Sony: Spring PS3 launch imminent

by Ben Striegel { Dec 9th 2005 at 8:15AM }

According to Reuters, the bigwigs at Sony have recently reaffirmed the PS3's predicted launch window of spring 2006, despite numerous rumors and utterances to the contrary. Since Sony have yet to follow in Microsoft's footsteps and announce their intentions to engage in a simultaneous worldwide launch, we can assume that they'll be shooting for the usual staggered release schedule of Japan first, everywhere else… meh, whenever.

Technically speaking, should Sony stay true to their word, Japan could be seeing the PS3 as early as March 21, though no later than the same time come June. Given that the PS2 took a little under eight months to make the transition across the Pacific, we can roughly estimate a North American PS3 launch window of early November 2006 to late January 2007. This could potentially coincide with the recent rumor of a U.S. Revolution launch circa next Thanksgiving, and it could just mean, depending on far you read into this, that we might be breaking in Halo 3 in less than a year's time.

[Thanks, Ravi]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

xbox360-forums.com @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

And that leaves Europe where? Spring 2008?

Mazinkaiser @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

I'd love to hear somehting offical directly from Sony! I sill think PS3 will reach "outside of Japan" in 2007, but hopefuly I'm wrong!

yay @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

mmmmmmmmmm....Halo 3.

Jack @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

Since the Playstation is region-free, I guess people are gonna start importing like the psp, plus for me my imported psp was much cheaper.

Pete @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

Chances are that if we haven't seen any screens for Halo 3 by this point, we're not getting it next year. Especially with GoW being pushed back according to EBgames.com

Hentay @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

aw man... this means I gotta wait in like for 12 hours again when it comes out? :/

Tim @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

"Chances are that if we haven't seen any screens for Halo 3 by this point, we're not getting it next year. Especially with GoW being pushed back according to EBgames.com"

Well that made no sense.

Just because there's no "screens" doesn't mean that Halo 3 isn't under development and on track for a PS3 battle. I don't think you understand how little hype it needs. Every human being in a first world country knows about Halo now, they don't need to hype us up for 8 months ahead of time. They could release it two days from now, and as long as they told us about it tomorrow, everyone would line up to buy it.

That doesn't mean it wont have a huge advertising budget when it does come along, though. But anyway, they can keep it a secret as long as they want. No need to release screens or anything.

Hentay @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

I mean wait in LINE. I hope there isn't a shortage like Microsoft, but you know they will. . .

Tachikoma @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

Perfect Dark Zero had no real screenshots until Xbox 360 was revealed around May or so and it was under 4 years of development (supposedly) so Halo 3 must be in the works now.

I like Halo and PS3, but it seems like if Halo wanted to battle PS3, Halo will be rushed and the game will end up being crappy.

Jeremy Wright @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

Huh. Okay, I'll buy it. My gut instinct was that without any production ramp-up announcements / rumours I didn't feel Sony could meet the PS3 launch of Spring in Japan.

But, I'll buy it that a Winter 2006 launch here means they need to launch in Spring 2006 over there (and Spring 2007 in Europe). That's reasonable, even if it seems like the PS3 isn't anywhere near ready from the outside.

Sean @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

Interesting. Sony rushes the PS3 to market in order to get the customers that Microsoft is stealing as we speak. Microsoft rushes Halo 3 to market in order to keep the customers and make everyone forget about the PS3. Both end up being crap, and the Revolution launches a month later to record sales.

A fanboy can dream, right?

rog27 @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

The Halo series is overrated and bad.

Trey @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

PS3 will be good. I think Xbox 360 will conquer though.

Kamalot @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

I'll believe the launch when I see it.

Even then, when Sony rushes the PS3 out the door, it will mean that few developers will have had time to make polished, presentable next-gen games. Developers have been working with Xbox 360 kits for more than a year now.

PS3 is going to be unimpressive for a long time after its release.

Paul @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

Screw that, this means we will see MGS 4 sooner. halo 3. wooooo

MacAttack @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

This is what I think is going to happen and its an opinion coming from a 28 year old consumer with an average salary (I know for a fact its average) that likes hight tech stuff.
1)Xbox 360 will conquer because its a resonable price for next gen console which isn't that much next gen.
2)Sony with the PS3 once again is ahead of their game like the psp is to handhelds with all the expensive hardware but with no games which will not look much different on an xbox 360. They want to create the next media standard with blue ray but people are perfectly happy with there current dvd's like me.
3)People will buy the Rev., its inexpensive an alternative to buying the PS3 but still having a second console, and also trying out there new technology but won't cost them a fortune.

