Excellent. Microsoft and Nintendo are going to be laughing all the way to the bank. From the BBC:
Ken Kutaragi, head of Sony's global computer entertainment division, said the machine would still be launched in November in the US and in Japan.
Mr Kutaragi blamed the European delay on problems in mass producing elements of the high-definition Blu-ray disc drives in the machines.
Sony said it still aimed to ship six million new PlayStations by March.
But it halved its forecast for the end of 2006, saying just two million units would be shipped worldwide before the end of December.
Production problems meant that fewer machines than anticipated would be available for the launch in Japan and the US, Mr Kutaragi said.
Speaking at Sony's global headquarters in Tokyo, Mr Kutaragi apologised for the delays to the PlayStation 3 launch.
But he said Sony had decided to focus on the US and Japan in the run-up to Christmas.
"I am so sorry not to be able to answer all the expectations," he said.
The delay is due to a problem with the mass production of the blue laser diodes needed for the Blu-ray DVD player in the machine Sony said.
So the PS3 has so far been delayed a whole year now. From some comments left on the BBC article:
"I always believed Sony were going to win this console war, but now I believe that they have dug their own grave" I couldn't agree more. Or with this "This does not surprise me one bit. Also, the PS3 will be no better than the 360, in fact I read in a well known gaming publication that a Sony Europe employee was sacked. The reason being because on his internet blog he stated that after a year or so you will find the 360 out-performing the PS3. The PS3 will not be as powerful as people think, and the 360 is far more efficient (the 360, for info to someone, has 3 dual-core custom designed IBM processors I believe) and has better GPU."
I can't wait to get back at work and laugh at all those Sony fanboys.