Sony have announced today that they are releasing the PSP Slim in Europe before Japan.
The reasons why are obvious, cast your mind back to the release of the Original PSP and Europe was a good 7 Months or more (hey im forgetful) behind Japan, That move led to a lot of companies importing into the UK and that started Sony getting a bit mardy towards those companies.
The advantage of importing means you get the console earlier than others in your country and at a much cheaper price usually.
Sony then took legal action against many UK Importers and most famously they managed to take down the at the time best Worldwide Gaming Shop Lik Sang.
Sony implied that the difference in power supplys would cause problems in the UK but in reality both the PSP and the PS3 have/use adapters that are worldwide friendly so lame excuse all round.
Nice to see that the UK/Europe isnt last on the list this time around but Sony you arent fooling anyone.