Sony admits PS3 delay possible

[Queasy]

Link

Issues with mass production of Blu-ray drives could be to blame if spring system launch is pushed back to fall.

In recent weeks, speculation that Sony would not make its previously announced spring 2006 release date for the PlayStation 3 has grown after a Merrill Lynch report predicted the new console would be pushed back until the end of the year, or perhaps later. Japanese site Sankei Web is reporting that Sony has acknowledged the possibility of a delay in the system, and that such a delay would be due to problems with the mass production of the console's built-in Blu-ray drive.

A Sony spokesperson is quoted in the article as saying, "The highest quality picture is vital to the PS3. There is a possibility of delay [to the launch] if delivery of parts is delayed."

The article suggests that if Sony does delay the system, it would put the launch off until after October in order to hit the busy holiday season. It also quotes Enterbrain president Hiokazu Hamamura as saying that if Sony hasn't started taking orders for the system by now, it would be difficult for the company to launch the PS3 in May.

 

[StevenYoo]

surprise, surprise:roll:

 

[Fingolfin269]

Which means that it will be at least a year before the average person will get their hands on a PS3 based on the current availability of the Xbox 360.

 

[Atheus]

Weren't there also some problems with the compiler for the cell? I read somewhere (possibly AT...) that they can't get it build efficiently for all 8 processor cores. If that's true many developers would be tempted to move production over to the 360, which at least has dev kits, and actually exists on shelves.

 

[StevenYoo]

Originally posted by: Atheus
Weren't there also some problems with the compiler for the cell? I read somewhere (possibly AT...) that they can't get it build efficiently for all 8 processor cores. If that's true many developers would be tempted to move production over to the 360, which at least has dev kits, and actually exists on shelves.

whoa, they haven't even finalized all the hardware yet???

 

[Velk]

Originally posted by: StevenYoo

Originally posted by: Atheus
Weren't there also some problems with the compiler for the cell? I read somewhere (possibly AT...) that they can't get it build efficiently for all 8 processor cores. If that's true many developers would be tempted to move production over to the 360, which at least has dev kits, and actually exists on shelves.

whoa, they haven't even finalized all the hardware yet???

Nope. That's not entirely unusual, it's not like developers develop on the machine itself. The longer they wait though, the greater the chances that something that differs between their emulation and the real machine is going to cause incredible anguish to all their developers.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: Atheus
Weren't there also some problems with the compiler for the cell? I read somewhere (possibly AT...) that they can't get it build efficiently for all 8 processor cores. If that's true many developers would be tempted to move production over to the 360, which at least has dev kits, and actually exists on shelves.

Its not the compiler, it was the production process. It was too expensive/inefficient to produce Cell with all 8 intended SPEs, so they deactivate one and go with 7. Kinda like CPUs with half of their L2 cache being dissabled, or GPUs where they have some pipes dissabled and are released as a lower model.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: bunnyfubbles

Originally posted by: Atheus
Weren't there also some problems with the compiler for the cell? I read somewhere (possibly AT...) that they can't get it build efficiently for all 8 processor cores. If that's true many developers would be tempted to move production over to the 360, which at least has dev kits, and actually exists on shelves.

Its not the compiler, it was the production process. It was too expensive/inefficient to produce Cell with all 8 intended SPEs, so they deactivate one and go with 7. Kinda like CPUs with half of their L2 cache being dissabled, or GPUs where they have some pipes dissabled and are released as a lower model.

In your examples, those CPUs DID have the cache or all the pipes... they were simply disabled for marketing reasons.

 

[skace]

This delay wouldn't be all that bad if they use the delay to have a massive number of really good launch titles. I mean games you normally wouldn't see until several months - year into the console launch. Seeing those at launch date would really make up for any major delay since the PS2 didn't have anything great at launch.

 

[BenSkywalker]

In your examples, those CPUs DID have the cache or all the pipes... they were simply disabled for marketing reasons.

Cell has all 8 SPEs, one is disabled for yield considerations.

The delay if you read the original article(in Japanese) is due to the BR copyright specs not being finalized- nothing else. The hardware was finalized a long time ago- actually around E3 of last year- getting the final dev kits out was another matter however. Also- the compilers have been working for over a year now too. They aren't even close to the maturity of say an x86 compiler- but neither are the compilers for any other system.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Why dont they just put a DVD player in it and get it over with?

 

[Velk]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Why dont they just put a DVD player in it and get it over with?

Because they are trying for a default win on the blu-ray/hd-dvd war. They figure people who want HD will buy a PS3 instead of an xbox360 and a HD-DVD player.

It worked pretty well for MS with the first gen xbox - lots of people bought it because it was also a cheap DVD player.

 

[91TTZ]

Oh, wow, they're postponing their spring (lame buying season) launch and instead going for a late fall (Christmas buying season, biggest buying time of the year) launch instead? I never saw that one coming...:laugh: