Sony Admits PS3 Delay 'Possible'

[Evil Avatar]

Next-Generation Online is reporting (http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2352&Itemid=2) that a Sony spokesperson has admitted that the upcoming Playstation 3 console system may be delayed - possibly until 2007.

Sony has told the media that the launch of the console will be delayed due to difficulties in finalizing the Blu-ray drive's specs. An unnamed spokesperson for Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan admitted that PlayStation 3 launch could be delayed.

SCE said that if final specs were not finalised with the Blu-ray Disc development consortium, the launch of the console could be delayed.

[bapenguin]

Good, this gives me more time to unlock Achievements on the 360. God damn I'm addicted to that. :D

[Roc Ingersol]

'Unnamed Sony spokesperson' said the delay was possible.
A Merril Lynch Imagineer suggested 2007.

Summary seems misleading.

[overdrivechao]

That's cool. I would like to see it this year, but honestly as I've said before, Sony can take their time as long as the end result is worth it. Same goes for the games we've been waiting for forever. As long as they are good, all is forgiven in the end.

[GunnyMo]

Good, this gives me more time to unlock Achievements on the 360. God damn I'm addicted to that. :D

You break 10k yet? Sheesh! :p

And as far as Sony goes: you knew the other shoe would drop sooner or later.

[Mozgus]

With no playable games shown, did anyone really think PS3 was coming out in 3 months?

[Mason]

I just really hope that Sony's been a lot more honest with its partners and 3rd party developers than it has been with the public. Keeping important info from consumers is one thing, evil but not overall damaging, but misleading the industry is another.

[Yeti2005]

I've heard a fair amount of people say "The delay is good because we want Sony to get it right" which is a valid statement but I think they're missing the point that the technology they're using gets older and older the longer they delay. Specifically I'm talking about the GPU. The RSX is basically around as powerful as a 7800 right? That's damn impressive right now but will it be as impressive when nvidia comes out with it's successor this year? Will PCs have already caught up to the console before it even launches? I guess the big question mark is how powerful will the Cell really be.

[51|RandoM]

Don't really understand why this is considered news.

Any consumer product has the potential for a release delay.

Might as well say, "My next door neighbor admits that it might rain today."

[RMan]

That's damn impressive right now but will it be as impressive when nvidia comes out with it's successor this year?
Common console system consumers generally don't know or care how well the system's specs compare to eachother, muchless the newest PC hardware. Even when the PC hardware overshadows the consoles, the graphics won't likely look as good since most of the art asset money is being spent on console titles, so they'll continue to look better (again, that's if the PC/console comparison made much difference, which I don't think it does).

[bapenguin]

You break 10k yet? Sheesh! :p



Working on it. Almost at 9K now. Should get over 9 tonight and hopefully this weekend break 10.

[Harlan Hoyt]

Will PCs have already caught up to the console before it even launches?
The idea that a console is more powerful than a PC when it comes out is a pretty new one, anyways. These consoles are going to be with us for a couple of years -- if the PS3 comes out in October or February of next year, it's still going to be the same system -- sure, it may have shaved six months off its lifespan, but I don't really think that is at all a big deal. Sony would be much better off releasing a console that, I dunno, works, than one that is Johnny On The Spot.

[gzsfrk]

Don't really understand why this is considered news.

Any consumer product has the potential for a release delay.

Might as well say, "My next door neighbor admits that it might rain today."

The point ISN'T that the PS3 may or may not be delayed. This is significant because if Sony gives the 360 more than a year's headstart and, more importantly, miss this Christmas season, their prospects in this console generation are greatly diminished. That's not to say that the PS3 will not still sell extremely well, but they will very likely NOT maintain their solid market dominance this time go round like they have the last two generations, and may even slip to #2. (That is, IF Microsoft gets their supply problems fixed within the next month or so.)

The significance of Sony admitting this (again, IF the source is authentic) is that you have a potentially sizable group of gamers who were willing to postpone purchasing a 360 in lieu of a PS3 in April or May who might now go ahead and pick up the 360 instead of waiting up to 6 or 9 months for the PS3. Also, if Sony goes so far as to release in late 2006/early 2007, then they will be competing not only against the 360's existing install base, but also against more mature games. If it releases in late Spring/early Summer, it would have to go up against late 1st gen games/early 2nd gen games. If it is released in late 2006/early 2007, PS3 launch titles will be competing with mid 2nd gen 360 games, which could very possibly put early PS3 titles to shame.

