BEIJING, Sept. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Two postponements
later, Sony Corp. announced Friday that PlayStation 3 will be in the hands of
Japanese retailers by Nov. 11 and hit the U.S. market on Nov. 17. And in an
effort to steal a step on Microsoft and Nintendo, the rollout of the video game
console comes with a price reduction.
The announcement comes just days after rival
Microsoft Corp. said that it would introduce an external high definition DVD
player for its Xbox 360 in an effort to match the PlayStation 3, which is due to
be released with its own Blu-ray DVD technology.
Sony will cut the price of its basic PlayStation 3
model in Japan to 47,600 yen (410 U.S. dollars), from an originally planned
59,800 yen (515 dollars). That places PlayStation 3 in the same range
as the combined basic Xbox 360 and HD DVD player in Japan, where the combo
will sell for 49,600 yen (427 dollars).
The price cut affects the basic PlayStation 3 model,
which comes with a 20 gigabyte hard drive. Another upscale version of the
PlayStation 3 will have a 60 gigabyte hard drive, but Sony is leaving its
pricing to retailers.
The announcement could give the PlayStation 3 a badly
needed boost in Sony's home market.
The launch of the product, initially planned for
earlier this year, has been postponed twice. Earlier this month, Sony said it
would delay the European release by four months until March. Sony now expects to
ship only 2 million units by year's end instead of 4 million as originally
planned. Enditem
(Agencies)
