PS3 delayed until March 07 in Europe -- only 400k for US launch, 100k for Japan!
 

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=19492

http://www.scee.presscentre.com/Content/De...68&NewsAreaID=2

SCEE Press Center is being fucking HAMMERED. Good luck getting in, but here's the press release:

Uh oh.

UPDATES: More fucking bad news for Sony.

a) "But as the technical problem with the Blu-ray system weighs on the launch of mass production of the PS3, Kutaragi said he now expects the combined shipments of PS3 consoles for the Japanese and US markets to come in at 'slightly above 2.0 mln units' between November and December." - Forbes

Yes, 2 million units in Japan and North America. That's it for the fall.

b) Reuters is now reporting production of PS3 will start at the end of September, giving them like.. 6, maybe 7 weeks, to be in time for launch. What the fuck?

Also it's going to be VERY hard to get one!
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/...layStation.php
They might as well cancel F1 2006 now, the 2007 F1 season will have started already by the time PS3 is out. Wing Mirror innovation hype just took a massive blow.

Was about to post that.

Sony is done.

They just lost the console war.

I don't know about Sony's being "done", but this is an extremely stupid move by Sony. It's not so much the delay, more that Sony began selling official "Preeorder" kits with November 17th written in big letters. People don't like being shafted. (Mostly. Some people do, for some reason.)

I knew this would happen, I've been saying this ever since E3, the Europeans always get screwed. Maybe they have known before/since E3 that they simply could not meet the allocation and just lied. This just confirms Sony is a joke.

I can now only imagine the problems consumers will have with their shiny new PS3's, I expect the problems that consumers had with the 360 will look like a walk in the park.

This is the time for Nintendo and Microsoft to push hard in Europe. I have to say Kudos to Microsoft for actually being able to do a Worldwide release and I hope for Nintendo to follow suit. Well at least I have my 360 to keep me company till then.

Who knows maybe in Europe Halo 3 and the PS3 might just go head to head.

The same thing happened with the PSP though. Demand for Japanese ones was so high they stopped making European ones meaning there were only about 12 available to buy in England on the launch day.

It is an annoying move though and will mean I'll be getting myself a 360 for christmas instead of the PS3 I was thinking about and I suspect I won't be the only one. It's gonna have to be a pretty fucking special console now to make up the ground they're gonna lose.

Wasn't this the same problem last time they delayed the console launch? Something about melting discs and whatnot.

The funny thing about all this is it won't hurt the PS3 too much, why? Because its the hardcore gamers that are bitching about the PS3 and saying how good th Wii is. We forget that the majority of console buyers are casual mainstream people, who only buy a few games, they will determine who wins.
It means that the PS3 can still win, but it doesn't mean its guaranteed. In spite of all these setbacks, the Wii and 360 have a major uphill battle to dethrone Sony, at best for them I see them doing better than the PS3 combined, but not separately.

Well with the last launch, Sony will be the one playing catchup this time.

Catch up to what exactly? Wii will probably launch at the same time while Microsoft hasn't used their early launch "advantage" to get a lot of good games on the 360, while still being beaten in sales by their current competitor, the PS2.

Catch up to the sales of the systems launching earlier? What else? Whether they sell 1 or 5,000,000, it's still more than 0.

PS2 will outsell PS3 as well, make no doubt about it, especially with those low shipments.

Well, whilst I was under no impression that I was going to re-morgage the house before, if I can't even bleeding well buy the damn thing in my own local before 2007 they can just fucking forget it.

It's not worth it for FF13 and MGS4 alone, MGS4 especaily cause I can bet that IDW will have the comic out before year-of MGS4's release's end.

What's with that negative "If I can't have it now, I don't want to have it at all!" attitude? After all, we're buying consoles for the games, not for the hardware, right? So PS3 will be delayed a few months in Europe. So what? Does it mean the end to Sony?

Hell, I'm just glad they're still planning to release games for the PS2 in 2007. I could gladly do without this "next gen" for at least a year or two ...

