Sony Sells 1 Million PS3s, Pressures Xbox, Wii
Sony this week reported that it has sold a total of 1 million PS3 gaming consoles since the new version came to market on Sept. 1.
Even before the release of the new model of the PS3, dubbed the "PS3 Slim" because of its size, the recent Sony PS3 price drop to $299 led to a surge in U.S. sales of the PS3 platform.
Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that analyst firm NPD said U.S. sales of the PS3 rose by about 72 percent from July to August of this year, with August sales hitting 210,000 units.
Meanwhile, Sony's video gaming console competitors are not sitting still.
Microsoft late last month slashed the price of its Xbox 360 Elite by $100 to $299.99 in an effort to match the price cut of the Sony PS3.
And Nintendo said on Thursday that it plans to drop the price of its Wii by $50 to $199.99 starting this coming Sunday.
For Sony, the new PS3 Slim is an opportunity to go beyond just cutting the price and instead try to go around the Xbox 360 Elite and the Wii to place the device at the center of the home entertainment market.
The device, which has an internal volume only two-thirds that of the original PS3, also uses one-third less power than before, allowing Sony to reduce fan noise, a must in a living room setting.
The PS3 Slim also allows users to watch Blu-ray and DVD videos with a device which is now priced barely above stand-alone Blue-ray players. The device also connects to a Sony Bravia LCD TV via an HDMI cable to let users control the gaming console with their TV remote control.