With the upcoming Sony super-special meeting closing fast on us, it's already got more than a few wondering just what will be coming out. Since pretty much every other Sony super-special meeting has ended in a new product getting unveiled, it's a safe bet that we'll be looking at a big shot of more of the same. But has a crucial detail already slipped out before even the meeting could spoiler?

The crucial detail in question, of course, is the PlayStation 4's price tag. Many likely still remember the blistering that Sony took back when it was wheeling out the PlayStation 3 with virtually no games for a whopping $599 (for the 60 GB version, of course), but new word from Japan's Asahi News came out earlier today that makes it clear just how different things are now.

The Asahi News story ran down some early word about the PS4 which dovetails relatively well into things already heard, like the new controller and the ability to do a bit of file-sharing while playing. But where the Asahi News story really sounded a note of alarm was with the price. The current word says that the PS4 will be released for the end of the year, and will price out at over 40,000 yen. Right now, that converts to about $427 U.S., but by the time it emerges, it would likely be $400, or possibly even $399.

Asahi did have a few caveats involved with the story; Asahi had no specific references to pricing in the United States, and even when talking about the Japanese prices it did so with plenty of couching and qualifiers, featuring the phrase "to mirareru", which translates into English, depending on the situation, as "is expected", "is considered to be", or "is believed".

While this may not be much of a story--the chances that it was going to cost under $400 was pretty slim--but if it comes out close to that $400 price point, that's going to be pretty significant. Sure, the Blu-ray last time was a good part of the price shock, but now, Blu-ray players are comparatively cheap, and that puts the pricing at a much better level.

It's hard to find too many who'd object to $400 for pricing on the new system, especially if it comes out with plenty of options to boot. That's going to make things very tough on Microsoft, who will need to stay reasonably close in pricing in order to compete in the field.

While the final pricing likely won't be announced for at least a while, the idea that the $400 price point may prove accurate isn't out of line. Sounds like a fine price, and one that might be enough to change my own stance from Xbox to PlayStation.