Joystiq seems to think that the PS3 will cost up to $500 at launch. Of course, they don’t cite any sources. But they may just be recirculating an older rumour. But if you’re going to recirculate rumours, why not go for a newer one, which shows the price as the same as the PS2 at launch? I dunno.

But the fact of the matter is this: we don’t know the price, this is all just speculation. We probably won’t know the price for a while. While I think they might be able to get away with a small increase in price over that of the PS2 at launch, I don’t think anything more than that will fly. I plan to buy a PS3 near launch time, but if it’s too expensive I’ll have to wait for a price drop. In the meantime my friend Todd will have an Xbox 360 and I’ll get my next-gen fix going over to his place to play games.

Link: Joystiq - PlayStation 3 will cost $500?!