Sony: Europe PS3 still set for March

Spokesperson confirms the console's still good to go in Europe as planned, despite Stringer's claims of a push back to April.

European gamers have had to wait a long time for the PlayStation 3. Whereas the next-gen console launched last year in Japan on November 11 and in the US on November 17, it was announced that the European launch would be delayed until March 2007.

But since the original delay, Sony has been sticking firmly to the March release date, despite "once bitten, twice shy" media coverage speculation that further delays would be likely.

So Europeans were less than pleased, although not all that surprised, to find that Sony CEO Howard Stringer said in an interview on GameSpot's sister Web site CNET, that "the European launch in April...is very important to us." April, after all, is not March.

But a Sony spokesperson today dismissed the April date, by telling journalists, "[President of SCEE] David Reeves has confirmed again today that we are still on course for a March release."

And a spokesperson for SCEA explained, "In a recent interview, Sir Howard Stringer stated that the launch for the PS3 in Europe and other PAL countries is slated for April. Sir Howard meant to say the launch was set for "this Spring." The release for the PS3 in Europe and other PAL countries remains March."

Today Sony's Irish PS3 Web site also quoted a price for the console of 629.99 euros (approximately $815) for the 60GB model, a price higher than the previously confirmed 599 euros ($775) for Europe. Sony stated that this was due to Ireland's VAT rate, which is currently 21 percent, and not any pricing changes by Sony.

The spokesperson added that a specific date and pricing would be announced at the beginning of next week.

213 Comments

  • daniel665

    Posted Jan 19, 2007 1:29 am PT

    oh and the reason that launch games have been so sparse and lacking real quality is due to developers having a diffficult time in developing games for the ps3. More time is spent trying to make a game that works and less time is therefore being able to be spent on making great playing/looking games that work.

    Also I love graphics as much as the next man but due to the poor developmental tools and difficulty in developing ps3 games, 360 games are looking better than ps3 games and i believe 360 will make far greater progress in the next year because of this. Due to their being more memory for the 360 i believe that more immersive enviroments will be possible on the 360. Sony spent so much money on the blue ray and cell processor that ohter important parts of the console have been downgraded and subsequently suffered. Also loading times for ps3 games are 2-3 times longer due to blue ray discs being slower to read (fight night! heaven knows what will happen with oblivion.)

    Head honcho at valve has critisised ps3 and gone as far as to say that they should admit that they made a mistake and start over even thought its late in the day. This is not the first developer to critise the ps3 and unless sony stop being so arrogant and begin to listen to developers im afraid that sony could be heading for some very difficult times (sega anyone). Ive made my mind up not from previous console experiences (snes used to be the dominant console followed by mega drive then n64 (great console ) lost out to sony ps . Loved my ps and ps2 but look at the facts. The console wars just started but from my extensive reasearch into where to spend my money i choose 360 and wii. look at some of the articles yourselves and then make an educated decision.

  • daniel665

    Posted Jan 19, 2007 1:10 am PT

    I have to agree with nevo70. Sony have made mistakes causing them to be priced out of the market with no real reason for casual gamers to spend that amount of cash on ps3 when a wii and a 360 basically cover all gaming bases. Most people dont care about blue ray they just want good games and with forza, pgr, oblivion, blue dragon, lost odessy, mass effect, splinter cell (next one exclusive to 360), virtua fighter, zelda, mario, metroid prime and smash bro melee all my gaming needs are covered. i have a 360 (very happy with it) and my next console will be a wii even though i had great times on my ps2. Times are changing and power is shifting. Hope sony sort it out and reduce the price or give me a reason to believe (killer game worth splashing out on) but for now very content with 360 and can't wait to buy a wii.

