Official PLAYSTATION 3? thread

[Queasy]

This thread may be moved into S/W-Games at a later date.

Any additional threads on this subject will be locked and the poster may get time off

Anandtech Moderator


Since we have "Official" threads for the Xbox360 and Wii , might as well have a PS3 one too instead of having multiple PS3 threads littering the board.

Latest news - Software Update to be available at launch.

Sony's Japanese site released a press release stated that there will be a software update on November 11th to allow "customers to be able to utilize the Playstation Network functions."

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PS3 Launch-Window List: (Post Cancellation / Delay news) - courtesy of mflacy's post below

*Exclusive Titles are Highlighted*

November: 15 titles (6 Exclusive)

Blazing Angels
Call of Duty 3
Genji: Days of the Blade
Madden NFL 07
Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire
NBA 07 (Sony's game, not EA)
NBA 2K7
Need for Speed: Carbon
NHL 2K7
Resistance: Fall of Man
Ridge Racer 7
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
Tony Hawk's Project 8
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom

Mid-December: 3 Titles (1 Exclusive)

Fight Night Round 3
Full Auto 2
Rainbow Six: Vegas

Delayed: 3 Titles

F.E.A.R. (2007)
Oblivion (2007)
Sonic The Hedgehog (Holiday 2006)
MotoStorm (2007)

Canceled: 1 Title

NBA Live 07


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Update - 11/13: Gamestop not getting enough units to fill Pre-Orders

Last month, retailer GameStop began accepting "limited" preorders for the PlayStation 3, asking customers to put down $100 in advance for the system, with a modest expectation of eight units per store in most cases. Now it appears the largest gaming specialty chain in North America won't be receiving even that many systems.

A GameStop representative told GameSpot today that the company received launch allocation numbers from Sony, and that it won't be able to fill its existing PS3 preorders. The representative declined to comment on how many systems GameStop expected to receive, or how short of that figure the company's share of systems would be.

"We are beginning to notify our customers that our initial shipment of PS3 systems will not be what we expected," the representative said. "As this is not an ideal situation, we are asking employees to wait to purchase systems until the second shipment. We are anticipating having systems to cover reservations before Christmas."

For launch day, preorders will be filled in the order they were received, and those who had a preorder but are denied a system on day one will receive something for their troubles. GameStop will give those unfortunate customers (as well as unfortunate employees) a free used game or DVD valued at $19.99 or less when they eventually wind up purchasing the system.

Those who reserved a system won't need to wait long to find out if they can expect a system on launch day. Starting tomorrow, customers who preordered a PS3 will be contacted personally by phone and updated on the status of their reservation, the rep said.

And while it might be a nonissue considering the clamor for consumers to get their hands on the coveted systems, GameStop is also asking anyone with a confirmed preorder to pick their systems up by Saturday evening.

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edit: 11/14 - Analyst: 150-200k consoles for the US launch? Ouch

"We expect Sony to deliver 150-200k units to stores in the United States for the launch; consumers without pre-orders may find it difficult to locate an available system. We estimate sales of approximately 750k PS3s domestically by year-end.

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edit: 11/18 - NexGen Wars estimates ~240k PS3s sold so far. Half of Sony's 500k launch target (100k in Japan, 400k in North America).

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edit: 11/20 - Sony blames Blu-Ray for shortages

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s much-anticipated Playstation 3 videogame console hit U.S. stores Friday, just days after initial shipments of the system in Japan sold out in a matter of hours. Though priced starting at $499 for the more basic of the two models, the PS3 is in many ways the signature consumer electronics product of the 2006 holiday season. Some consumers even camped out overnight to get their hands on one.

But the PS3 won't be a runaway hit this holiday season, for one reason: Set back by production problems for the blue-laser diodes used in the consoles' optical disk system, Sony cannot deliver enough of them.

Sony's initial shipments?400,000 units in the States, and reportedly somewhat less than the 100,000-unit volume Sony had promised in Japan?are less than half what the company had initially planned to deliver and not nearly enough to meet demand.

The shortfall has been blamed on problems in the production of blue-laser diodes?more precisely, blue-violet lasers with a 405-nanometer wavelength. Those problems have persisted through more than a decade of blue-laser development.

