Well shit. I didn't think they were going to delay release until November. I thought for sure that they would have a product out soon after the Blu-Ray launch. Oh well.

Simultaneous world-wide launch is doubtful. That was the original intention with PSP, and it wasn't even close. There was a mention that Sony predicted 6 million units out by March of 2007. With an estimated capacity of 1 million units a month, that would mean Production begins in October with only 1 million units for a beginning of November launch. You can't launch in 3 regions with only 1 million units.

It sounds like Sony is trying to copy Live, which definitely isn't a bad thing. It also sounds like a hard drive will replace the standard memory card. Instead of dropping $35 on a memory card, you'll drop $40 on a 60GB hard drive. I like that, because it means no more memory cards for 3 different systems.

I need to see some games. E3 needs to be all about games, and they will most likely announce the launch line-up at TGS in October.

I really wish PS3 wasn't delayed. This means I'll have to go out and purchase a Blu-Ray player.

Well, I said since October of last year that the PS3 would not launch in the spring time. Sorry, but since so many people like to play the media game, I had to throw in my "told you so", im such a child sometimes.

Anyway, here's my next prediction, similar to what some have said already:
1. The PS3 will not launch in Europe this year, no way.
2. IF the PS3 launches in the US, expect it to simply be to maintain attention away from 360 and Revolution. Sony will be able to ship about 200k-500k units, if any at all.

I honestly expect Sony to continue to hold the carrot out in front of consumers pulling them along and then making a decision based on US sales of the 360. In other words, if 360 starts selling really well in the fall Sony WILL release some units to north American markets, however if sales are slow and the PS3 buzz keeps many consumers waiting for a PS3, Sony will delay the unit to reduce costs or to fuel the Japanese market which is clearly Nintendo vs. Sony.

They're probably talking about fiscal year 2006, not calendar year 2006.

I'm starting to understand why they haven't released a price yet. First of all, they are probably still not sure what final costs are going to be per console. Secondly, how long before the 360 release did they release final pricing? Wasn't it after E3? I'm sure Sony doesn't want to give Microsoft and Nintendo this much advance notice of pricing, especially if it comes in at $499 or so. That would give Microsoft 6 or 7 months of being able to advertise their console is already cheaper than the PS3 will be, and MS has already stated that they will probably lower the price even more when the PS3 come out. I think, especially at the $499 price point, Sony will wait as long as possible to publicly announce the price.

Or they meant 1 mil per territory. 3 territories x 2 months = 6 million.

:lol: "Best of all" :wtf: The basic Live service is free as well. This is a feature?

No price is not a good sign. Not necessarily a bad one either. But, keeping silent so MS can't undercut them sounds like it will definitely be more expensive than the 360.

60GB HDD for $40? I highly doubt that. They sell 8 MB memory cards for almost as much, why do you think it will be so cheap? Especially seeing a competitor getting $100 for a 20GB drive? I think $100 is definitely in the cards.

What is with the hard drive announcement anyway? REQUIRED but not included in the box? So you buy the system for $400/$500 and you are REQUIRED to spend another $100(?) on a HDD? So this is just a ploy like the 360 Core system, just to make the price of the system look cheaper than it really is.

No one said Microsoft wasn't ripping off consumers with their hard drive. You can get a 60GB Notebook Hard Drive (WD no less) for $80. I can see Sony bundling up a bunch of stuff - hard drive, head set, etc - into a network package that they sell for $100. So $40-$50 for the hard drive alone would be about right. Remember, Sony is really pushing the network commerse line, which they will no doubt receive royalties from. I can see them taking a slim profit line on the hard drives in order to make sure every PS3 has one and pay for downloads. Plus, with not that many PS3s out there, they can even take a loss on the first few million, knowing they'll get it back as they produce more units - keeping the price the same obviously (the PS2 memory card remained at $35 for a long time, way past the point where you can get an 8MB card for pennies).

We'll have to wait, but I'll remain optimistic.

