Merry Christmas - Sony Cuts PS3 Prices in Europe

If you thought the Playstation3 was expensive here in the US, be glad you don't live overseas where the box typically retails for around $843. That's right, don't complain to Sony about the high price of this Blu-ray-equipped player in the US unless you're prepared to give some pity to our electronics-consuming pals East of the Atlantic.

This week, Sony decided to take advantage of the Christmas buying season by introducing a 40GB model that cuts the PS3 retail amount by 200 Euros. This will drop the game system to a more reasonable (for Europeans anyway) $562. The higher-end 80GB system will retail for $100 less at around $702.

According to the Yahoo! News report, Sony would not confirm the figures cited by the Les Echos newspaper but said an announcement was "imminent."

This is welcome news after Sony reduced the sales price of the PS3 by 100 dollars in the United States. It seems that Sony wants Europeans to get on board and jump-start console sales where it has been confonting competition from Nintendo's Wii. The Wii, which sells for about $350, and Microsoft's XBOX 360, which sells for $393 and $492 depending on the model have both been outpacing the PS3.

If offering a slightly less-equipped model is the way Sony believes more Europeans will jump on board its platform, then so be it. We like and utilize all three systems and, unlike the current high definition DVD format war, competition among gaming consoles is a welcome and helpful situation for consumers.