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The Play Station 3 was introduced to the public for the first time on May 16, 2005. It was not a functional version of the game console but rather demonstrations of a few games were shown on comparable PC hardware and devkits. The predicted specs of the PS3 Consoles as PlayStation 3 has become known were also shown.
That initial prototype featured two HDMI ports, six USB ports, and three Ethernet ports. Approximately a year later another prototype had four USB ports and one of the Ethernet ports and HDMI ports. This was a considerable drop from the original plan presumably because of cost
The fact that two configurations were going to be available also was announced. The first model was going to be a 20 GB PS3 Consoles model.
It was going to have a price of $499 and would be released at the same time as the 60 GB model that was going to sell for $599. The biggest difference was that the 60 GB model would offer the HDMI port, Wi-Fi internet, flash card reader and have chrome trim.
It was also announced that the release date of both models had been set.
Japan would have the new PS3 Consoles released on November 11 while North America and Europe would have their release on November 17th.
Much to the disappointment of the area, Sony announced that the release of the Play Station 3 for the PAL region which consisted of Europe and Oceania would be delayed until March 2007. The delay was a result of material shortages that were used in the Blu-Ray Disc Drive.
The last change reported in the PlayStation 3 prior to its official release was announced on September 22, 2006 at the Tokyo Game Show. Sony announced that there would indeed be a HDMI port available on the 20 GB PS3 Consoles as well. However, they would not be including the flash card reader, Wi-Fi, and the chrome trim would not be included.
The much awaited Launch day, November 11, 2006 was finally here. According to records, 81,639 PlayStation 3 game systems were sold that first 24 hours in Japan. Following that a week later was the North American release.
The North American release was a much anticipated event and was met with violence. People literally camped over night waiting to be one of the first to own the Play Station 3. It was reported that campers were robbed at gun point, shot in drive bys with bb guns and many fights broke out. This was a display of people’s eagerness to own the new PlayStation .
The final releases happened on June 16, 2007 in South Korea. Cleary the PS3 Consoles was one of the must have items that people were eager to own when they became available.