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Sony on Wednesday confirmed that it's pushing back the worldwide release date for the game console to early November. The company cited delays in finalizing copyright-protection specifications in the Blu-ray standard, which will be the underlying high-definition DVD format for the PS3.
The PS3 had been scheduled to debut this spring. The company is aiming to release the console simultaneously in the U.S., Europe and Japan.
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News.Commentary Sony wakes up  PlayStation maker is finally watching its rivals and responding accordingly. |
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Rival Microsoft launched its next-generation Xbox 360 device in November 2005. The PS3 postponement would be a second black mark for Sony, which also faces much higher component costs.
Even with the delay, Sony hopes to ship 6 million units around the globe by the end of the year, Ken Kutaragi, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, said at a press briefing in Tokyo. The company plans to bolster its manufacturing capacity so that it can produce 1 million units per month, he said.
Kutaragi also said that the new PlayStation will have a 2.5-inch 60GB hard drive and will run the Linux operating system.
For game software, the company plans to release titles in the Blu-ray disc format. By producing up to 10 million copies a month, it expects to keep manufacturing costs as low as with current double-layer DVD-ROMs.
Sony also plans to launch a PlayStation Network Platform, an online service, around the time of the PS3 debut. The service is expected to compete with Microsoft's Xbox Live.
Sony is a leader in the game console arena with more than 100 million PlayStation 2s sold worldwide.
Blu-ray is a critical technology for Sony, not only for differentiating the PS3 from the Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Revolution, but also in a DVD standards battle. In that arena, it is up against the HD DVD format being backed by Toshiba.
Michiko Nagai of CNET Japan reported from Tokyo.
See more CNET content tagged:
game console, Sony Playstation, Tokyo, console, Sony Corp.
Bye bye Sony...
Sony isn't going away, and I think the extra time might help more than hurt them in the long-term.
NWLB
****************
http://www.NWLB.net
Fact remains, Sony has one year to kick back and observe the 360's success. They've got time to tinker with their online plans to mimic or surpass Microsoft's Live offerings, to tinker with the user interface, to further nail down what needs to be done to remain competitive.
Lets not forget - far beyond that of the original XBox, Sony has **legions** of hardcore PS2 fans.
And frankly, we should WANT that. We should WANT Microsoft and Sony to keep each other on their toes. God forbid one should decisively win the battle...
What if, the buying public ever tired of the killer game machine for ever hovering over the distant horizon, buy Xboxes and Nintendo's by the gross!
What if SONY, due to it's ever mount losses from the various retail division, mean that it cannot afford to subsidise like it's arh rival Microsoft?
but then again, failing to account what if's can be a killer!
Choices you've got to love 'em all!!!!!
or as they say OOPS! I forgot about that little one that got away!
--Most people still consider current gen. consoles "new" as well
as DVD and Pulp Fiction. Tell a kid who has been into Pokemon
since 1997 that it's been since 1997 since the show and toys
came out, and he'll freak. Time flew, and many people I visit still
have N64s and PlayStations . . . even Saturns. People are also
still using Windows 98 in many "common" houses.
--Current gaming, from every company except Nintendo, is
boring. Fighting games that've been done before, another 3-D
auto racing game, another crime simulator, another first-person
shooter, another Japanimated RPG of teen boy discovers teen
girl and saves world from a warloard gone bad, or a spy game.
Discount shelves, eBay, and used games getting $0.01 trade-in
value proves this further. Reminds me of 1984, when I could get
games at $5 each new from Sears or Radio Shack . . .
--Blu-Ray blew away . . . nobody cares. I've never heard the
common man talk of Blu-Ray discs at all. Some are still even
thinking about getting a DVD burner on their PCs. I can sure use
a Blu-Ray or HD DVD burner because my files are even too big
for DL DVDs. Blu-Ray reminds me LaserDisc.
--Not mentioned in story, but told to me by numerous people
everywhere in the gaming development business: malware to
track each copy of each game will be there.
--Price. How to convince people in a bad economy (facing
reality, I can't get a crap job or a good job, and crime keeps
rising in my town . . .) to spend the money on something like
that. Example: Christmas gift was a PS2 with DDR and pad. Kids
played with it for two weeks. Haven't touched it since, haven't
bought a game for PS2, either, but blew money off on same
game for GameCube (say what, I say) . . . I don't get it.
--360 and PS2 had many defects (bought 3 PS2s myself, and
already had to replace 360 once now) . . . too much tech. I say
hire Apple, they know how to build PCs that vent out really well.
