Taiwan yesterday saw the debut of the long-awaited Sony Corp PlayStation 3 (PS3), along with the US and Hong Kong, after the game consoles were introduced in Japan last weekend.
All 300 units allocated for the first-sale promotion in Taipei were snapped up a day before the event started.
"I will take a nap after such a long wait, and then play it for at least 24 hours," said a 32-year-old surnamed Liao, who was the first in the queue waiting outside the Sony store at Ximending in Taipei.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
He called eight other friends to join the line at 5am on Wednesday, some traveling from southern Taiwan to get their hands on the first-batch of machines.
Though queue numbers were intended to be distributed on Thursday, hordes of fans lining up outside the store in the rain prompted Sony to distribute numbers earlier and double the volumes of units to 300.
James Affleck, a 21-year-old Briton currently studying Mandarin in Taipei, attracted attention as one of a handful foreigners lining up for the PS3.
"He he said that he was looking forward to playing the yet-to-be-released Virtual Fighter 5 game.
Tetsuhiko Yasuda, managing director of Sony Computer Entertainment Asia, flew in after the Hong Kong launch earlier yesterday to take part in the Taipei event. He assured local fans that there will be sufficient supplies of the consoles, with the second-batch shipment arriving next Thursday.
"We didn't assign specific volumes for different countries. The amount for Taiwan will be enough as shipments will come in every week," he said, refusing to offer details.
Sony has suffered in meeting its PS3 production and delivery goals due to a component shortage at Nichia Corp, which supplies blue laser diodes for the console's Blu-ray DVD, said researcher iSuppli Corp in a report on Thursday.
There were only 100,000 machines ready in time for the console's debut in Japan last week, with about 400,000 available for the US and 200 for Hong Kong.
Global sales of PS3 will hit two million by the end of next month, and six million by March, Yasuda said.
The 60 gigabyte (GB) PS3 retails at NT$17,980 (US$545) while the 20GB version will be made available next month at NT$14,980.
There are only three game titles for the debut, namely Genji, Ridge Racer 7 and Mobile Suit Gundam.
Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360, which debuted locally in March, sells for US$399 with a 20GB hard drive, while Nintendo Co has not announced a Taiwan launch schedule for its Wii console.
El Segundo, California-based iSuppli believes that as the PS3 uses sophisticated components, it is well worth the price tag as Sony is making a loss on each machine sold which has to be made up with game sales.
"With the PS3, you are getting the performance of a supercomputer at the price of an entry-level PC," the researcher said.
Powered by the new "Cell" computer chip from IBM Corp, and supported by the next-generation Blu-ray video disc format, the console is said to deliver nearly movie-like graphics and a realistic gaming experience.
"While many fret over the high cost and price of the PS3 compared to the competition, we believe the console provides more processing power and capability than any consumer electronics device in history," iSuppli said.
VALUABLE STOCK: The company closed at NT$1,005 a share, on demand for AI and HPC chips, and is expected to issue a positive report during its earnings conference Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares rose 2.66 percent to close at a record high of NT$1,005 yesterday. as investors expect the company to continue benefiting from strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) chips. TSMC is the 19th member of the local bourse’s NT$1,000 stock club, which includes smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) and electric transformer manufacturer Fortune Electric Co (華城電機). Yesterday’s rally swelled TSMC’s market capitalization to NT$26.06 trillion (US$802.3 billion) and contributed about 211 points to the TAIEX, which closed up 350.1 points, or 1.51 percent, to 23,522.53, another record high, Taiwan Stock
Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), a subsidiary of Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車), yesterday said it is again offering a NT$100,000 discount for its entry-level n7 electric vehicle models. The n7’s price has gone down from NT$1.099 million to NT$999,000, Luxgen said, adding that there are 25,000 preorders for the model. MG Motor’s electric hatchback, the MG4, entered the market in the middle of last month, with a starting price of NT$990,000. China Motor Corp (中華汽車), which distributes MG vehicles in Taiwan, said it aims to sell 1,600 MG4s this year. MG, originally a British brand, was acquired by China’s SAIC Motor
Google on Monday said it is planning to invest in New Green Power Co (NGP, 永鑫能源), a solar energy developer owned by BlackRock Inc, to build 1 gigawatt of solar capacity in Taiwan to supply clean energy for its local data center and offices. “Our investment in NGP, subject to regulatory approval, will serve as development capital toward its 1 GW pipeline of new solar projects, catalyzing critical equity and debt financing for those projects,” Google’s Data Center Energy global head Amanda Peterson Corio wrote on a company blog. It did not disclose financial details. “We expect to procure up to 300 megawatts
‘MORE PRACTICAL’: If the cap were lowered, it would spark an influx of funds that would be difficult to track as insurance firms adjust to the new rules, an official said Overseas investment would remain capped at 45 percent of local insurers’ total assets, as there are scant investment tools at home and potentially significant losses from sudden divestments, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said yesterday. The commission’s comments came in response to a legislator’s concern over the effect of a proposed revision to the Insurance Act (保險法) to lower the upper limit to 25 percent. The revision was proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才). The proposed 25 percent cap is even lower than the 35 percent implemented before 2007. About 17 years ago, the legislature raised the upper limit