PS3 launch date, price, 4D controller revealed

Sony’s standard PS3 will have a 20-gigabyte hard drive and debut on November 11 in Japan and November 17 in most of the rest of the world. The unit will retail for 59,800 yen ($536) in Japan and 499 euros ($634) in Europe.

The Japanese electronics giant also showed off a motion-sensitive wireless controller, a feature similar to the controllers being offered by Nintendo Co. Ltd. in its upcoming Wii game machine.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said the price was competitive and the controller would be reason enough for many gamers to wait for the PS3 rather than buy Microsoft’s Xbox 360, which was launched late last year.

Reuters - Sony to launch PS3 at $499

Better news at least comes with the announcement of the revised PS3 controller. Rather sensibly (or boringly – depending on your perspective) it looks identical to the existing PS2 model. That said it sports a number of funky additions.

Most notable among them are motion detection (just like the controller that comes with the Nintendo Revolution - it’ll be a few more months before I can accept calling it the Wii) and a wired or wireless connection over Bluetooth. The L1, L2 and R1, R2 buttons have also been slightly enlarged and overall sensitivity increased. On the downside Sony has Dual Shock functionality saying it interferes with the motion sensor technology, but that didn’t prove to be an issue with the controllers for the Wii (there, I said it).

Trusted Reviews - PS3 Priced, Dated, Controller Revealed

Included with the PS3 will be a new (motion-sensitive controller) that.. ..can also sense hand movements: Instead of pushing buttons, players can simply move the controller to control characters on the screen.

In a demonstration of "Warhawk," a flight simulation, a plane’s flight direction was determined simply by the physical movement of the controller. It does not take much to see that this new controller holds by far the most potential for true game innovations on Sony’s new game console - aside from more pixel resolution and surround sound.

Tom’s Hardware - Playstation 3 to launch on 17 Nov for $500

The big gamble starts with the $499 price tag… The presumption Sony makes is that a great many of those customers within the first four-and-a-half months of shipment are willing to invest in the highest resolution console ever built, not necessarily for its high resolution.

Today, a 32-inch Sony 1080p HDTV display sells for about $800, but the prices only go up from there. And a Sony Dolby 5.1 surround sound component sells for an average of $375. Sony also expects consumers to purchase at least four games with every system, with an average selling price of about $50 apiece. Let’s face reality: This isn’t a $500 game system; for most Americans, it’s a $1,900 one, at least.

Tom’s Hardware - Analysis: Sony’s high-stakes, high-definition gamble on PlayStation 3

Sony is betting consumers will be willing to pay more for the PlayStation 3’s high-definition Blu-ray DVD player and the option of a larger hard disk drive than Microsoft’s Xbox 360.

"We didn’t see a lot of innovation" in Sony’s presentation today, said Shane Kim, general manager of Microsoft Game Studios. He said there is a "significant’" difference in the price of the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 and that Sony’s controller appeals to a "niche market."

Bloomberg - Sony Debuts PlayStation 3; Will Cost as Much as $599 (Update3)

Sony currently dominates in the home, having sold more than 100 million PlayStation 2s, so it has much riding on the new console. It had originally planned to launch the system in the spring, but was forced to delay due to issues with its new Blu-ray DVD drive.

"We are not about cutting corners to rush a product to market," said the head of Sony game unit in the US, Kaz Hirai, at the company’s pre-E3 news conference. "The next generation doesn’t start until we say it does. Today the PlayStation 3 is real."

BBC - Sony reveals PlayStation 3 prices