Does anyone know the official story behind this? They are suppose to be out atm (uk) but no shops seem to know about them. As far as they are aware, it doesn't exist...

I'm pretty sure it's November 30th, but I'm not sure if that's in europe or the americas

Edit: according to this article it was released in Europe on October 31st? http://www.scee.presscentre.com/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=4678&NewsAreaID=2

and this article says its releasing in "November" in North America:  http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/08/20/live-from-leipzig-north-american-hardware-announcements/

Its out in the U.S right now

no, it came out on the 31st of Oct because I saw a couple of websites list them (GAME & HMV), I've gone back to them but it's like they are denying all knowledge of it.

Well,I found this link from Amazon.UK,they say they got only one left.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/PlayStation-Console-160GB-Limited-PlayTV/dp/B001K3B39I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1227242209&sr=8-1

The funny and absurd thing is this link for the same store -_-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-Playstation-PS-Console-160GB/dp/B001ELKA4U/ref=sr_1_38?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1227242395&sr=1-38

Looks like only the expensive option is available.