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Technology Stocks : Electronics Boutique (ELBO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ratherbelong who wrote (526)	9/8/1999 2:11:00 PM
From: ratherbelong	Respond to of 779

Sony opens the door a little wider for Sega! ================================ Wednesday September 8, 6:39 am Eastern Time Sony may have to delay PlayStation successor By Yuko Inoue TOKYO, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Sony Corp may have to push back the launch of the successor to its PlayStation game console into next year, widening the headstart of rival Sega whose latest Dreamcast machine hits the U.S. market on Thursday, analysts say. They said Sony and semiconductor partner Toshiba are working on trying to churn out super-fast chips for the new video game system, which is expected to have 200 times the graphics power of Sony's current PlayStation and 20 times the power of Sega's Dreamcast. ``The production of new chips is a challenge for Sony, which is inexperienced in graphic chips,ïï said Takashi Mimura, analyst at Societe Generale. ``In either case, Iïd say Sonyïs target of selling two million new PlayStations by the end of next March is ambitious. Sales wonït reach even half of that.ïï Analysts expect Sony to either put off the early December launch to late January or March or go ahead with a small volume, supplying the market with about 200,000 to 300,000 PlayStations. Sony, which announced the machine in March, plans to disclose details on pricing, availability, software titles and the name of the new system, now referred to as PlayStation II, before a big Tokyo gaming show on September 13. Analysts expect the new machine to retail for around 39,800 yen ($360), with the price dropping to around 25,000 yen in the autumn. The market is closely watching the launch date to predict the future course of the videogame war. Masahiro Ono, analyst at Warburg Dillon Read, said the best scenario for Sony is to release one million new PlayStations in early December. ``The market wonït be elated if Sony says it will sell 500,000 units in late January,ïï Ono said. Sony will be the second company to enter the speedy 128-bit game machine era, following Sega Enterprise's Dreamcast due to hit the U.S. market on Thursday. Nintendo plans to sell its new-generation machine, dubbed the ``Dolphin,ïï in time for the 2000 Christmas shopping season. Sony's forthcoming machine has drawn the keenest attention from programmers and artists who have seen prototypes. They expect the new game's main chip and special graphic chip to allow much more life-like image quality. The new system will also be ``backwards compatible,ïï so that all current Sony games will be able to run on it. Analysts said Sony's possible delay would temporarily bolster Sega, which is plotting a comeback with Dreamcast, the first game console capable of logging on to the Internet after its last video game system, the Sega Saturn, flopped. Still, most expect top-ranked Sony and number two Nintendo will eventually fight a two-way race in the 128-bit field. Analysts believe Sony will stay on top, but see room for Nintendo to gain market share by selling a large array of cheaper, easy-to-develop software. ``There is no reason to expect Nintendo will lose ground,ïï said Takashi Oya, analyst at Deutsche Securities. Nintendo has never launched its video game systems on schedule and Oya expects Dolphin's launch to be delayed by about six months, to around mid-2001. Nintendo has allied with the world's biggest consumer electronics maker, Matsushita Electric Industrial, which will manufacture the console using its digital video disc technology. Sony expects its profits to decline in the current business year partly due to a slowdown in sales of the original PlayStation console, which generates nearly 40 percent of Sony's consolidated operating profits. Analysts expect a boost in earnings from the debut of the PlayStation II won't felt until the summer of 2000. Sony shares ended down 40 yen or 0.28 percent at 14,310 on Wednesday. ($1=111 yen) ===============EOM============== Good luck, RBL