  • KingKoop

    Posted Jan 19, 2007 12:43 am PT

    PS3? ........... Heck I'm still waiting for FFXII

  • nev70

    Posted Jan 19, 2007 12:41 am PT

    InFaMoUsInTeNsE Playstation 3 with PS1, PS2 compatibility, Blu-Ray support and FREE online play: £412 (approx).

    approx WTF actually its £425 / £429 ? +HD LEADS which will put it @ the £450 mark i love it when fanboys try to justify the PS3 price you can get a 360 + Gears for a £150 LESS Sony have without doubt done there best to price them selves out of the mainstream gaming market thats why they are sitting on shelves gathering dust in the US, any one who wanted one has got it................ Sony have bet more than the farm on this one

  • InFaMoUsInTeNsE

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 11:31 pm PT

    Blue-Ray player: approx £650
    Playstation 2: approx £99.99
    Playstation 1: approx £19.95

    Total Price: approx £720

    Playstation 3 with PS1, PS2 compatibility, Blu-Ray support and FREE online play: £412 (approx).

    There are some things money can't buy, for everything else, there's Playstation 3.

  • Bathyj

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 7:02 pm PT

    Grimbee, are you like a really fast typer? What are you doing to me, I'm at work and my boss wants to know what taking me so long.

    I agree that Sony has the uphill battle and the other two are well positioned but I'm not to concerned for PS3. The games will come and as someone alot more Japanese than me once said, "Its a marathon, not a sprint."

    A couple things people dont really take into consideration as well...... 1st For all the talk about how much money Sony loses on each machine alot of that isn't just the building of a PS3 but the R&D that went into it as well. That money is already spent so from here on out its not as bad as it seems. Plus they still have the current best selling console in PS2 and a good portion (I forget the exact numbers but its alot) of the software being sold is for it. Plus PSP is doing better than it was too even though DS still kills it. (Did anyone really expect anything different? People call PSP a failure but I dont think thats fair just because it didn't take over. That was never going to happen. Nintendo doesn't just dominate the hand held market, they OWN it, and have for 2 decades. Just to get a foot in the door is a good achevment for PSP I think.)

    2nd The format war. I'm looking forward to HD movies, because I have a HDTV and want content for it. Its not like I have a favourite between HDDVD or BR, they're both pretty much the same in terms of performance but, the fact every PS3 is a BR player in the house makes me think it will be the more popular of the 2. Plus the 3 biggest studios are supporting it with the 4th supporting both. The 5th supports HDDVD. Now let say BR does win outright. No one cares now, but HDTV are becoming more and more popular every day and I guarentee if you have one, and a PS3 you're going to at least try a BR movie, and if you have the TV but no HD movie player and see a BR somewhere else in a shop suddenly the PS3 looks pretty good. Remember this might be in a years time when the games line up will be fine, I have no doubt about that. Plus I really want to see what games can do when they take advantage of all that space. I read somewhere Hideo Kojima wants a 50 gig BR for MGS4. I dont know how true this is but if it is that pretty much guarantees no XB version, ever. Again I cant comment on authenticity. I dont think the HDDVD add on for XB will really affect the out come since its just a add on and wont see anywhere near the numbers PS3 will eventually reach. Anyway I have to go, my boss is giving me dirty looks.

  • GrimBee

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 6:24 pm PT

    Thanks BathyJ and rbop, game on indeed! I do try (boy do i! heh heh).
    My post was too long, incase I get a warning for trolling, its not on my profile in a blog.

  • pompomboy

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 6:08 pm PT

    aw shucks

  • flanderosa

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 5:14 pm PT

    FFXII and Rogue Galaxy are out in the UK in Feb...there's still life in the PS2 yet

    Also, when has a console been launched with truly outstanding launch titles? Sure, the PS3 will launch with some uninspiring software, but at the mo there is nothing on Xbox360 that makes me want to rush out and buy one. Sure Gears of War looks fantastic, and not having played it, is probably utterly brilliant, but it isn't really my kind of game, and certainly not a reason why I'd personally buy a console (that game'll be Blue Dragon - what can I say, I'm a sucker for turn-based RPGs). I'm expecting some GOW fanboys to flame me now...

  • Bathyj

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 4:47 pm PT

    There no point waiting for certain games to launch. It would just be more bad publicity. Launch now, people will still buy it. There are still games to play. You wait til you're ready and whatever game you're waiting for has come and who knows, buy then you might be lucky enough to get a price drop. Waiting til MGS or GT come out will only harm it. What if M$ waitng for GoW. Half a dozen great games would have been ready and had no platform to release on.

