South African gamers can join the queues on Friday when Sony’s long-awaited PlayStation 3 (PS3) hits local stores. It also debuts in Europe on the same day.
The PS3 offers games and multimedia in a high-definition environment using the Blu-ray DVD system, created for high-definition TV systems. A built-in controller can connect up to seven gamers wirelessly via Bluetooth technology.
Apart from gaming, the console can also acts as a standalone DVD player (with a 60-gigabyte hard drive) and store photos, videos and music. Its speed compares well with that of the best PCs available commercially, and it links to the internet for downloads and interactive games.
Because of production costs, Sony is making available only the more expensive 60GB version for Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Australasia. The price tag is high — at about R6 300 a console, according to the Incredible Connection website — making it more expensive than other new-generation video consoles such as Microsoft’s Xbox 360 or Nintendo’s Wii.
David Hirsch, merchandise director of Incredible Connection, told the Mail & Guardian Online on Thursday that the chain was ready for the launch on Friday. However, he did not expect a mad rush for the console — mainly because of the price.
“It’s an expensive unit, but there are core gamers” who will want it as soon as possible, he said, adding that several pre-launch orders had been placed online — “more than I thought”.
In Europe, Jim Batchelor, entertainment head at Britain’s Woolworths department store, predicted this week that the PS3’s launch would be the biggest games-console launch to date, “bigger than the launch of the Nintendo Wii, the Xbox 360 and the previous PlayStations”.
At least one man was shot in the chaotic United States launch of the PS3 four months back, and punch-ups were reported across the nation as gamers and profiteers scrambled for scarce stocks of the machines.
As the state-of-the-art consoles made their way on to internet auction site eBay, prices rocketed into thousands of dollars.
Only about 1 200 PS2 games will be compatible with the PS3, which comes with about 30 new games. Game titles confirmed for PS3 thus far include Resistance: Fall of Man, MotorStorm, Genji: Days of the Blade, Formula One Championship Edition and Ridge Racer 7.
Sony hopes to sell six million PS3s by the end of March against 10,4-million Xbox 360s sold in a year and six million Wii consoles, which were launched last November.
PlayStations have long dominated the home video-game market, with the original version and PS2 selling more than 100-million each.