--HDTV compatibility . . . who cares? Most of the gamers I know
in their 20s don't care, don't have money, and games are
supposed to be a way to relax after work at crappy job. They will
not buy the PS3 (they haven't bought the 360, either, from the
houses I visit on a regular basis). Yes, I'm a college student, so I
see their target base, and no, it's not them in their 20s. Maybe
it's the kids . . . unless these kids have parents in Beverly Hills, I
don't see a PS3 happening at the speculated price point.
--And who is Sony going for? Fanboys don't sustain a business.
Grant Morrison (creator of V for Vendetta) wrote once in New X-
men, Volume 1 Hardcover, " . . . that the fanboys will buy
regardless, so who's gives a [frag] about them. They don't
sustain enough capital to be worried about."
Anybody who flames me, whoopie doo. Don't care. You can
either disagree with my points or not.
Cheers.
>>Most people still consider current gen. consoles "new" as well as DVD and Pulp Fiction.<<
I doubt this on merits that I've seen nothing indicating this. Sales of the current generation of consoles has been levelling off, practically grinding to a halt for Xbox and GameCube. I can't seem to find any sales numbers for the PS2, but people hardly consider hardware that's over 5 years old "new".
As for DVD, yes, I agree with you there. DVD hasn't expended its useful life, which is one of the main reasons I'm so adamantly opposed to this next-gen DVD war we're about to get ourselves caught up in. HD, as a marketable technology, is still largely in its infancy. To strong-arm a standard on the market should be criminal.
As far as Pulp Fiction being new goes, you're either the oldest college student on the planet or just a wise guy. Here's hoping it's the latter. :)
>>Time flew, and many people I visit still
have N64s and PlayStations . . . even Saturns.<<
Sure, I've got all those hooked up to my entertainment system (as well as a healthy cross-section of historic gaming dating back to its humble beginnings, to boot), but they don't get much play. College-aged kids are remarkable in that they'll turn just about anything they can get their hands on into something entertaining. When I was in college, my Dreamcast got more "Marvel vs. Capcom" playtime than just about any other system on campus, but that in no way is reflective of the state of the industry. Remember that college is a bubble. Nothing you do there is ever a good representation of anything real-world.
>>Current gaming, from every company except Nintendo, is boring.<<
This is your opinion. While it's unfortunate that you find nothing interesting in the way of the competition, what's more unfortunate is that Nintendo hasn't put a decent game on the GameCube since Resident Evil 4 (which also happens to be the last game I bought for the console, and the only game I bought in 2005). I'm pretty sure no games is more boring than rehashes.
>>Fighting games that've been done before, another 3-D auto racing game, another crime simulator, another first-person shooter, another Japanimated RPG of teen boy discovers teen girl and saves world from a warloard gone bad, or a spy game.<<
Have you considered that's mostly because this medium of entertainment has done just about all it can do with the tools provided? Before 3-D, everything that could have possibly been done with sprites had been done before. This is not unique to video games, either. Books and movies have tapped out their innovative potential. All that's left is to develop the art, the stories, and the drivers that make the experience a good one. This much has never changed and likely never will.
New technologies, for the most part, add polish to the overall experience. Look at what the analog stick did for gaming. The same may apply to the Revolution controller, and Nintendo's to be applauded for trying to innovate. But they've done nothing particularly remarkable with the GameCube lately, so the only valid argument is that either EVERYTHING is a tired rehash or the only tired rehashes on the market worth playing comes from everyone BUT Nintendo.
>>Discount shelves, eBay, and used games getting $0.01 trade-in value proves this further.<<
Actually, all that proves is that people don't automatically keep everything they have. You'll have a few crazy collectors out there (like myself) who'd sooner sacrifice an arm before they traded in a game, but most people, for the most part, don't keep things when they're done with them.
>>Blu-Ray blew away . . . nobody cares. I've never heard the common man talk of Blu-Ray discs at all.<<
Seconded. I'm yet to be convinced that either technology is worth much of anything, and that's bad news for the companies since I KNOW I'm not the only one who feels that way.
>>Blu-Ray reminds me LaserDisc.<<
I'd draw the parallel to BetaMax, and not just because it's another Sony hopeful. BetaMax was actually useful to the market. LaserDisc was utterly useless, horribly cumbersome, and poorly marketed.
>>Not mentioned in story, but told to me by numerous people everywhere in the gaming development business: malware to track each copy of each game will be there.<<
What, like a rootkit? I've not heard this, but consider this: What made rootkit wrong was that you were sticking their property into your property and they decided to practically hijack it. This doesn't apply to PS3. You're sticking their property into their technology. Much like Microsoft isn't obligated to allow people with hacked Xboxes to get on Live, Sony's not required to allow people who would pirate their games to make any progress trying to play them.