  • flanderosa

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 4:26 pm PT

    visli's hit the nail on the head. Four VERY good reasons to wait (however long it takes) for PS3 - TRUE Final Fantasy sequels, Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo and Tekken. I'd quite happily fork out £400-500 for a PS3 for GT and FF. Add backwards compatibilty with formats that I have the majority of my games in (PSone and PS2) and I think this'll be my preferred console. Anyway, I never had any intention of buying a PS3 in March anyway - going to wait for September or October in time for GTA4. Quite happy with my PS2 for the mo

  • 11010100

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 3:45 pm PT

    Is releasing the PS3 on the 1st April a good idea?

  • fantom_killa

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 3:45 pm PT

    everyone knows that console devs like to push the consoles back for hype i think, like final fantasy games and halo games that got pushed back by about a year in the uk, anyway i reckon they'll try and push it back to december, i know that sounds crazy but the way i see it is that they'll be more sales then for sony, any reason to dely it more man :'(

  • Bathyj

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 3:11 pm PT

    GrimBee
    BathyJ, on my case again Yeah Dude, me again. I know I was coming off a bit rough on you as I said, and to your credit you replyed with an insightful, rational post and showed the class I know you have, where's a lesser person would have just abused me and called me fanboy. Good work again.

    I know what your saying, the launch may very well be luke warm but what are their alternatives? If they delay again (god I hope they dont) no one will see it as anything but negative despite best intentions. Alot of the lack of "buzz" has got to do with all the negative press Sony gets from games media and forums like this. I mean all they are trying to do is make the best machine they can and release it. They've made mistakes, plenty of them but people act like they're actually malicious. Every single thing they do wrong get recorded and then used against them like they're on trial for something.

    By March, more good games are coming. Motorstorm looks awesome to me. I'm not normally into racing games but I'm getting this for sure. Rainbow 6 and GRAW2 with be launch titles as well. These aren't exclusives but they are still AAA titles at a console launch. I'm not getting PS3 for the games on it now. I'm getting PS3 for what I think the future holds for it. As gamers I think we need to be alittle bit patient. How can we not be patient when a Metal Gear Solid game takes 3 to 4 years to make? Plus for all the flak Sony takes for lack of titles no one ever says "Hey, maybe the developers need to hurry things up a bit." Its tough I know but Playstation isn't just Sony. They release the platform but devs make a console what it is. Again, I think we need a bit of patience. Nintendo doesn't cop this. They only have one game worth getting and to be honest only a couple in development I would even consider. I bought my Wii knowing full well it will probably be just like Gamecube in that I will only buy 5 to 10 games for it over its whole lifespan. That why I've refered to it as a Zeldabox in the past, cos to me that pretty much all it is. People are alson confusing I think the popularity of Wii with the popularity of Zelda. Wii's aren't selling Zelda, Zelda is selling Wii's and once everyone who wants Z:TP has it Wii sales will slow unless some of the few other good games coming arrive soon, but Nintendo have a habit of staggering their releases and really spacing them out. They make great games, sure, but you cant say they make a lot of them quickly. Its might take 2 years to get 5 good games out of Nintendo. Anyway its cheap enough, I bought it for one game. Back to PS3, what can they do to win back people. All they can really do is release the machine and lend support to devs so more games can come out. Thats what sells machines so theres no getting around it, they need more games, but we all need to realise Rome wasn't built in a day. We look back and see how successful PSone and PS2 were but they didn't do it all at once either. It takes at least a year, maybe two before a console will establish dominance, and I say we just sit back and enjoy the ride. Too many people have their minds made up all ready, we need to relax a bit and realise what a golden age this is. Perhaps the best time for gaming ever. There are great games on all consoles and they all should be appreciated. I heard one guy complaining his Discman broke in 1993 and he will never buy a Sony product again. Is that shrewd comsumerism or is that just irrational illfounded biased. I mean that was 14 years ago, probably half his life. Get over it. Me I bought a 68cm trinitron TV and it lasted me over 10 years without a hitch so I guess I'm the other side of the scale. Anyway, regardless, people who hate, I'm not going to change their mind but I know I'll be playing some great games this year, and for the next 5 or 6 years as well. It's not that hard to own my than one console, considering they all came out spread apart and we've had time to save for each one. Thats another thing that annoys me. People always go on about the price difference but you can get the cheaper model and its only $100 difference. Is this a hugh amount of money? Not enough certainly to choose your console for you. I'm saying get the one you want the most but why let $100 influence that desision, especially when you think about what you will spend on games in a year. The console is only a small initial payment compared to games, peripherals live accounts and all that. We spend thousands a year and complain about $100.


