Playstation 3 Delay Official 132
Aleman writes "In this interview with Variety magazine, Sony CEO Howard Stringer confirms that the Playstation 3 will be released during the holiday 2006 season." Not very surprising given the available information.
Maybe I missed something.... (Score:5, Insightful)
-Rick
Re:Maybe I missed something.... (Score:5, Insightful)
a) The price of some of the hardware to come down
b) To watch Microsoft fumble around more
and
c) To rethink this whole format war business
I have a bad feeling that the last one especially won't happen
Re:Maybe I missed something.... (Score:2)
I have a bad feeling that the last one especially won't happen
Don't you have it backwards?
The PS3 is the nuclear weapon Sony intends to use to win the format war.
Their whole strategy is based on the PS3 (each one with a BR) being a huge hit.
If they deliver more or less on time, BR will be the de facto new gen
Re:Maybe I missed something.... (Score:2)
Either way, I hope it still at least plays DVDs. If not, that'd be pretty damn annoying.
Re:Maybe I missed something.... (Score:2)
Perhaps we should think of this Battle of the Consoles as being the first skirmish of the much more far reaching Formats War.
At least, we'd still be inside the bellic metaphor.
Cheers,
Re:Maybe I missed something.... (Score:2)
Re:Maybe I missed something.... (Score:2)
Agreed...
And, to be honest, the PS3 is about the only edge Blu-ray has: the HDDVD really has the advantage financially and even in some ways technologically
and agreed...
-- unless the PS3 performs quite spectacularly well. If they have even a quarter of the supply problems the 360 has had, I predict Blu-ray is dead.
But... even if the PS3 is a dud, they're going to sell millions and millions of them.
So, unless the console is a technologic
Re:Maybe I missed something.... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Maybe I missed something.... (Score:1)
Re:Maybe I missed something.... (Score:3)
other than that, yeah... MS fumbled, and fumbled badly at that. their "killer apps" have come and gone with slight pause. perfect dark zero? DOA4? not bad games at all im sure, but definitely not as great as hyped. then again, halo aside... the original xbox didnt have dozens of killer apps either. ninja gaiden? splinter cel
Re:Maybe I missed something.... (Score:1)
Because Sony showed it was possible. Now that people know it can be done, they expect it.
Re:Maybe I missed something.... (Score:2)
Re:Maybe I missed something.... (Score:1)
The Genesis/Megadrive could play Master System games with a small cartridge module (sold seperately) because the latter's CPU became the former's audio chip. The Saturn had a cartridge slot for save game memory, extra system RAM and so on, but it wasn't backwards compatible with anything.
As for backwards
Re:Maybe I missed something.... (Score:2)
And so to some extent, Microsoft has to wait too for the next holiday season and a consumer spending spree - there's a reason for the focus on that period for new product releases.
Managing to sell a few in time for last year's season doesn't cut the mustar
Re:Maybe I missed something.... (Score:2, Interesting)
Now, that's ignoring the Japanese market where the 360 has positively -bombed-: "The Xbox 360 managed to sell only 1,203 u
Re:Maybe I missed something.... (Score:2)
the analyst quoted an expected 6 million console sales by june, but the next sentence says that microsoft themselves only predict selling between 4.5 and 5 million by june. so apparently this analyst has much better knowledge of MS innerworkings than MS themselves. [!]
given that MS has at their disposal numbers re: region distribution and hardware yields, i am more apt to go by the MS numbers. even those number have to be taken with a grain of salt; they will obviously
Re:Maybe I missed something.... (Score:1, Informative)
Sony never gave a release date for the US or Europe.
Re:Maybe I missed something.... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Maybe I missed something.... (Score:2)
There's nothing in the article to suggest that Stringer himself said anything about delays, and it looks to me as if Variety has gotten a bit confused about the whole US/Japan release date differences and assumed a six month delay because of them, especially as there had been all that recent inane coverage
Given all the time by MS's execution (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Given all the time by MS's execution (Score:5, Insightful)
People assume there is some discount on goods costs with volumes, I don't think many people realize how high it really is. I don't think they're losing money on XBox 360 hardware, nor do I think Sony will lose on the PS3. If money is lost it's warranty/returns.
Re:Given all the time by MS's execution (Score:2)
Re:Given all the time by MS's execution (Score:2)
Variety?!? (Score:2)
Re:Variety?!? (Score:3, Funny)
-Eric
Everyone's a comedian (Score:1)
If PS3 "delivers what everyone thinks it will, the game is up" Stringer boasts.
