This could be bad for Sony. I wonder if the earlier release of Xbox 360 and the subsequent head start will bury those would be PS3 buyers? Microsoft is selling the crap out of Xboxes, and I have to believe they're going to have a helluva lot more $$ in the bank by the time PS3 hits. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how this one plays out...

 

I really had hoped that the PS3 would be released this year. This is very bad news for SONY and very good news for Microsoft. The PS3 better be that much better than the XBOX 360 if SONY is going to delay it for another year.

 

If Sony can establish the Blue Ray standard than any losses on the PS3 will be worth it. Regardless, well know by E3. I would be very surprised if Sony would give the XBox another uncontested Christmas

 

I own an Xbox 360 and think it is great. My brother has one and really get into the multimedia features of the thing. It is hooked up to his computer and entertainment center, with a push of a button on this aftermarket remote ($130) he pulls party playlists off his computer hard drive or movies and such. The online gaming through Xbox live is really what the machine is built for. It will also have a HD DVD add on later this year.

Not bad for $400 I think. But the main problem right now is that consoles are still hard to find and there is a real shortage of quality titles. That is supposed to change in a couple months.

 

i don't think you can compare the xbox360's life cycle which uses the regular dvd format to the ps3 which is going to use blu-ray. i'm saving my money for the ps3.

 

You can hardly count the 360 as released. Aside from the pre-Xmas shipment, how many have actually hit the market? It's been a trickle at best. Also, I have to constantly deal with my coworker's complaining that there still aren't any new games, and the best that are out there were stripped of features to get 'em to market quicker. To me the 360 is still in preview mode.

As far as the PS3 goes, the launch is likely to be much more solid, both in console availability and game library. Even if it were to be another 8 or 9 months, the 360 is unlikely to hold onto it's market lead for too long. Sony is pushing the hardware much further with the PS3 than MS. A longer time to market is to be expected, but I can't see the sort of doom and gloom that Merrill Lynch is projecting.

 

I don't know if you've read the news today, but the PS3 most likely will not be hitting the ground running. Many analysts are suggesting the PS3 will be found in very short quantities with a minimal number of titles available at launch. Probably very much like their PS2 debacle.

I would love it if they were wrong, but everything has been going, I think the analysts are spot on.

 

The PS3 could be in short supply and still be a much stronger launch than the 360 has offered. The libarary of games is just now passing 40, of which 10 might actually merit purchase, and 2 or 3 that some might consider must haves. The consensus seems to be that none are the killer app that Halo was.

The big hold up on the PS3 seems to be the Blu-Ray. My guess is there are a few technical specifications that need to be decided on for firmware. While that may require developers to hold up finalizing their games, it doesn't seem like it would cause significant delay. If that were not the case, I'd expect much more grumbling from the game companies by now.
Either way, actual facts will probably be few between now and E3.

Other than Merril Lynch, no one seems to be suggesting that the launch will be any later than fall of '06. I'd be looking for ML anaysts to be buying up stock in Sony this morning, now that they have pushed down the price with their research note.

 

360 launch titles have been very weak. I can

 

Launch titles so far for the PS3:

# 6Gun 2 - BattleBorne Entertainment
# Avalon - Climax Studios
# Dark Sector - Digital Extreme
# The Darkness - Starbreeze Studios
# Devil May Cry 4 - Capcom
# EA Sports Fight Night Round 3 - EA Chicago
# Eyedentify - TBA
# Fifth Phantom Saga - Sonic Team
# Final Fantasy PS3 - Square Enix
# Formula One PS3 - SCE Studios Liverpool
# The Getaway PS3 - SCE Studios Soho
# Heavenly Sword - Ninja Theory
# I-8 - Insomniac Games
# Infraworld - Quantic Dream
# Killing Day - TBA
# Killzone PS3 - Guerilla Games
# Metal Gear Solid 4 - Kojima Productions
# Mobile Suit Gundam - TBA
# MotorStorm - Evolution Studios
# Ni-Oh - KOEI
# Omikron 2 - Quantic Dream
# Possession - Blitz Games
# Project Delta - Playlogic International
# ShadowClan - Tiger Hill Entertainment
# Tekken PS3 - Namco
# Vision GT - Polyphony Digital
# Warhawk PS3 - Incognito Entertainment

Not sure if any of these titles might cross the killer app threshhold, many are also available on the 360. The list seems a bit better than the 360's dozenish deep launch list though.

I'd like to have seen a GTA at launch, as well as Gran Turismo, but probably because those are the only titles I'm dying to play. Rockstar doesn't seem to be in a hurry to publish a new GTA, which I find a bit disappointing, though they reportedly do have something western in the works.