"It is really challenging to get a high yield in gallium nitride device production," said Shuji Nakamura, a professor of materials engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who is best known as a pioneering developer of volume-manufacturing technology for GaN-based LEDs and lasers. "No one has succeeded in manufacturing GaN lasers in really large volumes," Nakamura said, so it's not surprising Sony's engineers "have had a hard time."

The biggest problem, according to Nakamura, is the lack of a bulk substrate for gallium nitride crystalline growth. Current blue-laser diode fabrication uses a freestanding GaN substrate that is epitaxially grown on a sapphire substrate, with the sapphire substrate removed once the thick GaN layer is formed. But substrates made using this process include a high number of dislocations, or defects.

A lateral epitaxially overgrown method is widely used to grow GaN films with fewer defects, but this method often results in a mixture of high- and low-quality crystalline. As a result, only about half of the diodes on a wafer can be used as lasers. Worse, the substrates are subject to bowing, making it difficult to expose light uniformly on them during photolithography and thus further reducing yield.

"The ultimate solution to achieving high yields is to develop a bulk substrate for GaN," said Nakamura, adding that his team and others are doing research in that area. "Until such a genuine substrate is developed, it should be difficult to raise yields using current pseudosubstrates."

Other semiconductor lasers, such as the red laser diodes used in CD and DVD players and recorders, once faced similar yield problems, which were overcome when production efforts expanded, according to Nakamura. But that was a very different situation, he cautioned, because suitable substrates were already available.

"Executive officers without a technical background may think that the situation is the same and direct engineers to go forward," Nakamura said. "But the situation is different. There is no suitable substrate."

The metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) systems used in blue-laser diode production also pose a problem, Nakamura said. "The companies developing [blue] lasers are using their uniquely tuned systems," he said. "As far as I know, those MOCVD systems are not suitable for batch processing."

click through for more.

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edit: 11/21 - New PSP firmware released for interaction between PSP and PS3.


edit: 11/21 - Bloomberg: Only 400k PS3s by the end of the year.

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Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp. may have missed its goal of having 400,000 PlayStation 3 consoles in U.S. stores for the video-game player's Nov. 17 debut, analysts said.

The number of machines available was ``even lower than expected,'' Kaufman Bros. Equity Research analyst Todd Mitchell said today in a research note. Analysts including Michael Savner at Banc of America Securities and Anthony Gikas at Piper Jaffray & Co. also predicted a shortfall.

Limited supplies haven't satisfied demand for PlayStation 3, leading some customers who obtained consoles to sell them on the Internet at markups of several times to their retail price. Parts shortages forced Sony to reduce its year-end goal for worldwide shipments of the new console by half, to 2 million, in September.

``We shipped as many PlayStation 3 units into the North American market as possible and continue our efforts in supplying systems to retailers nationwide through the holidays,'' Sony spokeswoman Kimberly Otzman said today in an e-mail.

The company is airlifting in shipments weekly, and aims to have 1 million units in U.S. stores by the end of the year, Otzman said. She didn't say how many shipments were on hand for the launch.

American depositary receipts of Tokyo-based Sony fell 67 cents to $40.12 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Each ADR is worth one ordinary share. They have declined 1.7 percent this year.

Tokyo-based Sony has struggled to assemble the consoles due to a shortage of a laser used in its Blu-ray DVD player.

Short supplies of the consoles led customers to line up for days outside stores across the U.S. Some people who purchased the $499 and $599 machines sold them on Web sites such as Ebay.com for as much as $5,000.

Lines, Markups

More than half the 150 stores checked by Kaufman Bros. said they wouldn't have enough units to cover preorders, according to a Nov. 16 research note by retail analyst SooAnn Roberts. She predicts Sony will ship no more than 200,000 units to the U.S. this year.

Savner said in a Nov. 7 report that Sony would miss its target. Gikas said in a Nov. 16 note that he expected 200,000 PlayStation 3s available at the U.S. launch and 400,000 by year- end.

Toys ``R'' Us Inc., the second-largest U.S. toy seller, expects more PlayStation 3 machines to arrive next week, spokeswoman Kathleen Waugh said in an interview. She said the company received enough PlayStation 3s at launch to cover preorders.