And it all boils down to consumer spending I believe, the economy is not that great even though our President claims its getting better. Who wants to start their whole movie collection all over again, not me! Who still thinks $50 not to mention $60 is to much for game, everyone!

So sony's mistake will put microsoft on top or head to head with Nintendo because blu-ray will not be disruptive technology. Its going to fail like the laser disk did when it tried to go against the vhs. VHS was not as sharp as LD but it was nice and cheap.

KilgoreTrout XL @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

"halo series is overrated and bad."

Damn. You really stuck it to the Halo series there, huh?

Dralt @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

PS 3 may come out in the US first.

Microsoft is hoping it does not happen.

AK @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

So would Halo 3 be released to coincide with the Spring Japan launch or the Fall North American launch? Either way, I hope they don't rush it. I am a patient man...

Dralt @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

>>

This is a question. There is another:

Who wants to buy a standard-definition disc when a high-definition discs is on sale?

DVDs were not cheap, at first, and VHS tapes were getting very cheap.
People could have saved a lot of money by buying VHS tapes, yet they could not resist the appeal of DVD.

AK @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

"PS 3 may come out in the US first"

I'm sure Japanese gamers would love that (sarcasm).

FooAtari @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

@MacAttack - I pretty much agree with a scenario similar to that.

I think it's far to quick to bring out a format to replace DVD, people are only just replacing their VHS and building their collections up and will not buy into it IMO. And by time Blu-Ray does become mainstream and DVD is done with(which would take a few years even if it was on the shop shelf right now) Digital Distribution will be taking off.

Also all of Sonys formats have failed. Betamax, MiniDisc and Artac (i think that was Sonys equivalent to MP3.) I think UMD will go the same way, you can only watch them on a PSP and who the hell would buy one over watching a DVD on a widescreen TV?

There is an argument that MP3 and digital distrobution is slowly killing CD's and I persnoally can see them same thing happening to DVD in a few years making a new format obsolete very quickly.

The people at the top always fall eventually and I think Sony are doing all the wrong things this time around and it's not going to come together.

Sorry about the spelling, it's terrible I know.

FooAtari @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

@ Dralt

VHS was an old format, over 20 years? and a replacement was long overdue. I dont think they will bo so keen to buy into another one so quickly though.

Dralt @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

We will see...my forecast is:

In the same way people:

- said: "I am not going to buy my collection again on DVD."
- kept a VCR around for their collection
- switched to buying DVDs as soon as they could

People:

- say: "I am not going to buy my collection again on Blu-ray."
- won't need to keep their old DVD player around because their new Blu-ray player will play DVD discs as well
- will switch to buying HD discs as soon as they can

AK @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

I'm all for digital distribution. I love Video-On-Demand, but I don't think that will happen with games, at least exclusively, until EVERYONE is connected. That being said they will probably end up co-existing with each other like MP3's and CD's.

Dralt @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

#21

Japan is Sony's stronghold. They have nothing to lose by launching there later.

The Art of War:

24. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.

Mazinkaiser @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

MacAttack and FooAtari,
while i can't see the future, I have a very similar opinion on this issue as you do. Everytime I say so, I get the bashers after me or branded a fanboy, so its nice to not be alone this time!

AK @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

Well I don't know about you, but I would not risk alienating my strongest market by releasing a much anticipating product in another market first. That could invite a revolution!!!

AK @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

I meant anticipated.

PJ @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

This is kind of on topic:

Looks like EBGames.com is starting to send second shipment 360's to customers who preordered, but did not get a system.

From the story: "BREAKING: EBGames has notified pre-order hold-overs from the first shipment, that their orders have been shipped.

Those left out in the cold on November 22nd as a result of having a pre-order made past the cut-off date of the first shipment may have reason to smile this holiday season. EBGames.com has apparently received a new shipment of Xbox 360s and started shipping them out yesterday evening."

Link: http://360.advancedmn.com/article.php?artid=6503

Hushed Casket @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

@ FooAtari

How will I be able to watch High Definition videos on a disc medium?

don_sf @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

why dont u people understand properly.

sony is adopting the blu ray technology, which is made by some other people.

yeah ps1 taking cd wasnt a success (100 million+), ps2 wasnt a succes when they used dvd (100 million+).

and you dont have to chuck your dvd's away. blu ray will come down in price fast, eventually replacing dvd.

dont forget, your get huge amount on your blu ray, the world is switching to hd, and blu ray will help this. and you must of heard of the hundreds of SMALL names which are supporting blu ray, errr such as warner, fox, disney. i dont think you will have heard of them.

if you gona buy something, get ps3 and rev. trust me xbox 360 aint worth it.

n2 @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

Spring 2006 launch... in Japan

Rest of the world... later.

