Would You Like Your PS3 with Turkey?

It's official. The Sony PS3 has been delayed. It will not launch until November of this year in a near-simultaneous launch in Japan, North America, and Europe. The console was slated to launch this Spring, but most gamers and analysts knew that Sony was having too many troubles with it's manufacturing and standards for the Blu-Ray DVD drive, the CELL processor, and a number of other factors including the fact that developers haven't had enough time to make games for it. Today at a press conference, Sony's gaming President, Ken Kutaragi, apologized to the industry reps in attendance for not alerting them earlier, although they would have had to have brains made of mud if they didn't realize that a delay was imminent.

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Although Sony's stock didn't take much of a hit because, again, this was expected, it doesn't help a company that is in sore need of a turn around. Sony's gaming biz has become the gem of the company. Which, I suppose, is a good argument not to rush anything.

As little as this has hurt Sony, I believe that it will help Microsoft and Nintendo quite a bit. The Xbox 360 will have a whole year on the PS3 by the time it launches. Although MS still needs to ramp up production to meet demand of the Xbox 360, by the time the PS3 launches, MS will have all manufacturing glitches out of the way and will most likely have a good library of games.

In Japan, this won't matter. They always have and probably always will hate the Xbox, but here in the states, we're fickle. If the Xbox 360 is what's available, that's what we'll buy.

Imagine the almost guaranteed shortage of PS3s during the holiday season. Who is going to want to stand in line for 24 hours for a PS3 when the Xbox 360 is sitting on the store shelf, ready for purchase? Add in that the PS3 is expected to launch at about $500 and you can see why many stateside will shun it for the Xbox 360.

Add in a dash of Nintendo who have been on a hot streak lately with their handhelds. They are due out with their Revolution console this year. They have kept plans very secret, but it is expected that they'll launch the Revolution some time in October or November of this year, alongside the new "Zelda" game, which is technically a GameCube game but can be played on the Revolution.

The Revolution is expected to launch at under $300, has a "Zelda" game to go with it, and has the revolutionary controller (remote control) that many people are drawn to.

That means even more competition for Sony come holiday shopping time. I know that the PS3 will do fine and sell well. However, gamers are more mature, more patient, and more reserved these days. It's the "been there, done that" problem. Sure, there is a "wow" factor to the PS3, but I just don't think it's that much more impressive than the other offerings (something that Sony had in the past with its PS1 and PS2).

That being said, I truly hope that we are able to get a PS3 in time for Turkey Day.