Following yesterday's news that Sony is to let its 80Gb PlayStation 3 loose into the markets of Korea - which falls under its Japanese financial geographic by the way - the company has put a damper on the possibility that those 20 additional gigabytes will be available on the States. From this we can assume that it won't be seen in Europe for quite some time.

A Sony representative is quoted^† as saying the following, "We’re constantly looking at new… configurations [for PS3], but currently there are no plans to change current hardware offerings [in North America]."

Many 'analysts' and internet pundits have seen the 80Gb version of the PS3 as a way for Sony to introduce a price cut for the PS3. SPOnG sees it this way, Sony is capable of sourcing 80Gb drives at a similar price to 60Gb versions and in greater supply. The cost difference at manufacture is, however, little or no different to the overall cost of the PS3 unit.

So, despite calls from such luminaries as Ubisoft CEO, Yves Guillemot, for a cut in price, we can't see this happening - officially - based on 20Gb of hard disk space - in the near future.

^{†Source: Next-Gen}