Industry trade websites GamesIndustry.biz and Next-Generation are both reporting that independent European sources indicate an announcement from Sony on some aspect of the PlayStation 3, possibly as early as next week. The nature of the announcement is currently unclear, but given the recent storm of
analysis and
controversy over a potential slip in the PS3's release date, the announcement likely has something to do with more concrete launch details.
The rumors began with Koei president Kiyoshi Komatsu mentioned a gathering of Japanese third-party developer representatives at an upcoming Sony conference on the 15th, speculating that the reason might be to make a statement regarding the PS3. The timing of the announcement falls shortly before the end of Sony's financial year, as well as before Sony executive Vice President Phil Harrison is scheduled to deliver a keynote at the 2006 Game Developers Conference.
Officially, Sony will make no comment on what topics the company will address at the conference, and it's possible that the announcements could be on some new extension of the PlayStation Portable's capabilities, or details of the PS3's online environment. Whatever information does come out of the event will be detailed next week.
