Im folgenden einen Artikel von CVG:Wednesday 14th July 2004
XMAS '04 UNVEILING FOR PS3? WILL MS RETALIATE?
Seconds out ...Round One
11:44 Stop the presses because according to the latest reports, Sony's next generation PlayStation, the PS3, could well be unveiled before the end of this year.
Gobsmacked? So are we, but according to the latest word from the PlayStation Meeting 2004 event in Tokyo, Sony has displayed a graphic which shows the chronology of its four main console systems, including the mysteriously labelled "Next System."
This graphic appears to show that the debut of the PS3 will come just before the end of this year, happily coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the PlayStation 2's launch, with TOOL development kits shipping to software houses at the start of 2005.
PS3 revealed before the end of this year! Well holey moley, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. It's unlikely we'll see anything like the finished article, but rather a first, gentle unveiling of the PS3's system's specs and capabilities and possibly even indications of what the "Next System" might look like.
The scoop is further muddied by the fact that the graphic actually refers to financial years, which as every accountant knows, generally run from April to April.
Yet we already know Sony is planning to show the PS3 for the first time at next year's E3 and so a gentle teaser unveiling before Christmas 2004 seems plausible, with the first batch of playable games scheduled to appear at the Tokyo Games Show in late 2005.
Bosh! Sony lays down a mighty fine opening hand, but where does this leave Microsoft and the Xbox Next? Well as Microsoft has previously stated, it won't be beaten to market in the next round of console launches - which may accelerate the Xbox Next's unveiling to this year's X04 showcase event.
Although the time and date hasn't been confirmed by Microsoft yet, X04 is widely expected to be in Europe in September and that would seem an ideal time to for the company to steal a march on Sony's thunder.
And that, of course, without even mentioning Nintendo's plans for the Revolution, which is also set to debut at E3 2005. We'll be keeping an ear out for fresh announcements and a possible Nintendo counter-attack in the next couple of days.
The Chinese have an old curse, "May you live in interesting times", and the epic saga of the next generation launch cycle is certainly becoming that.
Perhaps someone should quickly rush out Console Tycoon so we can all play along?
John Houlihan