Sony Delays Release of Playstation 3 - "We'll get to it, like, soon"

SAN JOSE, California-- Sony announced today that it was delaying the release of its new PlayStation 3 game console until the fall.

"We're really sorry about that," said Sony spokesman Bill Tanaka. "We totally had planned to get it done this spring, but the time kind of got away from us."

Industry analysts were not surprised by the announcement.

"There were some signs," that the release would be delayed, said Stephanie Alquist, who follows the gaming industry for Morgan Stanley. "I'd call up and ask how it was coming along, and they'd say, 'oh, it's going totally well, nothing to worry about.' That was a red flag."

"Then I called again about a month ago, and they were really defensive about it. They said 'why are you always on our case? We'll get it done, just leave us alone!' Classic signs of a problem."

Although Sony has not cited any specific reasons for the hold-up, rumors have been circulating that the problem may be a design flaw with one of the new features.

"If the rumors are correct," say Alquist, "then they've had to spend a lot of time de-bugging the plug-and-play hookah."