PlayStation 3 Not So Much Delayed?

Chris Morris, on the CNN Game Over column, points out that even if Merrill Lynch's suggestion that the delayed initial launch of the PS3 is true, that's unlikely to affect the U.S. launch of the console. From the article: "Logic sometimes isn't enough, though. To get additional perspective on the situation, I spoke with several of Sony's partners (who are in regular contact with the company) and competitors (who keep a close eye on the PS3's launch window) about the report. No one was willing to talk on the record for fear of reprisal, but the consensus was nearly universal. The promised spring launch (which was expected in Japan, but not North America) will likely be pushed back, they said. The North American launch, which was always expected to occur later this year (November is the consensus), is not expected to change. Europe may well not see the PS3 until next year." The price tag reported, though, is still probably accurate. C|Net has a breakdown of the PlayStation 3's components.

Those Component Costs are off

C|Net claims $150-200 for the proc and $200-300 for the drive. That's way off the money.

IBM has reported fab costs of the Cell below $50 and much of the cost on the BR drive is due to the unique processing and decoding hardware attatched to the drive, not the drive itself. This hardware is already present in the PS3 in the form on the Cell.

And The Reason For Fall

Is retailers have their biggest quarter in the fall. This works to Sony's advantage by maintaining the dominant negotiation position.

I'd guess the retailers are getting the entire PS3 show in June/July. If there is an enterprising individual willing to incur the wrath of Sony and probably jeapordize a career, your opportunity at a "scoop" would be around that time.

All press...

Can you tell Sony subscribes to the belief "Any press is good press". Im already sick of these reports. Frankly, I hope its not delayed so these stories can finally die.
Sadly then, we will have to read story after story about shortages, then manufacturing problems, etc... etc... Even though im a gadget whore and will probrably buy all 3 ( already bought the 360 ), all of this stuff has just burned me out on console gaming.

PlayStation 3 Not So Much Delayed

a.k.a. Delayed.

Oh good

The PS3 isn't delayed, just intentionally very late!

If it ships to North America and Europe over a full year after the XBox360, is it really in the same "generation"?

Accurate, my ass...

The price tag reported, though, is still probably accurate.

Oh, please. The article itself says why it's not accurate. It lists the memory price as the same for the 360, and the PS3, and then goes on to describe how the PS3 is the first to use the new, expensive XDR memory, while the 360 uses GDDR3 which was designed speciffically to be cheaper than DDR2.

Not only that, but they have component prices listed as if they were being sold with a profit margin. You can bet Sony isn't going to markup chips it sells to itself, and for third party chips, you can bet they're paying a lot less. Even the launch quantities of these boxes far surpass what normally qualifies as economies of scale.

I'd say they have the costs far too high for both machines in that article. Both machines will have sub-$100 manufacturing costs on the CPU very early on in the production life, for example. Also, the BD-ROM drive is probably going to end up being more like $70. The DVD drive in the 360 is even cheaper than the $20 quoted, etc...

The PS3 will be expensive... More expensive to build than the 360, but neither machine is as expensive as this over-rated Merryl-Lynch report that's been being passed around.

Want next gen? Try current gen.

I hadn't used my PS2 for a few years until just recently. If you're in a similar position, my advice is if you want great "next generation" games, try some of the ones that have come out recently for your "old" console. The graphics and gameplay on Resident Evil 4, for instance, blew me away, and "Shadow of the Colossus" looks even more impressive. And we've got "Starcraft:Ghost" to look forward to later in the year.

So I'm not bothered if the PS3 doesn't come out for a while, PS2 games are at their peak and are probably be better than first gen PS3/XBox360 games.
 

Re:Want next gen? Try current gen.

As the proud owner of a PS2, Xbox and XBox 360 I can say, atleast IMHO you games are better on the 360 already. I say that subjectively as I prefer certain types of games that you may not, especially racing games. As a result two games im playing to death right now are Project Gotham Racing 3 and Need for Speed Most Wanted.

In every measurably regard, NFS:MW on the 360 is better then the XBox or PS2 versions.
With PGR3, graphically and controlwise, it is a much superior game to PGR2. They made some design decisions some people dont like ( car acquisition ) but excluding that, it is a much better game.

