When Sony announced that its 20 GB and 60 GB versions of the Playstation 3 would cost $499 and $599, respectively, at launch, it shocked the game industry to have such consoles be that expensive when they were first released. The launch price of the PSP console came in at $249, again well above the average launch price for a portable console. The results were that the PS3 and PSP didn't sell as many consoles, at least in the West, as Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii and DS consoles.
So what will be the price for Sony's next major console, currently code named NGP but rumored to be getting the game PS Vita? In a new article on Kotaku, Sony Computer Entertainment's head of worldwide studios Shuhei Yoshida didn't give up any specific prices for the NGP. However he did say, "I feel very comfortably that we are going to be hitting it. We definitely consider this is the price that it has to be for people to even consider purchasing it."
Sony is still considering some bundle options which might include pre-loaded games on the system. There's also the pricing for the 3G wireless access for the console. Still Yoshida doesn't seem to be concerned about how the NGP will compare with Nintendo's new 3DS console or other mobile phone based game platforms. Yoshida states, "We are not directly competing with these systems We have to really create the reason for people to look at the NGP and say, 'This is what I want.'"
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