Sony is on target for its global launch of PS3 this November, according to the company's president of worldwide studios, Phil Harrison, who has asserted that the gaming giant is in the best possible position for meeting the deadline.
"Our confidence for PS3 is based a lot on the fact that the hardware is basically done now," Harrison told Edge magazine. "We're ahead of the curve in a lot of things that are required for successful launch ... We'll have final hardware from an internal point of view in May or June."
Despite his confidence, Harrison wouldn't commit to giving a watertight guarantee that the console would be available in North America, Europeand Japan by the end of the year as currently promised.
"A 100% certain is a very definitive comment, and you're not going to get that from me!" Harrison said, reasoning that he is "not the hardware production guy, I'm the software guy." He did offer the assurance, however, that in terms of game development Sony is "working towards a worldwide launch in November."
As well as a simultaneous global outing for its next-gen console, Harrison indicated that Sony will "hopefully be moving towards a global release date" for PS3 titles - a move that would be hugely beneficial to European gamers, who traditionally have to endure a lengthy wait long after a game is released in the US and Japan.
April 11, 2006
