Sony PS3 Price Tag Too High?

All eyes are on San Francisco as Sony prepares to launch its newest game console, the PS3. Ahead of Sony's big announcements tomorrow, there are parties galore -- a celebration for Bay Area companies that have been preparing for a new generation of games.

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Electronic Arts is the world's leading video game publisher, based on the Peninsula in Redwood Shores. The company is having a private party tonight to show off its new games for the PS3. The PS3 launches next month, but EA is already showing off four games that display PS3's next generation technology. The PS3 will be cutting edge and a little bit pricey. It's sure to usher in a new battle over video game supremacy.

The PS3 is more than another game console. It's equipped with Blu-ray, a high-definition DVD format that will allow graphics to take advantage of 1,080 lines of video quality. That's twice the resolution of standard TV.

Now take a deep breath. The basic model is expected to cost $499. The premium version is $599. It's twice the cost of rival game consoles made by Microsoft and Nintendo.

Mark Macdonald, Gamevideos.com: "Six hundred dollars for the system, and then you've got, if you want to get two games, that's another $120 bucks, maybe another joystick, whatever, you're talking easily, you can get into the thousand-dollar range."

However, the PS3's Blu-ray technology will allow game developers to create splashier graphics because of greater storage capacity than standard DVDs.

Analysts say the PS3 has 64 times more video memory than the PS2 model it's replacing. Its processor can do 217 billion calculations a second.

Ricardo Torres, Gamespot.com Senior Editor: "The processor can now handle all sorts of complex physics. You can have much more realistic movement and explosions and things like that. At the same time, the graphics processor affords you the ability to have more life-like graphics."

Tom Byron, editor-in-chief of U.S. Playstation magazine, says the best is yet to come.

Tom Byron, Playstation Magazine Editor-In-Chief: "A year or two down the road, we're just going to see things we haven't seen before in terms of the graphic power, and also because of the processing power. So you're just going to be packing more and more into these games than ever before."

It's estimated that Sony will have only 400,000 units for sale when it launches next month.

Gamers have had months to save up for the PS3. It was originally supposed to come out last spring.

Nintendo is also joining in the fray. They're going to come out with their next generation console, the Wii, just a few days after the PS3 comes out next month. It will be priced at just $250 dollars, about half of the price of the PS3.

Both of these video game consoles are going to be in heavy demand for the holidays.