Sony Denies PS3 Delay

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.

Too much cutting edge stuff

[hattig]

BluRay, Cell, ... it's going to add up.

Ideally the best time to launch a next generation console is when the media format is established. DVD was established when the PS2 came out and popularised it.

I feel the PS3 is trying to establish the format itself, but that means the format is brand new at console launch, expensive, with first generation issues, speed, etc.

Cell too is very ambitious. In the long term I think it will be a good decision though.

In the end the PS3 will be marginally better than the XBox360, and is that worth being a year later? In addition, the PS3 looks fugly in its mockups, whereas the 360 appears to be quite nice.

ObRevolution: And let's not forget about Nintendo's new console either, that could beat them both on price and gameplay features.

Launch titles

[the computer guy nex]

"if it means more launch titles"

If the hardware was finished, why the hell would you wait for launch titles? Isn't it better to have the system now with the games available and buy them as they are released? This way you have more time to play the best games.

I've never understood why someone would want to wait 6 more months to have 6 more games to play, when they could have been playing the first 10 already.

Why do people listen to "Analysts"?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do people actually listen to market analysts?

For the most part, the ones that actually get any mention in the media are the ones that make the most outrageous and (typically) false claims. At this point in time the PS3 may be delayed but it would likely be a short delay of a couple of months (possibly a november launch rather than a september launch) and may cost more than people would expect ($450 rather than $350-$400) but there is no way that it is going to be delayed into 2007 and cost $900.

The truth is that most analysts have worse connections to people "in the know" than many slashdotters and have less understanding of the market than most slashdotters, so why do we even read articles that mention them; I'm certain that many people are in the same boat as me, and know people who work for large developers like EA and UBI soft, and have heard small bits of information which discredit all of these analysts estimates.

It is depressing that companies have to produce press conferences in order to deal with these wild claims.

Re:Launch titles

[Stachybotris]

Because if the only two PS3 titles available at the same time as the system are Madden Stat Update for the Current Season and GTA: Somewhere, I couldn't really give a crap. More launch titles means a greater chance of having at least one title for each genre, which translates into happier customers.

Also, how do you define 'best' games? What makes a game good is relatively independent of when it's released, be it at launch or three years later.

Re:Screw the delay

[Albanach]

The $900 figure was an analysts estimate of the build cost.

Others have already pointed out flaws in the analyst's figures, for example Sony won't pay licensing fees on Bluray, and Bluray drives will probably costs less than the analyst predicts + will fall in price rapidly.

The main point, however, is that this in no way pointed to the purchase price. Sony will have to compete in the sub $500 market and they know it. Sony will take a hit on hardware knowing they have revenue streams from games, accessories and imjportantly downloads (music, movies and games).

As the build price decreases Sony will eventually break even and at some point in the future, draw a profit on hardware too.

At no point will consumers pay $900 for a PS3 (unless they buy it on eBay the day after launch)

Re:Screw the delay

[The-Bavis]

They won't come out and deny that type of overpriced estimate. It worked great for the PSP, which was going to cost you at least $500. When the PSP came out, it was a steal at $250 (thanks to slowly getting your mind used to some ridiculously higher price). You even got a free rag.

Re:Not surprising

[frankthechicken]

I didn't figure Sony to be that stupid.

I didn't figure Sony would be that scared.

I can't help but feel that the XBox has Sony executives a little nervous, especially regarding the EU and US markets. The 360 has been incredibly well received by most of the developers I've spoken to, and public interest/desire for the machine is also high. It almost seems that people who were dissapointed by the final PS2 product are more wary of Sony's marketing/hype attempts this time, especially as MS has released a reasonable product, which has been well marketed, unlike the previous machine to be a front runner in the next gen market, the Dreamcast.

Spring? Absolutely not.

[UES]

Is Sony's definition of Spring 2006 different than mine?

It's late February NOW. "Spring" probably means sometime between now and the end of June.

That's 19 weeks. So, sometime in the next 19 weeks, we would expect to see:

1. A complete list of launch titles.
2. Most, if not all launch titles not just in final version but manufactured and shipped.
3. Retailers to have full, detailed pricing information. Best Buy needs WEEKS of advance notice to print those Sunday Newspaper flyers.
4. Retailers to have PS3 sales spaces and media ready to go.
5. Complete PS3 specs and instruction manuals beyond some flack saying "uh, blue ray".
6. Teaser advertising beyond some Sony flack saying "any day now".
7. A full marketing and advertising press, including print, television, and web advertising. This needs to happen MONTHS before launch so that people will know this important product is coming soon.
8. Accessories not just announced but manufactured and shipped to retailers.
9. Preorders offered at major game retailers.

