Al Gore

Sony Corp. on Thursday cut the price of its PlayStation 3 game console in the U.S. and announced an even cheaper model that will arrive before the holiday shopping season.

  The top-line PlayStation model, with an 80 gigabyte hard drive, now costs $499, down from $599. That effectively eliminates the lower-end model, which has a 60-gigabyte drive and has sold for $499.

 A new low-end model with a 40-gigabyte drive will go on sale November 2 for $399.

Unlike the other PlayStation 3 models, the new one won't be able to play games made for the PlayStation 2. In a statement, Sony said this was due to a more extensive lineup of games of the PlayStation 3.

The U.S. launch of the 40-gigabyte model was widely expected, since Sony has already announced it for Japan and Europe. It narrows the price gap with competing game consoles, but the PlayStation is still the most expensive.

 Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 costs $350 and Nintendo Corp.'s Wii costs $250.