``They gave us allocations for the holiday season last week,'' Waugh said. ``We wish we could have gotten more.''

Nintendo Co.'s Wii, which was introduced in the U.S. on Nov. 19, ``is doing phenomenally,'' Waugh said. The Wayne, New Jersey-based company's Times Square store sold more than 2,000 units in a few hours, she said.

Wii is sold out in some stores, although the company expects to be ``in great stock through the holiday season,'' Waugh said. The Wii appeals to Toys ``R'' Us core customers of families and children, she said.

Customers who want a PlayStation 3 will probably wait and buy more games for their PlayStation 2, Mitchell said in an interview.

``If there is a substitution, it would be more for the Xbox 360,'' Mitchell said. ``Demand for PS3 is from hard-core gamers, who wouldn't opt for a Wii. It's not an alternative to PS3.''

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edit: 11/22 - Gamestop resupplied on PS3s (and Wii) for Black Friday

One of the biggest hitches with Microsoft's Xbox 360 launch last year was a dearth of follow-up shipments that left the console maker unable to make its next-gen system readily available to consumers until months after launch.

Sony and Nintendo might manage to avoid that problem, as GameStop today indicated that last weekend's launches of the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii sold out, but more units are on the way. In an investor conference call tied to the retailer's third-quarter earnings report, GameStop executives confirmed that they have already been resupplied with both systems, and they expect to get more of each on a weekly basis.

The executives also recapped the launch performances of the two systems. For the PS3, Sony's Resistance: Fall of Man and Electronic Arts' Madden NFL 07 were the biggest sellers, while Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Ubisoft's Red Steel stood out from the pack of Wii launch titles.

However, game sales were stronger on the Wii, with GameStop sporting a tie ratio of 3 games sold for every system, compared to the PS3's tie ratio of 1.5 games for each system. The shortfall on Sony's system was attributed to more people picking up the system on its own to turn around and sell it for a premium. As those systems find their ways into the hands of "real gamers," the execs said the PS3 tie ratio should increase.

GameStop's higher-ups noted that their chain historically has the highest tie ratio of any retailer in the country but estimated that they were still shorted on hardware allocation by both Sony and Nintendo. While GameStop and its EB Games brand collectively account for about 25 percent of the US gaming market, the company believes it didn't receive that much of either system's day-one shipments. Executives said that they've never been satisfied with their launch-day allocation of any new machine, but added their main concern now is the flow of follow-up shipments--which both Sony and Nintendo have promised will come at a steady pace.

More

Sony Computer Entertainment of America's Dave Karraker confirms that a new shipment of Playstation 3s has landed and will be available at stores by Black Friday.

No word on how many of the Playstation 3s, airlifted to the U.S., was in the shipment, but Karraker says that the company is shipping them on a weekly basis and that they are shooting for 1 million consoles in stores in the U.S. by the end of the year.

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Sony backs off on promise to fix scaling issue

Sony has contacted us to let us know that they may have spoken a bit prematurely. SCEA's Dave Karraker, Sr. Director, Corporate Communications, informed GameDaily BIZ that they currently cannot confirm that this 1080i issue will be resolved via a firmware patch. The official line is now that they are "looking into the issue and haven't stated any actions that will be taken regarding it."

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GranTurismo HD Dropped to focus on GranTurismo 5

November 30, 2006 - Sony and Polyphony Digital's experiment in download-based gaming has come to an early end. Sony announced today that it has cancelled the retail release of Gran Turismo HD in favor of a full-fledged Gran Turismo 5 product.

Gran Turismo HD was originally set for Japanese release later this month. Sony was planning to release the title at low cost, but with minimal gameplay content included from the start. Players would have to download cars and tracks through micro transactions.

A version of Gran Turismo HD will still be released exclusively in download form through the PlayStation store. Titled Gran Turismo HD Concept, this free download will be available through the Japanese store on 12/24. A date for the US store debut has not been announced.

This will be just the first of multiple "Concept" downloads. While specifics on the content to be included in the downloads were not announced today, producer Kazunori Yamauchi did provide some hints at a message posted on the official Gran Turismo site. According to Yamauchi, the download available on Christmas Eve will give a first look at the high definition graphics provided by the PlayStation 3. The next Concept download will include Polyphony's next generation driving engine.

