Analysts are suggesting that Sony will cut the price of the PS2 to $129 ahead of next month’s E3 Expo.

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If you’re in the market for a new PS2, it might be wise to wait a few more weeks — industry analysts are saying that Sony will probably slash the price a few extra bucks to build momentum for the PS3 craze that is sure to envelop this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo. Expect an original Xbox price drop fast on the heels of Sony’s decision.

Here’s what the analyst had to say:

“In our opinion, hardware price cuts are necessary not only to drive demand at the end of a console cycle, but also to bring the current-generation consoles within reach of more value-oriented customers,” wrote Sebastian.

• Price cut imminent for the PS2? [CNN Money]

Microsoft and a number of other computer manufacturers are getting sued by Lucent Technologies for patent infringement — are they in trouble?

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• Microsoft now joins Dell and Gateway as defendants in patent lawsuits filed by Lucent Technologies, which claims that the companies infringed on a Lucent patent for a certain type of MPEG encoding.

Lucent wants all Xbox 360s pulled from the shelves because they use the type of encoding in question, and you can bet they’re gunning for some mad cash money in damages, too. Who knows what will happen if Microsoft loses the case — having to pull every 360 and make major changes in production would be very bad news. [ITWeek]

• Word on the street in Asia is that Microsoft plans to double their orders from the Taiwanese companies that manufacture the Xbox 360’s computer chip. That means they’re aiming to ship 3 million 360’s in the second quarter this year, which would just about double their first quarter numbers. [Forbes]

Yes! Gameplay! Spinning cameras around paused game environments! Some fine young gents have posted it all, so check out the wonders.

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Bootleg videos of the PS3 displays at the Game Developers Conference abound on YouTube, so check it out and enjoy footage of Warhawk, Lair, Heavenly Sword, a car being destroyed, a space-world with flying cars, and about 400 related videos.

• PS3 GDC Gameplay Videos [YouTube]

Oh, we’re back for the attack. The PS3, on the other hand, won’t be around for a few months longer than expected.

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After a long but fruitful hiatus which included a trip halfway across the country, lots of Texan hotness and a good amount of loungin’, PS3week is back. We’re never leaving the blogosphere again!

So here’s a roundup of all the action since we’ve been gone — most notably, coverage from around the web of Sony’s announcement that the PS3 won’t hit the market until November.

The Big News: On March 15, Sony announced that the PS3 would make a worldwide launch in the first 10 days of November 2006. That means it’ll be late for Japan, which was originally expected to get the system this spring, though that hasn’t been realistic for some time now. It’s about on par for the United States, where it will debut just in time for the holiday shopping season. And it’s early for Europe, which until now wasn’t expected to see the PS3 until early 2007.

So, as we said last month, a worldwide fall launch — despite the fact that it’s a delay — really doesn’t hurt Sony that much, and is certainly a boon for European gamers. Sony also claims to be able to produce 1 million units a month by November, which would probably prevent any serious, Xbox 360-esque shortage. But considering how big the demand will be in the U.S. and Japan, and factoring Europe in the mix to receive a few hundred thousand units a month, the system will likely be sold out for quite some time. Get your pre-orders as soon as possible.

Here’s some more commentary we’ve dug up about the launch. Enjoy, and stay tuned for continuous updates… starting now!

Mercury News: Will the delay tank the industry?
CNN Money: Is the delay A good thing?

Despite a plethora of rumors swirling around the Internet, Sony has adamantly denied PS3’s high cost at launch.

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Amid speculation that the PlayStation 3 would launch this fall with a price point anywhere from $600-$800 stateside, Sony has rejected these rumors, saying the PS2 successor will be value-priced when considering the technology. Rumors ran rampant earlier this week as several credible web sites began interpreting comments from Georges Fornay, head of Sony Computer Entertainment France, who hinted that the PS3 could cost between 499-599 Euros.

