Japanese newspaper reports PlayStation 3 delayed to November

One of Japan's leading newspapers, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, is reporting in its Wednesday morning edition that the PlayStation 3 console has been delayed to November due to unresolved issues with the Blu-Ray technology.

According to the paper, the problem lies with the copy protection system used by Blu-Ray, details of which have not yet been finalised - which will now cause a delay of some six months to Sony's PS3 plans.

Sony has always maintained that the PS3 will launch in spring of this year, but most industry commentators and third-party publishers are currently anticipating US and Japanese launches late in 2006, followed by a European launch in early 2007.

If the Japanese launch doesn't occur until November, that could put any hope of a US launch in 2006 in jeopardy - which would give rival Microsoft a second Christmas on the market before the arrival of PS3 in the US as well as in Europe, as well as giving Nintendo a head-start with the Revolution console.

The newspaper report comes just hours before Sony Computer Entertainment boss Ken Kutaragi is due to address a conference audience of media, analysts and third party publishers in Tokyo, where he is expected to announce details of the firm's plans for the next-generation PS3 system.

However, it's not clear whether Nihon Keizai Shimbun is reporting on leaked details from this conference, or whether the report is based on information from other sources. Speculation that technical problems with Blu-Ray could delay the roll-out of PS3 has been rife for well over a month, and has not been quelled by the announcement that Blu-Ray movie players will ship in North America in mid-May.

Sony's conference is planned for 3pm in Tokyo on Wednesday - around 6am GMT - and is also expected to feature a first look at some of the launch line-up for the console.