PS3 behind glass at Taipei Games Show
by Christopher Grant 
{ Feb 17th 2006 at 12:45PM }
Contrary to earlier rumors, the PlayStation 3 was behind glass at the Taipei Games Show, leading to doubts the console will be able to make its anticipated Spring launch. Similar to their underwhelming showing at CES, Sony displayed several models and the controller behind glass, while showing a video of some games.
This seems to prove that Sony exec wasn't bluffing when he said Sony doesn't consider Microsoft a competitor; they're downright leisurely in getting people's hands on this thing. E3 it is then.
Image is from a 2006 Taipei Game Show photoset on Flickr.
[Via Engadget]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
DCSimian @ Feb 17th 2006 12:55PM
Wasn't it at GDC or something where Sony reserved a whole bunch of floor space for the PS3? Maybe they'll show some game footage and have some demoes then...doubt it...but maybe.
Man...E3 seems like it'll explode with the amount of expectations and curiousity going in...can't come soon enough.
MacAttack @ Feb 17th 2006 12:55PM
Who Sony wankers NO.. Say it ain't so! /sarcasm
Vince UK @ Feb 17th 2006 12:55PM
Calm down Kworn, you sound like a spoilt brat who can't get his sweeties before dinner.
Sony can wait as long as they like.
Frankly I'd rather hear all about it nearer the time I'm likely to be getting my hands on it, and being from Europe that could be quite some time.
Vader582 @ Feb 17th 2006 12:56PM
They're too smug...that can be any company's (or country's) downfall. I'm looking at you WWII Japan. Less attitude and more consumer relations SONY!
The1 @ Feb 17th 2006 12:57PM
What has changed? I do not see anything playable. I do not want to see anything behind glass. I am not on Michigan Ave(Chicago) looking through the glass at the Cartier store for a watch or something. Gamers want to play games not look at the console in this fashion. Sony is full of crap. They will not launch the PS3 in the Spring of 06 no matter how much you want to hype them.
student @ Feb 17th 2006 1:00PM
I wonder if either sony or nintendo will outshine the other at e3, as that seems to be the big unveiling for both. Can they stand side by side or will people see one or the other as the important part of the show?
dsub @ Feb 17th 2006 1:01PM
This doesn't surprise me one bit. For an announcement as big as news on the PS3, the Taipei Game Show is hardly the spotlight event of the year where sony would let the cat out of the bag. E3 or bust. Those September Japan launch rumors are starting to sound more and more true by the second. The question is...how much will it cost?!?!? I'm not making the decision to buy until I know this. Same goes for the revolution.
random @ Feb 17th 2006 1:03PM
I'm not convinced until I can blindly put all my faith into the emotion engine again.
Flooq @ Feb 17th 2006 1:03PM
Sony can't wait as long as they like. They have a competitor already on the market.
The1 @ Feb 17th 2006 1:09PM
I think when its said and done. Sony will need to look out for Nintendo in Japan. The Japanese gamers are a different monster in regards to taste. We know for sure they do not like American products. As such Sony will battle MS in the Americas/Europe and Ninteno in Japan?Europe. Can Sony pull it off this time with all the delays and BS propaganda?
I can remember the blogs last year on this site that crowned the PSP the total winner/victor of the handheld wars; boy did the DS fool people. Where are those people now?
Justin @ Feb 17th 2006 1:18PM
"We know for sure they do not like American products. "
As a Japanese-American, I can state with conviction that you have absolutely, positively no idea what you're talking about.
Jay @ Feb 17th 2006 1:20PM
The1; I don't think anybody really thought that PSP would do better than the DS. I mean It's Nintendo in their own market. Nothing has come close to beating a Nintendo handheld in the past. Sony, or god himself couldn't make a better machine.
I'm still seeing the same PS3 design... wasn't it going the change? Its a horrible looking thing, its like the DS in console form. Big, bulky, strange shape, looks cheap.
I foresee the PS3 having some troubling times though. The Xbox was the power machine and thats been out for a while already, it already has the services the PS3 is copying. That and a lot of people are loving Nintendo's new ways with the DS and all.
ill trooper @ Feb 17th 2006 1:20PM
Don't be fooled, those women are deadly killers... and fierce with that boomerang
Matt @ Feb 17th 2006 1:43PM
I'm sorry, but WTF is up with the design of the PS3? I know we've been seeing it for quite some time now, but seeing it in this setting just seems to point out it's absurdity to me. Has Sony ever heard of symmetry? It's something I never understood with the PS2 and it's something that I thought they would change about the PS3. What's the point of that oddly shaped case? It's like they're trying to make it look smaller by cutting off peices of the machine, but they fail to do it in any meaningful, space-saving way. I bought the PS2 when it came out and I was a fan of the system itself, but I always thought the casing looked ridiculous, and they bested themselves with the PS3. I think its aesthetically unappealing and it just isn't practical at all.
And listen, I know the way the system looks hardly matters in the overall scheme of things, but when it's sitting behind glass like this, the looks are all that matter, since you're getting nothing else. It almost seems like they went out of their way to make it look stupid. Add the boomerang to the mix and I think we have a clear winner for worst console design ever.
Gaming Fanboy @ Feb 17th 2006 2:13PM
The only way Sony has a prayer of getting people to "forget" about the 360 at E3 is to hold off on ALL of the really juicy info about it until E3. (Granted some good stuff may be said at GDC but not much I guarantee--probably more hype about PS3 HUB)
Then they can "wow" us with the info we've been dying for--(ie pricing, release date, etc.) @ E3.
So I don't understand why people are/were getting all excited before every single gaming and technology conference before E3.
Use your marketing heads people!!
