The questions then become, are these two versions identical and will the game support Remote Play? And if so, just how much is it worth to have a UMD? UPDATE: Siliconera updated their post, pointing out that PSP Echochrome has twice the levels. I guess that explains the price difference.

PS3 Echochrome costs 50% less than PSP Echochrome [Siliconera via OpposableThumbs]

Additional songs/videos will cost £0.99/€1.49 and will start flowing from the SingStore on December 17. Or 17 December, if that's your thing. Not an unreasonable price, I would think, as it's about $2 per a la carte track against the pathetic US Dollar. I might also think that many publishers would be wise to start thinking about lowering the prices of their downloadable content in the face of Rock Band's arrival, as my personal earmarking of DLC funds is tilting favorably in its direction.

"We are pleased to offer the cool Halo 3 Special Edition console for the huge Halo fan community," said Stephen McGill, Microsoft's Head of Gaming and Entertainment. "It's a great way for Halo fans to show their allegiance to one of the most popular and successful entertainment franchises ever."

Halo® 3 Special Edition Xbox 360TM Console Priced, Dated For Europe

Limited Edition Xbox 360 Will Have Estimated Retail Price of £279.99, Available From 26th September

LONDON — 23rd August 2007: Microsoft® today announced estimated retail pricing and availability for the Xbox 360 Halo 3 Special Edition Console, launched in anticipation of this year's largest blockbuster gamer launch, Halo 3.

The Xbox 360 Halo 3 Special Edition console, with an authentic Spartan green and gold finish, will carry an estimated retail price of £279.99 when it comes to retail on 26th September. The Xbox 360 Halo 3 Special Edition console comes with the following features:

· Halo 3 Special Edition Wireless Controller

· Halo 3 Special Edition 20GB Hard Drive

· Halo 3 Special Edition Wired Headset

· Halo 3 Special Edition Gamer Pics and Theme (Exclusive download via Xbox LIVE®)

· Component HD AV Cable

· Ethernet Cable

· HDMI Port

· Play & Charge Kit

· Xbox LIVE Silver Membership

· One-month Xbox LIVE Gold Membership

"We are pleased to offer the cool Halo 3 Special Edition console for the huge Halo fan community," said Stephen McGill, Microsoft's Head of Gaming and Entertainment. "It's a great way for Halo fans to show their allegiance to one of the most popular and successful entertainment franchises ever. Halo 3 is just one of the amazing games coming to Xbox 360 this Christmas. Combine the best games lineup of any console ever, including the universally acclaimed Bioshock launching this week, with today's new affordable estimated retail pricing that makes it easier for more people to enter the world of Xbox 360, and it's clear there has never been a better time to be a gamer."

Their conclusions:

1. Prior to 2007, the average prices for the top 20 games was around $40-$43.
2. During the first half of 2007, prices for the top 20 games has been around $46-$49, without including Guitar Hero II. With Guitar Hero II, included prices are measurably above $50.
3. As the Xbox 360 library expands, it will claim more and more high-priced games in the top 20 list.
4. As Wii games replace PlayStation 2 games in the charts, it will keep the floor of console game prices right at $50.
5. The last two points will together force the average price of top selling games well above $50 in the near future.
6. The only downward pressure on average game prices is coming from the Nintendo DS.

In the past few months, just the top 10 titles have represented around 30% of all software sales. So in other words, every $60 game in the top 10 has a massive impact on averages—with the only effective counterbalance being $35 titles from the DS.

How Game Prices Are Shooting Higher [nextgeneration]

Advance registration:
Thursday/Friday = $45
Saturday/Sunday = $65
4-day Pass = $90

On-site registration
Thursday/Friday = $50
Saturday/Sunday = $75
4-day Pass = $110

So you're looking at $90 for the whole shebang unless you want to wait until you get there, in which case you pay the $20 waiting fee. Not too bad, considering in the past you had to pay $325 or so just to get onto the E3 show floor for three days, nevermind this year's 'you can't go' policy. All this E isn't going to pay for itself you know. Michael Fahey

E For All Fact Sheet [E For All Expo, via GameSpot]

Microsoft just unveiled the final pricing for their three versions of Halo 3.

The Legendary Edition will clock in at a whopping $130 but does include an (unwearable) Spartan helmet case and two bonus disks. One of the disks has the normal special edition jetsam but also includes an audio-visual calibration tool designed to enhance your high-def, big-screen, surround-sound experience with the game. The other disc will have completely remastered cinematic material from the first and second Halo as well as some other behind the scenes documentary stuff and some machinima content. Finally, the game pack will include a collection of Halo 3 storyboard art. Neat collection of stuff, but what the hell, wasn't it just a few months back that GameStop was listing it at just under $100?

