The Playstation 3 will be released worldwide in November, Sony Computer Entertainment president, Ken Kutaragi, has announced at a business brief in Japan. The PS3 is to be launched simultaneously in the three major gaming territories - North America, Asia and Europe.

PS Business Briefing 2006 March. Source: Famitsu

Reporting on the brief, Japanese gaming site Famitsu, said Sony was planning to release one million units per month and have a total six million PS3 consoles shipped by the end of March 2007.

Kutaragi cited technical problems with the Blu-ray component of the Playstation 3, the chance to finalize software and the opportunity to coincide the launch with the Thanksgiving holiday period as the reasons for the delay from its proposed release in Spring.

“We are a little late because we wanted to integrate the newest technologies [with the Playstation 3]. The Blu-ray format has been solidified, and we can now inform a specific date…

The biggest reasons [for the November release] is to coincide with Thanksgiving and to finalize software.”

It has taken months of ongoing speculation and rumor for the electronics giant to finally confirm the delay.

After being kept in the dark so long about the next-generation Playstation console, this announcement may signal the end of the information drought with further announcements expected in the near future.

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