PlayStation 3 to Debut at E3 2005

You could probably have guessed that anyway, but now, Big Ken has confirmed it. Full details inside. Plus - launch date speculation continues!

Sony Computer Entertainment's top brass and the creator of the PlayStation legacy Ken Kutaragi revealed that PlayStation 3 will appear at E3 2005 in Los Angeles next May, speaking at a Tokyo press conference this morning.

Kutaragi-san said: "There has been some talk that development for a next generation game console has not been going well, but we will have a playable version ready by next spring," said Sony's game division head, Ken Kutaragi.

You'll get to see the real thing in less than a year's time.

On the matter of a release date, Ken would not commit to an exact date, but said the machine will follow a similar schedule to market as PS2.

Using this theory, considering the PS2 was first unveiled in playable form at TGS Autumn 1999, followed by the official 'PlayStation Festival' launch event in February 2000, and then finally releasing in Japan one month later in March, we could see the release of PlayStation 3 in Japan as soon as November 2005 - an equal six month measure from the scheduled unveiling.

At this year's E3, SCEI's Masa Chatani talked quite extensively about the mythical 'Cell' processor that will power PS3, while Nintendo's Satoru Iwata talked about how Nintendo's forthcoming Revolution console will change the way games are played, and XNA Architect J Allard discussed the impact the new XNA software will have on "next generation Xbox products" - to you and me, Xbox 2.

It ahs been anticipated that PlayStation 3 will see some kind of dual-roll out of both regular and multimedia editions of the machine for the gamer market and also the high-end tech market - with the Xbox 2 rollout possibly following a similar strategy. (Details here).

The scene is inevitably set for the next-gen battle at E3 2005 that we've all been waiting for - and which the industry is desperately trying to slow down in the interest of current-generation sales.

Meanwhile, it was revealed by SCEA's Hideki Komiyama in a Bloomberg interview that PSX's launch in Europe and North America has been delayed until 2005. Woohoo.

Stay tuned for detailed next-gen updates at Kikizo.

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com