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It's incredibly common for Hollywood blockbusters to come in way late and over budget, so perhaps we shouldn't be surprised since Sony owns its own movie studio. An industry analysis by Merrill Lynch predicts that Sony's PlayStation3 could not only be delayed 6-12 months, putting off its US launch until late 2006 or early 2007, but also estimates that the gaming consoles are going to cost Sony nearly $900 per unit to build. These predictions started a firestorm across broad segments of the industry, as such delays would not only hurt Sony in the gaming space, but also would undoubtedly cost Blu-ray Disc some critical momentum in the next-gen disc format war. HD DVD players and discs are currently on schedule to hit retail stores next month.

Last night I went to a rock concert and a product launch broke out. But seriously folks, as you're all probably aware Sony's long awaited PlayStation3 game console officially went on sale at midnight last night around the country. I attended the San Francisco launch at the Sony Metreon, where fans, er consumers, were camped out and lined up around the building and down the street for the privilege of buying the consoles as they went on sale at the stroke of midnight.

By chance last night I downloaded firmware version 1.8 for the Sony PlayStation3 and took some time to see if any new significant video features were added (a gamer I'm not). Lo and behold, two very significant updates were indeed found in the menus: the PS3 can now upconvert DVDs, and it offers 24p output.