Not in Australia.

erm...are you sure about that?

despite the underwhelming launch in Australia, it does appear that both the 20GB and 60GB were available at launch and that...

"Owners of the previous PlayStation, the PS2, should also bear in mind that PS2 games will not necessarily be compatible with the PS3.

A full list of compatible games can be found here - 1782 PS2 titles are listed, which represent the majority of the 2308 PS2 games that Sony shipped to Australia."

http://www.theage.com.au/news/games/playtime-for-midnights-children/2007/03/23/1174153291466.html?page=fullpage

Doh! I think I misread you - The Aus one didn't have a built in Emotion Engine, it was emulated AFAIK

Looks like Sony execs are really desperate nowadays.

Desperation?

Please explain why It's desperation calling out someone for spreading blatant lies?

Say if I published something saying that in fact you were responsable for some or other criminal act.

Wouldn't you defend the true state of affairs too?

If anyone's desperate, its you looking for attention. Now you've finally got some. Hooray for you.

Now go back under your bridge.

Funnily enough I read the original article just after it released and I gotta say it was one of the most inaccurate fanboy rants I've seen yet. The author was wrong on several points (one of which he's admitted and now removed) and seemed completely clueless on others. If he's going to write such bullshit "articles" like that then he should be prepared for people to call him out for it.

That's pretty harsh, particularly when his statement is a direct comment on the discussion at hand.  You may not agree with this comment, but that doesn't make it trolling.

On topic, unless the article is wrong about the prices, they aren't really spreading lies, now are they?  Exchange rates, tariffs/taxes and shipping charges may all affect the price, but if the competition is offering prices that are more in line with everywhere else in the world, it's a fair question as to why Sony is not. Transparency in pricing schemas is only troubling if you are trying to pull something off; if you aren't, then get that info in peoples hands to combat statements like those made in this article.

Whether I disagree of not is irrelevant when the forum rules clearly state "Do not post only that Item A sucks, or that Item B is better than Item C. Give reasons why, post links to documented problems, of screenshots, or whatever you can. Similarly, do not reply to other posters with "you're wrong." Explain why you disagree, and perhaps point to the correct answer." That, Coupled with the fact that it was most likely posted in a spirit conrary to Rule 6 caused me to make the bridge comment. If I'm mistaken I apologise.

As for your second part, The Sony CEO has often stated (need to look for link) the cost of doing business in Australia is a lot higher than the cost of doing business in other places around the world. Perhaps MS and Nintendo have a cheaper way of getting their consoles to market than Sony does. If that is the case then, yes. they should look at alternative import and distribution plans as the others have.

But to call what Sony is doing "Price Gouging" is uncalled for IMO, especially at it seems the authors never even bothered to check out basic other "facts" in their article.

1st bold: I don't care for original "blatant lies", I didn't even read them, and guess what? Neither majority of readers did. What matters here is that loosing temper for such public person is always funny. It ain't gonna help Sony to disrpove so called "lies", instead it gonna backfire them, people (myself included) will remember this episode of Sony unable to deal with media properly. So, if it's not them being desperate, then I wonder which business school this guy learnt at how to talk with an journalist.

2nd bold: I could insult you, too, random appearance of sony fanboyism on my display. Now, dismiss.

Question: If even his facts are wrong, how can we even trust his claims that that is in fact what and how the CEO responded?

Answer: We can't.

The veracity of other claims in this article are highly suspect, thus undermining the credibility of anything the author states, I'll give you that.  But Sony is taking a beating in the media lately and I'm just not sure that a ranting response is in their best interest, regardless of how warranted that response may be.

To some extent, it's the same reason I disagreed with your original "trolling" response; emotional responses lose credibility...factual arguments always carry more weight (hard to not have an emotional response to some things said at VGChartz though!)