PlayStation 3 Still Set For March in EU, Price Revealed

Despite an accidental slip-up on the part of Sony CEO Howard Stringer, the PlayStation 3 is set for launch in the EU this March. When it does launch, folks in the UK and Ireland will be paying a pretty penny for Sony's new console. From the article: "Sony has confirmed ... that the 60GB PS3 will cost EUR 629.99 in Ireland, as suggested on the official website. 'Ireland is traditionally more expensive than other territories,' a spokesperson explained. 'The VAT rate there is 21 per cent, whereas it can be as low as 16 per cent in other EU countries.' However, the spokesperson continued, the PS3 will still cost EUR 599 if you're buying it elsewhere in Europe. Of course, here in Britain we're still using the funny old money with the picture of the rich lady on it, so we'll get a price point all of our own. And according to our old friend Senior Retail Sources, that price point will be set at GBP 425."

Comments

Ridiculously expensive and a Sony product

[Tim C]

Despite being a long-time PC gamer (with no plans to change that), I am considering finally getting a console.

I appreciate that I'm a lone person and so largely irrelevant, but Sony can forget about getting my money. Even if I had forgotten about the rootkit fiasco (and I haven't), that's out of my price range given there are cheaper alternatives.

Just my two penn'orth.

Whatever...

[AceJohnny]

I think it's not entirely offtopic to state:

I want a Wii.

Here in France, the Wii was released on the 8th of December. I resisted the temptation to preorder, naively confident that Nintendo's production would quickly catch up to demand.
Today still (Jan 18th), stocks are empty everywhere I search, with shops depending on Nintendo's trickling supplies to honor preorders.
In a prominent consumer electronics shop (FNAC), I was tersely answered "No dates" when I asked for an ETA. Another chain tells me "End of February, start of March"...

So the best I can hope is to get my Wii by the time the PS3 hits the stores. If I don't preorder *now*, it'll probably shift some more.

Also, we don't yet have real HDTVs here (all the big TVs are "HD-ready", that's 720p). It's one of the reasons I'm holding out for one. I wonder how that'll impact the performance of the PS3.

Is it too much speculation to believe the PS3 supply will equalize demand within in a month, here?

All in all, I'm very curious to see how the European market will react to the three consoles, compared to the USA and Japan.