Sony to Launch High-end PS3 in Europe on March 23

Japan’s Sony Corp. will launch the high-end version of its PlayStation 3 (PS3) game console in Europe on March 23, but it said on Thursday it has no plan at the moment to offer the basic model there.

"We will focus on the launch of the one with a 60 gigabyte (GB) drive and have no plan now to introduce the 20 gigabyte model," Sony Computer Entertainment spokesman Satoshi Fukuoka said. Sony Computer Entertainment is Sony’s video game unit.

Last September, Sony delayed the European launch of the PS3, Sony’s most important strategic product this business year, to March from November due to a production glitch, missing the critical year-end shopping season in one of its key markets. The electronics and entertainment conglomerate started selling both the high-end, 60 GB hard-disk drive model and the basic 20 GB model in Japan and North America last November.