Release delay shouldn't hurt PS3

Philadelphia Daily News, March, 2006 by Jonathan Takiff

THE GIZMO: Ruminations on the PS3 delay, the Xbox 360 and other gamer stories.

Recent news that the PlayStation 3 game system won't come out until November was greeted with apparent surprise by some reporters covering the gaming industry, and predictions that the delay would play into Microsoft's world domination plans with the rival Xbox 360.

Truth is, we've anticipated this lag for months and don't think it should harm Sony too much in the long (or even short) run. Here's why.

IT'S THE GAMES, STUPID: Software developers need a minimum of three months of serious play time with the consumer-ready version of a game system to "debug" a new game title. That means Sony would have had to put sale-ready PS3s in developers' hands this week to launch the console in late June, as originally announced.

But specs for the copy-protection ...