PlayStation 3 to be darned expensive?

Reports out of Europe have it that a European Sony vice president gave a radio interview recently in which he asserted that the forthcoming PlayStation 3 would hit stores at around 500 to 600 euros.

According to Gamasutra, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe vice president George Fornay gave Europe 1 radio the information, figures that would mean the PS3 would end up costing between $612 and $734.

Now, we know that the PS3 is likely to cost Sony a fortune to build, especially at first, but it is very hard to imagine that they could get away with selling the PS3 in the U.S. for $600 or more. Does that thing come with a flat-screen TV as well?

For sure, PS3 watchers have been expecting the machine to be expensive, but with the top-end Xbox 360 coming in at $400, it's hard to imagine that many people being willing to fork over an additional $200--or more--for the privilege of being one of the first to have Sony's next-gen console entrant.

Now, of course, some people will do so. But the hundreds of thousands, or millions, that Sony needs in order for the PS3 to look like a commercial success and give it a chance of catching the Xbox for overall lifetime sales? Doubtful. If it did charge that much, I think it would actually drive significant traffic to Microsoft and to Nintendo for its forthcoming Revolution.

My guess is that Sony won't charge that much and will decide it has to eat a significant chunk of change on each PS3 it sells in the early months and years, gambling that as a 10-year play--Sony's commitment to the lifetime of each PlayStation generation--it will eventually make its money back when component costs drop.

I could be wrong though. But I just can't see hordes of people dropping that kind of cash on the system. I guess we'll have to wait and see.