Problem is there is no reciprocity, many people purchase Playstation hardware/software religiously and have faith in Sony, yet the number of times Sony has let down, lied and raised false hope and hype among consumers is ghastly.

Don't get me wrong they are not the first company to do so (although I believe the worst); but you can understand why people are sick and tired of this shit.

Personally I do feel the casual European gamer will opt for the Wii come Christmas time, simply because they do not care for the HD-DVD v. Blu-ray war, or any other technical specifications for that matter, they want something cheap, simple and fun.

I'm not that concerned with the delay. But I was kind of under the impression (and living in hope) that when Playstation3 hit, Playstation2 games would drop in price.

The thought of paying full price for Playstation2 games when the rest of the world is buying Playstation3 titles, bothers me more.

Even with PS3 titles on the shelves, I'll gladly pay full price for PS2 games if they're worth it. As it happens, I'm only mildly interested in the next generation right now. I fail to see how the mere existence of "next generation" hardware makes PS2 games somewhat worse compared to PS3 stuff.

Well I'm not implying that they're suddenly worse, just that if they decided to drop the price as a response to their new hardware, I'd be pleased. But, I know I'll end up paying full whack too.

Yes, Wii will probably launch at the same time.

.. And people will be able to find it a lot easier. It's going to outsell PS3 by a LOT in every region. In the US, it will outsell PS3. In Japan, it will smash PS3, in Europe, well, obviously it'll outsell something that isn't out.

And MS hasn't used their "advantage" to get a lot of good games on the 360?

Uh, yes, they have. There's plenty of good games on it. And while hardware sales could be a little better, software sales, are fucking great.

But this is only going to HELP MS. Thanks to big titles like Gears of War, 360 is going to be picked up by a lot of people who wanted PS3 this fall.

And they're just about tired of it.

There weren't a whole lot of problems with PS1, so there was no reason for consumers to be hesitant on PS2. However, many people have gone through at least one PS2 now. Plus, the PSP has been a large disappointment overall.

Consumers ARE now wary of Sony, and I don't think they're going to keep waiting. This will be the SECOND Christmas of this gen without PS3 in Europe and it will be impossible to find in the US. Harder than 360. People are going to pick up a 360 because it will have a nice library at that point. (Oh, and Gears of War.)

Does anyone else think that and their desire to still ship to the U.S. and Japan a potential problem?

"Well, we want to keep our fanbase in the U.S., so we'll ship it anyways if it's not ready." It just seems like that may be a big big problem.

If Blu-Ray screws Sony over this generation I will just laugh. I mean, I don't hear anyone complaining about Xbox 360 graphics and it uses good 'ole DVD's. If I have to buy a game with 2 DVD's instead of 1 (after all, they are charging us Sixty-dollars + per game ) then big deal.

I sense people are getting tired of Sony in general, and I'm not talking just about game consoles. ATRAC bs, rootkits, the list goes on and on. And now they have major serious competition in the consumer electronics market in the form of Samsung. I remember when Samsung was small potatoes and Sony computer monitors were the ones to own. Now, I don't know anyone who shops around for either a Sony TV or computer monitor. Everyone I know shops for Samsung products in those areas.

Anyways, what this does is take the pressure off Nintendo. If they can't meet demand, no worries because they can still make more before Sony even gets their to market in the first place.

Europe always seems to get shafted when it comes to things like this. They have amusing, angry, reactions to the delay bomb here that plays on PS3's European slogan "This is living!"

Also, I wonder how long Sony will wait in the U.S. before the unleash a second batch of PS3's. 400,000 units for all of the freaking states is ridiculous! I know they've been citing production problems over and over now, but it's kinda hard to not suspect that artificial demand has something to do with this as well.

by the end of Dec 31st U.S. will have 1.2 mill shipped so they will probally shipp the second batch in december.

I loled when I got junk mail today saying "PS3 is coming soon! Pre-order."


Who thought this wouldn't happen? New technology often means delays. I'm not cutting Sony some slack, but that's the way it usually is with technology. And a delay doesn't mean the PS3 is doomed.

