E3 kicks off in a little over 72 hours and as we get closer to the day of press conferences on Monday, more and more information about the Xbox One is starting to trickle out. Yesterday, we received clarification of the  system's official policies concerning online check-ins, trade-ins, and game sharing. Today,  online retailer Amazon Germany has set a place holder price of €599.99. Wait, what?

Ok, don't panic just yet. Just to make sure we're on the on the same page here, placeholder prices are the same as placeholder  release dates. Currently Amazon is listing a placeholder release date of December 31st, 2013 for the Xbox One, while we all know to expect it in time for the holiday shopping season.  Pricing could come (and should come a little lower), but this is essentially the ceiling the retailer is placing on the item and they're likely doing so based on insider product knowledge.

All things considered the price being shown by Amazon Germany certainly doesn't make the Xbox One an impulse buy, at least we know (or can safely assume) that it won't go beyond that mark. Hopefully, Microsoft can at least tell us a consistent story on Xbox One pricing come Monday.

It should also be noted that Amazon Germany has set the same placeholder pricing for Sony's PlayStation 4.