[bean19]

Don't really understand why this is considered news.

Any consumer product has the potential for a release delay.

Might as well say, "My next door neighbor admits that it might rain today."

lol.

Okay, for a moment, pretend that you are a common consumer who would like to purchase a PS3. Your expectation was Spring 2006 based on what they said at E3, the American trade expo as oppossed to the Tokyo Game Show. You've later learned that they probably meant a Japanese release in Spring 2006 and a U.S. release in the early fall.

Now you are learning that a Sony spokesperson says there may be an additional delay, which in the videogame industry almost always means: There will be a delay that is about 99.99% certain even when it is attributed to an unnamed source and includes the qualifer "might".

Now. . . is this news?

This isn't devestating news to me, but to this person (I have many friends like this), the news is devestating.

It's not as close to home for me because I'll want a PS3 when they name some exclusive games that I really want to play. MGS is a big one, and RE5, had it been an exclusive, would have sold me on the system. . . but RE5 isn't an exclusive and I need more than one game to justifty a $400 purchase, and they don't even have to be launch titles. I'll buy a console on the promise of cool exclusive games, but the PS3 doesn't even have any of those that I'm interested in (besides MGS). I'll need like 10 awesome exclusives to justify a $500 or $600 purchase.

Anyway, this sucks for a lot of people. . . I hope they figure something out and that this doesn't hurt too many developers who may have put their financial asses on the line betting on a certain release date. Given the fact that we really haven't seen much of any PS3 gameplay footage, I'm thinking the developers are still early enough in development that this won't harm them all that much.

[MosBen]

I agree with whomever says that this is a story in that it give the 360 a bigger head start, thus allowing more games and systems to be sold, and making price cuts to the 360 at the launch of the PS3 all the more likely. And unlike computers, of course, later release dates don't mean better technology, so the PS3 games won't be any better looking if there is a delay.

On the other hand, it would be much easier for Sony to battle back from a late launch than an on time launch with flawed hardware. Still, if this delay is only due to the Blu Ray stuff, it's just killed time.

[Roc Ingersol]

If Sony misses Christmas 06, that would be huge. Any delay short of that isn't a very big deal.

[HardScores]

Find with me. All the more reason to preorder REV.

[Goronmon]

I haven't decided if this really hurts Sony as much as some people think it will. Sony has the market in Japan locked up, it'll dominate there no matter how long of a head start the 360 has. So, basically, we are looking at how much this delay will affect sales in the US. There are still plenty of people who will wait another year to get a PS3 without picking up a PS3. There are plenty of people who will prolly own both.

So, IMO, this only affects the people who will only buy one next-gen system and who don't want to wait for the PS3 to release. When it comes down to it, I just don't think its that huge of a problem at all.

[Zanzibar]

Giving the X360 TWO Christmas seasons unopposed would be dangerous, particularly if the games for the X360 continue the same near-exponential improvement that the Xbox had in terms of graphical quality.

However, we might consider that since both the Cell and the GPU architecture for the PS3 has been finalized, then developers will have an unprecedented amount of time to get used to the nuts and bolts of the hardware. If it's only the Blu-Ray difficulties, it won't affect game developers all that much. That way, the games at launch will look pretty damned good.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Giving the X360 TWO Christmas seasons unopposed would be dangerous, particularly if the games for the X360 continue the same near-exponential improvement that the SNES had in terms of graphical quality.


Fixed. You can't possible think that the Xbox360's graphics are an exponential improvement over the Xbox, so I corrected your statement so that you can avoid looking foolish.

[Nite_Moogle]

Is the PS3 going to take the vaporware crown from the Phantom? Chalk up another vote for Sony making the Christmas season by a hair.

Gnome: he meant how much better the later titles looked in comparison to the early ones. You can't disagree that Halo 2 looks a damn sight better than Halo does.

[EternalGamer]

Fixed. You can't possible think that the Xbox360's graphics are an exponential improvement over the Xbox, so I corrected your statement so that you can avoid looking foolish.

