PS3 possibly delayed until spring 07, format war not game over , but game on (1 Viewer)

[Ed St. Clair]

I'm with Shawn (this time, ;-) ) on the XBox not having a HD drive, hurt HD-DVD BIG time. Was it a deathblow, time will tell. Butt and that's a BIG butt, it sure did not help!!!

 

[george kaplan]

David,

I can't be specific, but you have posted one of the funniest things I have EVER read. Simply hilarious. My sides hurt from laughing.

 

[Shawn Perron]

I'd also like to point out that the USA is the biggest market in the video game industry. There is always the possibility that Sony might launch in the US either first or simultaneously with Japan. Not having a PS3 in US homes this holiday season could be catastrophic to any plans Sony has for maintaining thier massive lead in this country. I'd bet that you will see a PS3 in people's homes in the US this christmas or heads will start rolling at Sony. Missing this coming holiday season could lead to Microsoft dethroning Sony, much as Sony dethroned Nintendo when the Playstation had a year lead on the N64. Whether Sony ships 200,000 or 2,000,000 PS3s, I think they will make the holiday ship date here.

 

[Pete T C]

I have an agenda? Because I posted 5-10 posts arguing why I believe HD-DVD will be more popular among consumers? I'd take a look at my own posting history before making such a comment.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Pete,

I certainly have an agenda...one that doesn't pretend that 50-400 gigs of storage are "meaningless" to the end consumer.

Much of what you post is thought provoking and based in fact. But to suggest that purchasing Sony's PS3 player would be somehow a "compromise" in comparison to a low-budget, featureless Toshiba-unit seemed a bit of an intellectual stretch. That's what sparked my "agenda" comment.



Given that it seems ironic that both of those studios are in support of full-HD res via component analog on all their Blu-ray titles. Contrast that with Warner Brothers which will be restricting all their HD DVD (and presumably BD) titles to Standard-Def via analog.

 

[Ryan-G]

To counter point, by the time Blu-Ray releases in the U.S...

The vid card will be at least one to two generations behind the current tech making it significantly cheaper.

GDDR3 will have been surpassed by GDDR4 making it cheaper as the current demand for GDDR3 by Nvidia and ATI will dry up leaving rock bottom prices for Sony since it won't be heavily demanded anymore.

USB ports are cheap as heck now, I can buy a 8 port hub at retail for 40$.

Blu-Ray will have had months to ramp up the process, making it cheaper.

Making the PS3 significantly cheaper than current estimates.

And Sony will sell it at a loss, a significant one, because at 800$ you might as well buy the computer instead.

 

[Jeff(R)]

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/696/696054p1.html

PS Biz Brief '06: PS3 Worldwide Release in November
It's official. Details and more inside. Now updated with more info!
by Jeremy Dunham

March 14, 2006 - Ken Kutaragi, PlayStation Master and keeper of big news has announced at the PS meeting today that the PlayStation 3 will be launching in early November worldwide for the North American, Asian, and European territories.

Once released, Sony will unleash one million units per month with a total of six million units in 2006 alone. Production numbers are higher for PS1 and PS2 in their initial years.

Check soon for more.

 

[Jeff(R)]

http://www.psxextreme.com/scripts/ps....asp?newID=138

PS Conference: Playstation 3 (PS3) - The Rest of the Story

 

[Jeff(R)]

http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds...fx2595469.html

AFX News Limited
Sony to delay rollout of PlayStation 3 console until early November - UPDATE 2

03.15.2006, 04:12 AM

(Updating with additional details, CEO, analyst comments)

TOKYO (AFX) - Sony Computer Entertainment Inc (SCE) said it has decided to release its PlayStation 3 (PS3) next-generation video game console in early November, scrapping an original plan to roll it out this spring.

But the game unit of the world's second-largest consumer electronics maker stressed that the new consoles, when launched, will be made available in countries around the world at the same time.

'I would like to apologize for revising the release date, because standardization talks on new Blu-ray technology and high-definition multimedia interfacing -- the key features of the next generation console, have taken more time than we had originally thought,' SCE President and CEO Ken Kutaragi told a press conference.

He added Sony will be targeting shipments of 6 mln units of the new console by the end of March 2007.

Sony's PlayStation 2, is currently the world's best-selling video game console, and the delay in launch of the new version will give arch rivals Microsoft Corp and Nintendo a window of opportunity to try to grab a greater share of the lucrative video games market.

Microsoft debuted its Xbox 360 console late last year, while Nintendo Co Ltd plans to start selling its next-generation video game console, named, Revolution, this year.

Kutaragi noted that the PS3 uses more advanced technology and has more features than the likes of the Xbox360.

'Our PS3 fully supports the most advanced Blu-ray and high-definition technology, while having full backward compatibility to (previous PlayStation console games), which are features that have not been achieved by other existing consoles,' he said.

PS3 consoles, allow users to not only play games and movies but also download and browse high-quality videos from the Internet.

Kutatagi said Sony is committed to making the PS3 with a hard disc drive-embedded in it -- the key element for online game and internet downloads.