“Mr. Fornay explained that, with BD and HD functionality, PS3 at this price would be cheap for such functionality, but that current video games machines were significantly below this price. At no time did he suggest or indicate a specific price point or price range for PS3, and any reports that he did so are incorrect,” said SCEE corporate communications director Nick Sharples. “He summarized by saying that PS3 would be expensive when one looked at the current price of a video games machine, at far below 500 Euros, but extremely good value when looking at the BD and HD technology inside.”

It’s a safe bet that the console will be priced to sell, well under the rumored $600. An official announcement from Sony is expected to come at their annual press conference preceding the E3 Expo next month in Los Angeles.

What, you don’t take off for the holidays? We’re headed to Austin for South by Southwest, so we’ll be back in about a week. Stay tuned!

And it means PS3 will be one pricey console. CNET dissects the PS3 and compares the cost per component to Xbox 360.

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Sony doesn’t officially comment on the price of the PS3, but there’s a healthy amount of educated guesses out there, and they’re all very expensive. Merrill Lynch’s highly publicized estimate put the cost at $800 — a little high, some say (or out of the park, says Sony). But either way, this baby is costly, and CNET breaks down why.

Turns out the big difference is the Blu-ray disc drive, which is brand new technology and way more expensive than the standard DVD drive the Xbox 360 uses. A regular DVD drive costs $20; the Blu-ray drive costs between $200 and $300. Whoa!

If you use the low-end figures for Cell ($150) and the Blu-ray drive ($200) the PS3 materials bill comes to $700. The high estimate, including a $230 chip and $300 drive, comes to $880. The average is $790. The Xbox 360, meanwhile, comes in at $476 through averaging prices from different analysts. A study from iSuppli puts the figure at $525.

Interesting stuff — the systems are almost exactly the same except for Blu-ray and the Cell processor. Unfortunately, those additions put PS3’s price way up there.

• PlayStation 3 component prices: Why so high? [CNET]

Sorry to be so threatening. Check out the results of an unscientific poll about next-gen gaming while we get sued by Puff Daddy.

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And yes, we know that’s not his name anymore. But that’s beside the point. Check out this recent poll on About.com — it’s a survey that asks which next-gen system you’ll buy. With more than 15,000 ballots cast, PS3 is at 16 percent, lagging way behind the Xbox 360 (41%) and Nintendo Revolution (39%). We’re in trouble!

So hit it up, vote if you so desire, and think about how About.com’s design could be more cluttered or trashy-looking. (We haven’t found a way yet.) See ya at the recount.

• Which Next Gen Console Survey - Nintendo Revolution, PlayStation 3, or Xbox 360? [About.com]

How much will Sony really lose if it launches the PS3 later this year? Some say a lot, but we’re not so sure.

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This week’s Game Over column addresses the recent flurry of news about a PS3 delay — news that Sony, by the way, has categorically denied while failing to produce any tangible evidence to the contrary. The basic reasons behind the delay speculation: the PS3 is very expensive to produce right now, and the specs for the Blu-ray drive haven’t even come in yet.

Chris Morris, the columnist, reminds us of all the pressures on Sony to get the PS3 on the market soon, and discounts a lot of the “chicken little” delay predictions.

Granted, the possibility of a delayed PS3 launch and prohibitively expensive production costs make for some great headlines and message board chatter, but there are a few other realities to consider.

He’s obviously been reading our headlines. Check out the column for his list of reasons why the PS3 can’t afford a delay, and why it won’t matter for Americans anyway. He’s right about one thing: if we get the system before the end of the year, all will be well and good. But he also cites a lot of market pressures that could force Sony to jump the gun. We’ll dissect them here, and explain why they’re not worth the rush.

Market Share: There’s no question that every Xbox 360 sold is a setback for Sony’s market dominance. But you know what’d be worse? Prematurely releasing a system that’s too expensive, in limited supply, and has only a sparse selection of underdeveloped games. That’s our forecast for spring, and we doubt Sony is desperate enough to blow a launch worse than Microsoft did.

