PS3 to launch without key third party titles
Sony's US PS3 launch has lost the support of two key franchises, while Electronic Arts has opted not to port its headline basketball series to the new format until 2007.
Sony's PlayStation 3 line-up has lost two of its key third party support struts with the news that Sonic the Hedgehog and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will both miss the 17th November launch.
Sonic will now arrive sometime in December, according to SEGA representatives, but the news was worse for Xbox and PC hit Oblivion, which has been set back until the first quarter of 2007.
In a separate announcement, Electronic Arts revealed that NBA Live 07 - demonstrated during Sony's E3 2006 showcase - will no longer appear on the format, with the publisher aiming to make Live 08 the series' PS3 debut.
Instead EA wants to concentrate its resources on next year's release of NBA Street: Homecourt for the Sony system and Microsoft's rival Xbox 360.
The changes to Sony's day-one line-up mean that Activision's Call of Duty 3 and Ubisoft's Rainbow Six Vegas will be among the most critically significant third party titles in the line-up - with both having already launched on Xbox 360.
In terms of exclusives, PS3 will headline with Resistance: Fall of Man from Insomniac Games, internally produced NBA 07 and Genji: Days of the Blade.
Those titles will be supported by Full Auto 2 (SEGA), Ridge Racer 7 (Namco Bandai), Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire (Namco Bandai) and Untold Legends (Sony Online Entertainment) as second and third party exclusives.