No chance. I've not seen a single game shop that's been selling GameCube stuff for a couple of years now, Nintendo is pretty much dead in the water in the UK at least console-wise. Your average casula gamer these days is late teens, twenty something and not interested in the kiddy image Nintendo have. I'd be very surprised if the Wii did well at all.

The 360 will be a big seller over christmas but Sony will have caught them by next year, no doubt about it. Most of my friends own both an Xbox and a PS2, many have 360s and the ones who were holding out for a PS3 (Like I was) have mostly said they'll be buying a 360 instead. I imagine once the PS3 does arrive though, a lot of people will be getting one of those too, depending of course on the quality of games they release.

I partly agree, if anything the Wii hype is nothing else than it is, a hype. Nobody knows for certain how successful that console is going to be and given Nintendo's record, I'd say there's room for doubt.

Casual European gamers will continue to opt for the PS2, even with Wii and Xbox 360 on the market, considering a lot of games are still scheduled to be released here in 2007, including Final Fantasy XII, God of War 2 and the like. Store shelves are essentially filled by PS2 games, with a small portion of DS and PSP titles and an even smaller portion of those few good 360 games available in Europe.

I'd be inclined to say that most of Europe isn't even interested in the next generation so much that the PS3 delay will make any difference at all.

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/4...itled10hs1.jpg

Hahaha, that one was great. So true too, most of only really want the system cause of the exclusive titles. Eg. FF13, MGS4, DMC4, etc.

Heh, the delay is no surprise either. But still shipping em out, when only 400k are going to available? Bleh, I can easily see the PS3 being scammed for $1000+ on ebay now.

Wow, they're basically imitating Microsoft.

The 360 was released in november last year in america, and march in europe. Now that everyone's been told the PS3 will be released in november this year, and march next year, they're exactly a year apart. I'm sure this is some strategic plan on Sony's part.

But it isn't good thinking. The longer the consoles take to be released, the longer it'll take for the price to drop. That, and the fact that people will eventually get sick of waiting and just end up purchasing a different console.

Thank god I'm satisfied with the current generation.

Actually it was just Australia and New Zealand that got fucked over with the March release of the 360. ;_; They still insist they pulled off a simultaneous worldwide release though!

So is this delay also going to affect australia and new zealand, or just europe?

Yep, we also get raped. Again.

This is a fucking joke but oh well, I guess, it is not that surprising. Good job in supporting Wii, Sony. I will buy a fucking PS2 now and play FFXII :mad:

I don't really see the big deal myself. Seeing how Sony's plans for the PS1,2 and 3 (originally) were to launch in Japan first and then NA & Europe about a year later is worse for us then the current situation, I'll just be happy to get them when we do. Also we don't want the hardware to be the quality of the 360 now do we? (On my 3rd 360 as of now) And don't forget that Sony is going to have about 100 000 more then the 360 had for NA release and they have more factories working on the system then Microsoft.

As for the Wii, of course it's not going to be as near as troublesome to stick another stick of RAM, add a new case & peripheal as it would be to make a whole new system from scratch, so as far as the Wii's concerned I find $200 to be expensive for an upgraded system that I already paid $200 for.

Once again Europe gets ######...Thank God i'm getting one at half price XD

It's not that they couldn't get in a better release date, but it's that they promised a world wide launch that they didn't keep. They also promised, I believe, 2,000,000 systems at launch, which is sitting at 500,000, I think? And I think I mentioned it earlier, but a shitty launch for the 360 certainly does not justify a shitty launch for the PS3. I have no comment about the 360's hardware since I don't own one.

I don't believe the PS3 was made from scratch, BTW. Nothing nowadays is made from scratch. Companies take what they have and improve upon it. No point in reinventing the wheel. You'd be on target if you made the connection that it'd also be expensive as hell to pay $600 more on something that is upgraded from something you already paid $250 for.

Yeah but the upgrades make it about 32 times superior to the PS2 according to benchmark reports. And of course $600 is alot, but systems ALWAYS launch around that price, from the Atari systems to the PS2, 360, and now PS3. Also at one point the Neo-geo costed around $800 when it came out. The only thing that has changed over the years... is well nothing. New systems cost alot, people bitch alot, and to expect any change to this cycle that has been going on since the 1960's won't change anything.