    Anyway, that my 4cent (went probably twice as long as it needed to) and BTW I agree with rbop, I also enjoy your posts. Game on my friend.

  • KamaKase

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 2:45 pm PT

    The prices should be given in GPB in the brackets rather than dollars....it's a post from the UK GS.

  • NextGenAdam

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 2:14 pm PT

    "March" they say?
    That means late April at best.

  • rbop

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 2:01 pm PT

    @ Grimbee... Just wanted to say that I always enjoy your posts. Game on my friend.

  • the_gaming_guy

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 1:54 pm PT

    March......April.....same thing. It'll probably be the 31st march anyway lol. My money is on September.

  • someacrazyman

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 12:17 pm PT

    For those wondering about the Uk price for the PS3, play.com is currently offering a pre order bundle for £550. While this may seem a ripoff, the bundle includes 3 games, at £50 each, therefore the actual console (premium package, by the way), is only £400, though it may be slightly more expensive on its own

  • Milan89

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 11:53 am PT

    damn...more expensive, so late. Sony, you disappointed me. And still I believe that the console will be delayed and will not come on March. On E3, Sony showed us that they are a bunch of layers.... damn 629.99 euros. Xbox here I come

  • colonel_beeb

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 11:40 am PT

    I love the way sony came back with the statement "Sir Howard meant to say the launch was set for "this Spring"". If the release is set for march then say march. Obviously i think this indicates a probability that Sony are aiming for a late March release but are considering that if worse comes to worse they will have to settle for an early April release.

  • Devils_Joker_22

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 10:18 am PT

    Pricing ey? So thats confirming £425 isnt true anymore. Hmm, i wonder if they will bring it down to US price as compensation for the late relase.

  • M4D_pHySiKz

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 10:15 am PT

    Zzzzzzzzzzzz,too expensive,too late,360 for me.

  • anton10000

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 10:09 am PT

    Wii60 FTW!!!

  • GrimBee

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 10:05 am PT

    BathyJ, on my case again
    Those questions that I asked were NOT sarcasm, I honestly meant to ask them. As a person in the UK, the Buzz for the ps3 isn't as strong as it is for the other consoles on the market right now.

    I was asking questions to those of which are in the USA, where the console is out, in stores.
    Everyone knows that the brunt of console sales go to the commercial peeps, those people buy games like Gta, fifa... now that the DS is a "fashionable" console, the wii is quickly becoming a favourite. I know people who ONLY really buy new items if they are in fashion, one person in question bought a guitar, a Gibson PRS (wonder why...), bought a laptop... an apple powerbook to be exact with matching ipod (again, top of the talk items). This same person is getting a wii, not generally because he likes games, but because its an item which looks to be a lot of fun.

    In gaming, circles have changed somewhat because of the "buzz" that console creators have made for it, and what the games have brought forward.

    If you look at the 360 crowd, the large majority of 360 owners have all played through games like farcry, half life 2 and are ready for more of the same. The good points about a 360 is that it can easily satisfy that audience, and its lower price next to the ps3 means it can please casual gamers too. Plus the nicety of the arcade download system, plug in an ipod, stream stuff from a pc... etc. It does those things very well.

    The ps2 crowd is mainly made up of casual gamers, most of the hardcore gamers enjoy titles on the ps2 such as Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil 4, Grand Theft Auto, Shadow Of the Collosus... but mostly the ps2 charts are dominated by games like Bully, Fifa, Madden, Need for Speed...
    The ps3 is professing that those kinds of games are second rate, and primarily on launch it is concentrating more on shoddy games that are already out on the 360 and the wii, or one or two great exclusive launch titles.

    Out of the box the ps3 isn't even a shadow of what it SHOULD be, my point being - Out of the box, people in the UK won't really be impressed with the ps3 as the competition is equal, if not better in terms of market buzz.
    You can have a console which renders the phantom menace, but if its too costly, and doesnt have enough good games, its going to be hard to break any moulds.

