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PS3 - Lateness With Linux?
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 -
- 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.
- 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.
- 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?
His two cents are odd considering that everything I've seen indicates a worldwide launch in November: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/696/696054p1.html
According to the coverage on joystiq, It will be a worldwide release in November of this year. "The PS3 will launch 'in early November 2006 in Japan, North America and Europe simultaneously.'"
Until further details emerge, claims of a US '07 release appear to be unsubstantiated.
From TFTA (link to Ken Kutaragi's 10 Point Breakdown):
7. Kutaragi said that that the PS3 will require a hard drive, which will have a 60 GB capacity and support Linux OS. No word on if it will be included.
Oops.
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Sig arrêt
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?
The one with Linux on it, obviously!
In all seriousness, that was a big factor in my personal decision to buy the - WRT54G wireless router
- NSLU2 storage server
- TiVo
- XBox (original)
They're adding a PSOne emulator to the PSP! That should help fix the lack of compelling titles problem, as Metal Gear Solid and the entire Final Fantasy series up to FF IX (except III) will now be portable, plus Xenogears, Chrono Trigger, and lots more. Hooray for portable Aeris and Snake!
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-250632.html
"One of the basic premises of the Xbox is to put the power in the hands of the artist," Blackley said, which is why Xbox developers "are achieving a level of visual detail you really get in 'Toy Story.'"
I can't believe there are still people trying to attribute Microsoft's stupid Toy Story graphics claim about the Xbox to Sony in 2006...
According to Froogle, $100 for a 2.5inch 60G hard drive would be a steal. Average price seems to range from $130 to $170.
*sigh* back to work...
Not that animation in general isn't hard or time-consuming, or that the animators who work on South Park aren't talented, but South Park is fast and cheap to produce.
Nintendo sold more Gamecubes last Christmas than Microsoft sold XBox 360s
When teaching things like economics as it applies to electronics, this should be a subject of focus.
Yes, the Gamecube sold more than the XBox360. But why?
We all know that the XBox 360 was a popular item. No one could keep it in stock. Microsoft somewhat shot themselves in the foot with lower production and guarenteed that this would happen.
But what if they had been able to meet demand? The only measure of demand we can measure is sales, and, as said, the "sold out" tag is misleading, as quantities are low, and certainly didn't meet expected social demand. If the 360 had the production numbers, would it have outsold the Gamecube?
Or would the Gamecube's price and library of games have outsold the 360, anyway? There are a couple different bundles you can pick up from any number of places; official bundles include the system, hook ups, controller, and one of the better games (Metroid Prime, Super Smash Bros, etc.) all for between $130 and $150. To even get just a 360 system, you have to shell out $300. If you want all the good stuff and a game, you have to lay down $450.
Or did production approx. meet demand, and the rest was just overhype?
This is the point where Sony has to make it clear to developers exactly what's coming out and when, or there will be very few games ready at launch.
So wait a week.
I'm not a lawyer or an accountant, so I only know the bits that were in the news. And according to the news, Linux was _the_ defense Sony used to get the PS2 classified as a "computer", which in turn was the defense they used so they don't need to pay customs. So I'd assume they considered that necessary in some way.
Actually -- again, bearing in mind that I'm no lawyer or accountant -- the thing here is that for that kind of taxes, e.g., VAT, it's not that toys or video game machines alone get some extra-high tax. There is no "video game machine tax" as such. It's that goods are divided into broad groups which get different taxes, with the stuff considered essential getting a tax break. E.g., you pay less VAT for food, an essential thing, than you pay for selling a TV, which is considered less essential.
Apparently at some point computers were deemed important enough to get some form of tax or customs break. Other things, such as video recorders or whatnot don't get it.
So it wasn't exactly Sony dodging some extra "video game machine tax", but rather having to fit one of the definitions that get a break. Since they can't define their machine as "food", for example, (or not without getting laughed at), they went for defining it as a "computer".
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
That was true last generation.
However, this tax on games consoles as opposed to computers no longer exists.
I agree with you under most circumstances. But, perhaps in the case of sony, there's an exception.
1.) Dell has enormous flexability in the market. True. But Sony doesn't *need* flexiblilty for the PS3. There's only 1 PS3, and it's not end-user customizable. What they need is to be able to take one design, and ramp up production quickly and cheaply. You don't have to be horizontially integrated to do that - you need virtical integration. Sony is going to be perhaps buying, perhaps developing in house fab blueprints for the components, and then building the hell out of them.
2.) Sony is HUGE. I mean, dell is big, but it's really hard to overestimate Sony's size - they make dell look like a mom-and-pop. Aside from home amplification, home speakers, car head units, car speakers, dvd players, CD players, Sattelite receivers, CRT Televisions, Plasma TV's, LCD TV's, Computers, Notebooks, LCD monitors, Projectors, Optical drives, flash devices like memory stick, etc; they also own Sony/BMG music, Sony picture studios, SONYTV-ASIA (indian TV network), and probably a LOT of others I don't even know about. That's completely outside of the Gaming biz; of which they own the playstations, a myriad of in-house games like the ever popular Jak and Dexter, and loyalties from all the other games developed.
I find it hard to believe that sony would choose not to manufacture everything they possibly could for the PS3. They already have the virtical integration; their worldwide business is big enough to transition the existing operations into new fabs; and they have the capital to make a long-term smart move, like setting up a fab plant for RD Ram. Fab plants are INCREDIBLY expensive - the cost of the first chip is probably $100,000,000. But, with each successive chip, the cost goes ever downward.
~Will
sig?
No -- that's Napoleon you're quoting. The Art of War is about winning wars when you can't assume that your enemy will do anything stupid.