No, that's the price Sony has set. Retailers haven't given it a price yet because it isnt available yet. Not even for pre-orders. Sony has set the price at 229 for the base model with the 12 GB of flash memory and 299 for the FIFA 13 bundle with the 500 GB HDD.

Retailers will probably offer better pricing but it would have helped if Sony had at least priced the new console at the same level as the Slim.

No you've misunderstood what i said, the current low prices for the 160gb and 320gb ps3 consoles in Europe are a result of retailers having a price war.

3DS will crush PS3 for the rest of the year; but the Wii U is going to be the hottest star this holiday season.

The super slim bundles are crazy good specially the one with Assasins Creed 3. People are forgeting that those prices include games and HD bumps.

So? Is that my problem or Sony's? All I care about is retail price. It's Sony's choice to release the console 70 euro's above the current premium model and 30 euro's above the base without an HDD.

If retailers were stupid enough to get into a price war in europe then that's their fault, Sony set the retail price in Europe and retailers chose to break it, so if you want to be mad at somebody then it's the retailers.

LOL! What?! I should be mad at retailers because they offer hardware at a lower price than the manufacturer?!

Bad retailers! Going around saving people money with a price war. Who do they think they are?

Hahahaha.

No, according to pezus, the few centimeters in downsizing outweighs the fact tht they just raised the price. 

C'mon pezus...

I expected the 12GB pricing to be more aggressive, although many people fail to tell official list price from the street one, and I don't like the new look at all (actually I still think the top for PlayStation design was reached with PS2)
Anyway, redesign, bigger HDDs, bundles should give it a good Xmas, and extend its life enough to avoid having to rush PS4 launch, and this is as important as a good Xmas for Sony.
I'm disappointed by thew 12GB pricing, because it makes a lot harder to happen what I was suggesting, a PS3+PSV bundle priced at $400 or less. Yes, it could still be made, but with a game bundled too (a bundled game supporting playing with PS3 and PSV combined is necessary to push that feature) it would mean more than 20% discount compared to the parts purchased separately just to stay within $400, while with a 12GB PS3 priced under $200, a %20 discount on the bundle would mean a price competing with the hi-end WiiU model, far more effective.
Anyway, yes, the new offer isn't enough to push PS3 to its maximum potential this Xmas, but it should be enough to grant it a good sales performance.

Hahahahaha nope, you can't have it both ways, you can bitch and moan all you like but you can't ignore the actual real reason why this has happened. You're problem is there is now a price difference in Europe and the fact is the only reason why that price difference exists is because retailers chose to break the recommended retail price of the PS3. That's the retailers fault.