Finally, details. Hard, concrete facts. Sony is expected to announce its launch plans for the PlayStation 3 at tomorrow’s PlayStation Business Briefing 2006 event in Tokyo at 15:00 Japanese time (06:00 GMT).
So first thing tomorrow SPOnG should hopefully be able to furnish you with details of the launch date, the cost and the launch line-up.
There is also some unsubstantiated Interweb chatter today about the possible announcement of a new PlayStation product, which, if anything, is likely to be details on the new camera-equipped PSP.
Ken Kutaragi will be making the announcements on ‘the future of the PlayStation side of Sony's business’, as the Reuters report of Sony’s official statement vaguely puts it. Mr Kutaragi is also expected to furnish tomorrow’s attendees with more information on Sony’s future strategies for supporting the PS2 and PSP arms of its business.
Taking into account the comments made by Koei's CEO Kiyoshi Komatsu about tomorrow’s event, it is very likely there will be some mention of the the PlayStation 3 from Kutaragi tomorrow. Perhaps Sony will finally set the record straight on the PS3's Spring 2006 launch by rescheduling to Q4 or announcing a launch within weeks (SPOnG suspects the former). Next week also sees the Game Developer Conference 2006 taking place in the US, where Sony’s Phil Harrison's will be making a keynote speech.
Come on Sony, this is all getting rather tedious now. SPOnG and, we imagine, most gamers have now had enough of the ‘will they, won’t they?’ PR game the company has been playing. Spill the beans. Don’t make us wait yet another week, otherwise we are only going to keep writing more and more about the many great things currently happening in the worlds of the Nintendo DS and the Microsoft Xbox 360.
So first thing tomorrow SPOnG should hopefully be able to furnish you with details of the launch date, the cost and the launch line-up.
There is also some unsubstantiated Interweb chatter today about the possible announcement of a new PlayStation product, which, if anything, is likely to be details on the new camera-equipped PSP.
Ken Kutaragi will be making the announcements on ‘the future of the PlayStation side of Sony's business’, as the Reuters report of Sony’s official statement vaguely puts it. Mr Kutaragi is also expected to furnish tomorrow’s attendees with more information on Sony’s future strategies for supporting the PS2 and PSP arms of its business.
Taking into account the comments made by Koei's CEO Kiyoshi Komatsu about tomorrow’s event, it is very likely there will be some mention of the the PlayStation 3 from Kutaragi tomorrow. Perhaps Sony will finally set the record straight on the PS3's Spring 2006 launch by rescheduling to Q4 or announcing a launch within weeks (SPOnG suspects the former). Next week also sees the Game Developer Conference 2006 taking place in the US, where Sony’s Phil Harrison's will be making a keynote speech.
Come on Sony, this is all getting rather tedious now. SPOnG and, we imagine, most gamers have now had enough of the ‘will they, won’t they?’ PR game the company has been playing. Spill the beans. Don’t make us wait yet another week, otherwise we are only going to keep writing more and more about the many great things currently happening in the worlds of the Nintendo DS and the Microsoft Xbox 360.
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Comments
majin dboy 14 Mar 2006 14:34
1/11
would be nice to get some proper news on the PS3 tomorrow. but i suspect there, will be no suprises or revolutions.
note to ken:change the controller.
note to ken:change the controller.
Puck 14 Mar 2006 14:36
2/11
Does anybody care anymore? I dont personally know anyone that wants a PS3. People I know arnt especially anti-Sony / pro-Nintendo etc, but how can anyone blindly look forward to a machine that is all tantalising hints of things to come, (lets not forget Sony are prone to exageration), whilst Nintendo and Microsoft are delevring tangible products that deliver the goods (with varying degrees of success) now.
Sony are gambling their highly lucrative brand in an attempt to get blu-ray into everyones home. I'm sure I'll get one, but not at launch, even if they do manage to bring it out for less than £500. What I wont do is get excited about it before it arrives.
Sony are gambling their highly lucrative brand in an attempt to get blu-ray into everyones home. I'm sure I'll get one, but not at launch, even if they do manage to bring it out for less than £500. What I wont do is get excited about it before it arrives.
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RP 14 Mar 2006 14:48
3/11
"It's not coming out this Spring" will most likely be the sum of the information revealed.
Kutaragi will then follow on to blame the public for the delay, and claim that they might not release it at all as punishment. Oh, and there'll be no tea tonight.
Kutaragi will then follow on to blame the public for the delay, and claim that they might not release it at all as punishment. Oh, and there'll be no tea tonight.
Bantam 14 Mar 2006 15:07
4/11
It's not coming out in spring, it'll launch in the autumn.
Christmas in the US. Spring 2007 in Europe. Not that you'll actually be able to buy one for 6 months after that unless you pre-ordered last April.
Christmas in the US. Spring 2007 in Europe. Not that you'll actually be able to buy one for 6 months after that unless you pre-ordered last April.
thane_jaw 14 Mar 2006 16:48
5/11
Puck wrote:
Does anybody care anymore? I dont personally know anyone that wants a PS3. People I know arnt especially anti-Sony / pro-Nintendo etc, but how can anyone blindly look forward to a machine that is all tantalising hints of things to come, (lets not forget Sony are prone to exageration), whilst Nintendo and Microsoft are delevring tangible products that deliver the goods (with varying degrees of success) now.
