From punchjump.com:
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Sony is prepping the electronics world at CES 2006 for its Playstation successor, Playstation 3, with pre-production footage and Blu-ray Disc playback demonstrations. However the console's controller was absent in the glass display case that showcases black and silver versions of the console.

The absence of the controller points to signs that Sony is redeveloping the unit to be more aesthetically pleasing to the eyes and hands. Its Dual Shock 2 controller is regarded in the video game community as one of the best console controller designs.
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Read More: punchjump.com

From gamasutra.com:
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Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Kaz Hirai joined Stringer toward the end of the discussion to show video footage of PlayStation 3 software in action, which included some previously-seen footage, but a number of new unspecified titles, with the mix including Sony's own Formula 1 title, the dragon-related Lair project by Factor 5, and a behind-the-plane shooter.

Hirai also revealed that over four thousand PlayStation 3 development kits have been shipped to game developers, though no names were disclosed. Disappointingly, no live gameplay of the console was shown, and no specific release date was pinpointed for Sony's next-gen video game system other than "later this year", perhaps shifting even the console's Japanese debut past the original 'spring' announcement.
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Read More: gamasutra.com

From bloomberg.com:
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Howard Stringer, Sony's Corp.'s chief executive officer, said he isn't worried that Microsoft Corp. was able to introduce its Xbox 360 video-game player before Sony could come out with its PlayStation 3.

Timing isn't critical, Stringer said today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, adding Sony's game players outsold Xbox over the holidays. Stringer said he visited a department store in Tokyo during the Xbox 360 launch and was told there were five people waiting to buy. When Sony introduced its PSP portable game player, customers lined up around the block.

``If there was a sense of anxiety, I would be aware of it,'' Stringer, 63, said. ``I just think PlayStation still has this astonishing foundation.''
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Read More: bloomberg.com

From bloomberg.com:
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Sony Corp., the world's second-biggest consumer electronics maker, will begin selling Blu-ray DVD players in the U.S. this summer, about three months after models using Toshiba Corp.'s high-definition format go on sale.

Toshiba, Japan's fourth-biggest maker of electronics, will sell its HD DVD machines for about $500 and $800 from March, spokesman Mark Knox said in an interview.
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Read More: bloomberg.com

From joystiq.com:
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Sony held its CES keynote address at its massive booth on the showroom floor tonight. The keynote unfolded via live presentation and video feed at four separate locations throughout the booth area. Tucked away in the corner of the PlayStation 3 section we discovered the same old "conceptual design" display featuring black & silver PS3s in a rotating cylinder--later, the MGS4 demo popped-up on a large flat screen, front and center, followed by a series of teasers, featuring Unreal Tournament 2007, Tekken, GT, The Getaway: Future Vision, Lair, Fight Night Found 3, MotorStorm, Warhawk, and others.

The keynote kicked off with the unveiling of Sony's "HighER" Definition concept (translation: 1080p resolution), segueing into the announcement that Blu-ray players are on target for a summer launch, with Sony & MGM releasing at least 20 Blu-ray (film) titles this spring. Could the PlayStation 3 be far behind?

There were a few minutes of gloating, culminating in a claim that the PS2 is on track for a 10-year life cycle, and then Sony got into the heart of its gaming presentation... the PSP.
Alas, as expected, not a word about the PlayStation 3... (just those darn teasers)
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Read More: joystiq.com

From gameshout.com:
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As of this morning, January 3rd, 2006, Sony again informed GameSHOUT that the Sony PS3 will be released in May 2006, and that the recent reports of a delay are pure "myths".

During the weekend, many sites and news agencies have reported that the Sony PlayStation 3 is full of bugs, and that the game machine is not ready for the Spring 2006 launch. However, please keep in mind that these are pure speculations.
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Read More: gameshout.com

From gamasutra.com:
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Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) president Benjamin S. Feingold has revealed, in an official statement, the first twenty movie titles to be released on the next generation Blu-ray disc format this spring, as the format continues its struggle with HD-DVD to be the next-gen disc format of choice.

The movies are from Sony itself and MGM, which it acquired in September of 2004, and include House of the Flying Daggers, Hitch, RoboCop, The Fifth Element and Resident Evil: Apocalypse and television series Stargate: Atlantis. Black Hawk Down and The Bridge on the River Kwai will both be made available on 50GB dual layer Blu-ray discs in the summer.

In addition to high definition quality video and audio the statement also mentions the possibility of including Java games with all Blu-ray titles, even those that use stand-alone Blu-ray disc players, with Underworld Evolution mentioned as being the first disc to include such a feature.
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Read More: gamasutra.com

From tgdaily.co:
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San Mateo (California) - A spokesperson for Sony's PlayStation division denied to TG Daily this morning that the company would be making a PlayStation 3 related announcement at CES 2006.

"Although we are participating in many CES activities with Sony," said the spokesperson, "we have no new announcements on PlayStation 3 planned at this time." Sony Corporation has planned special announcements on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, which had been presumed by many in the press and elsewhere to pertain to PS3.
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News-Source: tgdaily.com

From bbc.co.uk:
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When gamers can expect to get their hands on the PS3 and the Revolution is the subject of much speculation.
Sony has talked about a spring launch for its machine, while Nintendo has said it will show off its machine at the annual games E3 extravaganza in Los Angeles in May.

"We think September could be the right time for Sony in the US and November in Europe," said Ubisoft's Mr Guillemot, "Japan a bit earlier, say June or July."
He expects Nintendo to aim for a similar launch date in the US and Japan, but fears that Europe might have to wait for the Revolution until early 2007.
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Read More: bbc.co.uk (via kotaku.com)

From arstechnica.com:
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Region encoding is purportedly an anti-piracy measure, allowing for DVD manufacturers to determine what regions a given DVD may play in.
Of course, the pirates who engage in video swashbuckling are quite capable of removing this region encoding, meaning that the black market goods are user friendly, while the white market goods are a pain to deal with, and limit consumer choice.

If the reports are correct, there will only be three regions for Blu-ray, as follows:
* Region 1: North America, South America, and East Asia (excluding China)
* Region 2: Europe (including Turkey), and Africa
* Region 3: China, Russia and others
* A fourth region setting would be "null," or no region specified.

If true, the news will be greeted cheerfully by all manner of North American anime fans, who have long lamented the separate region encodings for Japan and the northwestern hemisphere (those that didn't pirate content, at least). But another group may also be pleased. If this region encoding applies to Blu-ray games, this would mean that PS3 games could flow easily between Japan and North America. But a few things merit mentioning. First, Sony's PSP does not use region encoding, and there's a possibility that the company may forgo using it at all for the PS3. On the flipside, Sony could also add another layer of region encoding that is game specific, and could shut down game sharing, if they wanted to. We can't know for sure until later.
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News-Source: joystiq.com, arstechnica.com

From gamersreports.com
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Over at The Epic games forum, one of the Epic producers has cleared up a "rumor". Apparently UT2007 will not be a Playstation 3 launch title as was previously reported, and he is unclear as to where the source of that news was. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
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