Playstation 3 European launch details and titles

[Azza]

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Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has today put an end to speculation and rumour with a press release confirming that PlayStation 3 will arrive in the PAL territories on Friday 23rd March 2007.

The highly sensitive issue of pricing was also put to rest with confirmation of a launch price of €599 for mainland Europe, £425 for UK, AU$999.95 for Australia and NZ weighing in at NZ$1199.95. This makes the UK the most expensive place to buy a PlayStation 3 in the world.

SCEE also confirmed the 20GB would not be available in PAL territories (Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Australasia) in March, but may come along later in the year "dependent on demand".

SCEE also outlined the software launch line-up, which unsurprisingly will feature a bigger array of games that either the Japanese or US launches (well, duh!). We at PSU are sure you all have you favourites you're looking forward to, but this writer's eyes stuck on Motorstorm, Resistance: Fall of Man, Tony Hawk's Project 8, Virtua Fighter 5, Def Jam Icon and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2.

See end of article for full list of games announced.

In order to possibly avoid the riots that dogged both the Japan and US launches, SCEE has promised one million PS3s on day one. But one million spread across over three continents doesn't sound like an awful lot to us, so we'll see...

David Reeves, President of SCEE said, "Following the hugely successful launches of PS3 in Japan and North America, we are absolutely delighted to be able to bring significant numbers of PS3 to the SCEE territories. To be able to launch with over 30 titles across every genre shows that this is our strongest launch line-up in the history of PlayStation, and is what PlayStation fans in Europe have been crying out for."

Also, Sony announced the price (in UK Pounds) for the peripherals available at launch:

SIXAXIS™ Wireless Controller - £34.99
Blu-ray Disc Remote Control - £17.99
HDMI Cable - £17.99
AV cable - £17.99
Component AV cable - £17.99
S Video cable - £12.99

Full line-up of announced games to available at PAL launch:

Blu-ray games

* Resistance: Fall of Man
* MotorStorm
* Genji: Days of the Blade
* Formula One Championship Edition
* Super Rub'a'Dub
* Call of Duty 3
* Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
* Tony Hawk’s Project 8
* Gundam – Target in Sight
* Full Auto 2: Battle Lines
* Sonic the Hedgehog
* Virtua Fighter 5
* Virtua Tennis 3
* World Snooker Championship 2007 NBA 2K7
* NHL 2K7
* Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWll
* Enchanted Arms
* Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent
* The Elder Scrolls lV: Oblivion
* Def Jam: Icon
* Fight Night Round 3
* NBA Street 4 Homecourt 2007
* Need for Speed Carbon
* The Godfather: The Don’s Edition
* Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007
* Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom
* F.E.A.R.

Downloadable games

* Ridge Racer 7
* Tekken: Dark Resurrection
* Lemmings
* Go! Sudoku
* Go! Puzzle
* Blast Factor
* flOw
* Gripshift

[lychee]

£425 pounds...will be a long wait for me =(

[Sneaky King]

Yeah, sod that! Just get an import machine and buy the games here if you have to. 20Gb machines in Japan are £165.

How much are the games over here, I wonder?

[ExceededGoku]

Or even sod that and get an 8800GTX and be sorted lol

[vrykyl]

This makes the UK the most expensive place to buy a PlayStation 3 in the world

[SIGH] Along with just about everything else on the planet....MS Vista, being the most memorable other recent ripoff price in the uk...

[jonathan_phang]

And i think that i read somewhere that even at the prices that they are going to charge, that Sony will be making a production loss on each 20GB console sold - that cant be right can it??? (Methinks it was in Edge or something that i picked up in Borders)

Anyway, £425 is way too high isnt it. I wont be getting one regradless, my PC and Wii will provide my gaming fixes for me.

[charleski]

In order to possibly avoid the riots that dogged both the Japan and US launches, SCEE has promised one million PS3s on day one. But one million spread across over three continents doesn't sound like an awful lot to us, so we'll see...

The 'riots' were mostly the result of crowds of speculators looking to make a quick buck. Since that idea failed in both the US and Japan, I doubt we'll see anything similar here.

One million launch sales across Europe and Australasia sounds very ambitious. I doubt that those who are willing to fork out the hefty price will have any difficulty finding one to buy.

[Choo Choo]

Hehe, launched on my birthday. I don't think I'll be getting one though. Not at that price anyway.

[Russ]

are jap ps3's region locked for games and blu-ray discs?

[Tom Scott]

Too expensive for me, I'll wait until they're being reduced because noones got the money to buy them.

572.99 for console, HDMI cable, 1 extra pad and 2 games... Woah.

[zulander]

Can anybody see a situation where by after the intial rush there is then a gap as the "consumer waits it out" to see if sony are going to drop their prices, at the mo unless a PS3 is a must have i would think a lot of people will explore other options

[Steven W]

The date and the launch line-up of titles have finally been confirmed. Time to get saving...

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[Bull Dog]

Seriously here in North America, the PS3 can be found everywhere. Now the Wii on the other hand..............

[tfboy]

are jap ps3's region locked for games and blu-ray discs?

Nope. Games are currently region free. Developers can lock them if desired, but I don't think it would be a smart idea to do that. I have a jap PS3, and it will play UK games when they are out.

Blu-ray however has 3 regions, A, B and C. Japan is part of region A along with the Americas, Canada, Hong Kong, etc. Europe is region B. So different region. But not all blu-ray movies have the region enforced. Most region A movies play on region B players, and vice versa. See here: http://bluray.lindsite.dk/

[Blackmage]

should i get a HDTV or a ps3? even though i got a 360 i want a ps3 also i wonder if a hdtv would be a better purchuse!

[Parm]

I'm not in a hurry to get one but it's great to see that it's finally on schedule and that Europe will finally be able to experience it.

At the current price point, it's just too expensive and doesn't offer enough to convince me. I'd love to play Motorstorm and Formula 1 (I'm a bit of a racing nut) but that alone wouldn't warrant the price. At the moment I really enjoy the 360 and I find the lineup of games available or on the horizon to be extremely good.

Had the PS3 been launched before the 360 and the Wii though, I would have thought differently, I'd probably have broken a few bones jumping queues trying to get one. As it stands, next gen now feels like now gen. If I did have the money to spare this year, it'd be going towards a new PC with a DX10 card.