Los Angeles awash with PS3 promos as Sony conference looms

There are - quite literally - signs in Los Angeles this weekend that Sony plans to unveil the PlayStation 3 console at its press conference tomorrow afternoon ahead of the E3 trade show this week.

Billboards and bus posters around the city are trumpeting a message of "Welcome Chang3", with distorted versions of the famous X, square, triangle and circle buttons making for some alien sights.

US website IGN has some photos here demonstrating the effect.

There's also the suggestion that it could launch as soon as this Christmas. Sony's CFO Takao Yuhara was quoted late last week saying that "For the year end sales season, simultaneously building up both the [PSP] as well as the next generation PlayStation is one option that we have."

The "year end sales season" might reasonably be expected to refer to the months leading up to Christmas, although it's worth pointing out that Sony's financial year doesn't actually come to a close until March 2006.

The Japanese company is widely expected to lead its press conference with an unveiling of the PlayStation 3 and the gossip on the ground here is that it could be touted as much more powerful than Microsoft's rival Xbox 360, which was unveiled on Thursday night.

Sony is also expected to discuss exclusive software deals aimed at derailing the excitement over the Microsoft console.