Taiwan yesterday saw the debut of the long-awaited Sony Corp PlayStation 3 (PS3), along with the US and Hong Kong, after the game consoles were introduced in Japan last weekend.
All 300 units allocated for the first-sale promotion in Taipei were snapped up a day before the event started.
"I will take a nap after such a long wait, and then play it for at least 24 hours," said a 32-year-old surnamed Liao, who was the first in the queue waiting outside the Sony store at Ximending in Taipei.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
He called eight other friends to join the line at 5am on Wednesday, some traveling from southern Taiwan to get their hands on the first-batch of machines.
Though queue numbers were intended to be distributed on Thursday, hordes of fans lining up outside the store in the rain prompted Sony to distribute numbers earlier and double the volumes of units to 300.
James Affleck, a 21-year-old Briton currently studying Mandarin in Taipei, attracted attention as one of a handful foreigners lining up for the PS3.
"He he said that he was looking forward to playing the yet-to-be-released Virtual Fighter 5 game.
Tetsuhiko Yasuda, managing director of Sony Computer Entertainment Asia, flew in after the Hong Kong launch earlier yesterday to take part in the Taipei event. He assured local fans that there will be sufficient supplies of the consoles, with the second-batch shipment arriving next Thursday.
"We didn't assign specific volumes for different countries. The amount for Taiwan will be enough as shipments will come in every week," he said, refusing to offer details.
Sony has suffered in meeting its PS3 production and delivery goals due to a component shortage at Nichia Corp, which supplies blue laser diodes for the console's Blu-ray DVD, said researcher iSuppli Corp in a report on Thursday.
There were only 100,000 machines ready in time for the console's debut in Japan last week, with about 400,000 available for the US and 200 for Hong Kong.
Global sales of PS3 will hit two million by the end of next month, and six million by March, Yasuda said.
The 60 gigabyte (GB) PS3 retails at NT$17,980 (US$545) while the 20GB version will be made available next month at NT$14,980.
There are only three game titles for the debut, namely Genji, Ridge Racer 7 and Mobile Suit Gundam.
Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360, which debuted locally in March, sells for US$399 with a 20GB hard drive, while Nintendo Co has not announced a Taiwan launch schedule for its Wii console.
El Segundo, California-based iSuppli believes that as the PS3 uses sophisticated components, it is well worth the price tag as Sony is making a loss on each machine sold which has to be made up with game sales.
"With the PS3, you are getting the performance of a supercomputer at the price of an entry-level PC," the researcher said.
Powered by the new "Cell" computer chip from IBM Corp, and supported by the next-generation Blu-ray video disc format, the console is said to deliver nearly movie-like graphics and a realistic gaming experience.
"While many fret over the high cost and price of the PS3 compared to the competition, we believe the console provides more processing power and capability than any consumer electronics device in history," iSuppli said.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
RSS