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Analysts React to PS3 Delay
GameDailyBiz has a piece looking at some professional analyst opinion on what the PS3 delay means for Sony. From the article: "Merrill Lynch analyst Hitoshi Kuriyama cautioned, however, that we shouldn't take the global launch for granted as there are still many hurdles. '[Sony] still has a number of obstacles to surmount before it can achieve a simultaneous global launch of PS3 in November. We will need to keep close tabs on whether any further delays emerge because postponing the launch will worsen the company's competitive position,' he said in a research note."
Analyst says, "Woohoo! Something insignificant hasn't happened yet, so I get to analyze it! Ooh! Maybe I'll analyze some other analyst's analysis! I love my job!"
Attention deficit disorder is a complicated issue, spanning several major... HEY LET'S GO RIDE BIKES!
* 1,500,000 polygons per second, flat-shaded
* 500,000 polygons per second, textured
Playstation, reality:
* 360,000 polygons per second, flat-shaded
* 180,000 polygons per second, textured
Playstation 2, promised:
* 66,000,000 polygons per second
Playstation 2, reality:
* 7,000,000 polygons per second
Meanwhile, those who are honest and try not to overpromise get screwed up the pooper:
Dreamcast, promised:
* 3,000,000 polygons per second
Dreamcast, reality:
* 5,000,000 polygons per second
Circumcision is child abuse.
Bill Gates had previously stated he planned to release around the time of Playstation 3. Microsoft distanced themselves from those comments after it was apparent that Halo 3 wouldn't be ready in time, but with Playstation 3's delay this could once again become a threat to them.
Repeat after me: there is no US delay. This is a delay in Japan.
Halo 3 in Japan will sell somewhere between four and six copies. So I doubt Sony is any more worried about this today than they were yesterday.
The US plan officially has always been to launch the PS3 "this year." The only region to get an actual launch period was Japan, which was going to be "spring" of 2006. Given that, you can extrapolate from the launches of the PS1 and PS2 (which had Japan/US launches that were staggered by nearly a year in the PS1's case and around 8 months in the PS2's case) that the PS3 was probably going to arrive here before Christmas, but not much before. Most people had expected Thanksgiving or thereabouts.
But the bottom line is you can't "delay" something that has never had a launch date to begin with, or even a launch month. Nothing more specific than 2006 was ever announced for the US before today. The delay affects Japan and Japan alone, so any talk of MS taking advantage of the situation is misguided. MS can no more exploit the situation as it exists today than they could exploit the situation that existed 3 weeks ago, because that situation hasn't changed in the west.
My only guess about how all this confusion is happening even among supposedly highly-paid analysts is that somehow either a simultaneous launch had always been assumed (because, you know, MS did it) or some of these guys just simply failed to differentiate between regions. Not all of these guys are experienced enough to have been dealing with the game industry even back when the PS2 was launched. These analysts often deal with many different industries and they're not always as on top of things as it seems.
It's shame to see all that spin go to waste- we should attach magnets to these analysts and generate some electricity.
Good God, who gives a crap about polygons?! While you are sitting there staring at your spec sheet for your console, I am playing Zelda, Mario, Jak and Daxter, Metal Gear, Halo, Soul Caliber, and loads of other games that are fun. Why in the hell do people like you give so much weight to these numbers? True game fans appreciate the game for the game, not how it looks. I am sorry that you feel like you were betrayed by some of these game companies, to the point of bringing this crap up all the freakin' time, but judge the system by what it plays, not the MIPS it is capable of. If the games aren't fun and they promised fun, then bitch!
Apparently they are on track to have enough units to ship about 500k systems to Japan in June but have decided to go for a simultaneous launch in all three territories in November with millions of units.
That would have been awesome. Customers getting final PS3 hardware before game devs. rofl
It amuses me how wrong you actually are.
You try and speak as one with insider knowledge but whoever you are getting this from is completely barking up the wrong tree.
My best friend recently stopped working for sony and he knows exactly whats going on.
Get this, the sony devs themselves don't have final hardware yet. (ie SCEE, and US etc) Do you think many games will be released in November when all the 3rd party devs will only have received (according to Sony) final dev kits in June??? Currently the devs have no idea how games will run on the final ps3. In fact 3rd party devs only just received final versions of the graphics card. Given that the ps3 is officially the hardest console to develop for ever, do you really think sony will have any line up worth a crap if they released in November?
At least with xbox 360 the main processor is powerful to run games that havent been properly optimised for all three cores. Whereas with ps3, you NEED to really optimise your code for CELL, which basically means every dev to basically start coding differently then they have done for years.
You can believe me or not, I dont particularly give a damn. But come November you will see that Sony is full of bs. If it does release it will be Japan only, in small amounts with a paltry lineup.