>>Price.<<
This is a major issue, made worse by the big fat question mark that's accompanying it. Nobody has any ideas what Sony's going to charge for it, but whatever they do charge, it'll be at a huge loss, which is not encouraging.
>>360 and PS2 had many defects (bought 3 PS2s myself, and already had to replace 360 once now) . . . too much tech.<<
There's no such thing as a bugless launch. Especially now that there's a time crunch on everything. So long as the manufacturers honor the warranties to fix any defects, this is a non-issue.
>>I say hire Apple, they know how to build PCs that vent out really well.<<
ABSOLUTELY NOT. Apple can't handle markets the size of the game industry. I've known just as many Mac owners with hardware problems as I've known PC owners with hardware problem. Further, they're headed up by a control freak who happens to be the only driving force behind all of Apple's successes.
I'd probably feel better about Apple handling games if they had more than World of Warcraft playable on OS X, but then only just.
>>HDTV compatibility . . . who cares? Most of the gamers I know in their 20s don't care, don't have money, and games are supposed to be a way to relax after work at crappy job.<<
Have you seen HD, man? It's remarkable. I don't have it, but I certainly see how it would be excellent to have on a game console. PC games have always had a resolution advantage over home consoles and now they're looking to close that gap. It's a good move, despite the fact that it infuriates me that I can't afford an HD set.
>>Yes, I'm a college student, so I see their target base, and no, it's not them in their 20s.<<
See "bubble argument".
>>Fanboys don't sustain a business.<<
For comic books, yes. For game consoles, which have userbases numbered in the millions of fanboys as opposed to possibly hundreds, that can be a powerful market force.
Blu-Ray? Blu-Ray? Haha - I scoff and mock my friend! Scoff and mock. The multi-layered DVD (still red lasers folks, that's called "backwards compatible") will rule the next-gen! Ok, not really, but it would make life easy. (cheaper, backward compatible, and hold twice as much as blu-ray: 53 gigs anyone?)
Will I even see this comment?
Oh, this delay was to be expected. After all, they have to agree on the format before they can create.
These can be seen by clicking on a comment and veiwing the list of comments below the written comment you selected.
1) The Cell, best computing CPU out there, against Micros- doesn't matter 360 looses against the cell.
2) Graphic cards, IDK what the PS3 has in their box, but I'll be good, the 360 has some rocking graphics cards, but its the card that makes/breaks the graphics along with one more thing--
3) Software, think about it, games 25 gig big, omg, do you know how great those games are going to be? PLUS, they can be designed for the Cell's 8 parts, so none of this duel-core increases preformance if you are running software that works with it, no, the games are designed for the cell, makes it even more powerfull.
4) I forgot to say this, the Cell, actually, graphic cards don't matter, might even be onboard, because the cell does the majority of calculations for it anyways, in its graphical part of it.
5) "High res-movies", doesn't that sound to you like, order online? Stream them? 2 bucks.
6) Look, here is the final point, my computer costs $450 to build myself. It has better graphics then the Xbox, and the PS2. The Xbox 360 has better graphics, true, but only for now. You can't upgrade your 360, but I'll be throwing a new graphcis card in, faster processor, look, the point is, in the end, what are these machines? They are just sooped up PC's that come out every 3-4 years. They fall behind, they are cutting edge now, but for the $700, I'll wait, and upgrade to whatever is in the PS3 in like a year. Now my games are just as good.
Bottom line, PS3 had better be awesome, 4-9 times better then the Xbox 360, because, its great, but not that great.
The xbox is rated at 1 Tflop the PS3 is rated at 1.1 or 1.2 Tflops
so it's only slightly better than a 360
And the Cell CPU is going to hurt Sony at first!
as it's a new CPU and it takes years to master writting code for a new CPU, so it will be a very long time before programs that can take full advantage of it come out.
And as you should know by now sony can't be trusted!
or have you forgoten that sony had to recall over 100,000 there rootkit laden Audio cd's, and they did so only after the public found out how they where infecting users pc's ..
It's your $$$ but I am never getting another sony product NEVER!
peanut butter you put on it, it still wasn't
palatable. Damn difficult to chew, too.
The notion that the PS3 would help Blu-Ray beat HD-DVD has always sounded questionable to me. Experience has showed that consumers don't use game consoles to play movies. For a very simple reason, I believe: gamers don't like other members of the household touching them beloved machines.
mark d.
Sony IS the movie industry! Well, they're a big part of it. Remember, sony is an electronics manufacturer, a record label, and a motion picture studio. they don't need pressure from anyone else to employ copy protection on blu-ray. they make the electronics AND the media...it's in the interest of the right hand to keep the interests of the left hand in mind when making the console, as they work very closely together. remember the whole rootkit thing? If that taught us anything, it's that Sony doesn't need pressure from anyone else to use copy protection.
