Sony confirms plans to launch PS3 in Spring 2006 (U.S.)

[Carl B]

What i think they are going to do is hit japan / asian markets in march time frame and hit the usa and europe in the october time frame . Japan is more forgiving with sony products and lack luster launches so they can start to build hype over there and then bring it here and europe and they can hit with enough units here

I could definitely see that happening, don't get me wrong. It's just if they launch PS3 in the US in spring time, I'm not going to be one of the people floored by the shock. I personally expect them to try and get it out in the US as soon as they feel they have a viable software support structure of any kind, and randomly pick a holiday to set it up for. But if they go your route and set it up for 'Black Friday,' again I can understand that logic as well.

 

[jvd]

(jvd shudders at hte prospect of black friday )

Yea a launch at the holidays here will just create that much hype anyway sony can't do a japan ps2 launch over here . They need good games . I remember how bad that launch was , parents were buying that fireworks game for thier kids because there wasn't anything else but that , ridge racer and tekkan

 

[Kolgar]

You and a few others constantly need to paint me as anti sony . Have fun if it makes you feel better at night but sadly you are wrong .

Why should it be okay for you to allways post postive about sony and nothing nice about nintendo or ms ?

The double standard coming out of the sony fans posts is really annoying . The forum is about voicing opinions or stating facts . Why should only one side be able to voice thier opinions ?

Somebody needs a reality check.

First, read your posts, jvd. Go ahead - call up all your posts and count the number of times you criticize Sony or offer up reasons why they could stumble. If you're honest with yourself, you'll see that you are clearly biased against Sony and its products.

I wouldn't mind it if you maintained an objective point of view. But you don't, as evidenced by the times you go way overboard - as you did when you recently claimed that Tekken 3 on PSone looked better than Tekken Tag on PS2.

Secondly, you're wrong if you think I never post anything "nice" about Microsoft and Nintendo. You're either not reading clearly, or you're making a judgement without having read all of my posts.

Maybe you're reacting to the fact that I generally have more positive things to say about Sony. Have you considered the idea that maybe there's more positive things to say about what Sony has accomplished these past 10 years?

The company's success speaks for itself. It's taken the lead from Nintendo and maintained that lead for two consecutive generations. It is currently outselling its competitors by several times each. "PlayStation" has become synonymous with video games. It's arguable that had Sony not entered the market, video games would not enjoy the popularity and social acceptance they do today.

This stuff wouldn't be happening if Sony wasn't doing something right. I'm merely acknowledging it.

Let there be no doubt that should Sony screw up, I'll be one of the first to call them on it. I don't have any personal attachments to these companies. I'll continue to buy from all of them if they give me the things I want. Likewise, I'll stop buying from the ones who don't give me what I want. Meanwhile, I'll continue to call them as I see them, and dole out praise or criticism as I feel they are deserved.

Finally, I agree that a discussion forum is the place to voice opinions. Keep that in mind the next time you call one of my posts "idiotic."

 

[zidane1strife]

(jvd shudders at hte prospect of black friday )

Yea a launch at the holidays here will just create that much hype anyway sony can't do a japan ps2 launch over here . They need good games . I remember how bad that launch was , parents were buying that fireworks game for thier kids because there wasn't anything else but that , ridge racer and tekkan

Tis ain't ps2 all over again u know. With pcish gpus and cell available on current dev kits what's developed there can easily be ported, and will indeed impress. Further the ps3 is also said to be extremely easy to develop for, and given the later timeframe(given the dev kits are much closer to the final h/w compared to x360 and there are additional months left for dev.s)....

Way I see it tis gonna be GTA exclusive during the launch window period along with a couple of other nice games(some puzzle, some sport, a fighter or two, and maybe a couple of adventure or rpgish games), if so it's: GAMEOVER.

 

[Acert93]

Further the ps3 is also said to be extremely easy to develop for, and given the later timeframe(given the dev kits are much closer to the final h/w compared to x360 and there are additional months left for dev.s)....

