For a couple of weeks now, in the more seedy parts of the internet, there have been rumors building that the PlayStation 3 launch may not even happen as scheduled in Europe. Sony's head cheese, Sir Howard Stringer, accidently botched a sound bite and referred to an April launch, which promptly caused the hate mongers to grab their pitchforks and go a-whisperin' all across the internets.

But no, the Euro launch is most definitely on according to the official announcement from SCEE. The details, such as they are, are a little mixed, with the system weighing in at a hefty £425 in the UK and 599€ in most other PAL territories and in the UK at least, there will be no 20GB version at launch. That’s the bad news (at least for those with already strained pocketbooks), the good news is that SCEE is planning on shipping 1 million consoles to cover the whole of Europe, and they'll be doing it with 36 games available up on the PlayStation Store and at retail.

“Following the hugely successful launches of PS3 in Japan and North America, we are absolutely delighted to be able to bring significant numbers of PS3 to the UK. To be able to launch with over 30 titles including retail versions and great downloadable gaming experiences across every genre shows that this is our strongest launch line-up in the history of PlayStation, and is what PlayStation fans in the UK have been crying out for,” oozed Sony Computer Entertainment UK Senior VP Ray Maguire.

The launch lineup includes a few games not yet seen across the pond, including the heavily anticipated Tekken: Dark Resurrection, the gorgeous relit 60fps/1080p fighter that we Yanks have actually gone through the effort of mocking up a Hong Kong account just to get. Also on deck are flOw and Go! Puzzle (which we're guessing was that whole Swizzleblock thing).

Best of all, the much-hinted-at worldwide firmware update that will supposedly patch in a raft of asked-for features concerning PlayStation Store downloads (like, um, being able to do anything while you're grabbing a file), and a handful of other fancy-pants additions, though none have actually been specified. If we happen to kick back one too many beers tonight, maybe we'll whip up a "WE WANT THIS INNAR PEE ESHHH THEEE UPDATE" feature or something.

And now, for the mega-list of titles you lucky duck Euros will be able to pick up come the magical day of March 23, 2007:

[Disc-Based]
Resistance: Fall of Man
MotorStorm
Genji: Days of the Blade
Formula One Championship Edition
Ridge Racer 7
Call of Duty 3
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Tony Hawk's Project 8
Gundam – Target in Sight
Full Auto 2: Battle Lines
Sonic the Hedgehog
Virtua Fighter 5
Virtua Tennis 3
World Snooker Championship 2007
NBA 2K7
NHL 2K7
Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWll
Enchanted Arms
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent
The Elder Scrolls lV: Oblivion
Def Jam: Icon
Fight Night Round 3
NBA Street 4 Homecourt 2007
Need for Speed Carbon
The Godfather: The Don’s Edition
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom
F.E.A.R.

[Downloadable]
Tekken: Dark Resurrection
Lemmings
Go! Sudoku
Go! Puzzle
Blast Factor
flOw
Super Rub’a'Dub
Gripshift

See? Good things come to those that have to wait four months for their console that was possibly originally going to be theirs a year prior. The UK/EU crowd will have pesky issues like PS2 emulation looking weird ironed out. That's how it works; the US and Japan get the stuff first but have to play guinea pig and you Euro folks get to enjoy the fruits of our collective bitching and moaning.

Now, all that remains to be seen is how many of these games will make launch (far more likely than the US launch given that the end of March is the end of the fiscal year and these games need to come out) and if they can actually make their targets for shipping a million consoles at launch. We'll keep you in the loop!