Sony Unveils Plans for PlayStation 3

Sony attempted to soften the pricing blow by forecasting an aggressive launch schedule. The company plans to release the PlayStation 3 in Japan on Nov. 11; the device will hit store shelves in North America, Europe, Australia and parts of Asia outside of Japan on Nov. 17.

The company plans to ship 2 million of the devices worldwide at launch and immediately thereafter. By the end of March 2007, the company expects to have shipped 6 million devices worldwide.

That's far more than the number of Xbox 360s Microsoft has shipped over comparable periods. The Redmond, Wash., software giant said recently that it had shipped about 3.2 million of the game consoles by the end of March after launching the device last November.

Indeed, Microsoft battled supply problems for months after launching the Xbox 360 and shipped far fewer numbers of the console that expected, particularly during the holiday season.

That's not unusual. Sony also had to deal with supply problems when it launched the PlayStation 2 six years ago. Whether Sony will avoid similar problems and live up to its forecasts is anyone's guess. "I'll believe it when I see it," said Baker.

Another surprise at the conference was a new controller that Sony has developed for the PlayStation 3. The device apparently has a gyroscope inside it -- it responds to movement. Lowering the controller with your hands, for instance, can lower an object you are controlling in a game. Turn the controller in your hands and you can turn a plane or presumably a car on the screen.

The controller appears to be Sony's response to another rival, Nintendo, which has tried to differentiate its own upcoming system, the Wii, by including a controller that resembles more a remote control than a traditional game controller. Like the PlayStation 3, the Wii's controller will respond to movement of the controller itself.

Sony also used the conference to show off games for the new console. However, most of the games displayed were either still in production or not even playable yet. Few elicited much excitement from the gathered crowd of reporters, analysts and game enthusiasts.

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