5% tax?!?!? That's the real story here - stinking + 8% here in Phx Metro.

SuedeGopher

The PS3 should get it's next price drop when Resistance 2 or Final Fantasy XIII come out. Which ever is sooner. I'm expecting the Wii to get one as well this year. (if only 50 dollars)

Buttah

Some people were able to get their local Best Buy to price match on this, by having a CSR fax the Sterling location for confirmation.

HateFate

@Candlejack:

No it has nothing to do with buying TV's, that's a separate deal too. This deal is long dead folks! It was for the beggining of January only.

The 5 blu-rays is not just for Best Buy but any retailer where you buy a Blu-ray player (including a PS3).

ssjmichael

Nice ... Will be getting a white PS3 when they arrive here. And hopefully (even though Sony denied the price drops on them to $200 today) would be nice to score them for that price.

If not, I will still pay the price it is now, since I have $75 in Best Buy gift cards itching to be spent.

EnigmaNemesis

ewww sales tax.

logical

Damn! I guess it's a little to early to bust out with my "It prints money!" gif of Kaz and a ps3.

jpgnotgif

Wait, doesn't this only apply if you buy one of the selected TVs with it? That's what I heard on some forums, so don't quote me on it please.

By the way, they have something like I mentioned over here in the UK at the Sony Centres. When you buy one of their £1499-2499 LCDs you get a free PS3 with it, or have to pay just £100 when buying the "cheaper" LCD.

Candlejack

I thought about heading over to Sterling, but didn't really want to face the traffic. Or get a non-backwards-compatible PS3, for that matter.

emag

I think the 5 Blu-Ray movies thing was for all Best Buys. I got that with mine and I didn't even know I was getting them before I bought it. You only get a few to pick from though, it's mostly like The Patriot and Ultraviolet.

Recury

@Chunkylover21:

Only the store that did a Pricematch got in trouble I believe, not Sterling.

ssjmichael

Some others got that price by doing a pricematch. It was a manager's special and has nothing (absolutely nothing) to do with a price drop

Another recent Best Buy deal was to buy 3 PS3 games, and get the PS3 for 249

ssjmichael

Yeah I saw this, they got in trouble though and had to stop.

Chunkylover21

STOP SPREADING YOUR LIES ONDORE. Santa is real!

Gadzooks149

Well, I bought a used 20 Gb for ~$300.00, with full backward PS2 compatibility, and I love it. I have never owned a PS2, so I wanted to have backwards compatibility. I also bought a scan converter that allows me to display the 720p games on my HDTV in hidef, so I am happy. The PS3 is very well engineered, and seems solidly built. It makes both my 360 and Wii look like toys.

If the PS3 is becoming the lead platform for many developers, then I would tend to think that the video game industry is moving more in the direction of the PS3. A significant price-cut would make the 360 look bad in comparison, particularly since most of the 360 exclusives have come and gone.

bornonce

Wow, that's crazy.

The sale was made on my birthday!

I wish I had gotten as good of a present :(

crashlanding

Mark Wilson looky:

[gamerumor.blogspot.com]

Believe :)

GamingNinja

@ssjmichael: Ok, cheers :)

Candlejack

@jayntampa: Where?!?! I'd LURVE to pick up Overlord for 1/2 price!

The Gamer-Nerd Formerly Known as HootieMac

A $300 PS3 would definetly start selling like hotcakes.....especially when consumers realize that for only 50 dollars more then the Wii, you are getting alot of multimedia capabilities, a blu-ray player, a upconverting DVD player, and a better selection of games.

asianmacker

This was the EXACT store I bought my xbox 360 (premium or whatever it was called at the time) at in Jan '06. I happened to walk in, they had 12 of them sitting on the floor, I managed to grab 2. In order to bypass their "one per customer" thing though, I had to leave the second at the register and come back in to purchase it.

Before you get your panties in a bunch, I purchased the second one for my friend/Boss, not as an ebay quick buck.

sxs3200

@mva5580: Bah, I'm more then happy with my $500 20GB from launch. Maybe the games took a little while to trickle out, but I got plenty of use via Blu rays from Netflix. Not to mention it has the IMO much slicker, all-black look.

But I must admit I would likely not be so happy if I didn't have a 160GB HD installed in it. (got it for free so it wasn't an extra expense.

jslay012

$299 for a PS3 is a great, great deal.

And of course when I say that people need to realize I'm not even putting the fact that it plays games into consideration. The PS3 is a fantastic "HTPC-lite" machine, and people who are using it ONLY for the playing games are really, really missing out on some cool features.

