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Author Topic: PS3 Priced and Dated  (Read 4360 times)

Matt

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PS3 Priced and Dated
« on: May 09, 2006, 05:52:35 PM »
Credit: Telegraph.co.uk

The new PlayStation 3 video game console will hit the shops in November selling for ?499 (?340) in Europe, Sony has announced.

The standard PS3 will have a 20-gigabyte hard drive and debut on November 11 in Japan, where it will retail for Y59,800 (?290), November 17 in most of the rest of the world. It will be priced at $499 (?270) in North America.

Sony's launch will challenge Microsoft's early dominance in the market for next-generation machines. It won the last battle as the Sony PS2 outsold Microsoft's original Xbox, but Microsoft is expected to capitalise on its head start with the Xbox 360 console in a global gaming industry expected to generate about $30bn in revenue this year.

Sony, which has delayed the launch once, expects to hit the market with 2m PS3 consoles at launch and a total of 4m by the end of December. Analysts expect Microsoft to ship up to 8m Xbox 360 units before Sony launches the PS3.

The Japanese electronics giant also showed off a motion-sensitive wireless controller, a feature similar to the controllers being offered by Nintendo in its upcoming Wii game machine.

The Bluetooth-powered motion-sensitive controller is shaped like the controller for the current generation machine but can shift objects in games when a player moves the unit, without pushing buttons.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said the price was competitive and the controller would be reason enough for many gamers to wait for the PS3 rather than buy Microsoft's Xbox 360, which was launched late last year.

Sony will also sell a PS3 with a 60-gigabyte hard drive for $599 in the United States and ?599 iin Europe.

All Sony's units will include a Blu-ray high-definition DVD player. Microsoft's premium Xbox 360 package, which does not include an advanced DVD player and has a 20-gigabyte hard drive, costs $400, by comparison.

The larger hard drive allows users to store more games, music and other downloaded content onto the PS3, while some software developers said the extra storage capacity allowed the machine to load games faster.

Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments, said: "As just a game console it is expensive, but not if you think about it as an entertainment centre. The price may be somewhat tough for Sony. If you consider the costs, the price probably should be higher."


Credit: GamesIndustry.biz

Pre-E3 conference fills in the gaps in our PlayStation 3 knowledge

Sony has finally announced a price and launch date for the PlayStation 3, with the console set to arrive on November 17th, starting from 499 Euro - and sporting a redesigned wireless Dual Shock pad with motion sensing functions.

Full details of the firm's launch plans were revealed at a pre-E3 press conference in the Sony Pictures studios in Culver City, Los Angeles, where the firm also showed off several PlayStation 3 games both in playable and in video form.

SCEA boss Kaz Hirai, worldwide studios head Phil Harrison and SCE president Ken Kutaragi took the stand to reveal new information - and to dispel some speculation, such as the idea that the system might ship without a hard drive, a notion which was quickly laid to rest.

Two versions of the PlayStation 3 will hit the market at launch, both in the black version of the console's livery. The basic version will sport a 20GB hard drive, while the more expensive version has a 60GB drive - at present, however, it's believed that this is the only substantial difference between the two versions.

The system will launch in Japan on November 11th, followed by US and European launches occurring simultaneously six days later, on November 17th. The US Dollar and Euro prices correspond exactly, with the 20GB model priced at $499 / 499 Euro, while the 60GB model is $599 / 599 Euro.

Aside from the dates and prices, Sony's other big secret of the evening was the nature of the controller for the system - which has been one of the best-kept secrets in the industry, with even some of Sony's closest third-party partners being kept in the dark about the pad until today.

Sony has ditched the "boomerang" controller originally seen with the PS3 at E3 last year in favour of sticking to the traditional lines of the Dual Shock 2 controller - but has made several key technical changes to the pad.

Chief amongst these changes is the addition of tilt technology which can sense the motion of the pad through 360 degrees - allowing, for example, the control of games such as air combat title WarHawk, which was used as a demonstration, simply by moving the controller around without actually touching the sticks or buttons.