Death toll for Blu-ray (Score:3, Insightful)
I can't say I feel sorry for them, being proprietary is inherently consumer unfriendly, so they have an uphill marketing battle ahead of them. (I realize that HD DVD is pretty proprietary, too, but it is first and less expensive and that will make a huge marketing difference)
Re:Death toll for Blu-ray (Score:2)
Frnakly, I expect the PS3 to get pushed back even more. I doubt we'll see it in the U.S. until well into 2007.
-Eric
Re:Death toll for Blu-ray (Score:2)
Holiday season means the PS3 wlil get all the christmas sales (anything over new year's would be a real disaster). Combined with the rather slow roll-out of HDTV titles (less than 100 on either side at launch) AFAICanTell, is it too slow? Not really.
It all boils down to price. And
Re:Death toll for Blu-ray (Score:2)
hd-dvd may have a head start, but blu-ray has the studio support. what good does it do to have a sub $500 hddvd player when the movies you want to watch are being released by a studio that only supports blu-ray? last time i checked, s
Re:Death toll for Blu-ray (Score:2)
But more on topic-
I'm a big Xbox fan, have a 360, etc. etc. I also USED to be a big HDTV fan. I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Until I finally set my TV back to 480p, instead of the higher resolutions.
Guess what- no big difference.
I'm really not in that big of a hurry for any HD disc format. Once you get beyond crap quality analog cable, everything else is good enough.
Re:Death toll for Blu-ray (Score:5, Insightful)
Since Sony is going to make the PS3 a loss leader, it might actually be cheaper than comparative HD-DVD players when it comes out. And while many people might wait to see which player comes out on top in the format wars before deciding on a player, you know millions of people are going to instantly start salivating as soon as the preorder slips go out for the PS3. Having a game console push your format is as big of an advantage as Sony says it is. Is it big enough? We'll see, of course, but I don't feel this hurts Sony much, if at all.
Re:Death toll for Blu-ray (Score:1)
*Someone will but that's too few to count.
Pre-Orders? (Score:2)
Given the trouble I had getting an Xbox 360 (still don't have it) and a PS2 (I had to write a script to crawl amazon.com and make an alarm go off when it found "add to cart"), I'd like to just plain pre-order one this time, and save all the hassle.
Re:Pre-Orders? (Score:2)
Re:Pre-Orders? (Score:2)
Re:Pre-Orders? (Score:2)
Bought and paid for. Our local GameStop(s) gets about two systems in as many weeks. It's certainly become ridiculous. Never again will I pay full-price for a pre-order. It's such a crock of shit, now over 3 months displaced from the official launch date.
Re:Pre-Orders? (Score:2)
Re:Pre-Orders? (Score:3, Informative)
I seen them all the time. This last weekend, the Walmart, Target, and Circuit City stores near me I went into all had them. Warmart looked like it only had core systems, but thanks to my first 360 dying and MS replacing the console with a whole new console+harddrive, I have a spare drive. I almost picked one up so my girlfriend and I wouldn't have to fight for 360 time.
In either case, are they really still hard to find in other parts of the country? I'm not ou
Re:Pre-Orders? (Score:2)
At least here in the UK, you can now buy XBoxes on ebay for less that the highstreet price. A core system with two controllers just went for 170 pounds about five minutes ago, they're over 200 pounds in the shops.
Re:Pre-Orders? (Score:1)
Re:Pre-Orders? (Score:2)
Oh well.
Note that I woke up at 5:30 AM on launch day and I still only missed it by 5 minutes. If I had *really* wanted one, and had gotten there at midnight or 2:00 or so, I'd have been a shoe-in at either Fred Meyer or Target. So yes, I agree with your advice: skip the Best Buys, go to the large department stores that ha
Re:Pre-Orders? (Score:5, Interesting)
The launch games you want will still be available, and perhaps even marked down.
For all the effort you went through to get your PlayStation 2, wouldn't you want to keep playing it for a few more months?
Re:Pre-Orders? (Score:1)
But... (Score:2)
Also, will they be able to offer it at a more reasonable price than was stated in earlier articles (assuming that the other figures were for if it was released earlier)?
And, most importantly, will it run Linux?
Re:But... (Score:2)
-Eric
This is Japan release (Score:1)
Ah and by holidays, BD drives should be less expensive and the 900 bucks to manifacture projection will fall apart.
Re:This is Japan release (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:This is Japan release (Score:1)
Re:This is Japan release (Score:2)
I don't know about that. We all know how shipping in the US, Japan, and Europe in roughly the same time has affected 360 availability. Loads of 360s in Japan, but scarce everywhere else. If it shipped in the US first, and then everywhere else a month or two later, then the availability problems probably wouldn't have been as bad for those in the US.
