Psst! The PS3 launch clock is ticking… finally

Philip Wong | Mar 15, 2006

PlayStation fans rejoice! The PS3 is now scheduled for worldwide launch in early November. We say it's high time Sony did something about the Xbox juggernaut. It's a good move, too, since this announcement might be enough to halt any wavering PlayStation fans from switching console allegiances. But with Xbox 360 launch dates for Asia Pacific due this month, it might still take a little more convincing to make gamers wait out the additional seven months while their neighbors are feasting their eyeballs on the babes from Dead or Alive 4.

Meanwhile, Sony has stopped short of announcing the expected retail price for the PS3, though market analysts estimate a whopping US$725 to US$905 in manufacturing cost. Half the sky-high bill is being attributed to the Cell processor and the Blu-ray optical drive, though the latter does offer 50GB of storage capacity--useful for beefing up content and image quality. So how much will a PS3 cost the consumer? Hopefully not too much as we await more details of this much-anticipated console