While the obvious comparison is going to be with Nintendo's Wii controller, the technology used here is actually very different - not least since the PS3 pad does not detect where it is being pointed, as the Wii controller does. As such, the application of the two controllers will be quite different.

Sony has also made the Dual Shock wireless, with a USB charging port on the back of the pad, and in a technical change sure to endear the firm to fans of racing games (such as the next-gen Gran Turismo, a prototype of which was the first software to be showed off at the conference), the R2 and L2 shoulder buttons have become proper triggers, similar to those found on systems like the Xbox 360.

In software terms, Sony confirmed that there will be playable PS3 demo pods on the show floor at E3 - again, dispelling a rumour which has been floating around various blogs and internet news sites for some time - and showed off a range of impressive software, much of it playable or running in real time.

Among the games shown off in real time were Gran Turismo HD, a prototype product, The Eye Of Judgement, a card battling game which uses Eye Toy to allow you to arrange cards on screen with your hands; Ninja Theory's hugely impressive Heavenly Sword; Game Republic's follow-up to PS2 title Genji, Genji 2; and Insomniac Games' Resistance.

In terms of third-party titles and support, EA boss Larry Probst took the stage to show off progress on titles including NBA Live '07 and Tiger Woods, and to reiterate his firm's support for Sony. Other titles such as Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed, Namco's Ridge Racer 7, Sega's Virtua Fighter 5 and Virtua Tennis 3, and From Software's Armoured Core 4 were included in a trailer reel, while Square's Final Fantasy XIII and Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4 merited their own slots at the conference.

The firm also reiterated its commitment to backwards compatibility - and revealed the extent of its plans for digital distribution, which will encompass the distribution of games, movies and music directly to the PS3 and PSP over the network, including delivering PSone back catalogue titles to both platforms.

UnexpectedPit

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Re: PS3 Priced and Dated
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2006, 07:49:45 PM »
I've heard today that there delaying the PS3 in the uk and europe till march next year I have no idea if it's true or not tho.

Matt

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Re: PS3 Priced and Dated
« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2006, 03:32:19 AM »
Credit: ZDNet.com

Sony will delay the European launch of its PlayStation 3 game console by about four months to March and cut its target for worldwide shipments this year by half, the company said Wednesday.

Sony had planned to launch the new version of its blockbuster PlayStation console in November, setting the stage for a three-way showdown with Microsoft and Nintendo during the key holiday-shopping season.

Ken Kutaragi, the head of Sony's game unit and known as the "father of the PlayStation", told reporters that Sony will ship 2 million PS3 units this year--half a previously forecast 4 million--but will make up the lost ground to hit a target of 6 million consoles shipped by March.

Sony said it still planned to launch the PS3 on Nov. 11 in Japan and on Nov. 17 in the United States.

The game console is the widely awaited successor to the PlayStation 2, of which 100 million units have been sold since its launch in 2000.

Flagging potential problems with the PS3 launch, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities last month cut by half its shipment forecast to 3 million of the new PlayStations in the current business year to March, citing Sony's difficulties in procuring its cutting-edge parts.

The success or failure of the PS3 will have a far-reaching impact on Sony's group earnings.

At stake is more than just pole position in the nearly $30 billion video game industry, but also dominance in next-generation DVDs and the commercial viability of the Cell chip co-developed with Toshiba and IBM.

The PlayStation 3 comes with a Blu-ray high-definition DVD player.

Sony holds high hopes that the PlayStation 3 will help Blu-ray technology conquer the rival HD DVD format in becoming the standard for the next-generation DVD. HD DVD is backed by a group of companies lead by Toshiba.

UnexpectedPit

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Re: PS3 Priced and Dated
« Reply #3 on: September 08, 2006, 09:30:02 PM »
Thanks for the info Matt looks like the 360 is going to have a even bigger head start than the ps3 and the wii is also getting a head start.

Matt

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Re: PS3 Priced and Dated
« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2006, 10:07:05 PM »
No doubt about that.  :D

UnexpectedPit

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Re: PS3 Priced and Dated
« Reply #5 on: September 10, 2006, 05:21:47 AM »
I have to say I am tempted now to get a 360.