Sony has announced that the release of their next-generation video game console, Playstation 3, which was scheduled on 17th November 2006 in PAL territories of Europe, Russia, Middle East, Africa and Australasia, will be delayed to March 2007, 4 months later than planned.

In an official statement, the company said that 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″.

Last month Sony Computer’s American president, Kaz Hirai, has let it slip that manufacturing of the PS3 hasn’t started yet.

Hirai, in an interview with Gamespot UK, said “We haven’t started manufacturing yet. Some of our ops guys were actually just in China, and also in Japan just reviewing the production lines and everything else”.

However, there will be no change in launch date for Japan and North America, which will still go ahead on the 11 November 2006 for Japan and 17 November 2006 for North America.

However, the previously announced PlayStation 3 shipment forecast of 6 million units globally within the fiscal year ending 2007 is not changed suggesting that Sony wasn’t expecting to sell any units in the PAL territories.

In reaction to this news, shares of Sony fell Thursday after the company halved its forecast for shipments of the PlayStation 3 this year and delayed its introduction in Europe by four months.

The stock had its biggest drop in almost two weeks, falling 1.6 percent to ¥4,970, or $42.60, in Tokyo. The delay was due to a shortage of parts for the Blu-ray DVD player included in the console, Sony said Wednesday.

It’s like starting a race and Microsoft and Nintendo have already completed one lap and Sony hasn’t even started. Sony has underestimated and understand how difficult it is to produce Blu-ray.

Sony’s new slogan “This is living” was turned to “This is waiting” and the domain ThisisWaiting.com website was promptly registered. Photoshop altered images and edited videos became the ideal choice for disappointed gamers to voice out their objection.

It’s been the second blow in a row for Sony in a short matter of time. Last month, Dell and Apple has recalled millions (Dell has accounted for 4.1 million recalls by iteself) of laptops batteries due to a flaw that has caused several laptops to catch fire. Sony is one of the partners manufacturing these batteries and part of the cost of the recall will be compensated by Sony.