Since when did, "Easier than the PS2" become "extremely easy to develop for"? I know Epic mentioned getting the UE3 engine to run on the PPE was not too hard. And a lot of that has to do with the RSX/NV GPU and the NV tools.

But outside of that I have not heard any developers talking about how "great" "easy" or "fun" optimising multithreaded apps is on any of the platforms is/will be. Even developers on the Xbox 360, who say the tools are better, have discussed the great difficulties of getting software to thread effeciently across 3 symetric cores.

Extremely easy would have been an equivalent performance single core CPU with a large cach, out of order execution, at 10GHz+. I am not sure we should be labeling any of the next gen CPUs as "extremely easy" to develop for.

 

[mckmas8808]

The last two posts completly explain how I feel also jvd. I have said plenty of times that the Xbox has the best...

1. Graphics
2. Online gamplay
3. FPS
4. PC ports
5. And it has a hard drive

I don't mind saying it. And you know why because its the true. Yes I love Sony, I don't mind saying it but that doesn't mean I have to lie to you guys or even worse myself.

I have said in the past that I will never buy a X360, NR, DS, or any other Nintendo handheld. Not because I hate them but because I don't have 100 million dollars to spend on every console. There's other things in life that I want to spend my money on. Sony easily covers any and everything that I need for a gaming console and handheld.

If Sony launches the PS3 in the U.S. in the spring jvd, it will not be a bad thing. How can it be bad. Hmmm should Sony release the PS3 in October and sell 3 million units by the end of the year or should they sale it in May and sell 15 million by the end of the year.

Not a hard choice I mean come on. And like zidane said the PS3 is WAY easier to program for, so 3rd parties can easily port the X360 games to the PS3 for a spring release. Look at what Epic did in 2 months. It really not a problem if your honest with yourself.

 

[jvd]

Tis ain't ps2 all over again u know. With pcish gpus and cell available on current dev kits what's developed there can easily be ported, and will indeed impress. Further the ps3 is also said to be extremely easy to develop for, and given the later timeframe(given the dev kits are much closer to the final h/w compared to x360 and there are additional months left for dev.s)....

well march is 9 months away , sony has yet to show any playable games everything was tech demos or cgi . Which gives developers 9 months or sony to create games . Ms has 5 months to take playable games and make them look good . So really for a good launch line up sony will need to be at where ms is at current day with in 3 months or so. I don't see it happening though sony can supprise us but if the games were that far into developement we would have seen them .

As for final hardware , developers have had spec tragets and kits for 2 years for the xbox vs one year for the ps3 . Developers have started getting beta kits with the final parts , sony claims the rsx isn't even finished yet ... I don't see how they will have dev kits much closer to the ifinal configuration sooner in the life cycle than ms will. It seems to me they may only be just even with each other . However sony will have the luxury of ports from the x360 . But really at that point they will just be launch fillers . A good port is a good port but it will have been avalible already for months .

Way I see it tis gonna be GTA exclusive during the launch window period along with a couple of other nice games(some puzzle, some sport, a fighter or two, and maybe a couple of adventure or rpgish games), if so it's: GAMEOVER.

FIrst you have to assume that gta wont be out on the x360 . Then you have to assume that gta will still have the strength it did this generation. That would be the 4th gta in what 5 or 6 years ? Then you have the clones like scar face and godfather . These can take thigns away from them. You also have to assume that the game will be ready in march for an early launch .

Anyway ms will have a good fighter or two , they will have a killer rpg (elder scrolls ) they will have a ton of puzzle and other games free packed in with the system like poker and the like and they should have a few adventure games like kameo , dead rising , the darkness and others .


Also if gta is avalible day one remember in march gears of war should be hitting and will get alot of people to look over .


I really think that holiday 2006 is the best time in the states for the system . There is just nothing like launching a new product in the holiday season and all the hype it gets

If Sony launches the PS3 in the U.S. in the spring jvd, it will not be a bad thing. How can it be bad. Hmmm should Sony release the PS3 in October and sell 3 million units by the end of the year or should they sale it in May and sell 15 million by the end of the year.

your assuming they can produce 15 million units . Think what you will but if any of the 3 systems launch with lackluster tittles or a rushed line up and it will greatly affect that console . That is all . I've siad why i think holiday 2006 is a better time than march and thats it .

