8:52pm 03/09/03 [SNE] SONY TO LAUNCH PLAYSTATION 3 IN '03 - COMMERICAL TIMES
cbs.marketwatch.com/news/...iteid=mktw
Tokyo, March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp., the world's second- largest consumer-electronics maker, will introduce the PlayStation 3 video-game console this year, two years ahead of schedule, to widen its lead over rivals, the Commercial Times said, citing unidentified people at Taiwanese parts suppliers.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. of Taiwan, which assembles the PlayStation 2 for Sony, and other parts suppliers on the island will start trial production next month, the report said.
Sony may start selling the PlayStation 3 in Japan as early as midyear and overseas by the end of the year, the report said. The PlayStation 3 will use an unidentified processor different from the PlayStation 2 chip, which is made by Toshiba Corp., the report said. Calls to the public relations department of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., Sony's game unit, were not answered.
Tokyo-based Sony, in collaboration with International Business Machines Corp. and Toshiba, is developing a new processor capable of handling sophisticated graphics and sound over the Internet. The chip, called "Cell," is still in development, Molly Smith, a spokeswoman with Sony Computer Entertainment America, said on March 4.
quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi...VqU29ueSB0---
Behold Drakkael, legendary slayer of topics

noooo wayyyyy... lies, all lies.
It's just not reasonable to put out a new system, when the current one is doing well and still has a few years to go. Not profitable.
Ren

Yeah, but those are some pretty reputable sites...
Hell, I'm still trying to decide if the Phantom console is for real. I don't need more weird console-related news this year to mess with my brain.---
Behold Drakkael, legendary slayer of topics

I can't see this happening, and Sony knows that if they try, they're going to hit a pretty major backlash from consumers (at least in the US).
If by "introduce" they mean start showing off designs, final specs, and stuff like that, I can see it as a possibility. But a full launch in Q3/403? Unlikely.
I'll chalk this up to a rumor/misinformation, especially with no word from anyone else (including Sony) on this.

Now, this is what I call a swift debunking!
03/09 22:29
Sony Denies Report That It Will Release PlayStation 3 This Year
By Hiroshi Suzuki
Tokyo, March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp., the world's largest maker of video-game consoles, denied a report in Taiwan's Commercial Times newspaper that it will introduce the successor to its PlayStation 2 video-game console as earlier as this year.
``The report is wrong,'' said Koichiro Katsurayama, a spokesman at Tokyo-based Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., Sony's games unit. ``The timing of the successor machine to PlayStation 2 has not been decided.''
Sony may start selling the PlayStation 3 in Japan as early as mid-year and overseas by the end of the year, two years ahead of schedule so Sony can widen its lead over rivals Nintendo Co. and Microsoft Corp., the Commercial Times said, citing unidentified people at Taiwanese parts suppliers.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. of Taiwan, which assembles the PlayStation 2 for Sony, and other parts suppliers on the island will start trial production next month, the report said.
Speculation over the timing of Sony's next console comes as Kyoto-based Nintendo, the company behind the Mario the plumber game character, prepares a new version of its GameCube machine.
Chip Development
Tokyo-based Sony, in collaboration with International Business Machines Corp. and Toshiba Corp., is developing a new processor, called ``Cell,'' which will be capable of handling sophisticated graphics and sound over the Internet.
Sony and Toshiba, Japan's largest chipmaker, plan to use ``Cell'' in a range of digital consumer products, including TVs, cellular phones and the successor to the PlayStation 2.
The chip is still in development, Molly Smith, a spokeswoman with Sony Computer Entertainment America, said on March 4.
Sales of the PlayStation 2 console, which debuted in Japan three years ago this month, exceeded 50 million units in January.
Sony released the PlayStation 2 four years after the company introduced the original PlayStation console.
quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi...Y4U29ueSBE---
Behold Drakkael, legendary slayer of topics

I this is gonna be true, I'm gonna be one of the smart ones and wait and see what games are only capable of playing on PS3 and if they're something that are "must a get" type of games as well as games that I seem to like and also when the console price ha gone down ab it cuz right now I'm at the point where I'm getting a few old PS1 games of EB Games cuz I can't find them at stores-The early bird may catch the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.-

Er...if it hasn't been made clear already, its false. No need to list the 1001 reasons...

i CAN MAKE A 1002 LIST,................if i'm bored enough.-The early bird may catch the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.-