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http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6314829.html

PS3 spring launch called 'impossible'
Namco president says he'd like to see a Christmas release

By George T. Chronis 3/9/2006

MARCH 9 | Sony Computer Entertainment still maintains that it will launch the PlayStation 3 this spring, even as the company's industry partners continue to openly disagree with the electronics giant.

"Without any announcements so far, the spring release is impossible,'' Namco Bandai Holdings Inc. president Takeo Takasu told the Bloomberg news service on March 8. "We are developing titles for PlayStation 3, but the release of the games depends on the timing of the hardware. We would like Sony to release the PS3 this year for the Christmas season.''

Sources close to Compeq Manufacturing, one of SCE's component suppliers in Taiwan, told Taipei-based DigiTimes on March 6 that Compeq only recently secured an order from Sony and would not begin volume shipments of circuit boards for the PS3 until the end of June or early July.

In related news, in a financial conference call on March 7, Take-Two Interactive chief-executive Paul Eibeler confirmed that there would be no Grand Theft Auto sequel for next-generation systems prior to the start of the company's 2007 fiscal year this November.

Since 2001's Grand Theft Auto III, Take-Two has made each new installment in the franchise a PlayStation exclusive. When asked whether Take-Two would make its next-generation Grand Theft Auto a PS3 exclusive, Eibeler would not answer directly other than to say, "Our guys are very, very excited about the opportunity that next-gen hardware presents."