theres no demand. they just dont like losing more money on the 20gb ps3.

pretty clever, they don't bother shipping the units so none are sold so then they can claim theres no demand. they just dont like losing more money on the 20gb ps3.