The Great PS3 Price Drop of 2007 isn't much of a price drop after all, not when Sony's moves are looked at in aggregate. When all is said and done, Sony will have one PS3 available throughout North America, and it will be the upgraded/downgraded 80GB PS3.

Sony surprised everyone with a pre-E3 price cut announcement, announcing both a "new" 80GB unit at $599 and lowering the price of the 60GB PS3 to $499—a savings of $100. The price drops were effective immediately.

As it turns out, Sony is rapidly phasing out the 60GB PlayStation 3 in favor of the 80GB unit and will no longer be manufacturing the newly minted $499 PS3 for the North American market. That $499 price is less a price cut and more a sale tag, in other words. SCEE president David Reeves has told GamesIndustry.biz that he expects the 60GB model of the PS3 to be sold out by the end of this month throughout North America, and Sony won't be making more of them.