Due to copyright DRM nonsense PS3 is delayed until November. Japanese newspaper reports PlayStation 3 delayed to November Rob Fahey 19:01 14/03/2006 http://gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=15354 Six month delay caused by unresolved technical issues with Blu-Ray One of Japan's leading newspapers, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, is reporting in its Wednesday morning edition that the PlayStation 3 console has been delayed to November due to unresolved issues with the Blu-Ray technology. According to the paper, the problem lies with the copy protection system used by Blu-Ray, details of which have not yet been finalised - which will now cause a delay of some six months to Sony's PS3 plans. Sony has always maintained that the PS3 will launch in spring of this year, but most industry commentators and third-party publishers are currently anticipating US and Japanese launches late in 2006, followed by a European launch in early 2007. If the Japanese launch doesn't occur until November, that could put any hope of a US launch in 2006 in jeopardy - which would give rival Microsoft a second Christmas on the market before the arrival of PS3 in the US as well as in Europe, as well as giving Nintendo a head-start with the Revolution console. The newspaper report comes just hours before Sony Computer Entertainment boss Ken Kutaragi is due to address a conference audience of media, analysts and third party publishers in Tokyo, where he is expected to announce details of the firm's plans for the next-generation PS3 system. However, it's not clear whether Nihon Keizai Shimbun is reporting on leaked details from this conference, or whether the report is based on information from other sources. Speculation that technical problems with Blu-Ray could delay the roll-out of PS3 has been rife for well over a month, and has not been quelled by the announcement that Blu-Ray movie players will ship in North America in mid-May. Sony's conference is planned for 3pm in Tokyo on Wednesday - around 6am GMT - and is also expected to feature a first look at some of the launch line-up for the console.
Chances are, Japan is gonna get the short end of the stick here. They'll still get a relatively new product, fresh out of testing and they will probably have a lot of problems concerning blu-ray discs and the laser assembly, especially if Sony reluctantly prices the hardware at $400, like they did with the PS2. Then it will take until early/late fall until Sony releases it for the US where the technology will be much more refined by that time and the console will sell at $300 like the PS2 did. That is more than enough time for the 360 to get a pretty good marketshare that Sony will have to woo over. And I think they will because they have Blu Ray, whereas MS has HD-DVD but as an addon.
The price tag on the Japnaese version will no doubt be higher than the US...regardless of anything else. There is no reason for them to drop it down to 30,000 yen. They will sell like hotcakes at 40,000.
Like i said in another topic: "not before october" Hope this delay will also mean that the product quality will be higher.
If it's November only for Japan, that could give MS another chance not to botch up the holiday season drive again in the rest of the world. Though a spartan dual launch in Japan and North America would at least firmly put the PS3 in people's minds and take thunder away from the 360, me thinkst.
Im sure the delay is to make sure they can work out exacly where they can get away with using lower quality/priced parts!
I'll belive it when I see it. I get the feeling they might send, like, 400 PS3 to America and 150 to Europe and say "YAY SIMULTANEOUS LAUNCH!" I could belive PS3 in Japan in november, but no this. I hope they do make it on all territories.
Japan is sonys top priority out of any territory, they will probably get the most supply. I just think that its a bit of a steep demand to meet. Mind you while microsoft did do a rush of launch and barely made it, they have the money and resources as ive said before to back them up. Another issue they face is they are using technology that isnt even commonly manufactured or used yet. So it wouldn't be suprising if they ran into some hiccups in their manufacturing. What is puzzling me alot is displaying those images on a standard tv. I hope it wont look too blurry or distorted.