Aside from that I think in the end you will see that sony agrees and will ulitmately launch in that holiday season

 

[zidane1strife]

Further the ps3 is also said to be extremely easy to develop for, and given the later timeframe(given the dev kits are much closer to the final h/w compared to x360 and there are additional months left for dev.s)....

Since when did, "Easier than the PS2" become "extremely easy to develop for"? I know Epic mentioned getting the UE3 engine to run on the PPE was not too hard. And a lot of that has to do with the RSX/NV GPU and the NV tools.

But outside of that I have not heard any developers talking about how "great" "easy" or "fun" optimising multithreaded apps is on any of the platforms is/will be. Even developers on the Xbox 360, who say the tools are better, have discussed the great difficulties of getting software to thread effeciently across 3 symetric cores.

Extremely easy would have been an equivalent performance single core CPU with a large cach, out of order execution, at 10GHz+. I am not sure we should be labeling any of the next gen CPUs as "extremely easy" to develop for.

The bulk of launch titles are unlikely to use the spes much, probably few or none'll be used(aka dev. for single core basically). The gpu's pcishand has nvidia hlsl(easy porting from dev. kit/x360 to final h/w), they've h/w that's closer to the final stuff then x360 and they've many additional dev. months. I think it's feasible, the only problem I'd see as possibly arising is on the manufacturing side of things. But assuming no prob.s there, this is likely going to be a very nice move on their part.

ed

 

[Carl B]

The bulk of launch titles are unlikely to use the spes much, probably few or none'll be used(aka dev. for single core basically). The gpu's pcishand has nvidia hlsl(easy porting from dev. kit/x360 to final h/w), they've h/w that's closer to the final stuff then x360 and they've many additional dev. months. I think it's feasible, the only problem I'd see as possibly arising is on the manufacturing side of things. But assuming no prob.s there, this is likely going to be a very nice move on their part.

ed

I almost cannot believe that there will not be fabbing issues with a 300 million transistor GPU, especially with no 'extra SPE' to take the bullet for the chip. I just think Sony will endure bad yields on the RSX like they did the GS before getting it to it's second gen.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

well march is 9 months away , sony has yet to show any playable games everything was tech demos or cgi .

Your speaking as though Heavenly Sword and UT2007 don't exist :? Why do you think no-one will be able to make anything reasonable from PPC ISA and OpenGL in a year+ development (PS3 games, like Xenons, being in progress before specs were known)?
I can't understand why you doubt PS3's launch lineup. PS2 suffered because it was a pig to develop for. Simple (single threaded) PS3 games won't be.

 

[mckmas8808]

well march is 9 months away , sony has yet to show any playable games everything was tech demos or cgi . Which gives developers 9 months or sony to create games . Ms has 5 months to take playable games and make them look good . So really for a good launch line up sony will need to be at where ms is at current day with in 3 months or so. I don't see it happening though sony can supprise us but if the games were that far into developement we would have seen them .

As for final hardware , developers have had spec tragets and kits for 2 years for the xbox vs one year for the ps3 . Developers have started getting beta kits with the final parts , sony claims the rsx isn't even finished yet ... I don't see how they will have dev kits much closer to the ifinal configuration sooner in the life cycle than ms will. It seems to me they may only be just even with each other . However sony will have the luxury of ports from the x360 . But really at that point they will just be launch fillers . A good port is a good port but it will have been avalible already for months .

Respectly stating jvd you still have no idea.

First of all who says that there weren't games close to playable at E3. Everybody doesn't think like MS.

Second, at least wait till TGS before making silly claims like Sony would have shown something at E3 if they are going to launch in the Spring. Its obvious that Sony will launch somewhere in the Spring so shouldn't some games be launch with the system.

