On November 11, 2006, the Playstation 3 (otherwise known as the PS3) was launched in Japan. The retail price is about 50,000 (yen) for the basic model (20 gig harddrive) versus about 72,000 (yen), as set by Japanese retailers for the Premium model (60 gig harddrive).

On November 17, 2006, PS3 launched in the US and Canada with an estimated price tag of $549.00 (cdn) and $499.00 (us) for the basic model while the premium PS3 sells for $659.00 (cdn) and $599.00 (us) respectively.

The PS3 is launching in March, 2007 in Europe and Australia. In Denmark, the estimated retail price of a PS3 is 4295 krona, which transferred into US dollars sits at almost $750.00. Many state that the high price is still fair, considering the Blu-ray disc system and overall robust nature of this gaming console.

There is much riding on the success of the Playstation 3. Sony stock is down at the time of us writing this article and expectations for the PS3 are high.

In September of 2006, Sony officially announced that Europe and Australia will have to wait until March 2007 (at least) to get their hands on the next generation console. Want to make thousands buying consoles here and selling them to our friends in Europe and Australia? Think again, Sony has also promised lawsuits to anyone found importing the systems into those countries.

Is the price too high? We don't think so. These aren't the mortal video games we remember from days of old, no, this is Blu-ray technology, High Definition, Wi-Fi havin' madness folks.