September 24, 2005

PS3 Launch "Spring 2006"

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, a spokesperson for Sony Computer Entertainment clarified comments made by CEO Howard Stringer recently regarding a spring launch for PS3.

"Ken Kutaragi, president of SCE, announced a spring target date for the launch of PlayStation 3 at this year's E3, and it appears that Sir Howard confirmed it at yesterday's strategy meeting," the spokesperson said.

"We have not yet announced detailed launch dates for each region," he continued, adding: "If you look at how close Microsoft announced release dates to the launch of the Xbox 360, it's rather unrealistic to expect PS3 dates now."

September 15, 2005

PlayStation 3 vs Xbox 360 : Japan

According to folks in the know (analysts), Microsoft Corp.'s big Xbox 360 push in Japan will do little to affect Sony Corp.'s PlayStation following in Japan. Even before the release of the Xbox 360, Sony has created more market buzz in Japan for its next-generation PlayStation 3 console, due in the spring reports HinduTimes. Well this makes sense, errr , Sony just happens to be a Japanese company.

Microsoft Chief Xbox Officer Robbie Bach dismisses surveys showing interest in his new console is still low.

"None of that is worth anything," he said at the Reuters Technology and Telecoms Summit in Tokyo on Wednesday.

The lack of success in Japan with the first Xbox was due to lack of compelling games for Japanese, not relations with retailers or even the bulky design of the first Xbox.

"Ultimately if we had great games, people would have put a big, black Xbox in the living room," he said. This time, he says, Microsoft has laid the groundwork for just that.

Analysts expect the Xbox 360 to sell better than its previous version, but they don't expect it to seriously challenge Sony's dominance of the gaming market in Japan.

"There is no way it will come close to the PlayStation," said Tokyo-based Deutsche Securities analyst Takashi Oya. "Microsoft will have done well if it gets 10 percent market share in Japan."

September 12, 2005

PlayStation 3 in nine months, PlayStation 3 more powerful than Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 easy to develop for, Sony planning Xbox Live type offering

According to an unnamed source speaking to PSM the Sony PlayStation 3 is far easier to develop for than the Xbox 360.

"Both are friendly, but the PS3 may actually be friendlier. People are finding that the [Xbox] 360 has some stupid bottlenecks."

The PlayStation 3 more powerful than the Microsoft offering.

"Once we have final hardware for both next-gen systems, we'll have a much better idea of how they compare, but the general consensus right now is that the PS3 is considerably more powerful than the Xbox 360 across the board," said another unnamed source. "It's important to get a good idea of which is the most powerful soon, since multiplatform games will need to be either ported down from PS3 to 360 or vice-versa."

Sony is also planning to make an Xbox Live - type online community

"They [Sony] have a whole division that was put in place after the Network Adaptor was released for PS2 that basically dropped focus on PS2 and moved to planning the PS3," another unnamed insider told the magazine. "They knew that early that they were not going to compete during the current generation."

September 4, 2005

Sony Playstation 3 developer kit price - $25,000

The Inquirer UK is reporting that Sony is charging qualified Game Developers ( must past rigorous evaluations AKA you need to show Sony that your Game is worthy of PlayStation 3 love) $25,000 pounds for a Playstation 3 developer Kit.

With the kit you get the PlayStation 3 documentation and secrets writes the Inquirer. These machines are going to simulate what is later going to be known as Playstation 3.

September 2, 2005

Playstation 3 Blu-Ray drive will cost Sony $100+

According to reports Sony will pay about $50 more than say a DVD +RW drive to outfit the Sony Playstation 3 with Blu-ray drives. Since Blu-ray was developed for high-definition video and high-capacity software applications, Sony is will to make the $100 plunge. A single-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 25 gigabytes of data and a dual-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 50 gigabytes of data.

The Inquirer writes 'this a very expensive step that Sony is willing to take as it will increase cost of Playstation 3 unit dramatically. Sony said Playstation 3 is going the be expensive and this is one of the reasons why."

via

September 1, 2005

Playstation 3 supports keyboard and mouse.

At a recent game developers conference in London, Sony offically revealed many details about upcoming Playstation 3 hardware repoirts theinquirer. . According to reports in addition to the seven Bluetooth 2.0 compliant controllers, and six USB slots on the PlayStation 3, users will also be able to plug in a keyboard and a mouse.

The company representative added that you will be able to play games such as Unreal Tournament 2007 with the keyboard and the mouse.