    What I am saying is, this may be good news. But imagine if the Ps3 DOES release on march. Out of the box it wont have any games really worth playing in comparison to the titles that will be avaliable for consoles half of the ps3's price.
    It may seem that I prefer the 360, I actually dont. It is noisy as heck, the power brick is the epitomy of bad design... However what the 360 does right, it overshadows the negatives. Xbox live is really, really good. wireless controllers are very comfortable, battery lasts AAAAGES and you can either charge or swap with other batteries. Arcade service is ok, media downloads are good (we dont have iptv, movie rentals or tv episodes yet) and the ability to listen to your own music in-game (the 360 turns off all in game music).... these kinds of things really make the console stand out.

    The reason why the wii is doing so well is because it has a very attractive design, its very functional as a games machine and its services are very easy to use. Also, its games (such as warioware) are very bold, and profess how fun the system is.

    Im talking about market buzz here, to release a £450 standalone console to a market already frothing at the mouth about 360 and wii stuff, basically the first shipments will satisfy the ps3 nut, and bluray head. But can you imagine if there are no new games, pretty much all of them will be out for the 360, minus the odd exclusive of course.

    in my opinion, for the ps3 to really steal the market and Im talking Ps2 style, it needs to release to a crowd and really have the software to strut its stuff. If the wii had no games, nintendo fans would play zelda and thats about it. The rest of the market will treat it like the gamecube.

    The gamecube's flaw was that it couldn't deliver the right titles at the right times, graphics were alot more polished than the ps2's were. However it was missing a LOT of key titles. Wii launching with zelda, big name nintendo game, did wonders for the UK buzz for the wii.
    Likewise with the 360 this christmas, without gamesl ike gears of war to showcase it you can bet that the 360 sales would be down, a lot.

    WIthout any games which are synonymous with the name "playstation", all it will have to go on is ports, or multiplatform games.

    Personally, I think that if there will be a delay, it will be because Sony are going to reinvest some interest in the console. Microsoft kept gears until ps3 launch time for a reason, if there is a delay (and historically sony always change their minds at the last minute) this could well be due to the fact that the ps3 will be heading into a market which isn't exactly frothing at the mouth for it.

    Now, imagine slapping in a mgs4 bundle into the ps3, or launching it along with some serious ps3 exclusives. This gets people saying "oh, but metal gear is AMAZING!!!". Its stuff like this which gets people saying "wow, ps3 IS worth it".
    For a £450 console, it needs to show its stuff off. Otherwise you can bet that once the ps3 fans have got theirs, stores will slowly start filling up with unsold ps3's.

    Its pretty much the same as the psp, the psp sales went down when ds started getting more attention in the market. This then led to fewer psp games, fewer umd releases, fewer offers and price-drops. Stores sell out of ds', whilst they are full of psp's.

    When the psp launched, it had a fair few good titles to its name, wipeout and also the excitement of gta coming to the system (burnout being another). This is what I mean by "buzz".
    Releasing the ps3, as is, with just resistance to show it off... I predict a psp-style sales.

    I would like the ps3 to succeed in having soem awesome games on it, im not happy with sony's descisions for this generation - however - if it can get the right things at the right times, its onto a winner.
    What my points are explaining is that, at the moment, if the ps3 released itself into todays market, in march, all its going to get is the same sort of reception in the USA, except quieter as we wont have the exclusive launch parties, news coverage, etc as all this stuff is done and dusted overseas.

    I think it's a bad idea to release it in march, if there were more good exclusives out for it on launch, its a good idea. But the times to release a console is slightly before the christmas period, or when a console has some awesome games to choose from. Sadly, in march this wont be the case. If there is a delay, its not because of shipping, its because Sony are waiting for the right time to insert their mix into the blend.

  • Siz2005

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 9:45 am PT

    He-hay PS3 but i am not planning to it get during the day.

