According to an interview with GameDaily, GDC Director Jamil Moledina has confirmed that Phil Harrison's keynote will contain new PS3 information. In response to being asked whether new info will be made available about the PS3 at GDC, Jamil bluntly replied "The answer is yes". He went on to say that the keynote would "contain significant editorial value and developer takeaway."

So it can be expected that in a little under two weeks away we will finally be provided with some more PlayStation 3 details. Let's hope it's not something like "and now here's the blue one... "

Variety recently published an 'interview' with Howard Stringer the CEO of Sony. In this interview Variety make a few presumptions and speculations about the PS3, and came to the convincing conclusion that the PS3 will be delayed till the end of this year. However, Joystiq has pointed out that much of the speculation of this delay is purely from Variety.

With so much hype going around about Sony delaying the PlayStation 3, its almost impossible to determine what is actually happening. If you google PS3 news, you come up with a huge list of 'news' articles that have actually very little actual content from Sony. Without any firm confirmations or denials from Sony, this media frenzy is certainly spiraling out of control.

A recently announced joint venture between Sony and NEC to create a new company "Sony NEC Optiarc". The company will bring together two differing next-generation media formats HD-DVD and Bluray. Both expected to be manufactured at the company.

In relation to the production of the new formats a NEC spokesperson said "Sony NEC Optiarc will take a neutral stance to both formats," and a Sony spokesperson said "The company will make its judgment after monitoring the market's trend.".

It seems that Sony is hedging its bets in the optical disk manufacturing industry, this will give them leverage to produce both HD-DVD and Bluray devices. I wonder if this means Sony intends to produce Bluray drives with HD-DVD capabilities or vice versa? Purely speculative, I know, but very interesting in any case.

For PlayStation fans that are wanting to get a hold of a PlayStation 3 early, a US based auction site is putting up 10 of them later this month. Could this be a sign of the release of the PS3?

The auction site Uniqueauction.com  could be a boon for gamers desperate to get their hands on a PlayStation 3. Unlike traditional auctions, the auctions at Uniqueauction.com are capped at 20% above retail price. The nearest bidder under this 20% cap wins the auction.

With this in mind, it means people will also be able to get an indication of the expected retail price of the PlayStation 3. From our other sources this seems to align itself with Sony launching later this month, or early April, which goes against the current general feeling of the media in the industry.

Some additional info has turned up, with an interview with Uniqueauctions spokesperson Scott Ledingham over at PS3News. The plot thickens.

Ever wondered what happened to one of the core creators of Halo, Alex Seropian? Well, he left Bungie and started a project called X-Quest. Coupled with a TV series, the game will involve players in the series as well as buyers of the game.

Stuff Magazine also have an article talking about the rise of Hollywood related MMO's. With the popularity of WoW there has been a number of ventures moving to also stake a claim in the MMO genre. People like James ‘Terminator’ Cameron are also preparing these sorts of MMO + Hollywood unions.

The idea sounds quite an interesting "Reality TV" type offshoot, and I'm sure there will be millions of gamers just hoping to get their name on-screen in the TV series :) The game and the series is due out in 2007 on Xbox 360 and PS3.

In a recent article on foxnews, John Dvorak (known for his commentary on IT related matters) has taken a fairly thorough look at the PC chip manufacturing business and sees the Cell as a possible alternative to the current monoculture in the industry.

So I'm looking for a new platform to arrive, and there is already talk about the new IBM/Sony/Toshiba Cell chip becoming a PC platform.

He goes on to describe the possibilities of the Cell coming to the desktop and other devices. With IBM recently making announcements of development of Cell based Blade servers, the application of the Cell is not going to be kept purely to the domain of the Playstation 3.

Additionally with technologies like the Octopiler from IBM, the Cell doesnt necessarily have to be an extremely difficult piece of hardware to develop on.

Dvorak contends that the newer technology may or may not see its way to the desktop in the future. The Cell has the potential to provide truly amazing performance, nearing super-computer type specifications. To see this CPU make its way to the desktop market would see a whole factor increase in the performance of desktop applications and games. Who knows, it may happen.

Most Playstation 3 fans must now be aware of the ongoing "launch delay" rumors, comments and analytical commentary. To give people an idea of the sheer weight of opinion on a September launch heres a small (there are so many more!) list of articles promoting this story:

- Calsun.canoe.ca
- us.gizmodo.com
- www.cdfreaks.com
- www.businessweek.com
- www.spotlightnews.com
- www.igniq.com

and so on.. While some of these are regurgitated information from similar sources, its interesting that there is so much hype driven around a September launch. Additionally with Sony's very closed and secret nature of all PS3 related information, speculation in the media has been running rampant. Even with Sony only ever saying that the PS3 will be available spring 2006, with little or no other info, its no wonder people are getting a little stir crazy with the need for details.

What I'm wondering is what you think? Do you agree with the September launch and why? or do you think Sony will release in Spring? (which ends early May in Japan). Post your ideas, lets see who can guess the closest ;)  Personally, just for a little controversy, I think Sony will ship sometime late March in Japan, and about a week or two later in the US. Yes, crazy I know, but hey, why not?

According to a Taiwanese newspaper, using an unknown source, it has been reported that Asus and Foxxconn in Taiwan may help Sony make Playstation 3 units later this year.

Although this report goes against what Sony has been doing in recent times with the manufacturing of the PS2 (outsourcing to Chinese manufacturers), the need for more manufacturers would be high, to be able to meet demands and not suffer the same delays the X360 has been suffering.

More at via link.

In an interview with the Seattle Times, Sony spokesperson, Kei Sakaguchi has denied ongoing rumors of the Playstation 3 launch being delayed. He went on to comment "Sony doesn't comment on the machine's price", after Sony's shares took a recent tumble from Merrill Lynch's analyst report on the cost of the PS3 parts.

Sony is continuing with its Spring 2006 launch date is at least good news for fans, and certainly dampens many of the doomsayers following the September release - which in my opinion wouldn't really seem a sensible move by Sony anyway.