Roundup

• Uh-oh for the PlayStation3? Joystiq notes that the PS3s on display at the Consumer Electronics show and last year's Tokyo Game Show were labeled as "Conceptual Design." How far behind is Sony, really? Market Watch takes a long look at what Sony's CES silence on the PS3 means (Hat tip: Blue's News). The prediction is that they're behind, but it'll still launch in Japan sometime in the spring and in the U.S. in November, with shortages like we saw with the Xbox 360. Analysts are predicting 1 million units, which seems to me a lot better than the 300,000 360s that shipped at launch. On the other hand, a shortage at 1 million units might just reflect that the PS2 base is so much bigger than the original Xbox base. The article also says"it's likely that Sony will have fewer new software titles at the PlayStation 3 launch than the 19 games Microsoft had for the Xbox 360 launch in the U.S." And a Pacific Crest Securities analyst expects "Sony's launch line-up in the U.S. to be similar to that of the Xbox 360, but 'clearly weaker then the Xbox 360 holiday 2006 line-up.' " I assume by "weaker" he means "smaller," but this doesn't worry me as much. It doesn't matter if the PS3 launches with 10 games instead of 19. What matters is that it launch with one great game. Preferably more, but you need one title that's an absolute wowzer if you don't want to lose your momentum like the 360, PSP, and DS did without early killer games.
• Meanwhile, CNNMoney.com's Chris Morris takes a look at the PS3 pricing chatter. So much speculation for no purpose -- we're going to find out soon enough, right? But Sony ultimately looks weak in all of this. If they knew, they'd tell us. Buzz is good, but too much buzz built on unknowns can backfire.
  
• This is fun. (Hat tip: Joystiq.)