Anyone who thinks the HDD will be less than $100 is crazy. There may be bundles, like a HDD, year of premium service and headset for $150 or something but there is no way that they will sell the HDD for $40. This is kind of good news and kind of bad. The good is that there should be competition this holiday season. The bad is that any of the kids out there who love their PS2 and are waiting for the PS3 will have to get their parents to drop the price for a PS3, HDD, service for playing online and games. That's a lot of money considering the speculation of the prices. All those people who say it is just speculation, well last week you were saying the spring launch was still on even though it was speculated that the launch would be pushed back.

Does anyone think there will be third party HDDs for any of the next gen systems? That would help drive down cost on these things but as of yet there haven't been third party HDDs for any system that I know of

Also will they really be taking preorders within the next couple days? Maybe someone can post here as soon as they see a preorder list at EB/Gamestop or wherever.

I can't believe anyone thinks that any "next gen" console or peripheral that doesn't have Nintendo in the name is going to be cheaper than either its competitor or its predecessor.

Things are getting MORE expensive, not less. There is no way Sony will sell a HD for cheaper than Microsoft does - not a chance in hell. There is no way their Live service will be cheaper, and no way their console will be cheaper. If anything, it's the same price or greater.

The market already shows that you can sell this stuff out at these prices. Why in the world would Sony charge less while dealing with the same manufacturing/new tech issues?

Looking objectively at the situation, it was quite obvious that there would be no launch in Spring. There will not be a full launch in Nov either. Maybe Japan-only.

Look at the facts.

Sony claims that it was the Blu-Ray copyright protection issue that held up the PS3 launch. If that is to be believed, then where is the official list of launch titles? Keep in mind this thing was "supposed" to be launch in Spring... just a month or two away and yet there is no mention of the titles to be available.

Where are the in-game movies and game trailers for those launch titles?

If it really was going to be released in Spring, why the tapdancing about PS3 pricing? Shouldn't that price have been set by now? Copyright protection isn't going to appreciably change the price of the unit.

And consider this tidbit:
Are we to believe that Sony was expecting game developers to create production-quality games using beta versions of the PS3 Dev kit?


You won't be dropping $40 on a 60GB harddrive. More like $100.

Why October? Why not now (at least a partial list)? Again, the PS3 was all ready to go except for Blu-Ray copyright protection, right?

I was hoping that the PS3 wasn't delayed either... with Sony in the game, there's healthy competition and would push Microsoft to get moving on some of the enhancements coming down the road for the 360.

The problem with that is software to handle save games and the like on the HDD, third parties don't have access to that, so I doubt we will see a non MS version in the future.

Where is everyone getting the $500 price from? That seems way off, especially since you'd figure they'd try and undercut Microsoft. I was thinking a $349-$379 price point.

The fact that the stand-alone blu-ray players are debuting at $1000. Nothing more. The fact that the PS3 has BR built in among a host of other things and capabilities screams $$$$.

I wouldn't be surprised if stores were already taking preorders even before this announcement. My local Gamestop was taking 360 preorders long before they had an official launch date. They would never turn down your money to secure a sale.

Not entirely true, when I picked up my copy of Burnout Revenge I basically begged them to let me preorder a PS3 and a Revolution but they said they couldn't till the info was put into their computers. But yeah I think quite a few places would take preorders regardless of whether there is an actual product on the horizon yet or not.

I think $500 is a LOW price actually. Wasn't the actual cost to produce a PS3 around $900 or more. I know technology will advance and prices will drop by November.....I guess $500 seems fair.

I was thinking the same thing as well.

Why would they undercut Microsoft? They are offering a more advanced piece of technology. Typically, that kind of thing doesn't sell for cheaper than its direct competition.

The Revolution will be cheaper, because Nintendo is only making a game machine. The PS3 is basically a fancier version of the 360 (does all the same multi-media things and includes a Blu-Ray player, the standalone version of which will be $1000.) There is no way it will be cheaper than a 360.

I'm still baffelled. The HD is required but not included? How could that be? I don't think there's ever been a console in gaming history incapable of playing its games right out of the box.

Let use common sense, theres no way they'll be releasing a system that doesnt play games out of the box without an addon. That would be an absolute disaster. 2nd, I beleive the 6 million units by 2006 is for all regions and would make sense if they are truely concerned about making the consumer actually capable of purchasing a unit.