The Limited Edition will cost a more palatable $70 and will include the first bonus disc as well as a Halo fiction and art book.

The standard, no frills, edition comes with the game and will cost you the standard $60. Brian Crecente

Gosh, could you guys in other countries just stop translating Yen or Euros to dollars to extrapolate your prices already? That's just not the way pricing works. You guys can be confident that the only people in the world who will be paying $84 bucks per PS3 game will be the Europeans... if they're lucky. Florian Eckhardt

Sonystyle PS3 Games Pricing [Official Site]

Price? 1,800 Krona or about 2,300 Krona after Value Added Tax. That basically translates to €250, minus a euro or two.

So it looks like all signs right now point to a release not too far out of line from America or Japan's... but, like usual, Europeans will pay about 25% more than anyone else. Florian Eckhardt

PC Foralla's Wii Article... in Swedish! (Thanks, Fjolle!)

Atari's Test Drive Unlimited is going to be selling for the distinctly un-Xbox 360 price of $40 when it hits stores.

The company also plans to release monthly car packs starting six weeks after the launch of the game. The car packs will come loaded with free genre-specific radio stations as well.

It looks like Atari might be playing around with a PC pricing model here. Instead of making all of their money up from with the initial software, they want to get in the door and then make money through periodic low-cost expansion packs.

I'd love to see a free Xbox 360 game hit with micro-transactions. You know it's only a matter of time. Brian Crecente

An ironically funny article on the PS3's high price over at Fortune (geddit?) ponders whether consumers are actually willing to pony up the cash for the new console. With the total estimated bill of goods for each PlayStation 3 hovering above sticker price, Sony could lose $1 billion on just hardware this year. The pay-off, of course, comes in spades with Blu-Ray—the company's next generation DVD format. Fortune then dragged out some chestnuts from the Kutaragi quote book, including my favorite: The PlayStation 3 is a "machine with supercomputer calculation capabilities for home entertainment." Gotta love that Kutaragi's rapier wit. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Fortune]

Speaking to Eurogamer TV in an exclusive interview to be broadcast in the next few days, Maguire said: "I don't think it's an expensive machine; I think actually, it's probably a cheap machine.

"If you think a Blu-Ray player by itself might be 600-700, and we're coming in at just 425 - it's a bargain."

God, fuck off, Sony. The difference is that I actually want a PS3 where as I don't want a Blu-Ray player. You're trying to force me to pay more money because you want me to have one, though. Which is pretty much why I won't buy one at all at launch. - Florian Eckhardt

PlayStation 3 to cost 425 [Eurogamer]

Why specifically was Chris so fired up? That he's being forced — yes, forced! — to assume ownership of a Blu-ray player, which he doesn't even want! Grrrr!

I'm with Chris. The $599 price point is just too hard to swallow, especially considering the lack of must-have software shown on the floor and my total lack of interest in re-buying my favorite movies on a new platform. I'm off to the screenprinter to show my dissatisfaction.

Update: GameDaily Biz Editor in Chief James Brightman that they had a quick chat with the folks at PSM about their story on the PS3's price. Apparently, the article was just quoting the oft cited cost of the PS3 and didn't offer any new insight. Back to worrying over the price.

New Playstation 3 Details Emerge [TeamXbox]

There is a certain allure to getting your hands on something luxurious, expensive. And $400 isn't that much money to a decent enough sized portion of the early adopter gaming crowd. Supply issues are getting better, but I still can't go to BestBuy.com and buy one. Many online retailers are still forcing bundles because the demand is that strong.

The LongShot column points out that electronics and video game spending is a serious source of spending for people at all income levels. I make a pretty decent wage, and I too initially balked at the $400 price tag, but if the PlayStation 3 launched at $500, I'd be sure to own it on day one. The value is there for people like us, as our entertainment dollar goes a long way when you're talking about a DVD (or Blu-ray) player, a game console, an internet enabled device with massive storage. We're getting hundreds of hours of entertainment for a $400 buy-in, not a bad deal for tech junkies.

While I welcome the possibility of a lower priced Revolution, I'm willing to make the investment on my next-gen consoles. What do you think? How much is too much?

How Much Is Too Much? [GamerDad]

Revolution Pre-Orders [Kotaku]

A speculative piece at CNN Money has Chris Morris pondering the price of Sony's PlayStation 3 in this week's Game Over. Analyst P.J. McNealy thinks Sony should launch its console at a price point between $399 and $499. Some developers have speculated that the system's price could be as high as $600 or $700. Last year, Ken Kutaragi suggested that people would have to work overtime to afford the console.