If the PS3 makes an appearance in the US before November 2006, I'd be surprised.

PlayStation 3 @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

More gaming is good for you. Start saving now!

Jon Speed @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

I'm sick of hearing everyone saying that the PS3 is gonna be rushed to market to combat the XBOX 360. that shit gets under my skin so fuckin much. like honestly what do you guys have against sony besides that rootkit, and proprietary formats? other than that, they have actually been pretty good in providing the consumers with good shit. I know why you guys bag on them though. lets just get this straight, GEORGE LUCAS said that the PS2 would play "Toy Story" like graphics, nobody from sony said that. but BILL GATES the man funding the XBOX said that the XBOX could play "Toy Story 2" graphics and that there were "unlimited possibilities with the XBOX". so wait, why is there another one without anything new but a smaller case, and a DVD player that actually works out of the box. everybody says that Sony hates their consumers, but who the fuck would market a DVD player on their system and then say "oops you gotta buy a 30 dollar remote to watch them". but no,everyone jumps on his nut sack. last time i checked, microsoft cut the XBOX's lifespan right when it hit it's stride in order to get out the RUSHED XBOX 360 to get some of Sony's share. all you guys know it. even if they started making the 360 the day that the xbox came out, that's 4 years of dev time compared to the fact that the PS2 came outin Japan 6 years ago, and they were in fact developing the PS3 long ago. so basically the longer it takes for the PS3 to come out, the more polished the machine will be. i for one wont be buying a 360, and for that sarcastic muthafucka who's gonna say something stupid, yes, that is one more system that you can have. starting bid price on my XBOX is 2 dollars lol. and Fuck Halo. that bullshit is so overrated!, i had it tryed it, traded it within 2 months!

Guslav @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

if sony is smart (which they may or may not be), they will get the ps3 on market in north america sooner rather than later. the 360 is a good machine and now an established brand, so it will use any headstart to eat into sony's marketshare in the single largest market for gaming in the world. in japan, however, the 360 does not represent a credible threat to sony's dominance.

given microsoft's production and supply issues, if the ps3 can get to market in the spring, the 360's early launch will not give it the massive sales lead it hopes will push it past sony for this generation.

however, if sony skips north america in the spring and waits to launch until late 2006, the 360 will have a commanding lead that sony may not overtake.

...and that would be a huge mistake, not only for the ps3, but also for blu-ray...

Hachi_roku @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

360 is not going to be doing phenominal in the US untill like Q2 2006 when the real good games start coming in IMO.

Also 360 will have no power in Japan untill Ninty Nine Nights, aRM and all those other games come out which is no time soon. So Sony could sit back for a while, since they can take Japan whenver.

Everybody knows the Japanese would buy toilet paper made by Sony if they could.

MacAttack @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

Dralt how old are you because you don't realize that like FootAtari said it took about 20 years or so for dvd's to create a disruptive technological presence in our society against VHS, (80's-2000).
Also LD became big in Japan not here, I still think they are still making them, but it doesn't matter when Hollywood/movies are based here in US.

Ak I agree with that aswell, so more of a reason Sony is making a big mistake with Blu-ray since digital dist. is yet to make a real presence.

Jon Speed lay off the steriods its only speculation and discussion.

Guslav who do u think is smarter at marketing?
I say m$ and thats what really matters, why do u think your os is windows. Sony is still yet to implement us with one of there implementations(that sounded funny but true)!

Dralt @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

I'm 34.

I know one thing: Stores had 4 aisles of VHS tapes for 1 aisle of DVDs when PS 2 was released. 2 years later, they had 4 aisles of DVDs for 1 aisle of VHS tapes. Today, not every store carries VHS tapes.

I don't say PS 2 made it happen, but it happened. I saw it happen with my very own eyes.

Again, the real question is: Will American consumers have the discipline to buy a standard-definition disc when a high-definition disc is on store shelves?

I don't think so.

Americans don't like to settle for less.

MacAttack @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

Wow I just remembered Sony is repeating history, just like when DreamCast came out with gig-rom, I think it was called instead of dvd which PS2 decided to go with. So far Sony was following the standard from cd-rom to dvd, but now they are taking a different approach immitating Nintendo's innovative spirit, and how succesful were they?

