With the launch of the newly redesigned PlayStation 3 throughout Europe today, Electronic Theatre has taken the time to find out how both high street and independent retailers across the UK have been responding to the new hardware proposition. With the Xbox 360 having received a price-drop prior to the weekend and many retailers still carrying stock of the PLAYSTATION 3 unit, it comes as little surprise to find that the high street stands as a very competitive arena currently.

            Surprisingly as it may seem, as with the Xbox 360 price-drop it is once again Sainsbury’s that are leading the supermarkets on competitive pricing. Offering the PLAYSTATION 3 80GB hardware bundle, along with the recently released Ghostbusters: The Video Game and last year’s groundbreaking LittleBigPlanet (quite obviously clearing excess stock in anticipation of the recently revealed Game of the Year edition) for only £219.97, the supermarket’s deal represents a saving of over £100 off the Recommended Retail Price (RRP), and is priced at only £20 more than their Xbox 360 Elite bundle, which includes only Batman: Arkham Asylum. When asked whether either or both games could be replaced with Batman: Arkham Asylum, the answer was a frank “no”.

            Tesco appear to be sticking to that £249.99 RRP currently, with only the PLAYSTATION 3 80GB model available, while Argos are undercutting this price by £5.30 for both the PLAYSTATION 3 and the newly released PlayStation 3. Asda, however, seem to be largely unaware of the price-drop or launch of the PlayStation 3, continuing to retail the PLAYSTATION 3 for £297.

            Electronic Theatre contacted a number of independent retailers also, most of which claimed that their stock of PlayStation 3 hardware had been in great demand since lowering the price this morning. Unsurprisingly, of the five independent retailers contacted that regularly carry the hardware, all claimed that no units had been sold in the past week, with consumers instead wishing to reserve the units – both PLAYSTATION 3 and PlayStation 3 – for when the price-drop arrived. Two of those contacted claimed that they were unable to obtain PlayStation 3 hardware in time for launch, though have been offered a guarantee that supplies will be made available to them later this week in time for the incoming weekend sales push.

            As would have been suspected by most, it appears the original PLAYSTATION 3 carries more value-for-money than the newly redesigned PlayStation 3 currently, as was proven to be the case with the discontinued Xbox 360 Pro last week. Obviously, stocks of this unit will become incredibly scarce as the weekend approaches, and so Electronic Theatre recommends that now, perhaps more than ever, is a good time to shop around before making that purchase.

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Comments

Red_Killer

0

 

 

THe ps3 is blatantly cheaper than the 360 now. £219 with TWO full-price games it says here.Try arguing with that. :/

Thursday 03 September 2009, 12:57

NDSX-DUDE

+1

 

 

It should come with the tag "for a limited time only". Id go for Batman any day tho! but it is a very attractive price and i think that if your going to spend that much you may as well shell out the extra £30 and get the new ps3.

Thursday 03 September 2009, 13:14

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