Blu-Ray

As is widely reported, Sony says that the PlayStation 3 (PS3) will be delayed until November. A Forbes article says that the stated reason having to do with copy protection technology in the Blu-ray next-gen DVD may not be the real reason for the delay.

But the supposed reason for the delay raises as many questions as it answers. In February, Sony signed off on the specifications for AACS, the Blu-Ray copy-protection standard, and was ready to make licensing agreements with content producers. At the CeBIT technology show in Germany last week, Sony said it would be shipping VAIO computers with built-in Blu-ray drives by mid-2006, so why would the PS3 Blu-ray implementation take so much longer? Other companies seem to be on schedule with regard to the copy protection in Blu-ray.

So what's going on? The Forbes article goes on to note:

There is a chance that today Sony could have been referring to another layer of copy protection beyond AACS. If the PS3 has a unique digital-rights-management technology that requires special encoding on the game discs, that could have caused the delay, as Sony would have to work out these details with each game maker. Either way, Sony hasn't specified, but there may be more clarification next Wednesday when Phil Harrison, president of worldwide studios at Sony Computer Entertainment, gives a keynote speech titled "PlayStation 3: Beyond the Box" at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, Calif.

The licensing group for AACS is here; technical information on AACS can be found in a PDF here.

Comments

[Michael Grimm]

If Forbes' theory is true, I really hope Sony ran the numbers before they made this decision. This will significantly set them back against the XBox, and it gives Microsoft a chance to get Halo3 out for a simultaneous release with the PS3.

I also find it interesting that Sony lacks confidence in Blu-Ray's AACS encryption so that they find it necessary to add in extra security layers.