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PS3 - Lateness With Linux?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the world-turns-upside-down dept.

ZombieRoboNinja writes "The New York Times is reporting that Sony's press conference has confirmed the delay of the PS3, which is now slated to come out in November. More interestingly, the article claims that PS3 will ship with a 60-gig hard drive, built-in network card, and Linux!" Serious stuff here, with Sony's shares falling on the delay confirmation. There was a lot more news handed out at the conference than just the delay. Next Generation has details from Ken Kutaragi's 10 Point Breakdown. From the NYT article: "'We were discussing selling it in September, and some even said put it out in July,' Mr. Kutaragi said. Some analysts were immediately skeptical of this explanation, saying Sony needed to get the console out as soon as possible to combat Microsoft's head start, and the expected release this year of Nintendo's next game console, Revolution. They said Sony may be trying to buy time to bring down the production cost of key components, particularly untested technologies like Blu-ray and Cell. While Mr. Kutaragi did not reveal a price on Wednesday, analysts say Sony will likely try to sell PlayStation 3 for about $500." Please see related links and commentary below for more coverage. My two quick cents -

  1. If they're not releasing in Japan until November, I find it highly unlikely they'll be releasing in the states until 2007. Previous PlayStation launches have always been staggered Japan first, U.S. second. I don't care if they say they're launching worldwide; At this point I think they're spinning to keep people happy.
  2. If they're not out in the U.S. until 2007, they'll probably be the last next-gen console to do so. So far Nintendo says it's on track to launch this year. Sony isn't getting finalized dev kits out until June. Even just with that metric on the table, Nintendo looks to be in a better position than Sony at the moment.
  3. At $500, there are going to be a lot of indifferent customers come March of '07. This will be especially true if, over a year after launch, Microsoft cuts the price of the 360 to coincide with the PS3 launch. If you have to choose between a solid platform that costs $300 (and already has a stable of games available) and a brand-new system that is two hundred bucks more with far fewer games, which one do you think most people will buy?
Regardless of what happens a year from now this is a major blow for Sony, a coup for Microsoft, and breathing room for Nintendo. What do you think the console market will look like this time next year?

12 of 364 comments (clear)

  1. yay! another ps3 article! by sstation · · Score: 5, Funny

    and here i thought we were actually gonna make it to lunch time (eastern time) without seeing something about the ps3

  2. Re:Will there be an emotion chip too? by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hear that it'll be able to render graphics like those used in Toy Story in realtime!

    --
    This guy's the limit!
  3. Well well well... by patrickclay · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sony, your desperate attempt to win back the Slashdot crowd is admirable, but I'm afraid it's too late...

    Sincerely,

    Slashdot

    1. Re:Well well well... by thatguywhoiam · · Score: 2, Funny
      Dear Slashdot,

      And you are....?

      - Sony

      --
      If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
  4. The secret reason for the delay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have it on good authority that Sony is having trouble porting their x86-based rootkit to the cell architecture. No software will be released until they get a multi-threaded roootkit with decent performance.

  5. Re:Will there be an emotion chip too? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    You mean render South Park in real time, right?

  6. Re:Like I've always said by Shihar · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think the consol you are looking for is known as a "computer". Yes, I believe "computer" is the correct answer.

  7. Re:Will there be an emotion chip too? by minus_273 · · Score: 2, Funny

    no no it will be "matrix stuff" today!

    --
    The war with islam is a war on the beast
    The war on terror is a war for peace
  8. Delay cause... by DarthChris · · Score: 2, Funny

    Were they trying to make a Linux rootkit?

    --
    Don't you just hate it when people reply to your signature?
  9. Re:Global Launch by confu2000 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Mmm. Global launch. Don't forget that 600K units in Japan, 399K units in US and 1000 units in London would still constitute a worldwide launch.

  10. Re:Where's the GPL source code to the Linux kernel by fistfullast33l · · Score: 3, Funny

    If the drivers are all modules, I don't believe the source code has to be released. Obviously, Nvidia and ATI have never released the code to their modules. Another example off the top of my head is Broadcom and the b44 ethernet card module (that's the open source one, but they have a module that is closed source whose name I can't remember). Another tactic they might follow is Intel's, who releases the wireless drivers for their IPW series as open source, but keeps the firmware for the cards closed. This allows them to look good and at the same time protect their IP. I doubt you'll see much source code from Sony in light of the PSP debacle. Personally, I don't care what they do as long as I can run linux. The PS2 dev kits all ran linux on them. My friend set up Afterstep on his in an effort to pretend he was John Carmack running a NeXT box. I'll settle for E17, since by the time the PS3 is released, E17 will probably be stable and able to run Duke Nukem Forever with OpenGL acceleration.

    And don't flame me for E17, I'm running it on my laptop.

  11. Re:Will there be an emotion chip too? by gkhan1 · · Score: 4, Funny
    Dude, it's called a

    tag. Use it wisely. Also, Preview button is a good thing to consider sometimes.