Magnamious, I think you misread his post. Zanzibar was saying that the original Xbox games improved exponentially over the course of the system's life and that, if the 360's development follows this pattern, Sony will be up against some very impressive 2nd generation 360 software.

Dan

[Zanzibar]

Thanks guys, that's exactly what I was saying.

[bean19]

Fixed. You can't possible think that the Xbox360's graphics are an exponential improvement over the Xbox, so I corrected your statement so that you can avoid looking foolish.

Fixed sucks dude. It is misquoting people.

Anyway, what he was saying is that the the improvement of game quality from Xbox's release titles versus titles they released later was exponential. He was not saying that the X360's graphics are exponentially better than the Xbox graphics.

However, he could have said that as the resolutions have exponentially raised. . . it's just that the improved graphical quality is not exponentially apparent to the human eye. Still, that isn't much of an accolade as the PS3 and even the Revolution should be able to say that.

Of course, that isn't what he said. . . and what he said isn't true. Halo was an Xbox launch title. The subsequent titles never became "exponentially" better in graphical quality than Halo.

[Megalith]

They're screwed either way.

Release it before the holiday season, and it'll be even buggier and rushed than the typical Sony product, with two crap launch titles consisting of Intelligent Qube 3 and Crash Bandicoot Sailboat Racing.

If they release it after, then they will miss the sales rush.

Sony is finally over.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f58/Hartdegen/clapping6uj.gif

[Zanzibar]

Of course, that isn't what he said. . . and what he said isn't true. Halo was an Xbox launch title. The subsequent titles never became "exponentially" better in graphical quality than Halo.
I debated on using 'exponentially', figured it was too much, so lessened it to 'near-exponential.' But that still may be too much. I just remember being incredibly wowed by Wreckless and Splinter Cell.

[bean19]

Sony is finally over.


They so aren't over.

It's all about the games and they stil have a bunch of third party developer support because there has been an expectation that they will remain the market leader even though they are expected to give up some ground to Microsoft and Nintendo.

That support won't evaporate unless they are the "bitch" of the generation like the Gamecube was in this generation.

Hopefully, this generation will see Microsoft and Sony pulling even though. It would be really awesome if it was a tight race instead of clearly dominated by Sony.

They are just too big a force to lose or "be over" just for getting to the marketplace late.

[Goronmon]

Sony is finally over.
If by over you mean they will be leader in console sales yet again, you are prolly right. ;)

[atariv8]

I welcome the delay so I can save up for the PS3 after dropping $400 on the 360. Being a family man there's no accounting for cash at any given moment so pre-order is out of the question. Even if they launch this Christmas I won't be able to get my hands on one til mid 2007 anyway...I just got my 360 a week ago.

[overdrivechao]

They're screwed either way...Sony is finally over.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f58/Hartdegen/clapping6uj.gif

Boogers taste like peanuts! ^^ Kawaii!
<This has been an automated repose to all dumbass posts by Megalith>

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Oops, I guess I really misread Zanzibar's post. Sorry about that, and thanks for correcting me guys. Here I thought I was being clever too...


Hey guys, please stop feeding the troll. Megalith is obviously flaming.

[Kayler]

MS has released a great console for their second shot, but I don't think Sony will really feel it until they release. By the time they do release the 360 will have their 2nd gen games out. Sales for Sony might dwindle a little bit, but I do think they are hurting themselves by trying to perfect Blu-Ray. They should really just release the console and sell the Blu-Ray player seperatly.

I think waiting for it to ship with Blu-Ray also gives Sony time to develop new features for their console. At least software wise they can keep going.

Just as another note. I don't plan on buying a PS3. Sony has had very few games that interested me.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Releasing the Blu-Ray player separately would be stupid, and the thing would flop. Just like the HD-DVD add on for the 360 will flop.

I'd hope that hardware developers would be smarter than that by now, but you never know.

[overdrivechao]

Sony has had very few games that interested me.

Are you talking about SCEA party games or The Ps2 in general? Because all third party devs do games for all systems. Please, what games are intresting to you?

I won't go over how botched the 360 launch was again, for the sake of those who have been over it a hundred times.

[mister_slim]

Are you talking about SCEA party games or The Ps2 in general? Because all third party devs do games for all systems. Please, what games are intresting to you?
Probably he likes FPS, which the PS2 does have a shortage of.