Any of this happening yet? Anyone think you'll be buying one of these in 8 weeks? 8 weeks from now is late April. Most people won't get the XBox 360s they ordered in DECEMBER until then.

Re:Delay?

[Miraba]

I realize that any delay will harm them as a corporation, and possibly drive up the system price, but these are relatively minor concerns.

Think again. The longer the delay, the more time the XBox 360 will have on the shelves as the lone next-gen console ("Now $249/$349!") and the less time they'll have until the Revolution launches ("Eh, I'll wait."). Remember that consoles sales will be reflected in game deals and the adoption of Blue-Ray. It's critical that they have a strong launch, and that means releasing in a fairly narrow window.

Subversion

[Kamalot]

Sony will keep leading on consumers with the PS3 like a carrot dangled in front of an ass. The only reason they keep insisting that the PS3 will be released in Spring is to prevent people from buying a 360.

The pulled the same shenanigans with the PS2, effectively killing the Dreamcast. They are trying it again.

Don't be a tool. Don't listen to Sony.

Re:Delay?

[MikeFM]

I'll wait as long as it takes if they just put out a killer system. Last time I checked PS2's were still outselling XBox 360's so it seems to hardly matter to Sony and they could, if needed, slash the PS2 prices to keep 360 sales low.

id, If I remember, has a motto of "When it's finished." or something like that. I think Sony should follow it. Don't let M$ trick them into releasing anything less than perfect. Let M$ be the one dealing with their consoles crashing and the power supplies catching fire.

Playstation 3 Questions

[smackenzie]

So, which fanboys / experts / developers want to tackle the following discouraging issues that I have with the Sony Playstation 3? (And, no, I'm not a plant for Microsoft -- just trying to make sense of the whole Next Gen console thing.)

Drive Speed

A Blu-ray 1x drive transfer rate is 4.5 megabytes per second. A DVD 12x drive transfer rate is about 12 - 16 megabytes per second. Sony will have to release at least a 3x drive to compete with DVD 12x speeds. Will they? Or will they release a 2x drive and have a drive that is significantly slower than the XBOX 360? (The Blu-ray specification has indicated that a 1x blu-ray drive is too slow for HD video, so I'm assuming that this isn't an option...)

HDTV 1080p

A screen at 720p has (720 x 1280 =) 921, 600 pixels.
A screen at 1080p has (1080 x 1920 =) 2,073,600 pixels.

That is, 1080p requires 2.25x the general bandwidth of 720p. Does the Playstation 3 really have 2.25 the general bandwidth of an XBOX 360? Is anyone going to develop games for 1080p at the cost of 2.25 x "other things"?

Anti-Aliasing

XBOX 360 gets AA practically for free thanks to 10 MB embedded DRAM. Apparently, the Playstation 3 must do this in software with a performance hit. Does it matter?

Unified Memory

The Playstation 3 has 256 MB system RAM and 256 MB video RAM. The XBOX 360 has 512 MB unified memory. This means that a developer could use 128 MB system RAM and 384 MB of video RAM, which is 50% more video RAM than a Playstation 3 for holding textures, etc. Isn't that fairly substantial? Won't that allow for the possibility of better looking / higher detail games on the XBOX 360 if the system RAM isn't needed?

Re:I understand.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yay for you.

You understand that the companies function independently of each other, yet you refuse to purchase a product remotely associated with a situation they had no control over.

Your buck, your right - but it doesn't make you look like an intelligent consumer who votes with their dollar. It makes you look like a pathetic loser whose only sense of commercial activism is too jump on a bandwagon with a broken wheel.

I hope you enjoy working for someone else, cause its obvious you can't think for yourself deeply enough to lead.

YAY!

Re:I understand.

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess you've never worked for a company where management made bad decisions. Get over it man. Sony BMG is a record label with its own CEO and management team. It would 'hurt' the people involved more if you had a more targeted boycott, after all, the good people at all the other parts of Sony were probably more pissed then you were.

Re:Screw the delay

[Babbster]

Here's something I've been wondering about: At CES, all the talk about Blu-Ray referred to a price point of around $1,000 at launch for standalone players. If Sony releases the PS3 for less than $500 and it includes fully functioning Blu-Ray movie playback, wouldn't that really piss off their hardware partners? In fact, if the above is true (and I honestly don't have the slightest idea), I wouldn't be surprised if Blu-Ray manufacturers abandoned the format and went for HD-DVD instead (with units projected to launch at $500). That could really put in a crimp in the assumptions that Blu-Ray will a) be the dominant high-definition disc format and b) make Sony a ton of money to make up for whatever losses they take on PS3 hardware.