As for the online racing that was being promised for Gran Turismo HD, Yamauchi says that this will be included in the final Gran Turismo 5 product. Many of the other elements that were planned for GT HD will also make it into GT5, according to Yamauchi. A release date for this true next generation Gran Turismo has yet to be finalized.

Polyphony seems to have quite a bit in the works for GT5. The Gran Turismo official site lists the genre for Gran Turismo HD Concept as "Real Driving Simulator," the same genre that's been used for the series since the original PlayStation version. For Gran Turismo 5, the genre is listed as "Online Car Life Simulator."

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PS3 Firmware Update 1.3

There is an outstanding 1080i problem on the PlayStation 3. This problem has not been fixed by today's 1.30 firmware update.

What has been fixed: the system has given a higher priority to 1080i signals so, if available, the console will default to 1080i over 720p. This means that if your HDTV supports 720p, and a game's native resolution (like Resistance: Fall of Man) is 720p, it should display fine in that resolution. If the native resolution is 1080p (NBA07, the XMB interface, Blu-ray movies) and your set supports 1080i and 720p, the console will automatically default to 1080i due to the higher preference, regardless of what your preference is. If you disable the 1080i output so everything will play in your preferred 720p, your Blu-ray movies will drop down to 480p. We're not really sure what problem this update was intended to fix or why the resolution hierarchy isn't user selectable.

Luckily, most new HDTVs support both 720p and 1080i making these issues moot for many gamers, but we're hoping (really, it's on our Xmas list) that the eggheads at Sony are working on a holiday-themed upgrade to support downscaling Blu-ray movies to 720p and upscaling some games (like Resistance) to 1080i. Oh, and maybe some of that DVD-upscaling we're hearing about while they're at it.

Also included in the update:

* RGB and Y Pb/Cb Pr/Cr output selection over HDMI
* A backup utility to get your removable media data -- that's SD, Compact Flash, and Memory Stick -- to the HDD
* HDD formatting option
* Support for a Bluetooth remote control

 

[sash1]

w00t!

 

[Fingolfin269]

First to say 'PS3 Sucks!' (and hopefully the last!)

*EDITED FOR CLARIFICATION!*

 

[So]

No, no we don't need one. The 360 thread is enough of a waste of bandwidth.

 

[funboy6942]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
First to say 'PS3 Sucks!'

You have hands on experance with the console and games to make such a comment? I know its been on the market for ever now it seems and all the over heating problems and blu-lasers of death going around :disgust:

 

[Fingolfin269]

Originally posted by: funboy42

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
First to say 'PS3 Sucks!'

You have hands on experance with the console and games to make such a comment? I know its been on the market for ever now it seems and all the over heating problems and blu-lasers or death going around :disgust:

:roll: Actually no I do not. But, if you've read any PS3 threads, you'll know that the only thing people talk about is how PS3 sucks or does not suck. I thought I'd get it out of the way as early as possible so we can move on to real discussion.

 

[loup garou]

Some more reviews of launch games...pretty mediocre.

 

[HN]

so, what kinda of videos are we going to get?
people waiting in line?
first person to smash PS3?
first person to get PS3 stolen?
Harry Potter spoiler?

 

[jtvang125]

My brother said he was going to get one. I told him the cheapest one cost $500. Next words out of his mouth was "WTF, Fvck that then!"

 

[jlbenedict]

Originally posted by: jtvang125
My brother said he was going to get one. I told him the cheapest one cost $500. Next words out of his mouth was "WTF, Fvck that then!"

Yeah.. but that is only if you are able to buy one. I'm sure when it is first readily available, Walmart, Best Buy, etc. will add games and other stuff and only sell it as a package deal, inflating the costs.

I wonder how long it will be before I can actually walk into a Best Buy or Walmart and get JUST the console, without any added BS that I do not want?

 

[Koing]

Lets hope thhey can get some decent games out quick and the online play isn't complete pants...

Koing

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: jlbenedict

Originally posted by: jtvang125
My brother said he was going to get one. I told him the cheapest one cost $500. Next words out of his mouth was "WTF, Fvck that then!"