The HDR was designed to bring the PS3 to life in the wee hours of the morning, and send it out and about the users home looking for illegally downloaded Sony content. Upon discovering the content, the HDR would effectively erased or destroy the offending data.
Sadly, the HDR's have a habit of going berzerk and destroying not only illegally downloaded Sony music, but the end user of the illegally downloaded music as well. This set back has further delayed the released of the PS3 which was to be the flagship product containing the new HDR's.
Starting E3 last year, the media seemed so fixated on what Sony had at the convention. But they completely ignored what they DIDN'T have. That is, working controller, playable demos, and an actual mock-up of the console. They showed us movies of their game system. That's like relying on print ads (and only print ads) to promote major movies. It's a bad idea.
From last May to today, look also at what we haven't had. We've had practically zero communication from Sony saying anything useful about the PS3. Sure, they've surfaced from time to time to tell us just how great it's going to be, or raw benchmarks on claims to superiority to the 360, but we've got nothing to go on. Here are the only facts we have:
-Nobody's played it.
-Nobody's seen it.
-It's a bear to program for.
-Cell is an unproven technology.
-Blu-ray may be dead in a year.
-It's been officially delayed.
So he lied. No biggie, in the grand spectrum of things. He probably didn't have all the facts and some manager somewhere was afraid of losing face. Whatever. What's troubling is that we've got nothing else. Nothing useful telling us what to expect. "Wait for it" worked for the PS2, but the competition against the Dreamcast wasn't as fierce as it is with the Xbox. Flinching in the face of Microsoft is not a wise business move.
Sony needs to come out and start giving some real, tangible, GOOD news about this thing or the bottom just might fall out from under them. And, as a long-time gamer of all kinds and brands, that's the last thing I want to see happen.
I'm guessing that the movie studios want more lockdown on the DRM (which will kill BlueRay and HD-DVD anyways) than what Sony is offering.
In the end I don't think it's going to matter. 99% of movie sales will continue to be on standard DVD's while only those that want to experiment with HD/BlueRay will purchase the "higher picture quality" movies.
DRM is the main reason HD/BlueRay will never take off.
HDTV movie will fit nicely on a standard DVD. Put the non-HD
version on the other side, and everyone is happy.
Except Sony and Toshiba......
were cheered by the news that PS3 will be delayed. But then they
probably started to think a bit more and realized that the news
could be either good or bad for them. Consider:
? The extra time will allow developers to ready more games for
the PS3 launch.
? The extra time may allow Sony to take advantage of chip speed
increases between now and November, and tweak the PS3 so
that it is even faster.
Of course, balanced against this is the fact that Xbox360 will
have more time than expected to sell consoles and games
before the PS3 launch. Is this a good trade-off for Microsoft? On
the one hand they are getting a little extra time to build market
share, but on the other hand PS3 will be an even better gaming
system when it arrives.
But they need to focus on bringing the pieces together. Leave the optimization to after launch and really grill on getting the product to market, get it affordable, and get it right. Processor speed, extra games, all of that's gravy.
Although it's worth pointing out that Microsoft really dodged the bullet with this announcement. They really need to hunker down and get the supply issues in check and really blitz the market with games. Because if November rolls around (assuming PS3's ready by then, that is) and MS hasn't got any A-list titles on their lineup - and I'm talking more than just Gears of War and Oblivion - they're in trouble.
Like you said this will work in Sony's favor. It gives dev's more time so there is a solid launch line up and it gives Sony enough to to have production ready for the demand.
Blu-Ray has DRM that only plays on certain monitors.
PS3 has Blu-Ray.
Put two and two together.
For idiots:
Isn't it possible that you won't even be able to play PS3 games on non-HD monitors?
The problem is if you don't have a HDCP? compliant HDMI input for your HDTV you won't be able to play the HD movies at HD resolutions. This is actually a pretty significant problem if true because the majority of HDTV's out are not HDCP compliant. Maybe they'll work something out I don't know. I hope so since I only have DVI on my TV and from what I've read it means no HDCP for me.
So if all you are going to do is use if for gaming then this DRM stuff is a non factor.
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
- No Killer Games = No Clear Winner
- by msoto01 March 15, 2006 2:22 PM PST
- 360 is out, I have it and it's cool. No killer games for it though. Halo 3 is supposed to be that title but it's not here yet. Even with a full year head start, without a killer game there is no winner. Until the killer game is released then the race is on. To say that Sony is dead and doesn't have a chance are the words of someone who clearly doesn't understand the market and is just a biased fan.
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (63 Comments)I'll be buying a PS3 when it's released. At this point I have every reason to believe the supposed headstart won't amount to much.