PlayStation 3 not so darned expensive after all?

Yesterday, I that in a radio interview, one of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's top executives had said that the PlayStation 3 would be priced in the $600-plus range.

Now comes word that maybe the original American source of the story misunderstood or mistranslated the French source of the comments made by SCEE vice president George Fornay.

In a discussion thread on PS3 Forums, someone pointed out that the translation of Fornay's comments that led to a series of stories and blogs--including mine--was likely wrong.

Instead, the poster argued, Fornay may have said not that the PS3 would cost more than $600, but rather that it would be below 500 euros.

"'Today it is true that games consoles have a price clearly below 500 euros,'" suggests the translator, "'I'd say that we'll be in that price range.'"

Now, we know that the total component cost of a PS3 is likely to come in at a minimum of $800 upon launch, and that therefore Sony is going to have to subsidize the console's cost, whatever it charges. But to imagine that the company would charge $200 more than the Xbox 360 is hard to imagine, and that's what I wrote.

This interpretation makes more sense. It's still not clear what the price would be, given that Fornay apparently didn't actually state a price range.

And Sony Computer Entertainment of America public relations manager Ryan Bowling reiterated to me Thursday that Sony has made no official announcement of PS3 pricing.

"As far as from corporate headquarters, in Tokyo, as well as here in North America, there hasn't been any pricing announcement," said Bowling. Reports of Fornay's naming a price are "not accurate at this time."