If Sony is aiming to ship in US and Japan around the same time (and it'd be crazy to miss the holiday '06
Rumours! (Score:5, Funny)
P.s. Variety went down quick!
No word on price, I see... (Score:3, Informative)
Nope.
Instead, we get: "If PS3 'delivers what everyone thinks it will, the game is up,' Stringer boasts."
"If?!" So, in other words, the PS3 won't be delivering what everyone thinks it will. Which, ironically enough, I think everyone already knew. Essentially it sounds like the entire game-plan for the PS3 is to sneak Blu-ray into a consumer market that otherwise doesn't want it, to hell with games. Really encouraging.
From the article: "Sony's new PlayStation 3 was widely expected to be introduced this spring, but will be delayed as the company fine-tunes the chips that are crucial to the success of the console's Blu-ray function."
"Fine-tunes", huh? So, in other words, the rumors of an almost $1000 price tag for the system weren't too far off, and Sony has to delay until they can get the cost down to something that people might actually pay for. But he can't actually say that, of course.
Ultimately it sounds like the PS3 is Sony trying to abuse a monopoly it doesn't have to force Blu-ray into the market place. Yeah, that might work.
Re:No word on price, I see... (Score:1)
It should go without saying that units won't fly off of shelves at a $1,000 price point. If that's really what the price tag is on those things right now, then Sony would do just as well to wait until they can strike a balance between what consumers are willing to
Re:No word on price, I see... (Score:1)
What? (Score:1)
Re:What? (Score:2)
truth doesnt get mod points. esp when no one else reads the article.
A bad thing? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:A bad thing? (Score:3, Interesting)
As far as getting the Blu-Ray mind/marketshare, not so much.
Re:A bad thing? (Score:2)
Re:A bad thing? (Score:2)
Not really... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Not really... (Score:2)
Re:Not really... (Score:2)
That's it (Score:1, Interesting)
See you on Live.
Re:That's it (Score:1)
Not official (Score:1)
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_cont
few questions (Score:2)
Market analysts (non M$) are predicting 5.5 million Xbox360's sold by June and around 12-15 million by the end of the year. Certain PS3 fanboys will buy a PS3 no matter when it is released, but why will the average family buy a PS3 when they have a 360 and a solid c
Re:few questions (Score:1)
Because the "average family" does NOT have an Xbox360 or a "solid collection of games." IIRC, there are just around 2 million xboxes actually sold so far. In comparison, there are 20 million gamecubes, 20 million Xboxes, and
Re:few questions (Score:1)
the PC is not the Console (Score:2, Interesting)
Text Extract of TFA. (Score:1)
Sony's new PlayStation 3 was widely expected to be introduced this spring, but will be delayed as the company fine-tunes the chips that are crucial to the success of the console's Blu-ray function.
The PlayStation 3 --- which is being called "the poor man's Blue-ray" --- is vital to Sony's plans because it plays Blu-ray discs as well as videogames.
Sony will roll out the PS3 by
Might mean more competition (Score:1)
Real Time (Score:2)
Did he happen to mention if it will be able to render Toy Story in real time??
geez (Score:1)
Not surprising (Score:1)
XBOX 360's Main Problem (Score:2, Insightful)
The thing that I think really hurt the XBOX 360 is the lack of a big launch game. The original XBOX had Halo. XBOX 360 had no one "big" game at launch, and still doesn't have that "big" game. This doesn't mean that Perfect Dark Zero or Call of Dut
Re:XBOX 360's Main Problem (Score:2)
Can anyone confirm?
As I predicted, PS3 is AFTER Blu-Ray players (Score:2)
From the article: "Now, electronics and games can take center stage, although major questions loom at those divisions as well.
Sony's new PlayStation 3 was widely expect
Re:As I predicted, PS3 is AFTER Blu-Ray players (Score:1)
Re:As I predicted, PS3 is AFTER Blu-Ray players (Score:4, Informative)
I did have an issue with a controller charger. I had to get a new one and now it works fine.
I know a few other folks with 360s, and no one has had any problems either. Either we're just lucky, or they know the proper way to keep it ventilated and such. I'm also on a listserv with probably over 100 360 owners too, and only a few people have reported problems. I don't know exactly how many 360 owners there are, since it'd be pretty annoying to have a "raise your hand if you own a 360!" thread going.
