October 26, 2005

PlayStation 3 (PS3) Price-d Under $400 in Japan?

According to Japanese blog CoolGamer, the PlayStation 3 (PS3) will be priced under $400 in Japan. Game site 1up says CoolGamer has been a dependable source of early information regarding the Japanese game market. Not once has their news turned out to be a false lead.

The blogger writes, "In the latest Famitsu, a very important person mentioned that the PS3 price would not be over 40000yen". This price range was thrown around by a Sony rep a few months back.

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October 25, 2005

Compatibility issues to dog PlayStation 3 (PS3)?

During a little chat with Digital World Tokyo, SCEI's Reiko Sakamoto admitted that the imminent PS3 will not necessarily be 100% backwards compatible.

"It's hard to say the PlayStation 3 will be 100 percent backwards compatible but as we said earlier this year we aim to make it so as much as possible," Sakamoto said.

"We believe multiple factors are responsible," said Reiko Sakamoto, a spokeswoman for SCEI in Tokyo. The latest console uses a new chipset - the chip that sits between the main processor and the rest of the device - and changes in that chip coupled with the way some software is programmed are believed to be causing the glitches, she said. The problems are largely screen hang-ups during certain parts of the game but also include glitches such as the slow saving of game data onto memory cards.

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October 17, 2005

Xbox 360: Microsoft talks Sony Playstation 3 delay

Folk over at Microsoft are shooting off about just how great the launch lead of their Xbox 360 will have over the Sony PlayStation 3. According to some, Microsoft is confident that PlayStation 3 will slip from its "spring 2006" launch, with some suggesting that, at least in Europe, Sony's machine may not arrive until 200 reports Next Gen Biz

Xbox UK boss Neil Thompson told MCV, "I'd be happy to compete whenever they turn up, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's not until spring '07. If they hit Christmas '06 (in Europe) then maybe it'll be a very thin launch; a launch in name only".

Friday's edition of MCV also quotes a "senior European publisher boss" as saying he "wouldn't be surprised" if PS3 did not arrive in Europe until spring '07, giving Microsoft two Holiday seasons in Europe.

J.Allard said, "There's a big gap between what Sony claims and what they've shown. They'll need an eight hour press conference pretty soon just to give people confidence in that spring '06 date they've mentioned."

"There's a lot of stuff they just don't have in place yet. They make nice movies though."

Xbox's global chief Robbie Bach said, "Whatever they do, they're going to be chasing us for a long, long time."