  • daniel665

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 9:45 am PT

    Hi im a fan of gaming and have bought the mega drive, dreamcast, ps2, ps1, n64, gamecube , xbox and have just bought the xbox 360 this christmas and already have nine games( gears, ghost recon, perfect dark, pes, doa4, kameo, oblivion, spintercell double agent and pgr3) I love my ps2 and would of rated it above all my consoles untill i bought my 360. Since having it and joining the online community i have to say althought there are more games out for playsation 2 i have had more fun with my 360 and due to it being such a success in europe and north america all of the third party games i wanted to play including assassins creed, virtua fighter, gta and unreal tournament 2007 are all gonna be on the 360. Althought i am a fan of tekken, gran turismo, metal gear solid, jax and daxter and final fantasy i have to say that with pgr and forza 2 and splinter cell da (next splinter cell is looking most likely be 360 exclusive), lost odyessy, blue dragon, oblivion, kameo and banjo and kazzoie, doa4 and virtua fighter i have all my gaming needs fufilled. plus ive been able to buy some of my games for 15-20 pounds second hand which has saved me money (bonus).

    I hope the playstation is a sucess for true gamers sake as competition is good and makes people strive for better and so improves our experience as gamers. But so far i have been really dissapointed with the choices that sony have made in general with the bluray being a big mistake due to production costs, difficulty in developing game for the system and the increase in loading times and other parts of the console suffering due to the cost plus the real lack of good games so far. I at this moment in time am not a believer and as such will not be buying a ps3 yet and maybe never due to its exspense. The 360 really has one me over due to the quality of the games the resonablish price and the fantastic competitive online gaming community (pes, gears, doa4, ghost recon and pgr3 rock online) and i would reccomend it to any gamer. p.S I have a 320 gig external hard drive which i bought for £70 which allows me to store as many tracks and films as i want and can play them all though my 360 which means i have no problems with space. Here hoping PS3 improves and either reduces its price or gives us somthing worht spending all that money on (don't really care about bluray give us some games.)

  • simon50

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 9:45 am PT

    Ireland's VAT rate is 21% ?!?!!! Bloody hell..

  • cjcr_alexandru

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 9:39 am PT

    So the PS3 will launch in Europe in... Spring 2007.

  • daniel665

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 9:31 am PT

    Hi im a fan of gaming and have bought the mega drive, dreamcast, ps2, ps1, n64, gamecube , xbox and have just bought the xbox 360 this christmas and already have nine games( gears, ghost recon, perfect dark, pes, doa4, kameo, oblivion, spintercell double agent and pgr3) I love my ps2 and would of rated it above all my consoles untill i bought my 360. Since having it and joining the online community i have to say althought there are more games out for playsation 2 i have had more fun with my 360 and due to it being such a success in europe and north america all of the third party games i wanted to play including assassins creed, virtua fighter, gta and unreal tournament 2007 are all gonna be on the 360. Althought i am a fan of tekken, gran turismo, metal gear solid, jax and daxter and final fantasy i have to say that with pgr and forza 2 and splinter cell da (next splinter cell is looking most likely be 360 exclusive), lost odyessy, blue dragon, oblivion, kameo and banjo and kazzoie, doa4 and virtua fighter i have all my gaming needs fufilled. plus ive been able to buy some of my games for 15-20 pounds second hand which has saved me money (bonus).

    I hope the playstation is a sucess for true gamers sake as competition is good and makes people strive for better and so improves our experience as gamers. But so far i have been really dissapointed with the choices that sony have made in general with the bluray being a big mistake due to production costs and the increase in loading times and other parts of the console suffering due to the cost plus the real lack of good games so far. I at this moment in time am not a believer and as such will not be buying a ps3 yet and maybe never due to its exspense. The 360 really has one me over due to the quality of the games the resonablish price and the fantastic competitive online gaming community (pes, gears, doa4, ghost recon and pgr3 rock online) and i would reccomend it to any gamer. p.S I have a 320 gig external hard drive which i bought for £70 which allows me to store as many tracks and films as i want and can play them all though my 360 which means i have no problems with space. Here hoping PS3 improves and either reduces its price or gives us somthing worht spending all that money on (don't really care about bluray gives some games.)

  • Eagles5

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 9:22 am PT

    Sony made a good choice by delaying until march. IT sucks because of the wait, but in the end ps3 is going to be released with some major titles when it hits europe in march 07. haha sony actaully released the console when it was truely READY lol. Ps. Any good ps3 games to play? mines si starting to collect dust and im tired of Fall of man any ideas of what ot get?

