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Sony have given their biggest indication yet that the anticipated handheld will launch in Europe and North America in March.
In what has been suspected around the industry for a while, Sony’s American CEO, Ken Hirai, commented at the CES in Las Vegas the likely release date. Echoing what Sony’s CEO Ken Kutaragi had told business executives in Tokyo earlier in the day, Hirai declined to comment on possible pricing, and instead wanted to talk about sales of the device so far (510,000 for those that are interested), and the fact that Sony has had difficulty in obtaining key components, which they expect will hamper their desire to have 3 million units shipped by 31st March 2005.
Whilst not being the official confirmation that many are waiting for (including details of pricing and any differences from the Japanese release), it is the most forthright comment yet regarding the system’s worldwide-debut. And with Nintendo’s DS also likely to be released in Europe in March, it could be an expensive month for gamers.
While no specific date was given, Capcom has announced that Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower will be released along side the console at a mid-March date, offering a slightly less vague release date for the machine.
During Sony’s presentation at CES they concentrated a lot on the machine’s movie playing capabilities, but ended with a show-reel highlighting some key western releases. These included Wipeout Pure, Spider-Man 2, Mercury, ATV Offroad Fury and Need for Speed Underground Rivals.
So with the release month virtually official (if not the actual date), all one can say is this – ‘Sony, tell us the price, dammit!’.
We will keep you updated on the European release and we will be able to bring you coverage of some of the launch titles in the coming weeks.
