PS3 launch date announced at E3: Two models to be offered

09 May 06 06:33 by Crabbyappleton in category Uncategorized To news archive

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According to Daily Tech, Sony said during their E3 Demo of the PS3, that they will launch November 17. The game Gran Tourismo was demoed at 1080p and Electronic Arts has stated that they had 10 titles coming for the platform, though it is unclear which of these will be capable of the 1080p resolution. However, the report did mention that Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy 13 stuck in their minds as two. The PS3 will reportedly come in two different configurations, the cheaper of the two with a 20 gigabyte HDD and the more expensive, a 60 gig HD. Retail pricing was stated to be $499 and $599 respectively. This includes a Blu-ray drive and integrated networking capability. By the way, Sony has promised an online back end similar to the one for Microsoft’s Xbox…for free.

Furthermore, the PS3 will come with several interoperability features, including a function that will allow the PSP to link directly into the console. The conference call also alluded to some WiFi integration, and considering the networking between the PSP and the PS3, we can only assume this means some 802.11 protocol. Bluetooth will also be standard on the PS3.

The wireless controllers will allow for seven players at a time to use the same console. The wireless controllers are a strong departure from the old “boomerang” concept design. In fact, the controller looks almost exactly like the existing PS2 controller with the addition of two trigger buttons under the L1 and R1 pads, but also features motion sensitivity. The internal motion sensitivity gives the controller “six degrees of freedom.” A mini-USB interface is also featured on the front of the controller — we suspect for recharging the batteries. Sony stresses that this is not the final design, though our representative claims there will be very few changes before launch.

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There is a lot more that can be read at Daily Tech concerning the E3 demo. In addition, you can check out a screenshot of the new PlayStation 3 controller at the same link. They have an interesting update on another page as well, indicating that the lower end, 20 gigabyte model, will go on sale in Japan for $530 dollars with gigabit Ethernet and a Blu-ray reader November 11 - but it will not have some key features of the more expensive 60 gigabyte counterpart. (See chart above) Among other things, as we can see, the larger capacity unit will feature a MemoryStick, SD, CompactFlash Reader (!) and an additional output, giving it HDMI capability.

Source: Daily Tech

11 Comments

shimman: Posts: 596; Posted on: 09 May 06 07:14

cheaper than expected...i guess xbox360 did dent the market share. will linux be preloaded?....i guess not

shimman: Posts: 596; Posted on: 09 May 06 07:16

no hdmi? does it mean that no 1080p for the cheaper version? i guess the hdd must be the official which will be really expensive.

shimman: Posts: 596; Posted on: 09 May 06 07:17

ok, sony really made a big bet on bd...or they find way to slash the price. i wonder what other bd hardware partners will say about the price of ps3 as bd player will be around 1kusd

shimman: Posts: 596; Posted on: 09 May 06 07:31

i guess this is exactly why sony said to give consumers break on the hdcp thing for few years....cheap bastard

i think i will pass ps3 for now; too expensive. i could get decent dual core p4 system with 19" lcd for less than 60GB version of ps3 if sony implemented ps2 emulation to improve visual quality of ps2 games, ps2 fans might want to buy...i guess

Dismembered Ninja: Posts: 392; Posted on: 09 May 06 12:05

you do know that talking to yourself isn't a great sign

I wonder if the magical $1 to £1 conversion will happen with the console?

Crabbyappleton: Posts: 5757; Posted on: 09 May 06 14:48

The thing I wonder about is how many people will look at the PlaysStation 3 as a "cheap" way to get a Blu-ray movie player for their home theater? At least it is 400 dollars cheaper than a stand alone and when your friends ask why did you spend so much money you can sheepishly answer: Games?

hajj_3: Posts: 185; Posted on: 09 May 06 18:21

its gunna be €499 and €599 in europe. so about £340 and £400 ish in uk. everybody needs the deluxe version, £400 is alot of money especially as the 360 is £280.

heystoopid: Posts: 307; Posted on: 09 May 06 23:26

Pass, why would I waste money, on a system from a very tired slowly dying undynamic corporation , living on past glories , whose revenues have been static for several years, facing declining market share on all fronts!(annual Corporate Reports show many claimed projections, fail routinely to meet expectations!). The movie division spends an average of USD$60 million per movie for a paltry return average of USD$40 million(explains why these bombs are the first to be rereleased under the Bluray format) And finally, many of the consumer Electronic Division products, are just rebrands only, some of which come with preprogrammed bomb defects like the Bravia LCD Series! , or like the extremely dumb designed turkey of PSP's unique UMD format, or the DRM rootkit windows BSod affair, thus the list goes on! Sony's profit projections are based on at least a two third market share, which is a big ask, for untested/untried gaming device with very restrictive gaming software title line up, together with the prices being sought! Things are not looking good! Choices!:r

hazel_wu: Posts: 83; Posted on: 09 May 06 23:45

I think you mean no 1080p for blu-ray movies. Most likely Sony will not limit the resolution of the games displayed using means other than HDMI. Whether blu-ray movies will be shown at 1080p over HDMI is up to movie studios.

shimman: Posts: 596; Posted on: 10 May 06 01:53

ps3 price is only reasonable if and only if you consider the prices of the standalone bd players coming in few months. free linux distro + easy upgrades in accessories meaning let users to use standard hdd & keyboard & mouse etc, a person like me might be able to justify the cost. i don't think sony is loosing tons of money on ps3 hardware as a core duo 15.4" notebook pc is sold often less than 600usd in us; thus, i would guess that sony is either selling ps3 at the cost or loosing only little the bd/hd-dvd combo player would be far more common than i have expected as the bd hardware partners will not be happy about the ps3 prices. i wonder what kind of warranty will come with ps3 in us as ps3 came with only 30 day warranty, but it wouldn't be funny if a 500+usd console dies right after the warranty period. those hongkong hackers will be busy to come up with the chip solution

Bodygard: Posts: 28; Posted on: 10 May 06 02:52

"those hongkong hackers will be busy to come up with the chip solution"

good point! i almost forgot that! i will not buy it if doesn't exist any mod or chip that alow to play backup's

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PS3 launch date announced at E3: Two models to be offered

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