Sony Computer Entertainment UK today announced that it will be releasing a new PlayStation 3 Starter Pack, available July 18 in the UK and August 1 in other European territories. Available for the same 425 pounds or 599 euros as the current PlayStation 3, the Starter Pack will include a second Sixaxis controller, as well as two first party games.

The choice of games will be different per country, but will include Resistance: Fall of Man and MotorStorm. Sony will not be introducing the 80GB PlayStation 3 model, available in Korea and soon North America, to Europe.

In an interview on GamesIndustry.biz, SCEE president David Reeves notes that the recent lowered pricing of the 60GB PlayStation 3 model in the US is actually part of phasing out that SKU and replacing it with the new 80GB unit.

"Well, they're not really [cutting the price] are they, because what the US are offering from the 1st of August is a USD 599 version with one game. All they're doing is taking their stock in trade that they've got at the moment of the 60GB model, marking the price down and it will all be gone by the end of July," Reeves is quoted as saying. Asked to confirm the end of the 60GB model, Reeves responds, "In America, yes."