Sony talks PS3 pricing fiasco, says it won't happen again with NGP

"Five hundred and ninety-nine US dollars." It's a line that - thanks to YouTube's cruel archive of embarrassment - will probably follow Sony to its grave.

There's an upside to that, however: Sony remembers too, and it sure as hell doesn't plan on making the same mistake again.

"I can't talk about a definitive price at this stage. But since the very beginning we had a target in mind. So, when considering various features, we always had our price range in mind," Sony Computer Entertainment president Shuhei Yoshida told Edge (via CVG).

"There were elements that we found pretty cool, but had to set aside to remain on target. It's a big lesson we learnt from the PS3. There's no point putting everything you want into a device and doing the math later. We always had the price and consumer in mind. We had to sell something that people could buy."

At the same time, however, Yoshida was quick to mention that the NGP won't come out price-matching the PSP or anything like that. Sony simply "can't sell the NGP for the same price as a PSP," he explained.

Similarly, SCE America CEO Jack Tretton recently mentioned that - while a giant, resource-devouring global launch might be fun - Sony's trying to aim the gun away from its foot this time.

Granted, all of this begs the question: if Sony's had a price in mind all along, why can't it just tell us already? Videogaming industry, sometimes we wonder about you.