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Sony still unsure when PS3 will come to Taiwan

Visitors to Taiwan's Taipei Game Show push forward to get a glimpse of Sony's new PlayStation 3 video game machine on the show's opening day in Taipei yesterday. PHOTO: AP

A senior official of Japan's Sony Corp said yesterday the company has still not decided when it will begin marketing its much awaited PlayStation 3 video game machine.

Tetsuhiko Yasuda, managing director of Sony Computer Entertainment Asia, told reporters at the Taipei Game Show the company wants to be completely prepared when it begins selling PlayStation 3, but declined to say when that might be.

Taipei Game Show 2006 kicked off yesterday at the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall I. The event will run through next Monday, with over 100,000 attendees and industry professionals expected to visit the show, according to the Taipei Computer Association (台北市電腦公會), the organizer of the event.

PlayStation 3 is Sony's answer to Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360, which debuts in Taiwan on March 16 and is already available in some markets.

Microsoft Taiwan Corp announced earlier this month that it would slash the price of the video game console by up to NT$1,000 (US$31) in a move to reflect currency changes.

"We want to be completely prepared when we bring PlayStation 3 to the marketplace," Yasuda said. "Our No. 1 competition is not other companies but counterfeiters. We want to work with governments to stop this."

Sony -- known worldwide for its Walkman portable music players and PlayStation video-game machines -- has embarked on a serious cost-cutting mission since Welsh-born Howard Stringer took over the company in June.

Stringer has promised to trim 10,000 jobs, or nearly 7 percent of Sony's global workforce.
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