I think its just releaving news that it will be out this year. I almost jumped the gun on a 360 the other day because i was doubting that the ps3 will be out this year or not, but thanks to this announcment, i can keep the same funds and spend them on a ps3. I also like the fact that it has a 60gig hard drive on it, and it plays back ps2 games in HD. Using hardware emulation, this should be great as it will play 95+% of games, vs the paltry amount the 360 provides. Ive yet to hear anything ill be disapointed about so far, so keep the details comming!

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=15355

Sony promises global PS3 launch in November; six million units by March '07

Rob Fahey 07:45 15/03/2006
Kutaragi commits to aggressive worldwide simultaneous launch schedule

The PlayStation 3 is set to launch in North America, Asia and Europe in early November this year, Sony Computer Entertainment boss Ken Kutaragi has announced, with the firm committed to shipping six million units by the end of March 2007.

Kutaragi was speaking at the PlayStation business briefing in Tokyo, where the firm is outlining its plans for the videogames business over the coming year to an audience of media, analysts and third-party publishing partners.

He told the briefing that the PS3 will be launched in early November in all three major global territories, confounding industry and analyst expectations of a staggered release schedule which would see the European launch delayed to 2007.

From launch onwards, Sony plans to ship a million units a month of the PlayStation 3 - with six million units to be on the market by the end of its financial year in March 2007, indicating that the company plans to have up to two million units ready for day one.

It's an ambitious plan, but the firm certainly has time on its side - having moved its launch target from "spring 2006" to November, and with reports indicating that manufacturing of the console could begin as soon as June, Sony has plenty of time to ramp up the manufacture process and build up stock of the system pre-launch.

Sony also today confirmed that the final development hardware for PlayStation 3 will roll out in June, which tends to support the claim that manufacturing will also start then, as final development hardware requires almost all of the components of the final consumer hardware to be completed.

However, the November target is likely to be the subject of some speculation for months to come - especially given Sony's track record with such ambitious worldwide launch targets in the form of the PlayStation Portable, which was originally due to launch globally at the end of 2004, but ended up not arriving in America until the second quarter of 2005, and didn't launch in Europe until nine months later, at the beginning of September 2005.


Chris

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=15356

PS3: Free online service from day one, hard drive to be a requirement

Rob Fahey 07:40 15/03/2006

60Gb hard drive to be a default component, as Sony takes on Microsoft's advantage

Further details of the PlayStation 3 have emerged from Sony's business briefing in Tokyo today, with the firm revealing that the device's hard drive will not be optional, and that a free online service will roll out for the launch of the console.

It had previously been thought that the PS3 hard drive would be an optional device, as the hard drive on the Xbox 360 is, but Kutaragi was adamant today that the component, which will ship at 60Gb but can be upgraded, is required by the console.

As expected, the drive will allow the PlayStation 3 to act as a home media server, which can store and manipulate various different types of media that can then be accessed from other devices. However, it will also be capable of running a version of the Linux operating system, and will be key to the online service the company is planning.

That service, which is clearly designed as a direct competitor to Microsoft's Xbox Live, will be entirely free and will be available from the launch of the console, offering standard features such as game lobbies, player matching, voice chat and a variety of commercial features including software which will be distributed over the network and can be stored on the hard drive.

This latter feature is particularly interesting in light of the information received from development sources by GamesIndustry.biz earlier this week, indicating that Sony may be planning digital distribution of some of its PS2 and PSone back catalogue on PS3.

The company also this morning confirmed once again that PlayStation 3 will be entirely backwards-compatible with PS2 and PSone titles, and revealed that the new console will be able to upscale those games into high definition video formats.


Chris

Please see my bolded in the story below your post. It says it is mandatory, but it doesn't mention whether you can play PS3 games without it.

Chris

Not sure how reliable this source is, every other source I have seen on the internet claims a "basic" service will be free

Next-Gen reports it as being free. "The PS3's online service, dubbed "PlayStation Network Platform", will sport voice chat, matchmaking lobbies and Marketplace-type features that allow users to download content, including software, implying some sort of digital distribution for games. The online service will be available at launch. As reported, the service will be free."

I'm sure we'll know the truth in the next few weeks. It's possible Sony was misleading on purpose to gage reaction.