Sony Computer Entertainment just announced that it would launch Playstation 3 in early November 2006 in Japan, North America and Europe simultaneously. With a monthly production capacity of one million units, SCEI will push forward a powerful product launch to spread the platform rapidly throughout the world, together with a strong and attractive lineup of PS3 game titles.

All software will be released on the Blu-Ray format for the purpose of preventing piracy. Apparently the HDD is not necessarily standard, Sony is telling developers "develop for it (or it will not succeed)", and encouraging them to use it. The drive itself will be 60GB, upgradeable, and it will support Linux. The HDD will also act as a home media center and allow users to store various forms of media to be viewed elsewhere (similar to the Xbox360). The final development kits will ship sometime in June, Sony said.

As for backwards compatability, Sony announced that the PS3 will be 100% backwards compatible, and all PS2 titles will be displayed at high-definition resolutions (like the XBox360). Sony will also launch the PS online network with the Playstation 3. The basic service will be free, more details coming. We can assume for now that "basic service" is equivalent to the Xbox Live Silver service. The service will be run by Sony Online Entertainment. That is all the info Sony has revealed on this subject. As for price, Sony has said the unit will not cost less than 50,000.00 JP YEN. This equates to $425.607 USD.

PS3: - GLOBAL RELEASE NOVEMBER 11th
- 60GB HDD 2.5" with pre-installed Linux OS will be included?
- Dev kit specs fix as of today
- Final PS3 development kits will be sent to developers in June
- 10.000.000 BD-ROMS manufacturing capability per month @ cost around same as 2-layer DVD
- Every PS3 game will be on a Blu Ray Disc, in an attempt to prevent piracy
- Price will not be less than 50.000YEN (~$425USD)
- PS3 will have HDMI support from launch
- Sony plans to produce 1 million PS3s a month; 6 million PS3s for FY2006 (by the end of March 07)
- basic" online service free, no details yet (could be XBLS for PS3)
- Full backwards compatibility, hi-res and texture filtering for all titles (akin to what the Xbox 360 does to Halo)
- The online service will be working off of GameSpy technology

PSP: - videophone in autumn
- MinGol GPS
- Eyetoy
- Flash support with next update
- Mem.Stick boot support in autumn
- first-gen PS1 official emulator
- buy/download games from net
- 199 CORE PACK PSP being released in USA/Europe by end of March (March 22nd for Europe)
- 19,800 yen Ceramic White PSP CORE PACK from 15 April in Japan