Sony bins it in Europe!

[Living Bobbeh]

http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6157145.html

When Sony's PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles launched worldwide, there was up to nine months between the Japanese and European releases. So European gamers rejoiced when, at this year's E3, it was announced that the PlayStation 3 launch would take place worldwide over a matter of weeks in November.

However, this morning Sony has issued a statement saying that the PlayStation 3 release date has been put back to March 2007 in Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Africa, and Australasia. Sony cited 'the delay in the mass production schedule of the blue laser diode within the Sony Group' as the reason for the postponement.

The Japanese and North American release dates are unaffected by the delay, with scheduled 2006 launches on November 11 and November 17 respectively. Sony's global shipment forecast of 6 million units for the fiscal year of 2007 also remains unaffected.

The European delay means that the PlayStation 3 launch will take place well over six years since that of its predecessor, which went on sale on November 24, 2000. Sony is making no additional comment on the PlayStation 3 delay at this point in time.

I'm surprised that no one saw this coming. Sony are very good at fucking people (often the Europeans) around, and it isin't astough they did this with the PS2 (We got it nine months after Japan.)

DISCUSS!

[Azisien]

Well it's probably best the delay happens...I mean, the last thing you Euros want is a busted reflux capacitor when you open the box, not to mention a shot secondary plasma conduit...

Realistically, I'd be surprised (and laughing) if Sony executives were actually sitting in their board room going "Fuck non-Japan/NA! LOLOL!"

[Mike McC]

They other side of that story is that Sony's world-wide release of consoles has been cut by 75%. Meaning that the US only gets 400,000, A little under the Ps2 launch. Japan only gets 100,000, a measly 10% of the units out at the PS2 launch. Source: IGN (http://ps3.ign.com/articles/730/730814p1.html) This will most likely pave the path to a strong Wii debut.

Whatcha wanna bet the highest price on ebay is gonna be come November?

[Living Bobbeh]

Futher binnage (http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6157113.html)

That's another $50-odd dollars on top to get HD gaming. And knowing sony, they'll set it so that you can only use their HD cables, which will cost three arms and five legs.

[Mirai Gen]

Whatcha wanna bet the highest price on ebay is gonna be come November?
That's what cracks me up. People were paying 600-1000 dollars for a 360 on it's release date. Now what do you think will happen when the PS3 hits the market?

Pure hilarity.

[Living Bobbeh]

That's what cracks me up. People were paying 600-1000 dollars for a 360 on it's release date. Now what do you think will happen when the PS3 hits the market?

Pure hilarity.

Shit, I should just order one to sell pictures of it on eBay. They'll sell for $1000 a pop!

[Solid Snake]

This all makes me glad that I'm such a patient person when it comes to new console hardware releases. You guys enjoy your 360s, PS3s and Wiis, I'll have nearly as much fun playing my old PS2 and Gamecube collection...until late 2008, when I'll buy the system you own for hundreds cheaper.

Patience is indeed a virtue.

[Salookanana]

PS3: List price: $600. Ebay Price: $1500. Sony screwing up and paving the way for the Wii: Priceless

There are somethings that money can't buy. For everything else, there is Sony's latest wave of incompitence.

[Death by Stabbing]

Yeah maybe they'll keep pushing it back like the New Zelda or a Final Fantasy game...Or Half Life 2...need I go on?

Well I'm not buying a PS3 anyways...I don't need one $600 machine when I can have 2 for that much...and nothing on the PS3 makes me really want to get it anyways...so yeah...I'm getting a Wii and maybe a 360...

Until Next Time,
pfft 600 bucks for one system with crappy launch games...no thanks
Love,
Death By Stabbing

[Azisien]

I can't wait to get both down the road, and Dead Rising alone makes me want to get a 360. Wii looks fun, and say what you will about the PS3's price, the specs and controllers are very impressive as well.

All I need to do now is research the games of all the systems a little more...bah, that just brings me closer to the point where I lose money, something I am trying to avoid. :)

[Daimo Mac, The Blue Light of Hope]

Wow. It seems so funny that Sony wants to shaft Europe. I mean, doesn;t Europe make up for alot of the sales for the system. Why would they do that?

[Mike McC]

Big Mac: They will only have 500,000 Units to ship on the launch date, down from thier projected 2,000,000. That really isn't enough to cover NA, Japan, and Europe. Hell, it's probably not enough to cover just two of those. I don't know why exactly they put preference on North America, maybe because they don'twant to lose more ground to the 360 there, but they're pretty much shafting Japan too, with only 100,000 units.

Besides, the first generation of a Sony console is generally the buggiest. Europe should consider itself lucky to let there be time for them to iron out some kinks.

[ZAKtheGeek]

Defect-ridden first releases aren't the rarest thing in the world among electronics. Anyway, Europe still sees no benefit. Poeple in the US and Japan can easily attain this as well by not buying a PS3 at launch and waiting a bit until all the issues are worked out.

Although hopefully it won't be too much of an issue, considering Sony is forcing all buyers to pay for an internal insurance policy.

[Sky Warrior Bob]

Given all the bad news from the Sony camp, I very much doubt a PS4 will ever come to pass.

From what I've read so far, Sony is honestly trying to bring out the best entertainment system ever, but they're hamstrung by the fact that they also want to stuff as many proprietary protections & making the PS3 a mostly Sony-only machine. If they can manage it, I think they'd even prevent you from buying a 3rd party controller.

Of course, that kind of hubris is exactly what caused Nintendo to fall in the rankings & caused Sega to give up making consoles altogether. And the sad thing is, Sony is betting so much on the PS3 that they'll take a real hit when it fails to take off. Because, unless they make some big changes in EVERYTHING PS3, it'll be the biggest flop since the N-Gage.

Interesting article:
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/09/01/ps3_doesnt_come_with.html

Wired article:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.09/sony.html

SWB

[Daimo Mac, The Blue Light of Hope]

Big Mac: They will only have 500,000 Units to ship on the launch date, down from thier projected 2,000,000. That really isn't enough to cover NA, Japan, and Europe. Hell, it's probably not enough to cover just two of those. I don't know why exactly they put preference on North America, maybe because they don'twant to lose more ground to the 360 there, but they're pretty much shafting Japan too, with only 100,000 units.

Besides, the first generation of a Sony console is generally the buggiest. Europe should consider itself lucky to let there be time for them to iron out some kinks.

I can understand that. But I am looking from an overall perspective, not an initial start. Mind you, doesn;t Nintendo and Microsoft do the same?

[Mike McC]

Nintendo is holding press conferences with the US, European, and Japanese media on September 14th and 15th. Given that they're having three conferences like this (In New York, London, and I assume Tokyo) at the same time, one can only assume that the release dates for the system in the three areas will be close together, if not on the same day.

[Azisien]

We'll see how it plays out on the real battlefield. I imagine the Sony-bashing hype is so ferocious now it might actually affect sales in and of itself. It's one thing to dislike the price of the system (600 is rough, but still less than half the price of my computer so...), but I've seen nothing disappointing about the PS3's specs. Blu-ray looks promising, the raw processing and graphical power of the machine itself makes me giddy, and the controller, despite whatever controversy there is about that, looks very nice (I played with a gyroscopic-whatchamacallit mouse the other day, fun as hell).

[Corporate Evil]

Nintendo is holding press conferences with the US, European, and Japanese media on September 14th and 15th. Given that they're having three conferences like this (In New York, London, and I assume Tokyo) at the same time, one can only assume that the release dates for the system in the three areas will be close together, if not on the same day.

I believe that's when they announce everything finalzed about the Wii. I'm anxious to see the reporter's reactions on it.