Lastly, CoD2 imho, is a better FPS then anything released for either platform, including Halo. Only beef here is online, which is rumoured to be fixed.

So, early on, I can already give you 3 examples of games that are much improved over the current generation, atleast, in my opinion.
Dont get me wrong, some arent going to compare as well ( Gun and 2k sport games come to mind ), but you will see that with every platform launch.

"Tune in tomorrow..."

"...when we post another story about people wildly speculating about the release date of a next-gen console or game, and pick the winning dates from a hat!"

Of course its delayed

Why in the world would Sony launch a new console while thier PS2 is the current best selling console? They would only be competing with themselves, and that my friend is bad business.

The 360 has barely put a dent in PS2 sales therfore Sony can sit back and wait. The longer they can drag out the launch of the PS3, the more they can allow the PS2 to act as a cash cow. And even better, the longer they wait, the more steam they can take out of the only other competitor on the horizon (the Revolution)

And the marketing push?

There is no real hype for ps3, there are not "well brand games" to be on ps3..

They are 4 months till lauch, and still most people doesnt know what to expect of ps3, only a high introduction price...

I think marketing of ps3 is really losing its grip...

Many things are still missing...

Maybe this change to 7cores cell wasn`t a good idea...

Europeans will have to wait again

As most of the time, we Europeans are getting the sore end of the launch planning.

You have to give it to Microsoft that they decided for a global launch, despite the shortage situation in the US. It makes you feel part of the show when you don't have to sit and watch the forums cheer for their new toys when your release date is months away.

In the last months, some games were even released for the DS (BoF III) and PSP (Virtua Tennis) in Europe before the US got them. I thought we were catching up, but Sony shows us we are not.

Hmmm

That CNet article supposes a blu ray drive will cost Sony $200-300. That sounds unimaginably unlikely.

Re:Hmmm

It's possible. I made myself a sandwich for lunch, and charged myself $300 for it. Luckily, I let myself finance it without interest.

Great Googley Moogley...

Delayed a little, who cares... but twice as much as the competition? That stings... for the "next next" generation of consoles we should all open up IRA accounts right now.

I know some of the packages for XBox 360's this holiday cost way up in that range or more on eBay... But seriously... who are these people willing to fork over a pretty good house payment for being the early adopter? For that kind of money... it better make me breakfast. [gorillamask.net]

As a Nintendo stock holder(yeah, ultimate fanboy!)

I say "bring on the confusion"

Seriously, this is not good for Sony. They obviously cannot control the rumor mill and there are multiple sources each with their own "inside contacts" who are making predictions that are all over the map. This can only cause confusion with potential buyers who may well just spend their money on something else rather than even consider saving up for a playstation....

Despite launch dates, cost, etc...

A word of advice from your friendly internet gamer : Pre-order a few PS3's.

Sell them for an inflated price when there's a mad rush to purchase them, and it will cover the cost for whatever time you've put in to it. If demand seems like it's going to be really good, i'd buy more than two if I had enough cash. It wont matter what the production costs are if there's some kind of a shortage, which there usually always is.

I've sold consoles like that on ebay & by word of mouth to several people in the greater Chicagoland area. $500 Xbox 360 may make the baby jesus cry, but for some rich fscker in Naperville, it was just the right price. Kind of OT, but, a true story.

SIT powers?

Processor: The PS3 will be a showcase for the Cell processor from the SIT powers (Sony, IBM, Toshiba).

Let's get HP involved.... then it will become the SITH powers (Sony, IBM, Toshiba, Hewlett-packard)

Why do I care what it costs to make?

Though Sony hasn't disclosed the price of the PS3, analysts figure it will have to be in the ballpark of $299 to $399--the price for the two versions of the Xbox 360.

Great, so it is the same as the Xbox 360. That it costs Sony more to make only means it is better for me, getting more for less. I can't understand how these articles make it sound like news that the new type of processor will cost more, or the drive will cost more. There seems to be a consensus that the price will have to be competitive, or the console will not be, and the experts peg the price at Xbox 360 levels. Worst case is that people will pay $100 more for $200 more of components.

BUT THE GAMES!!!!!

