Sony Denies PS3 Delay 188
Eurogamer reports that Sony is flatly denying the delay of the PlayStation 3. From the article: "Sakaguchi was responding to allegations made by Merrill Lynch analyst Joe Osha in a report published late last week, in which Osha claimed that the PS3 could launch in autumn in Japan, with a US launch possibly being delayed to early 2007. 'There is no change in our original plan to release the console in spring 2006," Sakaguchi told the press in Tokyo, referring to the company's only stated goal for the launch so far - namely that the console will appear in at least one territory, most likely Japan, this spring.' They have lots of opportunities at GDC and E3 to change the public perception that their next console is still very much a work in progress.
Spring = June (Score:4, Informative)
Conflicting Statements? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Pretty much expected (Score:5, Informative)
Done, partly done, and all that's left in your mind I guess.
Yep. I don't really know where people are getting this "work in progress" thing. The system is not out yet, it's not in production yet, so why does everyone expect there to be playable units running final game copy on them floating around every time there's a press conference or convention anywhere? You'll get playable units once production has started.
The only thing that's left "in progress" - and Sony has made no bones about saying straight out that this is all that's holding the system up - is AACS for Blu-Ray movies. Yes, that horrible, evil DRM scheme again. That's it. They are waiting on the final spec before they can begin building machines, and that's expected to come within the next two weeks. Could it be delayed further? Sure, and Sony's gonna be screwed if it is. But it's not as if they don't know what hardware's going to be in this machine or what games are gonna be on it. They've got the machine designed, their hardware and software partners lined up, and their factories primed and ready. I'm sure they've got ants-in-the-pants right now just waiting to hit that "go" button.
All they are waiting for is AACS.
So I see no problem with them making a spring launch in Japan. Japanese launches, remember, rarely have more than 5-10 games associated with them, and Sony could put the hype machine in full gear as soon as they can announce a firm launch date. They could even make the end of April (Golden Week in Japan; the biggest holiday/vacation week in the country) if the AACS spec is finalized shortly, and I have no doubt that's their goal, as it always is for "spring" console launches there. Once a date is announced, you will see wall to wall TV commercials, subway ads, billboards, and every other form of marketing you can imagine in Japan - literally overnight. It's a small country with a lot of people in it; the speed at which a large and prepared company like Sony can swing into action would make your head spin. And it's not as if there hasn't been hype already; all of the game magazines and even mainstream news outlets have been covering the PS3, so consumers there are expecting it.
We'll see what happens with the managed-copy spec. But if it's finalized soon, Sony's launch expectations sound pretty realistic to me.
Re:Spring? Absolutely not. (Score:3, Informative)
I doubt that Best Buy will be involved or concerned for some months yet.