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PlayStation 3 Not So Much Delayed?
Chris Morris, on the CNN Game Over column, points out that even if Merrill Lynch's suggestion that the delayed initial launch of the PS3 is true, that's unlikely to affect the U.S. launch of the console. From the article: "Logic sometimes isn't enough, though. To get additional perspective on the situation, I spoke with several of Sony's partners (who are in regular contact with the company) and competitors (who keep a close eye on the PS3's launch window) about the report. No one was willing to talk on the record for fear of reprisal, but the consensus was nearly universal. The promised spring launch (which was expected in Japan, but not North America) will likely be pushed back, they said. The North American launch, which was always expected to occur later this year (November is the consensus), is not expected to change. Europe may well not see the PS3 until next year." The price tag reported, though, is still probably accurate. C|Net has a breakdown of the PlayStation 3's components.
Can you tell Sony subscribes to the belief "Any press is good press". Im already sick of these reports. Frankly, I hope its not delayed so these stories can finally die.
Sadly then, we will have to read story after story about shortages, then manufacturing problems, etc... etc... Even though im a gadget whore and will probrably buy all 3 ( already bought the 360 ), all of this stuff has just burned me out on console gaming.
I hadn't used my PS2 for a few years until just recently. If you're in a similar position, my advice is if you want great "next generation" games, try some of the ones that have come out recently for your "old" console. The graphics and gameplay on Resident Evil 4, for instance, blew me away, and "Shadow of the Colossus" looks even more impressive. And we've got "Starcraft:Ghost" to look forward to later in the year.
So I'm not bothered if the PS3 doesn't come out for a while, PS2 games are at their peak and are probably be better than first gen PS3/XBox360 games.
As most of the time, we Europeans are getting the sore end of the launch planning.
You have to give it to Microsoft that they decided for a global launch, despite the shortage situation in the US. It makes you feel part of the show when you don't have to sit and watch the forums cheer for their new toys when your release date is months away.
In the last months, some games were even released for the DS (BoF III) and PSP (Virtua Tennis) in Europe before the US got them. I thought we were catching up, but Sony shows us we are not.
A word of advice from your friendly internet gamer : Pre-order a few PS3's.
Sell them for an inflated price when there's a mad rush to purchase them, and it will cover the cost for whatever time you've put in to it. If demand seems like it's going to be really good, i'd buy more than two if I had enough cash. It wont matter what the production costs are if there's some kind of a shortage, which there usually always is.
I've sold consoles like that on ebay & by word of mouth to several people in the greater Chicagoland area. $500 Xbox 360 may make the baby jesus cry, but for some rich fscker in Naperville, it was just the right price. Kind of OT, but, a true story.
By delaying the PS3 launch, Sony is giving Microsoft time to develop more and more software for the Xbox 360. It is the games that make the console. This is why Xbox only just recently caught up to the popularity of the PS2, because there are finally enough software titles out there to make it more than a very expensive dust-collecting paperweight. Sony seems to be turning into the next Nintendo. Nintendo was number one, got cocky and lazy, and plummeted in status when another company came along and offered more that just 3D re-hashes of the same old games. I predict that many who are waiting for the PS3 will get fed up with these vaporware tactics and just get the Xbox 360. Sony is going down.
The PS2 and the PSP both sold at a loss. (Note: The PS2 eventually became profitable. That is a big difference between the PS2 and the XBOX.)
Sounds like youa re repeating something you heard somewhere. The big difference between the XB and the PS2 is that the per-unit net profit on the PS2 was always positive. The only way it didn't start out turning a profit is if you include R&D costs as part of production costs... in which case the first PS2 cost $4.2 billion, and every one after turned a profit. This guy explains it in an easy to understand way.
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