PlayStation 2 Ship Date To Be Revealed Today

By Doug Olenick -- TWICE, 5/10/2000

Los Angeles--Sony this afternoon reported the PlayStation 2 will start shipping into the North American market on Oct. 26 with a $299 suggested retail price.

The announcement was made here at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Sony will initially ship 1 million units and will have an additional 2 million ready to ship by March 2001. Sony introduced the game console into the Japanese market in March where a reportedly 1.8 million units have been sold.

The launch included a hardware demonstration and details were given on software expected to be available for the system. There are 208 publishers now developing about 270 games for the PlayStation 2. The new console will also play existing PlayStation titles.

The Sony machine features a 128-bit processor and has a DVD-ROM drive and a modem for Internet play.

Sony Computer Entertainment America, the software development arm of the company, earlier this month released an upgraded version of its online PC role playing game EverQuest and the company hinted a version for the PlayStation 2 could be in the works. Hunter Luisi, EverQuest's producer, said there are in excess of 213,000 players signed up to play the game, with a $9.95 monthly charge.