I don't own one, have no reason to own one (I have a real HTPC :) ) but for people on a bit of a budget and want the gaming aspect to go with it, the PS3 is honestly a hell of a machine.

Definitely NOT worth its launch price, but as it continues to go down, its popularity will continue to rise.

mva5580

I see stuff like this at Best Buy a lot -- this weekend I bought Blue Dragon, Overlord, and Bladestorm all at 50% off ... they also had Eternal Sonata and a bunch of other games I already had.

jayntampa

Oh employee 880419... Won't you please sell me a PS3?

tehmark

@sascha23: They should bundle MGS4 with a PS3.

teh_joe

a friend of mine was telling me that they are releasing a white ps3 for $299?

s0ulfAce

@JDM_BB6:

Just be aware that managers can only do this with Sony's permission.

Hatchetforce

these are on our at risk report. meaning soon they could be discontinued, maybe sony is trying to move them for the white one. Managers at my Best Buy take off certain percentages so we dont hold onto product and lose more money.

JDM_BB6

@Stormrider900:

Yep still going on according to members at Slickdeals, here's the thread all about it if you're interested:

[forums.slickdeals.net]

ssjmichael

@ssjmichael:

I agree he is likely a no nothing blogger. But I would suggest there are four things to consider.

First, ignore Sony saying no price drop planned. They are notorious for trying to sell as many PS3s at current price and deny drops until almost the day of said drop.

Second, my brother also checked with the Best Buy where he lives and they said, yes PS3s were $299. By the time he got down to the store he was told there had been a error.

Third, all of these errors are usually the sign something is about to happen. If it was one Best Buy I would be more likely to dismiss it. But if we continue to see this stuff pop up there may be some creedence to the story.

Last, there are a few other sources on the web reporting the PS3/Warner tie in. Something to think about. I am not saying any of it is true merely that it is certainly food for thought and not something I would readily dismiss.

Hatchetforce

@ssjmichael: Is that still going on? I thought it had ended already.

Stormrider900

5% sales takes is low 8.75% in Texas

anyway where does one get a +61 staff of penetration?

Bleentastic

@seafisch:

ebay the movies :D

You'll get 80-100 for them, which would bring down the net price for the PS3

ssjmichael

@SuedeGopher: Yeah, 6.5% here in MN.

$300 for a PS3 + five movies I'm not interested in is somewhat enticing. More so when Hot Shots Golf 5 releases in March.

seafisch

@Chris3000:

source?

ssjmichael

@Hatchetforce:

I can't wait for Jan. 28th to come and for that idiot to shut his idiotic mouth. He'll probably say something like "my source told me there's been a delay, expect the drop February 10th, etc.."

Seriously guys, if that blog is the source of the pricedrop, please ignore it. The guy is only trying to get traffic to his site.

ssjmichael

There is definitely another SKU for the 40 GB PS3. It will also not come with any Spider Man 3, if anyone cares.

Chris3000

I paid $600 for mine... but then again, mine can play PS2 games. ;)

smitty1123

rumor has it that when GTA 4 launches, the 360 is getting another price drop. Expect sony to follow suit.

lotkrota

Man, you know, if they had a $300 PS3 right before MGS4 hit, you'd have total DESTROY.

Moonchilde

SWEET!

Sailorcancer

It wasn't just that one BestBuy. Madden's Raiders from N4G had this to say:

Maddens Raiders`s:

"Just called my Best Buy. -
They said that the 40GB is $299, but you have to buy a $999.00 TV. I asked them for how long it's good for and they said until Saturday night at Midnight. I asked her when it will be made $299 w/o the telly purchase and she said she couldn't tell me that."

Then there is this to consider:

"And these guys say the white PS3 is shipping sooner than we think. Could be a crock, yet it could surprise us all. Whatever their source is, they posted the price break first and then the white PS3 rumor afterward.

[gamerumor.blogspot.com]

Quote:
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
$299 Ceramic White Playstation 3 shipping to retailers any day, go on sale Monday

We were glad to bring you the news of the $299 Playstation 3 yesterday when it was still very much under wraps. We have told you yesterday that there will be a new Playstation 3 model. This is partly true. The changes to the new Playstation 3 model are only aesthetic. The new Playstation 3 model for the United States is the exact same one that launched in Japan a couple months ago. The specifications are identical to that of the regular 40GB Playstation 3 available today in the US. Sadly this new 40GB Playstation 3 will have the same shortcomings as its older counterpart in the respect that it will be missing backwards compatibility and will have no memory-card readers.

