Surreal that is not why it costs more. The currency is exchanged and then a price is figured. It has nothing to do with the strength of a countries currency. Sony wants to sell the system at a certain price than they add shipping, import taxes. Countries tack on their own taxes and then they come up with a price.

Anyway I don’t know how Europeans do it. How many days of work does it take for you to clear a PS3 60gb? I can do it in 4 days. I was looking to get a job in England a while back and the pay was terrible compared to the states.

I think rather not. We have pretty high import taxes on electronics (if the PS3 this time counts as a real computer, which it will with Linux support) it is lower, but still nothing to shake a stick at.

Accordingly to iSupply the PS3 costs about $850 to make (I think this number is set too high, but still…), Lets just say $700, were theres no packaging, not shipping, no retails overhead and no PR in it…

Sony makes absolutely no money on it, now. Neither is MS I think. But in the long run, the systems get cheaper to make and cheaper in retail, which I think, will Sony do in a pretty short time (I think, there is a price cut this year with both MS and Sony)

I’m not as worried about the 20GB version not coming out as I wouldn’t of bought one anyway but I see why a lot of people are annoyed. Now i’m a bit older and working, £425 doesn’t seem too much money especially as the HD screen i’ll be buying to coincide with PS3 launch is currently about £2700 \ But go back a couple of years to when I was still at school and it would of been an awful lot of money to find unless it was my birthday or christmas.

As for the prices of everything it’s ridiculous what we pay for stuff compared to the rest of the world. Give it till a couple of weeks before PS3 launch and all the media will be shouting “RIP OFF BRITAIN!”. There was a bit of it today with the Vista launch seeing as we’re paying about double what the US has too for exactly the same product.

The 2 year warranty or guarantee is not offered in most shops in the UK for free. Places like John Lewis and Fenwicks offer between 1 and 5 year guarantees for various electrical goods. Other places like Currys Digital (formally Dixons) charge you for the guarantee.

Like I said, even once you’ve added up what we are paying for tax we still aren’t getting a fair $ to £ conversion when you compare prices for the PS3.

Mainland Europe (except a few exceptions like Denmark) dont get “milked” as you say it. Usually, everything we buy here is much more expensive. Take the iPod for example. The 30gb video iPod is $249 US but in Germany it is 289€. Also with TVs, cars, gas, DVDs and whatnot, we pay way more.

And this is, because we earn more and our social system is way more expensive. I would not want to lose my job in the US, whether in Germany, its no big of a deal (as long as you get a new job within 2 freakin years!)

Dont say, Sony milks us, if you dont consider the surroundings!! (I dont mean to be offensive, if it sounds like it. I just want to inform you of it!)

If you show the prices like that, take VAT into consideration!!

In Germany VAT is 19%, in the UK it is (iirc) 17.5% and retail prices always are given including VAT.

Hence, the PS3 in Germany costs 599€ (incl. 19% VAT), which equals to $650 US.

AND, in Germany it is LAW, that Retailers (not Sony themselves) give you a 2 year warranty on electronics (this is a EU Law afaik).

So we pay $650 US for the 60GB version, including a 2 year limited warranty!

I think, the same is applicable for GB.

The 20GB PS3 would’ve done me just fine. I really should just wait and see if the 20GB appears or wait for a price drop but I know for a fact once it’s available I will go out and get one.

One of the reasons the EU prices are high is tax but even when you add on the extra tax, we’re still paying around £60 more for the 60GB compared to you guys.