The Blue Palace Shoguns have finally revealed a significant amount of information regarding the PS3, as well as the future of the PSP. The highlights include a prior-to-Thanksgiving worldwide PS3 launch, a free, XBL-esque online service and video VOIP plus PSX games on PSP.
It looks like they're really giving it everything they've got to overwhelm and overthrow the Emerald Knights while pumping up their competitor to the White Sandwich Paladin's superbaby.
Read on:
Sony promises global PS3 launch in November; six million units by March '07
Rob Fahey 07:45 15/03/2006
Kutaragi commits to aggressive worldwide simultaneous launch schedule
The PlayStation 3 is set to launch in North America, Asia and Europe in early November this year, Sony Computer Entertainment boss Ken Kutaragi has announced, with the firm committed to shipping six million units by the end of March 2007.
Kutaragi was speaking at the PlayStation business briefing in Tokyo, where the firm is outlining its plans for the videogames business over the coming year to an audience of media, analysts and third-party publishing partners.
He told the briefing that the PS3 will be launched in early November in all three major global territories, confounding industry and analyst expectations of a staggered release schedule which would see the European launch delayed to 2007.
From launch onwards, Sony plans to ship a million units a month of the PlayStation 3 - with six million units to be on the market by the end of its financial year in March 2007, indicating that the company plans to have up to two million units ready for day one.
It's an ambitious plan, but the firm certainly has time on its side - having moved its launch target from "spring 2006" to November, and with reports indicating that manufacturing of the console could begin as soon as June, Sony has plenty of time to ramp up the manufacture process and build up stock of the system pre-launch.
Sony also today confirmed that the final development hardware for PlayStation 3 will roll out in June, which tends to support the claim that manufacturing will also start then, as final development hardware requires almost all of the components of the final consumer hardware to be completed.
However, the November target is likely to be the subject of some speculation for months to come - especially given Sony's track record with such ambitious worldwide launch targets in the form of the PlayStation Portable, which was originally due to launch globally at the end of 2004, but ended up not arriving in America until the second quarter of 2005, and didn't launch in Europe until nine months later, at the beginning of September 2005.
PS3: Free online service from day one, hard drive to be a requirement
Rob Fahey 07:40 15/03/2006
60Gb hard drive to be a default component, as Sony takes on Microsoft's advantage
Further details of the PlayStation 3 have emerged from Sony's business briefing in Tokyo today, with the firm revealing that the device's hard drive will not be optional, and that a free online service will roll out for the launch of the console.
It had previously been thought that the PS3 hard drive would be an optional device, as the hard drive on the Xbox 360 is, but Kutaragi was adamant today that the component, which will ship at 60Gb but can be upgraded, is required by the console.
As expected, the drive will allow the PlayStation 3 to act as a home media server, which can store and manipulate various different types of media that can then be accessed from other devices. However, it will also be capable of running a version of the Linux operating system, and will be key to the online service the company is planning.
That service, which is clearly designed as a direct competitor to Microsoft's Xbox Live, will be entirely free and will be available from the launch of the console, offering standard features such as game lobbies, player matching, voice chat and a variety of commercial features including software which will be distributed over the network and can be stored on the hard drive.
This latter feature is particularly interesting in light of the information received from development sources by GamesIndustry.biz earlier this week, indicating that Sony may be planning digital distribution of some of its PS2 and PSone back catalogue on PS3.
The company also this morning confirmed once again that PlayStation 3 will be entirely backwards-compatible with PS2 and PSone titles, and revealed that the new console will be able to upscale those games into high definition video formats.
PSP to get EyeToy, GPS, video chat - and PSone downloadable titles
Rob Fahey 07:35 15/03/2006
Massive set of updates to Sony's handheld wonder announced in Tokyo
Sony has a host of updates to the PlayStation Portable planned over the coming months, with an EyeToy camera, a video and voice chat service, a GPS receiver and the ability to download and play a range of PSone games all on the way.
The updates were announced at the firm's PlayStation business briefing this morning, and indicate Sony's commitment to turning the PSP into a de facto portable network access device as well as an entertainment device.
The EyeToy camera, which is silver and will connect to the console's USB port, will be launched in September along with an EyeToy Play title and video chat system, while free video and voice-over-IP services will appear in October.
The GPS system, meanwhile, will be supported by games as well as by standard global positioning applications - with a new Everybody's Golf title set to be one of the launch titles for the GPS peripheral.
One of the most intriguing updates to the system, however, comes in the form of a new digital distribution service which Sony is planning, which will allow users to download games and applications directly to their memory cards.
An early use of the system will be to distribute a range of classic PSone games, which will be playable on the PlayStation Portable. No details have yet been announced regarding which games will appear in the range, and whether they will need to be extensively re-coded to appear on the system.
