Late Night Consoling

Sony Computer Entertainment has revealed that its planned worldwide launch for PlayStation 3 this November will be reaching a little less of the world than expected. Territories using the PAL display standard, including Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Africa, and Australasia will see PS3 launch in March 2007. Dates for Japan and North America were unaffected by the change, remaining on November 11 and November 17 respectively. Apparently, the postponement comes as a result of difficulties in manufacturing the blue laser diode used in the system's Blu-ray Disc player. According to Sony Computer Entertainment head Ken Kutaragi, manufacturing has been set back about a month. Today's press release noted that Sony is still on track for its previously stated target of shipping 6 million PS3 units within its fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2007.

Throughout the day there were numerous contrary claims regarding how many units Sony would ship upon launch, and how the shipments would break down between North America and Japan. Early reports came from the Associated Press' coverage of a Tokyo press conference held by Ken Kutaragi. The AP reported that the United States will receive an initial shipment of 400,000 units, with 100,000 heading to Japan. These numbers were later denied by Sony Computer Entertainment representatives, who claimed that the company's original plans of shipping 2 million units on launch day and 4 million by the end of calendar 2006 were still in the works. However, these claims were further disputed. When contacted for clarification, SCEA confirmed to Shacknews that the 400,000 and 100,000 figures for North America and Japan are indeed accurate. Sony now plans to ship only between 2 million and 2.4 million units between those two territories by the end of calendar 2006, with approximately half of that sum going to each.

As far as reasons for Europe being chosen for the delay, Kutaragi cited product transport costs as well as time needed to complete multilingual localization for games. In regards to the manufacturing problems themselves, it seems that they lie solely on Blu-ray, and not the system's new Cell CPU. Kutaragi claimed that despite PS3 not yet having entered production, Sony has already stocked 3 million Cell chips, with production on schedule.

In the wake of Sony's announcements of PlayStation 3 delays and shortages, executives--at Sony and elsewhere--and analysts have come forward to offer their opinions on the matter, the latest in what many have perceived as an ongoing line of PR nightmares for Sony. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Sony Computer Entertainment UK boss Ray Maguire said, "We are extremely disappointed at news of this delay. We can truly empathise with everyone who was looking forward to PS3's imminent release." He went on to reassure fans that the upcoming March 2007 launch will be "the biggest and best in the company's history." These announcements come just one day after Sony launched its official European PS3 website, serving as a starting point for its "This is Living" advertising campaign and featuring short films promoting the system.

GI.biz also got feedback from an executive at major Sony competitor Microsoft. Speaking to the site, Xbox UK head Neil Thompson took some veiled jabs at Sony's latest announcements. "We know how challenging it is to pull off a global launch," he said, "so it's not surprising that Sony has backed away from their previously announced launch plan, due to the unproven technology they are trying to pack in to their console." Thompson went on to make various comments on the relative awesomeness of Microsoft's Xbox 360.

Analysts had mixed reactions to today's news. Outspoken Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter claimed that the news demonstrates Sony's firm commitment to the North American market. "The allocation to the US--80 per cent of initial shipments--is shocking," said Pachter. "I really think it's unfortunate for European consumers, but the delay makes clear that Sony intends to fight the Blu-Ray - HD-DVD battle on US soil." He believes that the diode-related shipment problems may occur into 2007, evoking similaties to Microsoft's widely reported Xbox 360 shipment issues. London-based KBC Financial Products analyst Amir Anvarzedah was less charitable. "Sony Computer once again proves that its execution remains awful," he said, also pointing out that the last quarter of the calendar year, which PS3 will be missing in Europe, is responsible for up to 80 percent of industry sales.

IGN today published an interview with outspoken Team NINJA designer Tomonobu Itagaki, who spoke about his company's current projects in his well known brash manner. Most of the interview was dedicated to the studio's upcoming Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (X360), the volleyball- and mini-game-laden spinoff of the Dead or Alive series of fighting games. Later on, however, Itagaki got to talking about the Xbox 360 platform. Speaking on the system's multi-threaded architexture, he dropped a hint that a sequel to the studio's well received Ninja Gaiden (Xbox) may well be in the works. "if you're working on a game like Ninja Gaiden 2, where it's really important that enemies are smart and challenging, then we might use up to two threads on AI," he said. When asked about Ninja Gaiden 2 outright, Itagaki responded, "I won't upset anybody by denying your expectations. I like to see people's expectations fulfilled."

Itagaki also stated that Team NINJA has seen PlayStation 3 hardware and would consider developing for it. "I think the most important thing is for people to have good games that they want to play on good hardware, so if there is a demand for it, we may follow that path some time in the future," he said, adding, "Obviously, we are big supporters of the Xbox platform." Team NINJA has developed for the Xbox platform since 2001's Dead or Alive 3.

In the latest edition of IGN Wii's Mailbag column, editor Matt Cassamassina let loose two Wii-related rumors. The first is speculation on Cassamassina's part that, contrary to prior announcements, Wii may not have an optional DVD playback attachment. When first announced as Revolution, the system was to have a small internally contained component that would enable DVD playback in the machine, should owners need it. However, as Cassamassina points out, Nintendo has not so much as mentioned this attachment recently, and no mention is made of it on the company's official Wii site. Inquiries to Nintendo about the matter went unanswered. Looks like prospective Wii gamers may have to rely on one of the other half-dozen DVD players likely present somewhere in their houses.

Cassamassina's other claim, which seems to be based on tangible insider knowledge, is that the quietly announced GameCube platformer Super Paper Mario (screenshots) is now headed to Wii rather than to Nintendo's waning current-gen system. He did not have (or give) any details as to how it may affect the game's release or content.

Microsoft studio Turn 10's racer Forza Motorsport 2 (X360) has been long delayed beyond its original planned release of late 2004. Now, it appears it has been delayed again. According to a post in a monstrous Gaming-Age Forums thread on the part of Forza 2 community member Che Chou, the game will be missing its holiday season 2006 release date. Chou claimed that a new release date will be announced during Microsoft's upcoming X06 event in Barcelona.

This week, Microsoft released several new screenshots and wireframe renders for the game.

Atlus today announced that it will be publishing Mitchell's Polarium Advance in North America. The game is a sequel to Mitchell's Nintendo DS title Polarium, and features new sets of puzzles using the same tile-flipping gameplay as its predecessor, adding a few new types of tiles as well. Polarium Advance will contain 365 puzzles that can be played at any time or in a "Daily Polarium Mode" that delivers players a new puzzle each day. It also features an edit mode, allowing players to create up to 100 custom puzzles which can be sent to friends, presumably using a Game Boy Advance link cable or wireless adapter.

Atlus plans to release Mitchell's Polarium Advance in November 2006.