[Intrepid Homoludens]

For some weird reason this Europe delay didn't surprise me. News of problems with production and design of the PS3 have been in my peripheral vision for a long time now and I suspected that Sony may be hiding more than they would like us to to know. Thus it was only a matter of time before they'd have to tell us the truth.

Oh, and...

European sales of Sony's PlayStation 3 delayed until March | International Herald Tribune, 9/6/06

James Hong, Head of Equity Derivatives Trading at Dresdner Kleinwort in Tokyo, said the news may put another dent in Sony's stock, which fell 50 yen, or about 1 percent, to 5,050 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The market closed before the announcement.

"This seems to be the continuation of a series of bad news. People were prepared to wait for the PS3, but delaying its European launch so they miss the Christmas season is just so not good," he said.

"This is a crucial product given its Blu-ray features, and they need to get it out fast. I doubt this is going to help their stock price," he said.

The set-back is the latest to hit Sony, which is has been overhauling its electronics operations to catch up in key electronics products such as MP3 digital music players.

Last month, its shares tumbled after Dell Inc. and Apple Computer Inc. issued huge recalls of defective laptop batteries made by one of Sony's subsidiaries, Sony Energy Devices Corp.

Kutaragi said other preparation work on the machine was going smoothly, including the "cell" next-generation computer chip. Mass production of the machine is set to start end of September, he said.

Although Sony had initially counted on shipping 4 million PlayStation 3 machines worldwide by the end of the year, that will likely fall to 2 million, he said.

The exact European sales date will be announced later, but it will likely be in the early part of March, he said.

Blu-ray disc is the next-generation video format for the latest DVD recorders and players, but also an essential part of the PlayStation 3.