Gamers have probably been thinking about the Sony price point since they looked at their Xbox 360 receipts (if not long before). With a couple of games, an extra controller and a Premium system, we are/were already looking at close to $600 and maybe $700 depending on the launch games that piqued our interest. How far are you willing to go on PS3? Is there a glass ceiling—a price point above which you can't justify the purchase of a system? If so, what's your limit? And if you're Sony and must price your system higher than any we've seen before, how do you ease that strain on gamers when you try to market it?

PlayStation 3 Price - $500? [CNN/Money]

A superb bit over at MTV looks at the rising cost of video games. Yes, the $60 price point for games is something we've been talking about for months, but to the average consumer it's probably crept up on them. MTV's Stephen Totilo speaks with Gears of War dev Cliff Bleszinski (among others) on the rising cost of games and CliffyB has his own thoughts on the future of video games: "I would kill to have a [top-quality] game that's jam-packed with an amazing story and amazing moments and four hours long and costs 20 bucks."

When I was in middle school, a long-ass game was what I wanted, but now, I'd rather having something short and sweet. Four great hours is better than fourteen good hours with some great moments.

Next-Generation Xbox Games Might Eat Up Your Next Paycheck [MTV News]

CNN Drops PS3 Price Story as Stringer Comments are Confuted [Games Industry]
Stringer Banking on HD Strategy for Sony Rebound [Hollywood Reporter]
Should You Wait For PS3 [Fortune]
Seriously, There's No Official PS3 Price - Yet

Fortune asks "Should You Wait for the PS3?" In the piece, Sony CEO Sir Howard was paraphrased as saying "PS3 will sell for $300 to $400 and will come with a bundle of games, movies, and TV shows, many of which Sony also makes." That seems like good news, except I can't seem to track down a quoted interview where he said that. Instead, I found this, and interview with Stringer, which eventually quotes an unnamed high level Sony exec who said, "PS3 could be at $300 or $400. Sony will be selling them at a loss the first six months to a year just to get Blu-ray players out in the market." As far as I can find, Stringer isn't on record saying where the PS3 will be priced or what it will include. Though, releasing that info now as the Xbox 360 is about to launch would be interesting.

Should You Wait for PS3? [Fortune]
Stringer Banking on HD Strategy for Sony Rebound [Hollywood Reporter]

Considering we only recently found about the Xbox 360's pricing, it comes as no surprise that Sony wants to play its hand close to its chest. Next Generation is reporting that Sony has no plans to unveil the pricing for their PlayStation until much closer to launch. Current estimates for a Japanese launch expect the console release in Spring of 2006. Why would Sony want to reveal their price this early? If Sony's PS3 is going to cost more than the Xbox 360, Sony might as well keep their mouths shut until they have a launch lineup worth broadcasting.

Given rising development costs, the price inflation should come as no surprise. After all, Microsoft litmus tested increased game prices with special edition titles (Halo 2, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory). Seeing a company like Activision that doesn't consistently produce AAA-titles lead the charge into your wallet is infuriating.

Being first to market has its advantages.
Todd Holmdahl, corporate vice president of the Xbox product group, said Microsoft plans on slashing Xbox 360 prices annually. "We will wind up cost-reducing the product every year."

Now, before we get too excited about waiting to scoop the console up stateside on the cheap, the comments were made to Reuters during a conversation about the European pricing. Whether these reductions will apply to North America remains to be seen. Remember, Microsoft dropped the price on original Xbox six weeks after it launched in the UK.

Microsoft Pledges Annual Price Cuts for 360 [Game Industry]

Finally, the wait is over. Microsoft has given their Xbox 360 a release date. The console lands on store shelves the Tuesday before Nov. 25 ("Black Friday"). The Xbox 360 will find European store shelves on Dec. 2 and will land in Japan Dec. 10.

With the abundance of deals on "Black Friday," Xbox 360 sales will be interesting. Does Microsoft have enough consumer interest to coax $300 out of their pocket (that's if you buy just the core SKU)? How well will the $399 version of the system sell when the consumer will spend close to $500 with a game or two? We'll find out in a couple of months.

If retailer pricing is correct, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Collector's Edition is going to launch with a $70 price tag. Currently, there's no word on what's inside the Collector's Edition, but it better be an autographed whatzit, a soundtrack, a special case, giant maps, an art book and a robot that does dishes.

High launch prices like this only screw over the early adopters the one group of people game companies shouldn't be trying to alienate.

Next Generation talks with publishers, developers and analysts about the rising retail price of video games. Xbox 360 games are expected to street at $60.Why do the honchos think they can get away with higher prices? Because the limited edition versions of recent titles (like Halo 2, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and Jade Empire) have been selling briskly at $50 to $55. And the higher prices connote that next-generation games, with their fancy technology, are better, one publisher says.

We'll see if the reasoning is correct shortly.

The Great Leap Forward? [Next Generation]