All I can say is “Wow!”

After the past few weeks of horrible news story after horrible news story, Sony really turned things around at their recent press conference.

Now, on the downside, Sony has finally admitted to delaying the Playstation 3 release until November of 2006. However, while some initially suspected this would mean an early spring 2007 release for North Americans, it turns out Sony is using the extra time to initiate a simultaneous global release in Japan, North America and, quite surprisingly, Europe.

The company, according to the regular updates from the conference, announced that the delays are due to copy protection for the Blu-ray format not being finalised. Since the new format is crucial to the PS3’s success, as DVDs were to its predecessor, it is necessary to perfection in this matter.

They’ve also announced that development kits will be shipped out by June of this year, which hopefully means we will see a host of the expected titles come launch day (or week, as may be the case).

The system is going to come with a 60GB hard drive, and it will apparently be necessary for gameplay. This is interesting news, because it effectively eliminates the possibility of two versions of the system like with the XBox 360. As a result, Sony will not be offering a “more affordable” version of their console to appeal to those with lower gaming budgets. Crap.

But that is not the only launch strategy of Microsoft that Sony is avoiding. They’ve announced that they have the production capabilities to produce one million PS3 units a month, with six million being completed March 2007. Assuming this to be accurate, that means that they will have begun manufacturing in September, with two million systems ready by the designated launch date. Good news for those who were disappointed by the XBox 360 and DS Lite launch.

Sony also announced details about their online service, which includes features like “matchmaking, messaging, rankings, friends lists, voice/video chat, in-game shopping, and game downloads to the hard drive.” The service will also be free, apparently. Sounds pretty bitchin’, I must say. One day, I hope on-line fees will be a thing of the past…and then I’ll finally be able to play World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XI.

The final news given about the PS3 is that it will be backwards compatible with its predecessors, PS1 and PS2, and will display these old games in high definition.

And, fantastic news for PSP fans.

At the same conference, they announced that the PSP will be receiving some major updates this spring. Could this be the fabled PSP v.2? Did I truly waste money on an inferior product from Sony? On the plus side, I could sell my PSP Gigapack at a profit, especially considering the price I bought it at.

Other PSP news includes the announcement of an Eye Toy camera being released in the fall. Coupled with the already released PSP headset, Sony intends to utilise the two tools for voice-over-IP videophoning. While it may not be the free cellphone I originally envisioned, the announcement is still quite cool.

The final glorious tidbit of news for the PSP is the E-Distribution network. The PS3 will act as an access point for the PSP, but moreover, it will allow the PSP to download original PS1 games that will be emulated on the system. Could this brilliant idea from Sony finally provide me access to Capcom’s Resident Evil 3, a game which has eluded my grasp for so long? Thank you Sony. You’ve made my day!