The new Playstation 3's will be shipping to US retailers any day. From what we heard, the new consoles will be arriving to retailers Friday night this week, and will go on sale Monday. Demand is expected to be very high, but Sony is supposedly cutting down on supply of the new console.

The regular 40GB Playstation 3 will also be dropping in price to match its counterpart at $299, but sadly the 80GB Playstation 3 will only be benefiting from a $50 price-drop, to $449.99

As of Monday, January 28, 2008 there will be 3 Playstation 3 SKU's available in the US market.

40GB White Playstation 3 - $299.99 (missing B/C, 2 USB ports, and memory-card readers)
40GB Black Playstation 3 - $299.99 (missing B/C, 2 USB ports, and memory-card readers)
80GB Black Playstation 3 - $449.99 (software based B/C, 4 USB pots, has memory card readers)

No news on a 80GB Ceramic White Playstation 3 as of right now, but Sony is staying open to the idea. Their game plan as of right now is to move as many Playstation 3 units by March, 31, 2008 as possible, this has to do something with Warner's exclusivity deal, we'll get back to you on this as soon as we learn more.

They list those prices because they are also saying this:

[gamerumor.blogspot.com]

Quote:
Monday, January 21, 2008
Playstation 3 gets another PRICE CUT January 28th

$299.99 USD for a Playstation 3 looks like a steal. Rumors are floating around that this is becoming reality, and before the end of January 2008. Is it possible?

We contacted some of our insiders to get the latest scoop on this rumor and see if it had any fact behind it. We were skeptical, after all the PS3 just received a price-cut in November.

The Playstation 3 IS in fact getting a price-cut. A new model, will retail at $299.99 USD, the announcement will be made January 28, 2008, and the new price will take effect January 29, 2008. There are two main reasons as to why the Playstation 3 is getting this price-cut.

Reason 1: The playstation 3 production costs have decreased tremendously over the past couple of months. What used to cost $800, now cost less than $400.

Reason 2: Time Warner. In exchange for Time Warner's exclusitivity (and an end to the format war), Sony has promised to reduce the price of the Playstation 3. As many of you know the Playstation 3 is equipped with a blu-ray disk drive, and the more the Ps3 sells, the greater the chance of Blu-Ray's success.

We are very excited to bring you these news today."

Hatchetforce

@Stormrider900:

You could take advantage of the Sonystyle credit card deal and get a 100.00 credit on your statement and 12 months w/o finance when you buy a PS3 at any authorized dealer.

That basically makes the 80GB 399 (no tax if bought on Amazon).

See here: www.sony.com/sonycard/ps3

ssjmichael

@Buttah: I'm thinking the next price drop will be in June when MGS4 hits.

sascha23

My brother was able to purchase a ps3 for 299 (after 100 off) by getting a Sony Credit card. I think it's still valid.

nxp3

@Sportyboard:

Personally for me it's Uncharted, Ratchet, and Warhawk. Those are some quality games right there. I'm also looking forward to LittleBigPlanet. What kind of games are you into?

I don't think any one game will get the masses to buy one, but a summation of all these great titles that are available and upcoming.

ssjmichael

@Sportyboard: That's more or less my exact situation. If I bought a PS3 now, I would get Uncharted and maybe Rachet and Clank... and nothing else. And I can't really justify spending 500 dollars on that to myself now that I'm not working part time anymore because of school.

Stormrider900

If the 80 GB PS3 is 400 dollars by the time LittleBigPlanet comes out, I'll probably crack and buy a PS3. But we'll have to wait and see, won't we?

Stormrider900

@SuedeGopher: If you think that's bad, try 13% in Ontario :)

Some strange part of me wants to buy a PS3, but in all honesty, there are no games out for it right now I want to play. Sure, you have games like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII coming, but I don't think I could justify spending that much on a system for just one or two games. And I don't watch many movies, so I don't need a Blu-ray player.

Sportyboard

It was 4.5% here in VA until recently too. :(

inglix

@HateFate: Ah, beaten by ssjmichael. New Years resolution: learn to type faster.

HateFate

I'd buy a white one for $300.

I hope they drop the price again sometime this year.

lotkrota

Only 5% sales tax? :(

@Mark: Then where do all those colored eggs come from, huh?

jacksinn

Not to mention, if those things were $300 (as in Sony having that as the regular price), they wouldn't meet demand right now.

