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Sony Delays PSX To 2005 In U.S.

Posted by simoniker on from the back-and-back dept.

Thanks to Bloomberg.com for its story revealing Sony is delaying the American release of its PSX PlayStation 2/digital video recorder combo device until 2005, allegedly "because the device may not appeal to U.S. consumers", according to the article. Dick Komiyama, although not explicitly stating these worries, said: "We're working very hard to make the technology feasible for U.S. consumers", and analyst Masayuki Ito argued: "'Delays give a bad impression... Investors probably didn't have high expectations for the product' because it has had little appeal in Japan." We recently discussed the debut of an enhanced PSX in Japan, as well as earlier issues with last year's Japanese launch.

4 of 19 comments (clear)

  1. Why delay? Why not just scrap it altogether? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Sony was right about how this might not appeal to the American audience, or other audiences for that matter, for a number of reasons: 1) Who in the world would want to record up to 325 hours' worth of TV shows, commercials or movies? Granted, that's 325 hours worth of highest-compressed video at which quality wouldn't be top-notch, but IMO, 80 hours is more than enough. I don't use TiVo, since I don't watch much TV, but if you think about it...300 hours is a bit too much. 2) PSX: $700 or $900, depending on the size of the HDD you want (these are Japanese prices, but I doubt the American ones wouldn't be much different). PS2: $150. 80GB TiVo: $210-$300. Do the math. 3) IMHO, this is a very overpriced and under-appealing gadget from sony corp.

  2. Twice as many products, Half the support by PKFC · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I just got used to the idea that the PSX would not make it to North America, but I guess its coming anyways. It really makes me wonder as an owner of a PS2 HDD though as to the kind of support PSX owners could expect. Sure we will get the new hardware revision due out in Japan, but after the thing is out then what? How much visible support for the PS2 HDD been from Sony? This is a similar enough product (niche wise) so I don't think it looks good...

  3. Re:Don't be so sure by Babbster · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Sony's own marketing plan takes the PSX out of their gaming division and puts it into the consumer electronics area where it will inevitably be a weird niche product. Even if there's another year before the PS3 (I expect that device to hit Japan in spring of 2006 and the US during the holiday season), it's still not a reasonable alternative to buying a PS2 given the monstrous price gap.

    This device is not intended to compete with any console - it can't. It's more like Sony trying to get their foot back in the PVR door after their relationship with TiVo ended.

  4. Not a bad product for Japan, but America? by bugbread · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Before too many people get into a tizzy, I just want to point out two things about the PSX in Japan.

    First, the Playstation was never called the PSX in Japan. The internal prototype name was apparently picked up and carried by foreign game magazines / sites, but in Japan, the Playstation was always called the Playstation (or Puresute for short, as PlayStation is Pureisuteshon in Japanese).

    Second, while the PSX is damn expensive, it's actually not poorly priced for Japan. Sure, you can get a Tivo for a lot cheaper in America, but there is no Tivo in Japan. The average hard disk TV recorder thingy starts at $500 and goes up here, so the PSX is about the price of buying a PS2 and a hard disk recorder anyway, if not a bit cheaper.

    That said, it's tacitly clear why the PSX is not appealing to the US market: it costs more than a Tivo and a PS2 combined, by a good margin.