Finally, at the more minor end of the spectrum, Sony has also announced that it intends to launch a firmware update for the PSP in the near future which will introduce Macromedia Flash compatibility to the web browser used in the device.
It looks like they're really giving it everything they've got to overwhelm and overthrow the Emerald Knights while pumping up their competitor to the White Sandwich Paladin's superbaby.
Read on:
Sony promises global PS3 launch in November; six million units by March '07
Rob Fahey 07:45 15/03/2006
Kutaragi commits to aggressive worldwide simultaneous launch schedule
The PlayStation 3 is set to launch in North America, Asia and Europe in early November this year, Sony Computer Entertainment boss Ken Kutaragi has announced, with the firm committed to shipping six million units by the end of March 2007.
Kutaragi was speaking at the PlayStation business briefing in Tokyo, where the firm is outlining its plans for the videogames business over the coming year to an audience of media, analysts and third-party publishing partners.
He told the briefing that the PS3 will be launched in early November in all three major global territories, confounding industry and analyst expectations of a staggered release schedule which would see the European launch delayed to 2007.
From launch onwards, Sony plans to ship a million units a month of the PlayStation 3 - with six million units to be on the market by the end of its financial year in March 2007, indicating that the company plans to have up to two million units ready for day one.
It's an ambitious plan, but the firm certainly has time on its side - having moved its launch target from "spring 2006" to November, and with reports indicating that manufacturing of the console could begin as soon as June, Sony has plenty of time to ramp up the manufacture process and build up stock of the system pre-launch.
Sony also today confirmed that the final development hardware for PlayStation 3 will roll out in June, which tends to support the claim that manufacturing will also start then, as final development hardware requires almost all of the components of the final consumer hardware to be completed.
However, the November target is likely to be the subject of some speculation for months to come - especially given Sony's track record with such ambitious worldwide launch targets in the form of the PlayStation Portable, which was originally due to launch globally at the end of 2004, but ended up not arriving in America until the second quarter of 2005, and didn't launch in Europe until nine months later, at the beginning of September 2005.
PS3: Free online service from day one, hard drive to be a requirement
Rob Fahey 07:40 15/03/2006
60Gb hard drive to be a default component, as Sony takes on Microsoft's advantage
Further details of the PlayStation 3 have emerged from Sony's business briefing in Tokyo today, with the firm revealing that the device's hard drive will not be optional, and that a free online service will roll out for the launch of the console.
It had previously been thought that the PS3 hard drive would be an optional device, as the hard drive on the Xbox 360 is, but Kutaragi was adamant today that the component, which will ship at 60Gb but can be upgraded, is required by the console.
As expected, the drive will allow the PlayStation 3 to act as a home media server, which can store and manipulate various different types of media that can then be accessed from other devices. However, it will also be capable of running a version of the Linux operating system, and will be key to the online service the company is planning.
That service, which is clearly designed as a direct competitor to Microsoft's Xbox Live, will be entirely free and will be available from the launch of the console, offering standard features such as game lobbies, player matching, voice chat and a variety of commercial features including software which will be distributed over the network and can be stored on the hard drive.
This latter feature is particularly interesting in light of the information received from development sources by GamesIndustry.biz earlier this week, indicating that Sony may be planning digital distribution of some of its PS2 and PSone back catalogue on PS3.
The company also this morning confirmed once again that PlayStation 3 will be entirely backwards-compatible with PS2 and PSone titles, and revealed that the new console will be able to upscale those games into high definition video formats.
PSP to get EyeToy, GPS, video chat - and PSone downloadable titles
Rob Fahey 07:35 15/03/2006
Massive set of updates to Sony's handheld wonder announced in Tokyo
Sony has a host of updates to the PlayStation Portable planned over the coming months, with an EyeToy camera, a video and voice chat service, a GPS receiver and the ability to download and play a range of PSone games all on the way.
The updates were announced at the firm's PlayStation business briefing this morning, and indicate Sony's commitment to turning the PSP into a de facto portable network access device as well as an entertainment device.
The EyeToy camera, which is silver and will connect to the console's USB port, will be launched in September along with an EyeToy Play title and video chat system, while free video and voice-over-IP services will appear in October.
The GPS system, meanwhile, will be supported by games as well as by standard global positioning applications - with a new Everybody's Golf title set to be one of the launch titles for the GPS peripheral.
One of the most intriguing updates to the system, however, comes in the form of a new digital distribution service which Sony is planning, which will allow users to download games and applications directly to their memory cards.
An early use of the system will be to distribute a range of classic PSone games, which will be playable on the PlayStation Portable. No details have yet been announced regarding which games will appear in the range, and whether they will need to be extensively re-coded to appear on the system.
Finally, at the more minor end of the spectrum, Sony has also announced that it intends to launch a firmware update for the PSP in the near future which will introduce Macromedia Flash compatibility to the web browser used in the device.
Comment