Spartacus @ Feb 17th 2006 2:53PM
The thing that bothers me is the fact that this means that Sony will now have used TWO E3 conventions to reveal their next console. What the heck? Nintendo did the right thing and saw that their product was nowhere near complete, so they held off. But Sony? Of course not. They threw together some videos, slapped an empty prototype case together and gave a smoke and mirror show at E3 2005 simply to distract people from the other console that was REALLY debuting there, though Sony claims to not be in competition with them. What's next? Revealing the PS4 at E3 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 just to make sure no one else gets any press time? For not being in competition with anyone, Sony sure seems to be a little defensive...
Sloopydrew @ Feb 17th 2006 3:01PM
Hopefully the games are pretty, because that is the ugliest looking console to ever come down the pike (what is a pike?). Bookmarking it with two sexy ladies isn't exactly helping its cause, either.
The console just doesn't "flow." It looks like its lower jaw has buck-teeth. The only thing "smooth" is the controller, but -- as has been pointed out on Joystiq many a time -- it really does look like a sex toy.
If the rumble feature is active, I bet the two models had some fun at the end of the show. Mmmm ... booth baaabes. *drool*
SuicideNinja @ Feb 17th 2006 3:39PM
*looks at PS3*
*quickly vomits*
I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks the PS3 looks absolutely horrendous. I fear having it displayed in my entertainment center, as it will stick out like a sore thumb. Maybe that's the point. Maybe a skin could help it out, and putting it behind the 360 and Revolution.
E3 will be smoke and mirrors again. Sony is like a little child screaming, "Look at me, look at me!" Sony, we are looking at you. You aren't doing anything yet.
warning(choking hazard) @ Feb 17th 2006 3:42PM
the1
1. Japan does not hate american products. alot of people have been saying that here at joystiq for some time but for some reason some people dont understand or cant get it through their thick skull.
2.sony hasnt delayed the ps3. to do that you need a date for when the system will be launched, say april 4th, then change it to september. nintendo delaying the new zelda game. that would be considered a delay.
3.look, im not trying to defend the psp(i dont own one) but dont be so sure the ds has won just because it sold well its first year. no one knows the future so we dont know if two years from now the psp is outselling the ds 4 to 1 or something like that. remember 64 versus playstation? they were both neck and neck till theyre final year or so when the playstation took the lead and never looked back.
Gdiddy056 @ Feb 17th 2006 4:49PM
I agree with number 7- in no way did I expect anything to come out of the taipei game show ! Really people Sony knows when and how to put on a show and this was not the place.
E3 will be the big unveiling Sept./Oct launch in North America
Jay @ Feb 17th 2006 4:59PM
warning; the PS1 had GAMES. it had very good games from start to finish. the PSP has nothing, where the DS has every other game doing very well in some country or another. IMO the DS has the most 'best' games of any system I've owned. N64 had a few I'd play, the GC had a few more. I have 10 games I absurdly love on my DS and I've only had it a year. hmm.
ill trooper @ Feb 17th 2006 5:05PM
Nice comment, choking hazard... I agree - everyone is so intent on Sony showing games or getting on schedule because... Microsoft put their console out?
PS3 is not delayed yet, it just wasn't on as early a schedule as the 360. And not everyone can buy a 360 if they want one right now anyway - so is that really the full launch Microsoft intended? It's three months after launch and I have friends that want a 360, but can't find one in a store. That's a 'delay.'
It's tit-for-tat: Microsoft tries to muddle up Sony's PS3 marketshare by launching early, and Sony tries to keep on-the-fence gamers unsure about buying a 360 by filling the news and blogs with PS3 'news.'
I mean Sony could get this thing out by fall (although I doubt it) and that's about 6-7 months from now. Many excellent and buyer-motivating games for the 360 (Battlfield, GR:AW, Splinter Cell, Gears of War) have been delayed and won't be hitting until late march or beyond... We're starting to get within 5 months of a possible launch, not outside of waiting. Maybe some kids out there have a birthday and get a 360, but a lot of people might just wait a while to check out the PS3, then decide.
If you're an adult, you probably are either a) buying both, doesn't matter to you when they hit or ship, b) willing to wait until the PS3. A weird thing happens as you get older: you don't freak the fuck out on Christmas morning and get up at 6:15 to open presents, and you don't mind waiting a few months to buy a video game system.
The1 @ Feb 17th 2006 8:51PM
My comments about Japan will not change because its the TRUTH.
18. the1
1. Japan does not hate american products. alot of people have been saying that here at joystiq for some time but for some reason some people dont understand or cant get it through their thick skull.
2.sony hasnt delayed the ps3. to do that you need a date for when the system will be launched, say april 4th, then change it to september. nintendo delaying the new zelda game. that would be considered a delay.
3.look, im not trying to defend the psp(i dont own one) but dont be so sure the ds has won just because it sold well its first year. no one knows the future so we dont know if two years from now the psp is outselling the ds 4 to 1 or something like that. remember 64 versus playstation? they were both neck and neck till theyre final year or so when the playstation took the lead and never looked back.
Posted at 3:42PM on Feb 17th 2006 by warning(choking hazard)
Chucky's Cat @ Feb 17th 2006 9:30PM
SONY should fill in the gap on their controller so it resembles a bagel...a dual shock bagel if you will. I think it would be a more sucessful design than what they currently have. On another note, anyone think they'll have playable demos within the next year and a half?
vrf @ Feb 18th 2006 12:00AM
I can't help but notice the irony in how the roles have been reversed. Sony used to be the "mature" alternative to the kiddy image that supposedly was Nintendo. So Nintendo revamps their design philosophy, and now it's Sony designing machines that look like toys.