Sh*t Happens.. I bought my PS2 in Austria a few weeks after release! And I paid 450 € (~400-500 $) for:
PS2; DEMO-CD; 1 Joypad; Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec; Memory Card 8MB
and now you can get it for ~200€ with Memory Card, 2 Joypads; Eye Toy + A Game of youre Choise...
Damn..it seems like people who don´t wanna wait must pay