In a press conference at E3 on Monday, Sony Computer Entertainment finally announced the launch date and pricing for its upcoming PlayStation 3 console. SCE America President and CEO Kazuo Hirai said the console would launch in two flavors on November 11 in Japan and on November 17 in North America and Europe. The cheapest version of the console will feature a 20GB hard drive and will retail for $499 in the U.S., €499 in Europe, and $549 in Canada. A variant with a 60GB hard drive will also ship for $599 in the U.S., €599 in Europe, and $659 in Canada. Hirai did not mention any differences other than the extra storage space between the $499 and $599 flavors.

In addition to the launch and pricing information, Sony also revealed the PlayStation 3's new "redesigned" controller.While the controller looks virtually identical to the current PS2 controller, user wrist movements can also be translated into onscreen movement. In a demonstration, a virtual duck was made to jump out of the water by moving the controller upwards. Sony is following in the footsteps of Nintendo, which has opted for a one-handed motion sensitive controller for its Wii console.

I think Sony is making the error of thinking people want/need Blu-Ray. Anyway, it is going to be VERY INTERESTING how this round of game systems plays out.

The two versions differing so much kind of erks me. But atleast the different "SKUs" are actually differences in the machine, unlike the X360 pricing which is just retarded.

You can write me down for one of the $600 puppies, and that new panasonic DLP to boot!

See this:

http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/release/pdf/060509ae.pdf

$599 PS3 has 60GB HDD, 1 x HMDI (not 2), wifi, CF/SD/MS slots, 4 x USB2, GbE, Bluetooth, digital audio out.

$499 PS3 has 20GB HDD, 4x USB2, GbE, Bluetooth, digital audio out.
No HDMI (so no 1080p and no HDCP), no wifi, no card slots.

Apparently the cheapest version ($499) will only have support at 720p for Blu-Ray discs :(