Playstation 3 Delayed to 2007

[Glockstar]

Sony Shares Drop on Report PlayStation 3 Delayed to November

March 15 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of Sony Corp., the world's biggest video-game maker, fell as much as 2 percent after a newspaper reported the company will delay the debut of its PlayStation 3 console to November from its plan to sell the machine in spring.

The stock fell 1.3 percent to 5,500 yen as of 9:26 a.m. on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, compared with a 0.6 percent gain in the Nikkei 225 Stock Average. Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. spokesman Daisuke Nakata declined to comment on the Nihon Keizai newspaper report saying the player would be sold from November.

The PlayStation 3, which will feature the company's Blu-ray high-definition DVD technology and its fastest processor ever, is a key product in Chief Executive Howard Stringer's strategy to help spur sales of electronics and movies. Sony is delaying sales of the machine because it hasn't resolved details on a copy protection format for the Blu-ray disc, the newspaper reported.

The Blu-ray can store at least five times more video, audio and computer files than standard DVDs, and the Cell chip will make the PS3 about 35 times faster than its predecessor the PS2.

Merrill Lynch & Co.'s Tokyo-based analyst Hitoshi Kuriyama wrote in a report last month that the PlayStation 3 launch may be pushed back to autumn in Japan and 2007 in the U.S., because of reasons that included delays in video chip production, heat emissions problems and a shortage of games.

Sony on Jan. 26 forecast an annual profit, reversing a loss forecast, on sales of Bravia televisions and PlayStation Portable video-game players. Sony posted a record 168.9 billion yen ($1.4 billion) profit in the October to December quarter, triggering a 14 percent gain in its shares the next trading day.

The first two PlayStation consoles are the world's best- selling players with more than 100 million units sold each.

Sony Computer Entertainment President Ken Kutaragi will speak at a press conference in Tokyo today at 3 p.m.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000101&sid=avIsmtpljc.Q&refer=japan

[Fivespot]

And the plot thickens......

[Glockstar]

File the first article I posted under "rumor".* Here's the "news":

[UPDATE] Sony confirms delay for next-gen console, says it will support an Xbox Live-like online gaming service; console will require a 60GB Linux HDD--but will it be sold separately?

TOKYO--Today at the 2006 PlayStation Business Briefing in Tokyo, Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutagari made it official--the PlayStation 3 has been delayed. The news confirmed widely circulated Japanese newspaper reports, which said that the delay was due to copyright-protection problems with the next-generation console's Blu-ray drive. For his part, Kutaragi would only say the delay was due to "Blu-ray spec finalization."

Kutaragi told the crowd at the event that the PS3 would now launch in November 2006 worldwide. That dispelled fears that the console would make it to Japan in time by the fall, but would miss the all-important holiday shopping season in the US and Europe. In fact, Kutaragi explicitly told the crowd of game retailers and journalists present that the PS3 would arrive before Thanksgiving in all territories.

Besides the delay, Kutaragi also made official another widely reported aspect of the PS3. He said that Sony is indeed preparing an Xbox Live-like online gaming service for the console, which would be called the "PlayStation Network Platform." Though he was short on specifics, the executive did say that currently Sony planned the service to be "free."

While the simultaneous tri-territory PS3 scheme may sound much like Microsoft's international launch of the Xbox 360, Sony plans to avoid the shortages that befell its competitor. Kutaragi said that the company plans on producing at least one million units of the console each month in order to keep the supply channel full. He said the goal was to ship 6 million PS3s worldwide by March 2007.

[UPDATE] The SCE president also told the crowd that the PS3 would use a 60GB 2.5" hard disc drive (HDD). A slide show during the presentation said the HDD would will be loaded with the Linux operating system versus Microsoft's Windows OS. The show also said it could be used as a "home server" and be directly connected to the Internet, and be full "upgradeable."

Kutaragi also made it clear that the hard drive will be necessary to play games--Sony is telling developers to make games assuming every PS3 has a hard drive installed. "We view the Hard Drive to be mandatory for the PS3," he said. "Rather than have developers create games for the PS3 with or without the HDD, we will be asking them to develop games as though all PS3s have the HDD installed."

However, Kutaragi revealed that Sony had not decided whether or not the PlayStation 3 would come with the hard-drive pre-installed. "We might end up installing it in all PS3s, though that depends on the market," he said. This raises the possibility that the PS3 could be sold without a piece of hardware needed to play PS3 games--in effect forcing consumers to buy a peripheral for basic functionality.

Kutaragi also said that PS3 games would be released only on Blu-ray discs, as DVDs have become too easy for software pirates to duplicate. The high-capacity format is capable of storing around 50GB on a single disc. Sony reps confirmed the PS3 will still play DVDs and CDs, as well as PS2 and PSone discs, as previously announced.

By Tor Thorsen, Brendan Sinclair, Henry Niizumi -- GameSpot
Posted Mar 14, 2006 11:07 pm PT

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6145972.html

[Rogue Bounty Hunter]

Wouldn't it be typical Sony if they did indeed make the HDD sold separately, especially since it's required?

[Glockstar]

The idea is just unfathomable to me.

And not just the idea (of saying that's something is necessary - is mandatory - but then not including it), but that they're undecided about whether they're going to include it or not.

:confused:

[Rogue Bounty Hunter]

I think they will treat the HDD like a memory card. It's needed, and we gamers will have to buy it separately. Sure, they may bundle it, but the price will be the same as if it was sold separately.

That's my prediction.