[PS3] PS3 delayed until March 07 in Europe

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:

Quote:

6/09/2006 06:40
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Announces New March 2007 date for European Launch of PLAYSTATION 3



Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Announces New March 2007 date for European Launch of PLAYSTATION 3
No change in launch date for Japan and North America

London, Wednesday 6 September 2006 – Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) today announced that it would revise the launch date of its PLAYSTATION® 3 computer entertainment system in the PAL territories of Europe, Russia, Middle East, Africa and Australasia from 17th November 2006, as previously announced to March 2007.

Launch dates for Japan and North America will remain the same, which are November 11th and November 17th respectively.

The revision of the launch date in the SCEE territories is caused by the delay in the mass production schedule of the blue laser diode within the Sony Group, thus affecting the timely procurement of key components to be utilised in PLAYSTATION 3.

The previously announced PLAYSTATION 3 shipment forecast of 6 million units globally within the fiscal year ending 2007 is not changed.

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?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Also it's going to be VERY hard to get one!
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/...layStation.php

Quote:

In the U.S., about 400,000 PlayStation 3 machines will be available when they go on sale Nov. 17. About 100,000 will be available on the Nov. 11 Japan launch date.

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.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Was about to post that.

Sony is done.

They just lost the console war.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

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.)

How ya doing, buddy?

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.

How ya doing, buddy?

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.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Quote:

The sales delay is caused by a problem in mass producing a key component in the Blu-ray disc laser part of the machine, the next-generation successor to Sony Corp.'s hit PlayStation 2, Sony Computer Entertainment Chief Ken Kutaragi told reporters.

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

How ya doing, buddy?

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.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

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

Jam it back in, in the dark.

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.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

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.

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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.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

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 ...

I was speaking idiomatically.

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.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Rock

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 ...

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.

FELIPE NO

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.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

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.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Rock

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.

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.

Quote:

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.

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.)

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Does anyone else think that

Quote:

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

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.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

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.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

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.

I was speaking idiomatically.

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

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

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.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by El Ray Fernando

Personally I do feel the casual European gamer will opt for the Wii come Christmas time

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.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

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.

Jam it back in, in the dark.