Ps3 Released In UK And Posts Great Sales
Let’s be honest, Sony have had more than their fair share of problems and bad PR with the new Ps3. From the high price point, the three-month delay, and finally the removal of the PlayStation 2’s chipset meaning only some older games will work on the new console, they have been many and varied. But all that was put to bed last Friday night, Saturday morning at midnight when the behemoth that is the Ps3 finally reached these shores.
The official launch happened at Virgin Megastore’s flagship store on Oxford Street, London, where hardened gamers queuing for 48 hours were put up in the basement! And as a reward for their devotion, Sony also gave them all a free Bravia 46″ HDTV, worth about £2000, something which took some time to sink in with the gobsmacked crowd. According to Yahoo, Jason Sarris, from Wood Green in London, said, “I’m speechless, I still don’t believe it. I think it’s a hoax.” Akwasi Poku, from Forest Hill, also in London, added, “It’s restored my faith in Sony. I was thinking about getting an Xbox 360, because it’s half the price, but now it’s paid off.”
So, have Sony done too much harm in the build up to the launch, to keep all those millions of loyal Ps2 fans onside and buying a Ps3 in good time? The president of Sony Worldwide Studios, Phil Harrison was at the launch and told Gamespot UK “I can’t deny that we would have loved to have launched everywhere in the world last November, but that’s behind us. The important thing is that people who buy a PS3 today or tomorrow will be getting a machine which has got a better network functionality, better firmware, a better variety of software, and a bigger range of Blu-ray movies.”
The first round of sales figures are in from the first weekend of availability and Sony will be heartened by the results. According to industry watcher Chart Track, the PS3 became the fastest-selling home console (does not include portables) in UK history, with almost 165,000 moved in its first two days on sale. The portable in question which beat it to number one is the Sony PSP, selling 185,000 units in it’s first two days. Even better news for Sony is the games sales results for last week, with two Sony software titles taking the top spots on the UK’s all-formats chart, with Resistance: Fall of Man and Motorstorm falling in slots one and two respectively. Overall, six of the top 10 all-formats games were PS3 titles.
So it’s had a good launch, with the free TV giveaway being a great PR coup and console sales high but will it continue? Now that all 3 of the main consoles out on the streets, the next generation becomes the current generation and the game is on for top spot. At the moment, my money is on the Wii, purely because it has such a broad appeal, even to non-gamers. But I think this will be the closest console war for a long time with Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all making a healthy profit and developing for the next launch in five years time. Meanwhile, let’s all enjoy the class games that will come from the healthy competition.
Sony Playstation, Sony, Ps3, Ps2, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo, Wii, Ps2, PR, Virgin, Oxford Street, London, Bravia, Yahoo, XBox 360, Microsoft, PSP, Phil Harrison, Gamespot, Chart Track, Industry, Resistance Fall Of Man, Motorstorm, Blu-Ray
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