Sony Computer Entertainment has fulfilled its promise that the next-generation console will arrive in PAL territories by the end of March. And the news has finally silenced tedious sniping that the consumer electronics giant would shift the roll-out back towards the end of this calendar year.

The 60Gb version of the console will be available in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Australasia, priced at Euro 599, AUD99.95 and GBP 425. The 20Gb SKU may be available later in the year, dependent on demand. Some one million units of the hardware will be shipped to PAL territories during the launch period.

Over 30 titles will be available at launch, including first party titles Resistance: Fall of Man and Motorstorm. Third party titles arriving for the launch will come from EA, Activision, Namco Bandai, Sega, Take 2, Ubisoft, Vivendi and Sony Online.

Meanwhile, the Sony online service, PlayStation Network, will feature the likes of Tekken: Dark Resurrection and Gran Turismo HD Concept, along with ‘casual’ games such as Go Sudoku and Flow.

“Following the highly successful launches of PS3 in Japan and North America, we are absolutely delighted to be able to bring significant numbers of PS3 to the SCEE territories,” commented SCEE president David Reeves. “To be able to launch with over 30 titles across every genre shows that this is our strongest launch line-up in the history of PlayStation, and is what PlayStation fans in Europe have been crying out for.”