November is going to be another big month for gamers across the globe as Sony has targeted the month as its worldwide release date for its upcoming PlayStation 3 video game system.
Last year, the entertainment giant had set spring 2006 as the target for a Japanese launch of the console followed by an autumn U.S. launch, but today Howard Stringer and Ken Kutaragi apologetically announced that the console's Japanese launch would be delayed. The pair gave a number of reasons that few analysts believe. Sony claims that they wanted to give game developers more time to prepare launch titles, and they need time to get factories up to the 1-million-a-month mark before launching the system. However, analysts suggest that these claims are a smoke screen for the real reason: costs.
The PS3 will launch with two new technologies that haven't seen the light of day outside of labs and trade shows: Blu-Ray and the Cell microprocessor. Unlike Microsoft's rival Xbox 360, which sports standard DVDs but also a custom IBM-designed microprocessor, the expensive, new technology will not only provide more expansive storage capacity — about five times DVDs — but also a higher price. The new technologies have led analysts to suggest that the console's production will cost Sony over $900 a unit. Add in the unpredictability factor of untested technologies, and Sony could be skating on thin ice.
Last year, when Microsoft launched its next-generation console, Xbox 360, in late November, mobs formed at Best Buys and Wal-Marts across the country. Despite the expected $500 price tag for the PS3 — about $100 to $200 more than the Xbox 360's two price points — legions of hardcore gamers will again camp out in front of retailers, even braving the cold climes of the Northeast and upper Midwest. But without the original plan of a staggered launch — spring 2006 in Japan followed by an autumn 2006 U.S. launch — Sony, like Microsoft, will probably have too few consoles to sate demand meaning the only winner from today's news is not so much Microsoft, but rather eBay, where most of the U.S. PS3s will be resold over the holidays. — Matthew Wurtzel
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