I hope the Anonymous Sony Fanboys learned their lesson

Remember flaming me for saying $500 for the PS3? Looks like I was right. Except, that was the CHEAP ONE. The analysts were actually right for once (they suggested around $500-$600).

What is upsetting is that now the Sony fanboys cultists are acting like they all make 7 figures. The 360 and the Wii are for poor people according to them (check Microdot's comments for an example). Talk about a pathetic attempt to save face. Well, I guess being debt-ridden makes some people happy?

More importantly, if the cheap one is HDMI-less, then this hurts HDCP and Bluray as well. If movie studios get far enough to start imposing the HDCP requirement (they won't initially to try and hook consumers), then kiss your 720p, 1080i, and 1080p resolutions goodbye for Bluray movies. If memory serves correctly, they reduce the resolution to 540p if you aren't using an HDCP compliant connection (which is pretty much an HDMI connection).

But since I was convinced about the price before these announcements, let's talk about the controller. WTF. The same old, crappy dualshock design...without vibration? Good god. At least Microsoft made the 360 controller more ergonomic. At least Nintendo did more than just typical motion sensing. They strip out the vibration, add a shoddy motion sensor and bluetooh, and call it a day. Yay for bluetooth, boo for everything else.

Unfortunately, there's only one HDMI port for the premium (none for the cheapie). So much for dual screen gaming. Honestly, I didn't think they would keep it though. Developers wouldn't have supported it. But that sure would have been sweet, minus the having-to-buy-two-HDTVs part.

Sony has officially lost all but one cool point with me. The last one is just for Final Fantasy exclusivity which Square suggests isn't there. I can only hope that FFXIII takes a while to come out. I'll buy a premium for $400, but that's all they are getting from me (unless of course, SE shapes up and makes FF multiconsole).

Here's the thing, too. The Wiimote can sense it's position in a 3D space. The Dual Shake only senses tilt on a 2D plane (pitch, roll, yaw).

HDMI is important to those who want to take full advantage of Blu-ray high def and have the new screens to use it

Gimped $500 PS3

"Anything over $399 would be suicide."

I say they choke on frisbees.