By delaying the PS3 launch, Sony is giving Microsoft time to develop more and more software for the Xbox 360. It is the games that make the console. This is why Xbox only just recently caught up to the popularity of the PS2, because there are finally enough software titles out there to make it more than a very expensive dust-collecting paperweight. Sony seems to be turning into the next Nintendo. Nintendo was number one, got cocky and lazy, and plummeted in status when another company came along and offered more that just 3D re-hashes of the same old games. I predict that many who are waiting for the PS3 will get fed up with these vaporware tactics and just get the Xbox 360. Sony is going down.

Ummm

I question the validity of any chart where one of the rows is labeled "Other doodads."

looking at the articles...

Basically,

Pay $150-200 for a Blu-Ray drive integrated into the console now. Or pay $75-100 for a HD-DVD dettached drive later. We know HDDVD content will come out this year sometime...

If a good number of Blu-Ray content comes out before the PS3 hits the streets, that will render XBox and it's HDDVD useless--why? you know the PS3 hype will be evident next Nov. and the logically conclusion for early adopters is to buy the best stuff (HDDVD into the 360s will likely be a hack) cause you get what you pay for. Not to flame 360 fanboys, just taking a non-techincal approach to the situation.

In reality, for Game Consoles, only 1 thing

matters: The console will be in the stores, with games, before Thanksgiving of the year of release.

Half of all revenues will be made between Thanksgiving and December 27th. So if you miss that window, you miss most of the money for the year.

So, a spring release can easily be pushed to summer, and even to fall, but never much later than Halloween.

Oh, and expect to buy a PS3 bundle for $249

at Costco (blue state firm that pays medical benefits and profit shares with employees) in December of release year, most likely bundled with at least one game.

If you wait until summer the next year, the same box will sell for $199 at most.

Its all about time to market and entry price

The market timing does not seem to be a show stopper if Sony can be ready to ship volume to the US in time for Christmas 2006. Seems that is still possible despite all the timing speculations. I think we will need to wait for E3 to hear more timing specifics directly from Sony.

Would it be possible to have an entry level PS3 with only a DVD drive? If so, combined with a likely lower processor price, the PS3 could have a relatively acceptable entry model (using the lower estimate and substituting a DVD drive would bring the "cost" to around $545. Assuming even the lower processor price is a bit high this price could be lower. I would not mind paying $200-$250 more to add an optional Blue-ray drive, especially since it turns the PS3 into a full function HD player, a distinctive advantage over the 360 and all the more reason for the PS3 to end up in my den with my where Sony want it to be...

So a key question seems to be: is the Blue ray drive a requirement or could it be an option?

Sony and Blu Ray on a Sinking Ship

Sony, should dump the Blu Ray technology. They should just throw a cheap old progressive scan DVD drive into the PS3 and launch the stupid thing by spring in Japan and Summer in the US. I fail to see how Blu Ray is going to give any sort of competitive advantage to Sony. The technology is expensive and tough to produce, and on top of that most next-gen games use less than 4 - 6 GB of disc space. Even if games manage to double the amount of disc compacity that they use, just fit the games onto 2 - 3 DVD discs and call it a day. The point is that Blu Ray is a terrible storage choice for Sony, and instead of pandering to a few nerdy gamers who want a gaming counsel that does everything from play games to cooking Pop Tarts, they should just dump the technology and give the average consumer what they want, namely a gaming counsel and not a half assed modded PC / Entertainment center. I give Microsoft credit for not buying into that Blu Ray / Hi definition DVD crap and launching the XBOX 360 with a good old fashion DVD drive. Sure Microsoft has had some production problems with the XBOX 360, but by time Sony finally manages to produce a single PS3, Microsoft will control 99% of the next-gen gaming market. Go Microsoft and down with Sony! XBOX 360 / Windows Vista Rules! PS3, Linux and Blu Ray blows!

Absurd Price Analysys

On the subject of the processor:

Yes, cell is bigger than the Xbox 360's chip, but one factor they are completely ignoring is the fact that one SPE will be disabled. It does not matter which SPE is disabled, and this redundancy (which the 360 doesn't have) will improve yields. You can't simply say chip A is bigger so it will cost more.

In any event, the prices listed for both chips look closer to what the chips would cost if they were sold at retail, not the manufacturing cost.