Sony are gambling their highly lucrative brand in an attempt to get blu-ray into everyones home. I'm sure I'll get one, but not at launch, even if they do manage to bring it out for less than £500. What I wont do is get excited about it before it arrives.
Sony are gambling their highly lucrative brand in an attempt to get blu-ray into everyones home. I'm sure I'll get one, but not at launch, even if they do manage to bring it out for less than £500. What I wont do is get excited about it before it arrives.
Dude they're not just gambling their brand, they're gambling their entire company. Sony aren't the most successful company (including all branches, not just playstation) and their limited financial reserves are going to be used in the next few years to weather the storm until the ps3 becomes profitable for them. They're banking on the continued success that their playstation brand has bought them.
I have yet to see anything tangible from nintendo aside from a couple of "what if" videos and that whole Twilight Princess debacle. However nintendo's success with innovation on the DS and Nintendo's years of great games lends itself to a successful "alternative" console launch - especially if they're able to replicate their success with non-traditional gaming groups in japan, such as the elderly, over here and in the states.
Simply put I don't care that Nintendo have shown me nothing so far. I fully expect them to produce an original console with brilliant first party games. I see no reason to not get excited about the revolution but I'm glad I'm being made to wait so that I will be pleasantly suprized when information is released nearer the launch date.
Sony have shown me nothing but pre-rendered videos. Prior experience tells me this is not what the games will look like. They have not shown me anything aside from fancy graphics that this current gen cannot do. Their talk of a Live killing service seems to ignore that MS took one console and a few years to create Live. They might not even be able to use the dualshock style controller.. the impatience with Sony is down to their crap marketing, missing launch periods and the lack of any information full stop.
But agreed no one cares anymore.
Joji 14 Mar 2006 20:12
6/11
It's gonna take a lot for me to pay attention. So much going on in DS world that I kinda care for little else til the Rev turns up. (except certain odd games for PS2 and GC mind)
What has he got up his sleeve I wonder?
What has he got up his sleeve I wonder?
Ditto 14 Mar 2006 22:31
7/11
I'm kinda looking forward to the PS3 even though I won't be able to afford one - with Resident Evil 5 a confirmed title, who wouldn't be excited?
But then again, I am the person who thinks that the PSP has much better games than the DS (Street Fighter! Where's the DS verison, Capcom?!).
Nintendo, for me, still haven't shown anything other than a set of gimmiks - no real games have been shown at all.
But then again, I am the person who thinks that the PSP has much better games than the DS (Street Fighter! Where's the DS verison, Capcom?!).
Nintendo, for me, still haven't shown anything other than a set of gimmiks - no real games have been shown at all.
vault 13 15 Mar 2006 00:22
8/11
Puck wrote:
...(lets not forget Sony are prone to exageration), whilst Nintendo and Microsoft are delevring tangible products that deliver the goods (with varying degrees of success)...
Microsoft? Delivering the goods? Ha! Oh you must mean the awesome Xbox and 360 game lineups. Or the horribly designed original Xbox. Or the massive amounts of Sony bashing. Yeah. It seems that having a good game lineup over better graphics wins out at the end of the day. i.e. Sony beating Microsoft for 5 years now. Even with TWO gaming systems to compete with. I understand we all have our fanboyism, but don't tell me Microsoft is any worse or better than Sony at this stage of the game. I hate Microsoft and I'm putting their game system manufacturing practices on the level as Sony. Now Nintendo on the other hand...
Oh I also remember Microsoft had sent out about a bagillion fudged test numbers for the original Xbox, most of them stemming from that blaisé ping-pong demo. Delivering a pile of steaming s**t is more like it.
horngreen 15 Mar 2006 01:14
9/11
LOL looks like November in Japan from what I am reading today. That would mean late winter/spring for the U.S.? Bye bye blu ray. So a year late and "maybe" more powerful than the 360. Hell by the time it comes out in whatever form it will take MS can drop the price of the 360 to compete. Sony not dropping the price of the PS2 when the Xbox launched was one reason I went with the Xbox. Both at $299 and the Xbox 3 times as powerful, no brainer. The incredible promise of LIVE helped too. Sony makes many promises as well but rarely delivers.
duque 15 Mar 2006 02:40
10/11
That thing is gona eat Kutaragy's neck alive
vault 13 16 Mar 2006 00:22
11/11
horngreen wrote:
Sony not dropping the price of the PS2 when the Xbox launched was one reason I went with the Xbox. Both at $299 and the Xbox 3 times as powerful, no brainer. The incredible promise of LIVE helped too. Sony makes many promises as well but rarely delivers.
That's funny, because the X-Box had s**t games when it came out. I waited until there was something I wanted to play on it (JSRF) before I bought one. Promises mean s**t. I remembe when Microsoft promised to be a better company and they haven't...