Third, I can't remember but did the PSP have playable games at the 2004 E3? Devs can easily have some games playable at TGS. Did MS have anything playable in January of this year? I think not.

Fourth, who told you that devs have received beta kits from MS. ALL MS execs have stated July or August being when they will see beta kits NOT now. Everybody knows that relative to MS, Sony's console is closer to completion than MS's at its same time scale. The CELL is done, yet the 3 PC core is still not. And thats with the PS3 launching at least 4 months later. Please jvd stop lying to the people and yourself.

Fifth, your right a good port is a good port and it may be a filler, but to me (a person whom will buy a PS3) if its been out for 2 months its not like its really old. Thats just more games and more reason for Sony to launch in the Spring in the U.S.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Way I see it tis gonna be GTA exclusive during the launch window period along with a couple of other nice games(some puzzle, some sport, a fighter or two, and maybe a couple of adventure or rpgish games), if so it's: GAMEOVER.

The way I see it, Halo 3 + Gears of War > GTA 4(actually like 7).

PS3 really needs some amazing NEW games, GT5, Devil May Cry 12 and GTA4 just won't cut it IMO. Not facing the amazing brand new games MS seems to be churning out like Jade Empire, Lost odyssey, Gears of War, Blue Dragon, Kameo, KOTOR, Forza and more...including 2 brand new unnamed Bioware games.

Sony has announced no exclusive eals with Rockstar, nor with SE, it really leaves me wondering what exactly they have? What games will I be missing without a PS3? Because if you don't get a 360 you're missing a ton of AAA stuff.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Did MS have anything playable in January of this year? I think not.

Have you seen Gears of WAR? That's due out in March 2006(11months from now).

So if PS3 is truly gponna have some great games for March, they should defintely be able to show us something.

UT 2007 was not a game, it was a movie & tech demo, and it's not due until 2007 anyways!! We're talking about the launch games here.

 

[mckmas8808]

PS3 really needs some amazing NEW games, GT5, Devil May Cry 12 and GTA4 just won't cut it IMO. Not facing the amazing brand new games MS seems to be churning out like Jade Empire, Lost odyssey, Gears of War, Blue Dragon, Kameo, KOTOR, Forza and more...including 2 brand new unnamed Bioware games.

Sony has announced no exclusive eals with Rockstar, nor with SE, it really leaves me wondering what exactly they have? What games will I be missing without a PS3?

Stop it scooby my god you're turning into a MS head. How can you say that MS turns out new games like Jade Empire, Forza, etc while not including ALL of the new titles that Sony has introduced. Sony has had more new titles this gen that MS had. Please just stop it!!

Sony leaves you wondering what they will have? Why? You would think that 10 years of the best 3rd party support would soften you up. What games will you be missing without a PS3? Plenty, so many that I don't even want to list them all. Just wait till TGS we should learn more then.

 

[jvd]

First of all who says that there weren't games close to playable at E3. Everybody doesn't think like MS.

They didn't show any playable games , if they had playable games they would have shown more than tech demos . Its an easy thing to assume . Its much more logical than assuming they didn't show any playable games therefore they have playable games but didn't feel like showing them .

Second, at least wait till TGS before making silly claims like Sony would have shown something at E3 if they are going to launch in the Spring. Its obvious that Sony will launch somewhere in the Spring so shouldn't some games be launch with the system.

Well you need to stick with the topic on hand. I agree they will launch in spring , just not in north america .

Third, I can't remember but did the PSP have playable games at the 2004 E3? Devs can easily have some games playable at TGS. Did MS have anything playable in January of this year? I think not.

Actually sony had "playable" games , remember that they had ps2s hooked into the psp shells on the show floor ?

Fourth, who told you that devs have received beta kits from MS. ALL MS execs have stated July or August being when they will see beta kits NOT now. Everybody knows that relative to MS, Sony's console is closer to completion than MS's at its same time scale. The CELL is done, yet the 3 PC core is still not. And thats with the PS3 launching at least 4 months later. Please jvd stop lying to the people and yourself.

Rare has already talked about getting thier beta kits at the end of may from ms and others have spoken up on it .