But in the end though, if I wanted my 360 to have the same capabilities it will cost sufficiently more then just simply buying a PS3.

360 Premium: $500 + $120 HD-DVD = $620
PS3 Core: $550 + $0 Blu Ray = %550

So in the end the 360 is costing more for the unit, it's just missing features to make it seem cheaper.

Your little math equation forgot to take into account that the 360 is only $400 for the premium package, and the the PS3 is $600, which still makes the 360 + the HD DVD player cheaper.

I don't see how it was a point for or against either console, though.

Well, excluding complete and utter failures like Neo Geo, CD-i and the Panasonic 3DO, nothing has come close to launching at $600 US. I think.. Saturn was the last system to sort of approach that mark at $400.

True, but Sony has developed the cell processor and Blu-Ray DVD player themselved which is what makes it more unique then the 360 and such (which is just a PC in a box) and is also the reason why it's more.

NES Oldskooler: That's the Premium PS3 which is $650 but if you want to compare that.

PS3 Premium: $650
Premium 360: $500 + HD-DVD $120 + Wi-Fi $100 = $720 (and you can't upgrade the harddrive from 20 GB now where the $650 PS3 has 60GB, nor do you have the HDMI)

The 360 isn't at $500.....the premium version of the XBox360 lies at $400 last I checked...Maybe you're gettin screwed over? o.O

Ironically, Sony themselves have said that the PS3 is basically a PC entertainment system. And Cell was not developed soley by Sony, it was a joint effort by Toshiba, Sony, and IBM.

Also, from your earlier post, numbers might be 32x that of the PS2, but numbers don't always equate exactly into performance. (I actually know nothing about the numbers, but I'm almost certain that nothing jumps up that much (32x) flawlessly without a few limitations and draw backs). New technology is always a gamble. There have been plenty of new things in the past. Some of them work wonderfully, some of them fail. I'm not saying that the PS3 is going to fail, but I think it's going a bit overboard on the numbers. As a result, the cost of the system suffers. It also takes a lot more power to run all those high tech things too, I wouldn't be surprised if that thing was running a bit on the hot side. Also, adding everything into one package isn't necessarily the best course of action. I'm sure there are people who don't need one feature or another, and at the same time, there are those who must simply have everything.

Even though it was a joint effort, it was originally designed for the PS3, and would still cost alot more then just buying consumer parts like Microsoft and Nintendo do.

As for the price I'm in Canada therefore the 360 has an exchange difference of $100 and the PS3 has an exchange of $50 (set by the companies)

core premium
US 360 $300 $400
CAN 360 $400 $500

US PS3 $500 $600
CAN PS3 $550 $650
You can check any retailler site, these are the costs.

Also why Sony were trying to promote it as a PC entertainment system is because the taxes on video games & hardware are insane in Europe compared to that of consumer electronics, so if Sony could get the countries to believe that it was a PC and not a Console they could save something like $3,000,000 on taxes which they were going to in turn use to pay immersion to get the rumble feature. Unfortunatly the European countries didn't fall for Sony's marketing.

(Information from IGN podcasts and articles)

That's interesting. That's definitely news to me....so what, Sony retaliated by launching the PS3 next year? Haha.....

Just kidding, I don't really know....But it would be hilarious if it were true....

The reason why the PS3 was pushed back is due to the lack of Blu-Ray diodes that is required to change the focus and reading attributes of the laser in order to read the Blu-Ray discs. Therefore they had to choose a market to delay release in. Therefore since Europe is smaller for gaming then North America or Japan, it was elected to get the cut. Like I said though, no launch goes smooth anyway, so it shouldn't be that big of a surprise. Plus with all the bitching that I've been hearing from people aswell as how many people say that they're going to wait a while to get a system that will last, what does it matter to them if it gets pushed back or not. (I'm not emplying that everyone is like this however, or even that this is even the general opinion in Europe, heck it's only in Europe where the PSP is outselling the DS. Not by much, but outselling non the less.)