On the subject of the drive:

Yes, blu-ray will cost more. Primarily it needs a more expensive laser than DVD. But as others have mentioned you can't compare the cost of a stand-alone blu-ray player to the cost of including blu-ray in a powerful machine like the PS3. The PS3 can use its own processor to decode blu-ray stuff. $300 for blu-ray is kind of ridiculous.

bluray and cell will pull ps3 ahead of xbox360

after programmers master the cell we will see the ps3 pull ahead of the xbox 360. also the bluray drive is definately necessary for a win, because developers for the xbox360 already complain about running out of space on its traditional dvd drive.

the bluray disc will allow much more content for the developers plus the sony media machine will definately use bluray to its advantage in capturing the high end home theater movie market.

when microsoft realizes this, they will release their hd-dvd, but who wants to have to buy an additional drive to plug into the already expensive xbox360? no an addon disc drive to a console has ever popularly succeeded, it most likely will signal the end of that console's life.

SIT powers?

From the article:
"The PS3 will be a showcase for the Cell processor from the SIT powers (Sony, IBM, Toshiba)..."

I would love to see Hitachi get involved here.

You are all so gullible...

Both consoles actually only cost about $10 to make. They use slave labor to produce them by hand.

They put out all of these stories about how they are losing money on each console so that you feel like you're getting a bargain at $400.

Don't fall for the lie!

Sony charging itself a premium?

That article uses the cost to PC manufacturers who want to buy blu ray drives from Sony ($200-300).

Does the author really think that Sony is selling blu ray drives at cost?

What a retard... I doubt blu ray drives will cost Sony more than $70 a piece. And that'll probably drop to $20 in 3 years.

Now I bet I'm gonna have to debate this for the next 2 weeks with my retard friends who believe this kinda crap.

I really don't even think this article deserves mention on /.

Internet rumor mills piss me off...

Don't buy it anyway

Who cares how long it is delayed, or how early it comes out. No one should be buying Sony crap anyways after the DRM scandals. Besides, the new generation of gaming consoles are just going to be reasons for software companies to milk every penny they can by making remakes of old games in higher resolution, maybe adding crappy online play. Bottom line, DON'T BUY SONY!!!

Just cross-referencing some of the other posts

on slashdot over the last few days. A major major delay to the launch is surely down to the un-finalised BR spec.
I assume internally the film division of Sony is wanting the thing coming out with all DRM guns-blazing, and the PS3 division is slightly pissy with what they're being made to do.
The 'big thing' with the PS3 is Sonys chance to get a shit-load of BR players into peoples homes at a reasonable cost - so the movie division can cash in selling films, the hardware division can get showered with licensing royalties from the other hardware makers jumping on the wagon and fiance will have all the other stuidos stumping up for BR licenses to press disks.
There's only one problem with this... Only a tiny tiny number of people will actually be able to watch the disks at full res (i.e. Fully DRM'd up PS3->screen+audio path). Whilst a few techy/home-cinema buffs understand this the vast vast majority of the public don't. Can you just IMAGINE the outcry there's going to be when the PS3 launches? All those consumer rights programs "My little Tommy bought a PS3 with his pocket money, bought his films again on BR - and they look exactly the same". "Sony sold me a component HDTV and a PS3 and a BR disk - yet it looks just like DVD" etc
Sony is going to get such a kicking it'd make me wince - if I wasn't looking forward to it so much.
If the PS3 is launched as the BR posterchild, the first BR player people come across, it's forever going to be branded as the start of DRM hell - people love kicking new consoles (PSP/360 shortages, marketing blah blah) - but this is going to be fantastic (and must really really be pissing off the PS3 division, who just wanted to make a lovely console).

Re:What price tag?

The real question is, do you even read the article?

Re:Nintendo

I think you meant (in my best Mario voice): Neeeeeeentendoooooooo! Wahooooo!

Re:sony uncapable

Seems sony is uncapable of a worldwide launch at the same time, which is where microsoft really was able to succeed other then a shortage of the unit,

If not being able to supply the areas they launched in for an entire quarter is succeeding at a world wide launch, what would they have to do for you to consider it a failure?

Re:Things will be a lot clearer very soon..

Why is this guy modded to a 0? He actually sounds like he knows what he is talking about!