The Japanese PlayStation 2 will ship in January 2000 for a UK-equivalent price of £225

The Japanese PlayStation 2 will ship on January 23, 2000, in Japan for a price of 45,000 yen (that's about £225), according to Merrill Lynch analyst reports.

Unlike the rumoured release date of December 3, 1999 (which would follow the traditional 1-2-3 scheduling Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. have been famous for), Sony have chosen a different numbering set-up - 1-23. Merrill Lynch's report also indicates that the PlayStation 2 will sell for a price of 45,000 yen, the equivalent of about £225 in the UK. The previously reported number was 29,800 yen, a UK equivalent of about £150.

The first shipment of units is 400,000 in January. This is a good sum, but probably not enough to meet the initial demand, with the hype and universal appeal that PlayStation 2 has received thus far. Sony will ship a total of 1 million units by the end of March 2000.

According to the report, games will initially sell for the UK equivalent of about £40 - 8,000 in Japanese yen. Also, there will be three to four completely new launch titles and as many as seven totally 'upgraded' PlayStation games available.

Courtesy of IGN.com