Sony has released the final pricing details for the PlayStation 3. The unit will come in two flavours: one with a 60 GB hard drive for $999 and one with a smaller 20 GB hard drive for $829.

The pricing is steeper than many initially hoped for, especially considering that the Xbox 360 currently sells in America for US$299 (AU$389) and US$399 (AU$519) with 20 GB hard drive. There's still no word on the price for Nintendo's Wii, but US$249 (AU$324) is the current E3 rumour.

As for a final, concrete release date, Sony is committing to a November 17th launch date in the US and a November 11th launch date in Japan. Sony have previously promised that Australia would get the Playstation 3 at the same time as the USA, so until we hear otherwise it looks like November 17th will also be our PS3 launch date.

Sony also pledged to have 2 million PS3's available during the launch window, but that supply will be for the global market meaning that shortages are extremely likely. Sony plans to ship 4 million PS3s worldwide by the end of 2006, and 6 million by March 2007.

This PS3 pricing announcement capped an otherwise humdrum E3 media briefing; the only other surprise was the announcement that the PS3's controller would include gyroscopic sensors that will enable it to respond to movement, much like Nintendo's Wii.