T-minus 53 days and not counting

[Wrestlevania]

The long-awaited PlayStation 3 will finally go on sale across Europe on 23 March, and will cost 599 Euros.

Full article

Think I might book the day off... and clean the oven.

[qdqwdd]

I read somewhere that it'll cost 425 pounds in the UK, that's more than 600€, so that's a new price rise... And looks like games will cost almost 80€.

I think some of us wiill pass...

[DanJW]

Yeah, not sure how they can justify that price rise, considering it's about $2 to the £ right now. I suppose us Brits can just take out another loan for the hardware, adding to our world-record-breaking amount of debt as a nation.

[Git Force Gemini]

If MGS4 gets a special edition on the 360 I see no other reason to consider it. Yet Microsoft have so many exclusives coming there way you'd think Sony would've poached some to bolster their flaky line-up.

[Wrestlevania]

Off the back of the imminent arrival, SCEA makes a final PR push to convince the last few procrastinators still flip-flopping on the issue of whether to buy a PS3 now, or wait until the price drops (or Sony's games division pitches into the sea):

Sony Computer Entertainment America boss Jack Tretton has revealed that the platform holder won’t consider a price drop for PlayStation 3 until at least mid-2008.

Full article

[Roderick]

Wow. That basically means that until 2008, the PS3 will be only for the hardcore gaming crowd that has money to spare. Casual gamers won't even touch this thing for years. And that might actually be disconcerting, because it might mean that the only games successful in the first two years will be hardcore stuff, kind of deciding what sort of console the PS3 will be.

Ah well, we'll see.

[Wrestlevania]

You could hardly criticise existing Sony customers if they weren't all leaping to upgrade anyway -- the PS2 will remain a much more valuable games system for a good few months yet, at least.

Also Xbox 360 has pinched some really key, previously platform-exclusive titles from PS3. I think once if Konami announce a version of the next Metal Gear Solid for X360, PS3's really going to start suffering.

[vimes]

I'm counting because depending how good/bad this launch gets, it might jeopardize SCE future and, some analysts say, the whole Sony branch. And that's interesting .

[MrChlorophyll]

Konami taking MGS elsewhere would definately sway my vote. Not that I'm getting a system for just two games anyway (MGS and Army of Two). Assassin's Creed already did me a favour and jumped ship, so if those two titles bail then my interest is zero.

Or maybe I just haven't been looking for titles that I'm interested in hard enough.

BluRay! Woo!

[Oath]

Konami taking MGS elsewhere would definately sway my vote. Not that I'm getting a system for just two games anyway (MGS and Army of Two).

Army of Two is multi-platform though, isn't it?

[MrChlorophyll]

Is it? Oh man, awesome.

So... Yeah, I aint getting a PS3 for MGS.

But thanks for comming out Sony. Appreciate the effort.

[miffy495]

Right now the only game that could make me get a PS3 is MGS, although I do have some interest in Devil May Cry 4. I'm sure in a couple of years there'll be a bunch of games worth playing, but then it'll be 2008 or 2009 and the price will have dropped. No problem waiting this one out, especially when I'll be able to find one used for cheap. Hell, the PS2 had a ton of great games and I still didn't bother getting one until mid 2005. Playing catch-up on all the best games from an older console can be a lot of fun.

[MeesChees]

It's a good job I've got bugger all interest in the PS3, because I can't even afford a 360 or a Wii. Unless I use that money that's supposed to be for driving lessons...

[Thrik]

Interestingly, MGS is also the only series that would entice me into getting a PS3. I wonder how many people would seriously just not bother with the PS3 if MGS did indeed run to the 360. And on that note, did anything come of those rumours that it would? After all, it wouldn't be the first time MGS has appeared on another platform.

I actually bought a PS2 in 2001 purely for MGS2; I then sold it a couple of months later. Then I bought myself a slim PS2 in December for MGS3 (which is superb beyond description). I am a whore of Kojima.

[MrChlorophyll]

I love the special edition of MGS3 (Sublimation?) that plays all the cut scenes like a movie. Watch all the cool bits at will.

[Thrik]

Oh yeah, good point. I haven't watched the movie thing, but if anyone's planning to get MGS3 make damn sure it's Subsistence and not the original; it comes with a better camera that allows free panning, which is absolutely vital to maximum enjoyment of the game due to the largely jungle surroundings. The camera in the original MGS3 is the same as that in MGS1/MGS2, meaning you can't really control it's common overhead position at all and it moves itself -- a nightmare in the jungle.

[miffy495]

Have and love subsistence. Never played the original, oddly. Started with Ac!d on the PSP, as I'd heard good things about Metal Gear and was desparate for something worth playing on that little black brick. After that, Twin Snakes followed by the rest of the series in order. That was a good couple of months. I gotta replay them again sometime soon. Probably in anticipation of 4 when they finally announce that it's hitting 360.