Fly in my eyE

Sony to delay launch of PlayStation 3 until November

TOKYO, March 15 (Reuters) - Sony Corp. (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) will delay the release of its new PlayStation 3 video game console until early November, the president of its game unit said on Wednesday.

Ken Kutaragi, the president of Sony Computer Entertainment, the company's game division, made the announcement at the firm's annual PlayStation business briefing to software licencees.

It will launch the new consoles simultaneously in the United States, Japan and Europe, the company said.

Japanese newspapers reported earlier that the company would delay the launch of the PS3 because consumer electronics makers and movie companies were unable to reach an agreement on the development of the copy protection technology for the Blu-ray Disc drive, which is used in the console.

The PS3 launch has been the subject of heavy speculation in the industry as expectations are high for the powerful machine, which will feature cutting-edge technology in its DVD player, processors and graphics.

Other info from the conference report:

1. Kutaragi stated that Sony expects to sell to manufacture 6 million PlayStation 3 units by the end of fiscal 2006, ending March 31, 2007. That's less than 6 months after launch.

2. As reported, the PSP will soon support an emulator to play original PlayStation games. The games will be stored on memory sticks via e-distribution.

3. The PS3's online service, dubbed "PlayStation Network Platform", will sport voice chat, matchmaking lobbies and Marketplace-type features that allow users to download content, including software, implying some sort of digital distribution for games. The online service will be available at launch. As reported, the service will be free.

4. PS3 will allegedly be backwards compatible to all PS1 and PS2 games. The new console will also support high-definition resolutions for previous generations.

5. Finalized PS3 dev kits will be shipping to developers in June.

6. The PS2 will remain at its $149 price tag for the foreseeable future.

7. Kutaragi said that that the PS3 will require a hard drive, which will have a 60 GB capacity and support Linux OS. No word on if it will be included.

8. A hard drive-equipped PS3 is intended to be a sort of a central server for the home, allowing users to upload media from one peripheral and view it on another.

9. Sony will release a new firmware upgrade for PSP which will support Flash in its Web browser.

10. PS3 games will be featured exclusively on Blu-ray discs to protect against piracy.

posted by Agent 1138 @ 9:48 AM