PS3 = BAD NEWS FOR UK (Maybe)

[KMarch]

PS3 = BAD NEWS FOR UK (Maybe)


PS3: When? How much?
Speculation is flying over the possible price and likely launch date for Sony’s next generation console – and it doesn’t make pleasant reading for PlayStation fans. The latest projections have come from leading business analysts Merrill Lynch which predicts that the PS3 could be delayed by over six months. Officially, the PS3 is still due this spring – ie very soon – in Japan but, according to a Sony spokesman quoted on Reuters, the company still hasn’t finalised specifications.

Worryingly, the Merrill Lynch report also claimed that each console could cost Sony at least $800 (around £458 in real money) to produce, due to expensive components such as the Blu-Ray drive and Cell processor. The console won’t necessarily be that expensive in shops – manufacturers usually sell hardware at a loss in the early stage of console’s lifecycle – but it’s still a very high figure. Sony boss Ken Kutaragi had previously warned that the PS3 won’t be launched at a mass market price.

The good news (kind of) is that you’ve got plenty of time to save. Some reports, citing documentation leaked out of Sony, are claiming that we won’t see the console in the UK until March 2007. That could tie-in with previous console roll-outs from the company which saw Europe supplied long after Japan and North America.

[Karma]

The reports floating around is a 1Q 2007 Europe launch, qiet a ways away.