Secondly the rsx is not done and sony themselves have admited it .

Fifth, your right a good port is a good port and it may be a filler, but to me (a person whom will buy a PS3) if its been out for 2 months its not like its really old. Thats just more games and more reason for Sony to launch in the Spring in the U.S.

mabye to you , but if a launch line up has to much filler they will look to the system who not only has those ports but also orignal games .

 

[scooby_dooby]

Stop it scooby my god you're turning into a MS head. How can you say that MS turns out new games like Jade Empire, Forza, etc while not including ALL of the new titles that Sony has introduced. Sony has had more new titles this gen that MS had. Please just stop it!!

Like what? All I can think of is God of War... I should have mentioned that. But other than that what is there?

Other than that all I see is the same old stuff, FF, MGS, DMC, GTA, GT...that's the reaosn I sold my Ps2 in the first place, how many Metal gear solid games can you really play?

Sony leaves you wondering what they will have? Why? You would think that 10 years of the best 3rd party support would soften you up. What games will you be missing without a PS3? Plenty, so many that I don't even want to list them all. Just wait till TGS we should learn more then.

No, what I said was what EXCLUSIVE support they will have. Every game I've mentioned will not be found on PS3. And most of the best PS3 exclusives are no going cross platform (FF & GTA)

So tell me, please, what AAA exclusives will I be missing out on without owning a PS3? Convince me.

 

[mckmas8808]

They didn't show any playable games , if they had playable games they would have shown more than tech demos . Its an easy thing to assume . Its much more logical than assuming they didn't show any playable games therefore they have playable games but didn't feel like showing them .

Read the post. I said close to playable. Close meaning like 2 or 3 months away. Read the post.

Rare has already talked about getting thier beta kits at the end of may from ms and others have spoken up on it .

So why did J. Allard, Ballmer, and others say that July and the summer will be when devs will get beta kits. Don't make me get the actual quotes. Just believe before you look uneducated.

mabye to you , but if a launch line up has to much filler they will look to the system who not only has those ports but also orignal games .

As if Sony didn't show original games. What about I-8, Eyedentify, MotorStorm, and Heavenly Sword. PLEASE JUST STOP WITH THE MADNESS

jvd and scooby are really going mad now.

 

[ims]

I wouldn't mind it if you maintained an objective point of view

Funny you should say that when you decide to use what you have for your signature.

 

[Kolgar]

PS3 really needs some amazing NEW games, GT5, Devil May Cry 12 and GTA4 just won't cut it IMO. Not facing the amazing brand new games MS seems to be churning out like Jade Empire, Lost odyssey, Gears of War, Blue Dragon, Kameo, KOTOR, Forza and more...including 2 brand new unnamed Bioware games.

The thing with long-standing, quality, popular game franchises is that they're long-standing, quality, popular game franchises. People know them, people love them. People buy hardware just to play them.

Just as I buy Sony hardware to play Tekken, Gran Turismo, and Metal Gear Solid, and others buy Nintendo hardware to play Mario and Zelda.

Can endless sequels be a bad thing? Sure. But if they're handled properly, they can be a big draw to a system.

Are new franchises good and necessary? Indeed. But they haven't had time to build up quite the fanatical following as the more established ones.

And regarding GTA4... The series turned this industry on its ear with the release of GTAIII. Since then, it's become the best-selling franchise there is. The mere thought of what a next-gen GTA could be is enough to wet the pants of all the millions of fans out there. If one system gets it exclusively, it's going to be a draw unmatched by anything out there.

 

[Kolgar]

I wouldn't mind it if you maintained an objective point of view

Funny you should say that when you decide to use what you have for your signature.

I use that in my sig because I think it's funny as hell - no other reason expressed or implied.

You are new here so maybe you need more time before you can accurately assess the personalities on this board.

***edit***

The signature ims was reacting to said: "Beating us for a short moment is like accidentally winning a point from a Shihan (Karate master), and Microsoft is still not a black belt." --Ken Kutaragi