  • amurphy245

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 8:49 am PT

    the vat rate is 17.5 percent in england if anyone is interested.

  • JamesH26

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 8:27 am PT

    I cant wait for it to be released it looks so amazing but wouldnt mind it being delayed as it would give me more time to get funds together !!!
    It better be worth the £400 odd pounds its going for tho.......

  • Asian-Tiger

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 8:12 am PT

    I can't wait...I'm looking forward to the PS3 release here in the UK. Here's hoping that there will be a larger launch lineup for us European based gamers, coz lets face it, we need something special to make up the fact we always gotta wait longer than the rest of the world for our gaming needs!

  • EliteScout

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 8:12 am PT

    It will sell out regardless of when it is released.

  • SemiMaster

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 8:01 am PT

    Why the heck would they ever have to wait? It's not like the States and Japan can't just ship some PS3s to Europe, there's plenty to go around.

  • sirvampalot

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 7:55 am PT

    Sony can kiss my ass im happy with my 360 and wii.

  • chris1975A

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 7:46 am PT

    I do also think that it wont go in march, but more and more people are buying them elsewere here in the UK. Even though some idiot will tell me I am talking crap, I can promise you that what were doing, of course sitting here telling lies gives me a kick thats why I do it. The only reason I dont have one yet is, there is only one game I would like to play on it just now, when that changes i'll think again. Now i'm off to think off more stories to make up, Because Washrook said so.

  • fartys

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 7:40 am PT

    2 right blacktorn!

  • blacktorn

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 7:19 am PT

    They can still confirm it all they want,i bet it won't make march...

  • glinz

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 7:08 am PT

    All I have to say is for $ony's sake they need to have a better showing across the pond than they have had so far stateside given the fact that 1. The demand for the system has DRAMATICALLY DROPPED since after x-mas 2. I have heard personally from a multitude of people that their P$3 has already given them problems or sh!t the bed!! 3. the selection of games on the system at this time is not exactly what I would call superb with exception of a couple games (although for the most part this should not be considered $ony's fault considering that a large portion of their launch titles or 3rd party not 1st).

  • gatsbythepig

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 7:05 am PT

    if it is like the US, there will be plenty to go around

  • chris1975A

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 6:52 am PT

    Washbrook, go and check your facts before you start telling people there talking crap. PS3 Ebay BIN, $759=£400ish, shipped to europe(UK)Funny that just around retail price in the UK. All the guys I know with a PS3 got them this way, all the guys on the forum I use got them that way. You can even buy the from the trading part of that forum most days, this is a UK based forum.

    Nows whos talking crap.

  • jamesfffan

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 6:47 am PT

    You do realise before the xbox came out ps1 was the most popular console going, so why have alot of ppl decided to change? i say why not be content with what you have, be it 360 or wii. Another thing all companies change their game plan at some point, so why are ppl being so harsh about Sony? i dont see ppl bashing the 360 or wii... i could say alot of things about them 2 but that would make me a hypocrit.

  • Bathyj

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 6:26 am PT

    So what are you saying Grimbee? They shouldn't release it now, and they shouldn't delay it? Will you ever be happy? You act like Sony are the only company trying to sell consoles and no one gives a crap when any of the other companys dont keep a promise or change something. Personally I resent Nintendos handling of th GC version of Zelda. Tiny release numbers and in Japan its only available online, practically forcing people to get a Wii just to play one game. But no one cares cos Nintendo are so cute and fuzzy. What about M$, while I love my Xbox the failure rate is quite frankly mind boggling and even there own update destroyed machines. For all the doomsday predictions about the PS3 melting or catching fire none of it has happened and the hardware has pretty much worked exactly how its supposed to, except for a few minor issues like controllers dropping out, which my Wii does as well BTW.

    You're an intelligent guy Grimbee and your post are alway well thought out and written, but why dont you tell us how much you love your Xbox. Tell us something cool that happened while playing Gears of War or Zelda. There's enough clowns on these boards that only post to put things down. I'm sorry if I'm coming off a bit harsh, but I think you're better than that and I'm sick of people only opening there mouths to complain especially when the story is telling us something positive.

