BREAKING NEWS

Sony has released the final pricing details for the PlayStation 3. The unit will come in two flavors: one with a 60 GB hard drive ($599 US) and one with a smaller 20 GB hard drive ($499 US).

The pricing is steeper than many initially hoped for, especially considering that the Xbox 360 currently sells for $299 and $399 (with 20 GB hard drive). There's still no word on the price for Nintendo's Wii, but $249 is the current E3 rumor.

As for a final, concrete release date, Sony is committing to a November 17th launch date in the US and a November 11th launch date in Japan. Sony also pledged to have 2 million PS3's available during the launch window, but that supply will be for the global market; shortages are extremely likely. Sony plans to ship 4 million PS3s worldwide by the end of 2006, and 6 million by March 2007.

This PS3 pricing announcement capped an otherwise humdrum E3 media briefing; the only other surprise was the announcement that the PS3's controller would include gyroscopic sensors that will enable it to respond to movement, much like Nintendo's Wii.


OUCH!!!