Sony has denied that delays to the launch of its next-generation PlayStation 3 puts the company on the back foot against Microsoft's Xbox 360, which hit the shelves last year.

"We have our own strategy and we don't look to other competitors or competitive activity to dictate what we do," said Jennie Kong, PR manager at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. 

However, industry analysts Current Analysis called the delay a "disaster".

"Whether Blu-ray is the sole cause or not, it's a disaster for Blu-ray and for PS3, and for Sony in general," said Steve Kovsky, senior analyst at Current Analysis.

"There is an entire game economy built on the PlayStation franchise, so there will be a very unpleasant trickle down effect from this delay.

"You'll hear it cited over and over, ad nauseum, when game development and retail companies have their next earnings calls."

The current situation is the reverse of what happened when the two companies first went head-to-head in a console battle.

Back then Sony's PlayStation 2 beat Microsoft's Xbox to market by a year and Sony was able to use aggressive pricing to strengthen its position against its rival when it did finally appear.

This time around the Xbox 360 is already in the shops while the PlayStation 3 will not arrive until November. Kong confirmed that delays sorting out the Blu-ray DVD system were to blame for the hold up. 

"From the Japan side, they've been looking to finalise the specifications and until they do they obviously couldn't confirm which date it would come out," she told vnunet.com.

"With the final specifications now in place we're looking to do a global release in November, in all territories simultaneously," she said.

However, Kovsky believes that the extra time to market for the PS3 may affect Blu-ray's attempts to become the dominant standard.

"Blu-ray may well be in jeopardy as well. One of the reasons it was pulling ahead of the competing HD-DVD standard in terms of industry support was that it appeared to have a lead in time-to-market. That advantage is lost," he said.

"It would not be too surprising if some of the studios that are staunch Blu-ray backers started to do some backpeddling toward HD-DVD. You have to believe that the HD-DVD camp is going to make the most of this setback for Blu-ray."