And Sony just lost Europe. And Russia. And the Middle East. And Africa. And the fabled Xanadu of 'Australasia', wherever the hell that is. All PAL territories, in fact.

Loudly trumping their own death knell, Sony started off this morning in Europe with a bang: Sony's Playstation 3 won't hit PAL territories until March, 2007, due to manufacturing difficulties with the Playstation 3's Blu-Ray diodes, which are the magic oculi that scrutinizes the contents of their proprietary, unproven next-generation media format that no one even really wants.

If you're in the States or Japan, don't worry, your PS3s are still coming in November. For every other place in the entire world? You're shit out of luck.

Really, this isn't news to anyone who was at Leipzig and noticed that Sony's entire press conference was essentially just an open boozer, where nothing new was said or presented. It was like an Irish wake for the Playstation 3's still-birth in Europe.

Press release after the jump. Florian Eckhardt

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Announces New March 2007 date for European Launch of PLAYSTATION 3

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Announces New March 2007 date for European Launch of PLAYSTATION 3
No change in launch date for Japan and North America

London, Wednesday 6 September 2006 - Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) today announced that it would revise the launch date of its PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system in the PAL territories of Europe, Russia, Middle East, Africa and Australasia from 17th November 2006, as previously announced to March 2007.

Launch dates for Japan and North America will remain the same, which are November 11th and November 17th respectively.

The revision of the launch date in the SCEE territories is caused by the delay in the mass production schedule of the blue laser diode within the Sony Group, thus affecting the timely procurement of key components to be utilised in PLAYSTATION 3.

The previously announced PLAYSTATION 3 shipment forecast of 6 million units globally within the fiscal year ending 2007 is not changed.