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Sony delays UK, US PSX launch

PS2-based PVR slides into 2005

Sony had delayed the launch of the PSX in the US - and possibly the UK too - until 2005 in a bid to make the technology more "feasible" for Western buyers.

The admission was made in press interviews with Dick Komiyama, head of the company's electronics unit on Friday.

The PlayStation 2-cum-TiVo debuted in Japan in December 2003 and was scheduled to ship in Western markets late in 2004 - most likely in time for Christmas.

While planned but later dropped functionality has been put back into the console through a series of software updates, sales have proved disappointing in Japan. Sony was even forced to suspend production in March this year to clear out unsold PSXs and make way for updated models which went on sale this month.

The new version might be seen as the model that would be launched in the US, but that now seems unlikely to be the case. Certainly, Komiyama hinted that a lot more work needs to be done before PSX can be released in the West.

"We're working very hard to make the technology feasible for US consumers," he said.

It's not clear when in 2005 PSX will arrive in the US. As for Europe, a Sony spokesman simply said no schedule had been put in place. ®

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