Yeah.. but that is only if you are able to buy one. I'm sure when it is first readily available, Walmart, Best Buy, etc. will add games and other stuff and only sell it as a package deal, inflating the costs.

I wonder how long it will be before I can actually walk into a Best Buy or Walmart and get JUST the console, without any added BS that I do not want?

Best Buy and Wal-Mart aren't supposed to be forcing bundles on you in-store. They'll do it online and there may be some crooked managers at one or two stores who break this rule like during the 360 launch but they aren't supposed to be doing that.

 

[ViviTheMage]

glad I got my preorder....kids are freaking out over the ps3.

 

[A5]

If I can saunter into my Wal-Mart at 11 the night before and get one, then I'll think about it and flip it on eBay.

 

[mflacy]

PS3 Launch-Window List: (Post Cancellation / Delay news)

*Exclusive Titles are Highlighted*

November: 15 titles (6 Exclusive)

Blazing Angels
Call of Duty 3
Genji: Days of the Blade
Madden NFL 07
Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire
NBA 07 (Sony's game, not EA)
NBA 2K7
Need for Speed: Carbon
NHL 2K7
Resistance: Fall of Man
Ridge Racer 7
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
Tony Hawk's Project 8
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom

Mid-December: 3 Titles (1 Exclusive)

Fight Night Round 3
Full Auto 2
Rainbow Six: Vegas

Delayed: 3 Titles

F.E.A.R. (2007)
Oblivion (2007)
Sonic The Hedgehog (Holiday 2006)

Canceled: 1 Title

NBA Live 07

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: mflacy
PS3 Launch-Window List: (Post Cancellation / Delay news)
Tony Hawk's Project 8

Go ahead and mark this one down as one to avoid - unstable framerates and no online multi-player.

Also add MotoStorm to the list of titles delayed until 2007.

 

[Nick5324]

NBA Live 07 is canceled?!?! I have no interest in the PS3, but I'm very surprised to hear this. Why would they dump a major sports title for any of the latest consoles?

 

[mflacy]

Originally posted by: Nick5324
NBA Live 07 is canceled?!?! I have no interest in the PS3, but I'm very surprised to hear this. Why would they dump a major sports title for any of the latest consoles?

Link

November 8, 2006 - It's been forever since we last heard anything about the PlayStation 3 version of NBA Live 07 (which was announced at E3 2006 back in May), but that's for good reason. According to EA representatives, whom we spoke with just moments ago, the PS3 edition of Live has been cancelled altogether and will not be coming out for the system until next year (NBA Live 08).

"We are concentrating our efforts on creating a spectacular NBA Street: Homecourt [instead of porting NBA Live 07]," said David Tinson, Public Relations Manager, EA Canada. "[Homecourt] is coming to the PS3 and Xbox 360 early next year."

Though PS3-specific features or fixes for the PlayStation 3 edition of NBA Live 07 were never announced, the game was used to demonstrate what EA Sports could do with the system's hardware during Sony's onstage presentation prior to E3. Specifically, the demo focused on NBA Live's "Procedural Awareness Technology" and how that would translate into realistic on-court reactions.

NBA Homecourt, which was announced in August, is expected to hit shelves sometime in the first half of 2007.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: Nick5324
NBA Live 07 is canceled?!?! I have no interest in the PS3, but I'm very surprised to hear this. Why would they dump a major sports title for any of the latest consoles?

this years live is utter garbage. It will definetly not be missed with 2k7 and sony's nba 07 on the PS3. Live let me down I tried 2k7, my first 2k game since DC days and must say, its much better and polished.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: loup garou
Some more reviews of launch games...pretty mediocre.

its one game unless i'm missing something

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad

Originally posted by: loup garou
Some more reviews of launch games...pretty mediocre.

its one game unless i'm missing something

Yes, looks like you are missing basic reading comprehension skills.

 

[randay]

ps3 owns all. long live sony.

 

[JoLLyRoGer]

Gawd yes your right!!

Mods Sticky Please??

 

[Journer]

ps3 = $$$ for me!!

 

[Kev]

why are people on ebay paying upwards of $3000 to play those dogsh*t titles?