'I would like to ask all software developers to make games based on the assumption that the PS3 will have HDD,' he added.

Hirokazu Hamamura, president of Enterbrain, the publisher of influential entertainment magazine 'Weekly Famitsu,' said the commitment to HDDs is a surprise.

'Making the PS3 a HDD-embedded console will help ease frustration and dissatisfaction among software makers, and encourage developers to be more willing to produce titles for PS3,' Hamamura said.

Meanwhile, analysts downplayed the significance of the delayed rollout on Sony Corp's business rehabilitation plans.

'As long as the PS3 hits the shelves before the 2006 Christmas season, its impact on Sony's overall sales and profitability will be negligible,' Daiwa Institute of Research analyst Kazuharu Miura said.

'Talk of a delay in the launch of the PS3 has been rife in the market for some time now so the actual announcement comes as no surprise to us,' said Miura, who re-affirmed his 'outperform' rating on Sony.

'Because the sharemarket has already priced in a delay to the rollout this confirmation will actually provide some relief,' said Yuji Fujimori, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, who is also maintaining his 'outperform' rating on Sony.

Meanwhile Kutaragi downplayed fears by some Japanese publishers that rising development costs for advanced game consoles may make it increasingly hard for developers to come up with new games.

'If development costs continue to rise sharply, some game developers may face serious difficulties in developing software for next-generation game consoles,' said Kiyoshi Komatsu, president of game developer Koei Co Ltd.

But Kutaragi noted that Sony will make available a software development tool for PS3 at a price that is 'closer to the initial price' of development tools for PS2 consoles.

Sony sold the development tools for PS2 consoles at 2.0 mln yen per unit initially.

'In addition, we will also limit pressing costs for Blu-ray discs as much as possible, in a bid to help curtail development (costs) for PS3 game titles,' Kutaragi added.

[email protected]

 

[Jeff(R)]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...c5KuY&refer=us

 

[Cory S.]

I can deal with a November '06 launch.

 

[Juan C]

Can we edit the title of this thread now?

 

[Pete T C]

"Could the PS3 Kill Sony"
http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/21...he_playstation

Interesting article examining the cost of PS3 versus XBOX 360 plus the positioning of HD-DVD versus Blu-Ray and viability of highdef disc formats.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Count on Pete to bring in a glass-half-empty point of view!



And wow...that article was written on February 9...only a little over a month ago.



Actually Pete, teasing aside you do bring up a good point and it's healthy to have a counter-point-of-view in these discussions. However, just like Toshiba is risking their financial stability in under-pricing their early HD DVD players in an effort to gain HD DVD ground...the real question is if the "pay off" of developing an install-base for Blu-ray purchases will counter the initial loss.

Gaming consoles have nearly ALWAYS sold for a loss and the developers rely on purchases of the software to make up the difference. If Blu-ray or Toshiba can establish their formats by making early financial sacrifices, then it will be well worth the effort later when software purchases (inlcuding royalties) more-than cover those costs.

In the case of the PS3 I'd say that Sony stands a BETTER chance of recouping costs despite the larger losses--because the PS3 will generate sales of both games *and* movie-titles.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

Which is precisely why Microsoft is more than willing to pay a premium to keep HD DVD alive, and will do all they can to spread misinformation throughout the marketplace in hopes it will cause enough confusion and disinterest long enough for them to get their own online media delivery service in place.

Who knows, maybe Microsoft's design for control over our entire media wont be such a bad thing. After all, they have such a spotless record when it comes to providing flawless secure software, and clearly, they have proven over time that their number one concern is providing the best quality products at the most reasonable cost to consumers.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Even if for some reason neither format 'wins' Blu-ray will still be around for 10 years due to it being hardwired into the PS3. Worst case scenario is that Sony keeps producing the drives just for the console and keeping software around just for it. Before it was thought that Sony still had the option of dropping BR from the PS3 and could still go back to a standard DVD drive, but now it seems that all games will be made on BR media, so they are commited to it.

Anyway, some great PS3 news today. November works for me as I may actually have an HDMI compatible set by then. Still will protest ICT till their ears bleed but I should have one fully compatible set by then.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Really?

 

[Shawn Perron]

No more like the cartidges on the old consoles, or the UMDs for PSP. Even if they only do half as well as the PS2 and ship 50 million PS3s, that's still a huge installed base. You'd be talking about 100s of millions of pieces of software produced inside of 5 years. Not exactly comparable to betamax?

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Yes.

 

[Marc Colella]

The delay for the PS3 is definitely not good news for Sony, no matter how they try to sugarcoat it.

Blaming the delay on Blu-Ray DRM, laughable.

Sony will only have 2 million PS3's (if they're lucky) on store shelves by the end of 2006.

I'm predicting that this "worldwide launch" will wind up becoming a Japan (and possibly US) launch only come November.

Sony's been doing the smoke and mirror's thing all this time to avoid showing how very far behind they are.

HD-DVD has a good chance at a nice lead with standalone players being much cheaper than any Blu-Ray players on the market before November.