PS3 Loses Router Functionality

One of the planned features for the Sony PS3 console was to use its three ethernet ports as a router, making the PS3 the centerpiece of your entertainment center and allowing the type of LAN parties Xbox users have grown to love. This feature is now toast, says Ars Technica:

Sony’s only real goal right now is to get you to NOT put money on an Xbox 360. This is of course a position they’re comfortable in, they had the same job back the days of the Dreamcast. If you can say one thing about Sony they know how to use spoiling tactics to get people to wait. Everyone seems to already think that the PS3 is more powerful, they just can’t tell you exactly why. That’s some good marketing right there.

Sony is launching the PS3 much later than the Xbox 360, and if it really is launching at US$399.99 without a harddrive Sony needs every weapon and edge they can get. We can only wonder if this is the last cost cutting measure they’ll take between now and launch.