Gamers camped overnight at electronic stores in Japan as the long-awaited PlayStation 3 console finally went on sale today (November 11th).
As expected, all 80,000 units were sold out in the matter of hours. Large queues meant some buyers were turned away even before the stores opened at 0700 local time.
Instead of opening at midnight, stores organised lotteries to decide who in the queue would get a long-awaited PS3.
Outside one particular store, Bic Camera, more than 1,000 people queued for their chance to buy a PlayStation 3.
Shop attendants with microphones warned impatient customers that sales would end if there were any injuries.
“Standing in line today is the only way to make sure I got one,” said Takayuki Sato, 30. Tomoaki Nakamura, 41, said: “I’ve been waiting for this day to come for so long. I’ll play it all through the weekend. No time for meals.”
The head of Sony’s Entertainment division, Ken Kutaragi, known as “the father of the PlayStation”, expressed his gratitude to those who had waited.
“I hope you will enjoy the next-generation entertainment to your heart’s content,” he said. The company said it would be a few days before they knew whether all retailers had sold out of all their PS3 consoles.
Earlier, bloggers catalogued the numbers of people waiting outside stores.
Brian Ashcraft who toured electronics stores in Tokyo for game blog Kotaku described the scene as “organised chaos”.
It will be interesting how next week will compare when American customers will have the opportunity to purchase the new console. As for European gamers, we are being forced to wait until next March after manufacturing problems hampered the company’s attempt to pull off a simultaneous worldwide launch…
Originally intended to be the must-have gift this Christmas, thousands of British parents are now putting their plans to buy the £425 machine on hold. Some eager Europeans, however, are attempting to get their hands on imported PlayStations from Tokyo and the US (without the aid of Lik-Sang…)
It has been a difficult year for Sony, with the PlayStation 3 plagued by delays and technical issues as well as a high-profile that is set to hit the company’s profits hard. Success for the new PlayStation is critical to the long-term success of Sony.
Gaming enthusiasts remain upbeat about the new arrival. “It has some interesting software,” said Yuko Mizutani, 26. “If the price falls I would be interested.”
But Nolan Bushnell, who pioneered videogames as founder of Atari in the 1970s, this week, attacked the Japanese electronics giant’s plans. “The price point is probably unsustainable,” he told Red Herring magazine. “I think Sony shot themselves in the foot.”
This is the scene of Yodobashi Akiba in Electric Town Akihabra. A guy on the loudspeaker is calling out lottery numbers for the lucky few in the large crowd to claim their new console…
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walking leaf says:
The results are in. This is how many Japanese PlayStation 3 were sold. Data courtesy from Media Create.
Total Hardware Sales: 81,639 PlayStation 3 60 GB: 45,774 PlayStation 3 20 GB: 35,865
Ridge Racer 7: 21,654
Mobile Suit Gundam: Target In Sight: 21,309
Resistance: Fall of Man: 13,545
Genji: Days of the Blade: 8,766
Sega Golf Club: 1,410
That’s 66,684 games sold alongside 81,639 consoles. BUT 14,955 people did not buy any games with their PS3 unit… Probably using the new toy as a Blu-Ray player.
Nov 11, 2006, 5:58 am