  • GrimBee

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 6:06 am PT

    So how's the wii/ps3 thing doing in the USA? In the UK everyone is liking the games for the 360 and are considering a 360, or already have one.

    Alot of people want a Wii, and stores are constantly out of stock.
    There are NO ps3 preorder posters up in stores, no sections to display what the ps3 is.... etc. Everyone seems to be happy with the 360 and getting a wii at the moment.

    Is the ps3 selling loads in the usa? Is the wii always out of stock? Whats the buzz of the ps3 in stores, are there ps3 dislay pods up and all that? In the UK, there doesn't even seem to be ROOM for a ps3 to be in stores, Ds takes up a large chunk as does ps2, 360 is pretty big now and the wii is creeping up. Psp is being downsized because of ds and 360 doing so well over christmas...
    More wii's means bigger wii sections.

    If Sony didn't announce the ps3, only tech-heads and playstation zealots actually care about the ps3 launch in the UK. A lot of people who own a ps2 are saying "too expensive for me, and besides final fantasy 12 has next gen graphics ALREADY, I might get a wii... might".

    Ps3 isnt really the talk of the town here. I think the flat buzz of the psp has something to do with it, too.

  • Irve

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 5:34 am PT

    well , seeing as you can freely buy one in hte states it doesn't seem that likely that the launch in hte UK and europe will be delayed .... unless sony is having REAL problems with production

  • Jon-The-God

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 5:13 am PT

    chris1975A said "most of the guys here in the UK who want a PS3, already have one, you can buy them for what will be our retail price from Ebay"

    That's the biggest load of crap I've ever heard.

  • Sanguis_Malus

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 5:13 am PT

    Consoles aside, I just don't like Sony as a company anymore, they are incredibly arrogant and pig headed !

    I have my PS3 on order, but I'm only interested in Resistance at the moment, I don't like the idea of the Six-Axis either. Blu-Ray, also not wanted !

    Honestly, I may cancel my order closer to the launch time. It depends how I feel nearer the time.

  • GrimBee

    Posted Jan 18, 2007 4:27 am PT

    Then again, Sony were so positive about a lot of things until the last minute. First its 2 million units, then its 1 million, then its 500,000, then its 400,000.
    Before that it was 2 hdmi outputs and THREE ethernet ports!!

    You never know, coming up to the end of Feb we could get the old "we are making sure there are enough supplies for the demand, so we have delayed until the summer to make consumers comfortable".

    You know, some crap like that which shadows the "we can't actually afford to shunt out cheap mass produced units because it costs us too much to examine each one for quality testing, so because our technology is so out of our hands and over our heads, we have to slowly churn out as many as we can otherwise we will lose a LOT of sweet moola.... besides, we could benefit from the increased potential users over the summer holidays who can get jobs to save for the ps3.. heh".

    Sony are renouned to change their minds, even at the last minute. Take a look at the inside of a ps3 pad, the sensor technology is pretty much ADDED on, and the rumble looks like it could of been there with no problems at all. A look at the wii remote shows that its carefully designed with everything taken care of beforehand. Sixaxis looks like they just said "so uh, just stick this sensor chip on there, and a battery which you CAN remove, but we rushed it, so we will just get people to send us their pads for now".

    Last minute mind changing antics are a thing for Sony, especially with the PS3.
    I think that Sony will prevent the release date, even for just a few weeks, maybe to coincide with a specific software title, they might even just delay the thing altogether for a metal gear solid launch.
    You never know what stuff Sony will do to push their consoles out. If they released the ps3 NOW, it wouldnt sell. Of course, the rabid ps3 fans would snap it up, but budgets for the people in the uk are small right now because of the christmas season eating their funds up.
    Come summer time people either have saved for holidays, cleared that debt or just wanting something to be pre-occupied with. At the moment people are waiting all around for the Wii... ps3 doesnt have a chance in the UK right now to dominate any sales.

    If they do delay it, it will probably be because of "right place right time" reasons, like gears of war being released in november to capitalize on the christmas season, boost the 360's credentials and battle the ps3 launch buzz.

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