Sony has slashed the price of the PLAYSTATION 3 development kit by almost half, promising to further reduce costs as more studios adopt the console technology. The PLAYSTATION 3 Reference Tool will now be available for JPY 950,000 in Japan, USD 10,250 in North America and EUR 7500 in Europe. "As more and more new titles are developed for the PS3 format, SCEI will significantly reduce the price of the Reference Tool in order to contribute to the cost saving measures of the development community," said the company. The console giant has also begun to integrate new programming tools into the PS3 Software Development Kit from SN Systems, including ProDG, SN Distributed Build System, SN Linker and SN Compiler. As well as new tools, Sony has also added programming functions to the PS3 Debugging Station allowing it to be used alongside the Reference Tool, rather than being used as just a quality assurance system for games in development.