[quote name='Maynard']I personally believe we'll see a similiar 360 worldwide launch for PS3 in Nov. Similiar in date, not so similiar in the fact that the PS3 will sell in Japan HA! Zing![/quote]
It's that same fact though that makes it seem to me that a worldwide or even US & Japan launch at the same time won't happen. MS sent like what, like 100K 360s to Japan in the initial batch, and about 350K to the US. That was okay for them because Japan wasn't interested, but the PS3 will probably be able to sell 500K-1M units in Japan in the first shipment. Let's say they only give the US then the same number MS did with the 360. That's 850K-1.35M consoles at launch, and if they don't have whatever problem with Blu-Ray figured out yet (BTW, I don't buy that that is the ONLY reason for a 6 month delay), I'm not sure they physically make and ship that many consoles by November.
Not to mention, if things are as tight for Sony as some analysts say, they may not want to ship 1,000,000+ units all at once, depending on how much they lose per console. Sure, even if they lose $250 a console, they'll eventually make it back, but I seriously doubt most people will be buying a PS3 + 7-10 games at launch (remember, Sony doesn't get the full MSRP of a game, at best it's 50-60%). Then there is the cost of advertising, ect., ect.
My guess is Japan in Fall 2006, US in Feb/March 2007, EU Summer 2007.