BR Player and PS3 gaming for $300 or less it would sell crazy. Even to people not considering it before.

[gamepro.com]

People know the PS3 is a $300 price drop away from selling crazy.

EnigmaNemesis

There is a disturbance in the force, as if a million Sony fanboys cried out at once

Avinash_Tyagi

@giantenemycrab:

LOL

EnigmaNemesis

Typical Kotaku, spewing out crap. I've seen Santa with my own two eyes. He was at the mall if you must know.

giantenemycrab

These manager's specials at BB on the PS3 were pretty widespread in the past month. Anyone who is still in the market for one should do themselves a favor and go CAG and Slick Deals, both sites were all over this deal.

KidU

Sorry for the extra post, but it was $400 total. Mine was the 60gb model.

pigmartyr

This happened to me whenever the intial price drop occurred and before it was in the system at most retailers. The deal at the time was PS3 and free Ps3 controller. Guy price changed -249.99 bringing the price to a total of $300 and a free controller and 5 free bluray movies.

pigmartyr

@The Gamer-Nerd Formerly Known as HootieMac: It was here in Tampa; the one on Dale Mabry. They'd already marked it down to $39.99, so I got it for like $19.98 ... made my day. They actually had some other good games, including PS3 ones like Sega Revo Rally, but I ran out of money :(

jayntampa

I think the time for PS3 might be next holiday season. Maybe by then the price will have dropped a couple of times and maybe all of us who own wii60s will give it a second look. Then again if the stretch between oct-dec 08 for 360 games is like it was in 07, maybe not.

brandonf

Alot of people got price match during that frame. It seems like people from California to Massachusetts tried to get their ps3 price matched for 299 and succeeded.

Well most of 'em anyways from the forum

fyren

wow 5% sales tax.. where i live its friggin 9.5%

YoYo

@bornonce: "If the PS3 is becoming the lead platform for many developers, then I would tend to think that the video game industry is moving more in the direction of the PS3."
If that were the case, then I would tend to think the same. Unfortunately for the PS3, more developers are abandoning it than moving towards it.

PenguinJim

I saw a shelf tag for $299 PS3's at the Best Buy in Santana Row (San Jose, CA), but they were all sold out. This was about 2 weeks ago.

D00mM4r1n3

@Hatchetforce: When I first heard this rumor I thought someone was seriously smoking something. But now it does not sound as farfetched. I do think Sony realizes that $299 is the magical price point. Manufacturing costs have been cut in half and now Sony can cut prices to really start getting a foothold with gamers.

kavits001

honestly i wouldn't have bought one. the highest price i'd pick one up for is something like 199 and that's pushing it. FFXIII will change my mind but i just don't see the value without an HDtv.

Nessman

wow i feel truly ripped off... i pre odered my ps3 from here on launch day!!! 600 BUCKS!!!!!!! if i wouldve known that this would happened!!!! wow i feel like i just lost 300 bucks

masonbrit

Wait oh my god wait I do live there!

Maniclysane

If only I lived there...

Maniclysane

Mmmm, I think this might be someone pulling our legs, because the receipts look different than that now. Also, if it was a "manager special" then it would show the price discount taken off the normally priced item. Just a theory...

DAAutry

I believe you can still sign up for the sony card and get the $100 credit to buy a ps3. so that be 299 or 399 for a 40/80 gb.
I'm thinking about doing it one of these days. the 5 bluray disc rebate doesn't interest me much b/c of the crappy titles that are limited on the rebate form.

bigwhitebear18

01/03/08
hmmmm....

RENVi

Just sign up for a sonystyle credit card and get $100 off of your purchase of anything at sony (in this case a 40GB PS3). Also to add onto that you get a bonus 5,000 sony points just for signing up, and you can use that towards getting a 2nd PS3 controller (4,650pts). Hows that for a deal? =)

s0ulzx

[loud screams from Chilly Hollow where I occasionally shop at this location]

Now you tell me.

Chilly Hollow

HOLY CRAP THAT IS LOW SALES TAX!

ElektroDragon

I totally would have bought that, even if I had to go without heat for a month. And just for Disgaea 3.

Lobster

@s0ulzx:

PLAAANT! PLAAANT! BEGONE FROM THIS PLACE, YE BEING OF HIGH VEGETATION AND DODGY CREDIT CARD OFFERS!!1CAPSLOCK

bando

i live there...lucky me.

luffy27