I see a lot of complaints about the 360 hardware, but it seems like it's so anecdotal. Usually it's folks complaining that don't even have the console
For those who care, here's my philosophy with defects: Are there occasional problems with the hardware? Absolutely! Every hardware product is going to have some defect rate. That's what return departments are for. Unfortunately, it's pretty common to happen in the console space. Anyone remember the PSP "dead pixel" problem? Or the rants about the original GBA's bad design (lack of backlighting)? Or the many "dirty disc" errors with the PS2 and Xbox? What WOULD be nice is to see actual statistics on how often 360s have to be returned, and then compare it to how other consoles fared (especially when they first started). However, I can't imagine that being made public information by MS, Sony, or Nintendo.
So, why not make a product that is 100% guaranteed to work every single time, in whatever situation you put it in? Well, you COULD do that, but either the cost of the unit will go up, or it'll take a lot longer to go out. Meanwhile, you have a lot of enthusiasts which will take whatever you have and run with it. I'd say the ideal is to get something that works the vast majority of the time, for the vast majority of cases. Let's say 95%. For the 5% that get screwed, again, that's what return departments are for. It's cheaper to funnel those folks through returns, instead of making the product absolutely idiot proof and NASA-safe.
But that's just me. Then again, I'm not one of those unlucky 5%, so to each his own. (And it seems to me that the defect rate for the 360 is lower than 5%, but that's just my own guesstimate)
Re:As I predicted, PS3 is AFTER Blu-Ray players (Score:2)
But so far I have no complaints whatsoever except one: They made the controller a bit too small, and my hands get sore a LOT quicker than the controller-S on regular Xbox, especially during Dead or Alive 4. Also, removal of the white button really screwed me up in Halo 2 because I forgot how to turn on my radio and talk to teammates.
Official, huh? (Score:2)
Because I sure don't see either in TFA.
Re:Sony Strategy? (Score:1)
Re:Sony Strategy? (Score:1)
Re:Sony Strategy? (Score:1)
Re:Sony Strategy? (Score:4, Funny)
Nintendo: N64!
Sony: Playstation 2!
Nintendo: Game Cube!
That's a joke, right?
Re:Sony Strategy? (Score:1)
If he's talking about technical superiority, then no, it's not a joke.
Re:Sony Strategy? (Score:2)
Riiiight....
Re:Sony Strategy? (Score:2)
just last year i decided to buy a gamecube and i think i've found home
for some reason the nintedo stuff feels like the apple stuff
well thought out, and made for one purpose
i really really enjoy the games on the gamecube and the loading times, yiiiha!
thank you nintendo!
Re:Sony Strategy? (Score:2)
I've seen stores with hundreds of titles, many of which have very little to do with soccer at all.
Re:Sony Strategy? (Score:4, Interesting)
But I'll be damned if I didnt think that game was awful. The controls reminded me of Prince of Persia ala '93 and the camera angle was awful. I don't care if the designers decided to make the game entirely out of the color grey, or go only with level bosses that still doesn't make it an "innovative" or even "artistic" game.
The game *mechanics* are just like every other game I've played on the PS2; worse so since the controls were terrible.
I think I've been spoiled on Nintendo's first party games
Re:Sony Strategy? (Score:2)
Re:Sony Strategy? (Score:1)
Yeah, Mario Party 37 is sooooo sweet.
Re:Sony Strategy? (Score:1)
Do what everyone does and get Pro Evolution Soccer instead.
Re:Sony Strategy? (Score:5, Insightful)
huh?
What matters seems to be the available games, though in the PS2 case a lot of people bought it as their first DVD player, justifying the purchase that way. That's what Sony were banking on with the PS3 too, but the BluRay capability has undoubtedly delayed their launch.
Add in the facts that their CPU is quite weird and hard to program, and that they'll be last to market in this generation, and they've some small difficulties to overcome.
I'd still bet that they will be a very strong contender this time round (not least due to backwards compatibility and the desire to keep game libraries while trashing the old machine), but unless MS continue to shoot themselves in both feet it'll probably be a lot closer this time round...
Re:Sony Strategy? (Score:1)
Re:Sony Strategy? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Sony Strategy? (Score:2)
In my mind, the gamecube came in 2nd place because they actually turned a profit.
Re:Sony Strategy? (Score:1)
The NES was actually technically better than the Atari 7800 with a better game selection. The SNES, again, was technically better than the Genesis and had an equally good game selection. (Jurassic Park was 10 times better on Genesis than SNES for some reason; Genesis Mortal Kombat had the blood, etc.)
But the Nintendo 64 isn't better than the Playstation technically, and it doesn't have a better collection of games. The Gamecube is slightly better than the PS2 tec
Re:Can't Read TFA (Score:2)