PS3 launch delay officially confirmed

Last year at E3 Sony announced the new iteration of their Playstation console would hit the market in spring this year. The previous weeks and even months there was quite some speculation online that PS3 would not make that launch window. There are still no final devkits, hardware hasn't been finalised and the Bluray vs HD-DVD format war didnt help anything either. It has also been suspiciously quiet since E3, with no mayor announcements or news whatsoever concerning the new Playstation console.

Today there came an end to the PS3 silence. The big man himself, Ken Kutaragi, held a press conference where he let out some new info to the public. The most important thing being that Sony will try to launch the console in November this year, worldwide, mind you. They also announced that Sony will start up its counterpart to Xbox Live, namely 'PlayStation Network Platform' which would alledgedly be free.

Anyone could have guessed the PS3 would be delayed, but today it finally is official. I'm quite curious if we will see some playable games at E3. My guess is that there will be, and to be honest I think that last years E3 CGI-hype bubble will burst into thin air when that happens. Sony has proven in the past to not live up to the hype they create, Namco Girl anyone? :D Even a Sony insider claimed earlier this year that Xbox 360 would even be more potent, ofcourse he got fired. Most devs are saying that both will be more or less equal in terms of graphics and overall power.

By the time PS3 is released Xbox 360 games will more or less be going into their second generation of games. So I think it's more then likely Xbox 360 will have better graphics then PS3 launch games. On top of that the 360 will have a much larger game catalogue. Marketshare-wise I think PS3 will certainly be at the top of the list in Japan. US and EU marketshare remains to be seen. But I think the new Sony console will probably also top the list in the other regions after a while.

Either way, by the time PS3 launches, I'll be playing next-gen games on my 360 for a year, give or take :D And it remains to be seen how the 'PlayStation Network Platform' will compare to Xbox Live, considering they are more or less starting from scratch on that regard. Anyway, 2006 will prove to be a good year for gamers!