It's OFFICIALLY official: PS3 releases Early November 2006

There was a press conference last night in Japan where Sony finally admitted what everyone else knew: the Playstation 3 will not be released in the original "Spring 2006" schedule. Instead, it will release in "early November" simultaneously in Japan, the UK, and the USA.

This puts the PS3 in the same boat as the XBox 360 for potential supply problems, since all three major markets will be battling for the unit at the same time. Even more significantly, it gives Microsoft another 6 months to get a foothold in the Next-Gen-Console market, which could be long enough to ensure a #1 position for Redmond.

I hope not. I still plan to wait for the PS3, as I have resolved to never buy a Microsoft console. Besides, there are still no good Star Wars-themed games announced for either console. I'll keep playing Battlefront II on my PS2 and PSP.