Mxg @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

""""""""""""""""""""""""Posted Dec 9, 2005, 12:44 PM ET by Jon Speed
I'm sick of hearing everyone saying that the PS3 is gonna be rushed to market to combat the XBOX 360. that shit gets under my skin so fuckin much. like honestly what do you guys have against sony besides that rootkit, and proprietary formats? other than that, they have actually been pretty good in providing the consumers with good shit. I know why you guys bag on them though. lets just get this straight, GEORGE LUCAS said that the PS2 would play "Toy Story" like graphics, nobody from sony said that. but BILL GATES the man funding the XBOX said that the XBOX could play "Toy Story 2" graphics and that there were "unlimited possibilities with the XBOX". so wait, why is there another one without anything new but a smaller case, and a DVD player that actually works out of the box. everybody says that Sony hates their consumers, but who the fuck would market a DVD player on their system and then say "oops you gotta buy a 30 dollar remote to watch them". but no,everyone jumps on his nut sack. last time i checked, microsoft cut the XBOX's lifespan right when it hit it's stride in order to get out the RUSHED XBOX 360 to get some of Sony's share. all you guys know it. even if they started making the 360 the day that the xbox came out, that's 4 years of dev time compared to the fact that the PS2 came outin Japan 6 years ago, and they were in fact developing the PS3 long ago. so basically the longer it takes for the PS3 to come out, the more polished the machine will be. i for one wont be buying a 360, and for that sarcastic muthafucka who's gonna say something stupid, yes, that is one more system that you can have. starting bid price on my XBOX is 2 dollars lol. and Fuck Halo. that bullshit is so overrated!, i had it tryed it, traded it within 2 months!"""""""""""""""""""""

Smartest thing I EVER read on these XBOX FUCKIN fanboy boards ! Jeez I am no fanboy but everything this guy said is TRUE ! Weather you like it or not !

And I am sure one of you XFanboys are ready to say something else so go right ahead !

Snake2k9 @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

Jon Speed, no one cares what you think! I'm still getting a 360 next year wheather you like it or not bitch!!!!! haha

MacAttack @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

You know thats why you can't have a nice unbiased discussion because these sony fag boys are always roming xbox fanboy boards, first of all what are u doing here anyways?

Anyways the argument is that Sony once again is trying to shove some innovative media down our throats, eg. betamax,minidisk(which i had one), umd/pro duo memory stick(Yes I own a PSP), now Blue-disk.

Dralt you are absolutely right about after the PS2 came out it was all about the dvd. PS2 had alot to do with it because it was kind of perfect timing and a very smart decision by Sony to implement a dvd player with the console. I mean dvd players were around since the PS1, but it was an inexpensive alternative to buy a console and dvd player in one since a stand-alone dvd player cost was still expensive.

So thats exactly why the PS2 was so successful because they went along with the media standard and gave it a boost, not against it! Sony doesn't do well at creating one just mass producing what already exists and making it better. eg: High End TVS, HDTV, DVD Players & burners, I mean list goes on.(And even they sometimes suck)

So thats whay I have to say because I'm speaking from the consumer trying to get the best for his money stand point not xbox or sony fanboy, but techie fanboy!

Pretty Obvious @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

I can easily see Microsoft dropping the price of the 360 between 50 to 100 bucks by next Nov ( For the core and Premium bundles). They will undercut Sonys system and if Halo 3 really does come out at that time. Sony and to a lesser extent Nintendo will be in trouble. The 360 Core system can directly compete with the Revolution if that launches at 150. Youd still be getting more with the Core then a Revolution anyway.

Mullinator @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

@44
"Youd still be getting more with the Core then a Revolution anyway."

Wow, nice opinion you have there. ;)

Slashbunny @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

Halo sucks. Every serious gamer knows that. Of course it sells well because the majority of people don't know better.

Well, sucks is a strong word. How about "mediocre" or "slightly above average". But when something is hyped to hell like the Halo series is, while there are countless superior FPS games out there, you need to beat back a little harder with your choice of language :p

Jon Speed @ Dec 18th 2005 10:05PM

Snake2k9
then why did you take the time to read what i had to say. enjoy your xbox dude, im not sayin its bad, dont be all on the bandwagon just because everyone else is. get your 360 ad be merry with it. me, im just adressing all of you people who swears that Microsoft is like fucking santa clause or somethin! and whoever said im on steroyds, that makes no sense to me. what i said was all fact, no speculation homie. maybe you should be the one layin off the juice