[quote name='MaxBiaggi3']Unfortunately, I've heard rumors from several sources that PS3 will be much stronger hardware than the Xbox successor, eliminating Microsoft's only real advantage this generation. I wonder what power Nintendo's new system will have under the hood. Hopefully, E3 2005 will have some answers to these questions.[/QUOTE]
The funny thing is, is that everyone takes Iwata's statements about graphical power being over-emphasized today to mean that Nintendo is not going to worry about improving the technical abilities of their next machine at all and that they are solely going for innovation. It is going to be hilarious when Nintendo reveals a machine that is on-par or better than the Xbox2, graphically, and when everyone's jaw hits the floor and M$ and Sony start sucking their thumbs, Reggie says, "We didn't say it wouldn't be powerful. We just said that we didn't think that the next generation of games should focus on graphical power."
And then there is Sony. Of course they aren't going to talk about the PS3 this month. 1.) There is tomorrow left.

2.) I don't think that they were honestly expecting as much of a commotion over M$'s and Nintendo's GDC keynotes (can you say Nintendo-style-SNES-era-pompousness?). 3.) Maybe this Dual Shock 2 nonsense is making a bigger problem for them than one would think. 4.) They plan on putting a Blue-Ray drive in the thing... Do you really expect it to drop from $1000+ to sub-$200 in a year? 5.) After continuing their tradition of "excellence" (in hardware quality) with the faulty U.S. PSP release, I'm sure that they are scrambling to make things look positive. 6.) As ryanbph said, the Emotion Engine turned out to have the weakest capabilities out of the three systems. And it has been developed for at least 18 months longer than the other two and it still isn't catching up, yet the Xbox and GCN have a much longer stretch left in them until their capabilities are reached - Sony is already near or at it's end. I just can't trust that Sony can pull off a superior product until I see it. 7.) It seems to me that on the corporate end of things, Sony seems to be in somewhat of a jumbled mess, kind of in the style of what Sega was at, leading up to and after the launch of the DC.
I think that both M$ and Nintendo blew Sony's mind, and even if the only other thing that was true is the thing about the Blue-Ray drive's price, I would say that I were being optimistic if we saw the PS3 on U.S. store shelves by Christmas of 2006. But throw in all the other things (and there are many other things that come to my mind besides these seven things, these are just some of the things that popped into my mind as I typed) listed, and you have to admit that Sony is scrambling and hurting. They saw Nintendo as the "little guy" and they thought that they had squashed M$ so easily in their first bout, that they didn't take either company seriously. I mean, look at their PSP launch alone! They realize that, while Nintendo has zero marketing sense, they know how to make a product good. And out of the gates at that. Sure, the launch lineup wasn't for everyone, but now we have more good games in the pipe than you can shake a stick at, plus we have preliminary announcements for the long awaited NintendOnline service - something that Nintendo has been working on for twenty years (I think they know what they are doing - finally!)!
I think that Sony realizes that the other two consoles are going to be as good (graphically) or better than theirs, and that M$'s will be gaining support for at least twelve months prior to the release of PS3 and Revolution will probably be around for six months or so. And then there is the customized online service each will have (compared to Sony's generic one), plus Nintendo's will also be
free. And the other two consoles (especially Nintendo's) are looking towards innovation to boot. Sony obviously fears being the one's in a catch-up position this time around. And if they don't have extra power or features that the others don't, they won't have a lot to be running on. They won't even have the exclusive feature of being backwards compatible. Nintendo is finally in the optical disc world. They have already announced backwards compatibility.
Anyway, I could go on forever. But I won't. And my point is: Why would anyone be surprised?!?
P.S. Kayden: Do you even know what day it is? April 1st is still two days away...

This wasn't announced two days from now.