What’s more, the lion’s share of the gaming market that PS2 occupies isn’t all about getting there first. It’s about brand recognition and loyalty and PlayStation still beats Xbox on that, hands down. It’s also about lining up the best games (and having the best fan web sites). Microsoft can chip away at Sony, but they’re in no position to take the lead. This time, Sony has the superior technology and the street cred. We’re not the first to suggest that the 360, with its early (and rushed) entry, is more like the Dreamcast than the PS2.

Blu-ray: We’ve talked a lot about how the Blu-ray DVD format, rather than games or consoles, is Sony’s real cash cow this time around. Since the format has to compete with the Toshiba- and Microsoft-backed HD-DVD, it seems like Sony should be desperate to get the PS3 and its Blu-ray drive into homes. But in reality, there’s no reason to rush.

The good news for Sony is that no matter when the PS3 comes out, it’ll immediately be the cheapest high-definition DVD player out there. Standalone Blu-ray players cost more than $1000, and HD-DVD players are still above the PS3’s price point, even if it’s $500. And we doubt the Xbox 360’s HD-DVD add-on will be a huge seller or a major threat. The truth is, Sony’s got the movie studios and computer manufacturers on its side. Blu-ray is in business. We can wait six months to upgrade our movie collections, and nothing is affordable enough to steal Sony’s share of the HD-DVD market in the meantime.

The Insiders: Here’s the bizarre part of it all. After outlining why Sony must launch now, Morris pulls out some off-the-record interviews with industry insiders — and they all say a delay is inevitable. He also seems to think that an American spring launch was never realistic, but Sony has gone to pains over the last 9 months to remind us that they haven’t decided which region would get the PS3 first.

There was a time that speculation of a Blu-ray-driven American launch was floating around, and with Xbox 360’s near-simultaneous worldwide launch, an American springtime launch was never really out of the question. That is, until any spring launch became nearly impossible.

So hey, we wouldn’t mind being proven wrong. We could use some shiny new Japanese games to play in a couple months, but we just don’t think it’s feasible — or reasonable — to rush the PS3 to the market. It’s not under as much market pressure as it seems, and a well-paced fall launch with enough units to keep shortages low would prove, for another generation, that Sony runs this show.

• PlayStation 3 delay? Don’t panic! [CNN/Money]

The DigiTimes in Taiwan quotes Sony’s manufacturers there as saying that Blu-ray problems will delay the PS3 launch until August.

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The DigiTimes has been reporting heavily on its hometown Taipei Game Show, and now they’ve got a scoop from Sony’s Taiwanese contract manufacturers. The site says that these manufacturers have reported that the PS3 will be delayed until August because of problems with the specs and price of the Blu-ray high-definition DVD drive.

The hitch is copy protection — the final standards for the new disc format have yet to be agreed upon. This meshes with what Sony Asia’s managing director said a few days ago, that the company will wait until it’s “completely prepared” to combat piracy before it launches the PS3.

Meanwhile, the new Blu-ray disc drives may be prohibitively expensive for some time — Merrill Lynch cites them at $350 apiece, and puts the PS3’s total manufacturing cost at $800. So even when Blu-ray copy protection is ready to go, a delay might be in order to wait for Blu-ray prices to drop a bit.

So, is this report credible? Though we’ve just started reading the DigiTimes this week, they’ve done a good job reporting from Taipei thus far. And this news seems to match up with everything else we’ve heard, both from a Sony spokeswoman who discussed Blu-ray problems and Sony Asia’s boss on piracy.

As far as the August date, who knows; we’ve heard September this week too. Maybe nobody knows, because the real date hasn’t been decided. But you can bet on one thing: it ain’t lookin’ good for Spring.

• Sources: Sony PlayStation 3 launch delayed until August [DigiTimes]