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Only 100,000 PS3's for Japan Launch
Author: Tim SmalleyPublished: 11th November 2006
PS3 has launched in Japan with only 100,000 units, demand was massively out-gunned by supply.
Not surprisingly, the demand out-gunned the meagre supply and many gamers queued for hours in the cold only to be turned away because the supply had dried up.
According to the BBC, stores organised lotteries to decide which of the queuing punters would walk away with a PlayStation 3 - this was in the interests of safety.
Sony has said that it plans to have 400,000 units available for the US launch on November 17th and still remains confident about shipping six million units by the end of March 2007.
In contrast, Microsoft expects to have shipped ten million Xbox 360 consoles by the end of 2006, although the software giant has had a twelve month headstart on Sony in this round of the console wars. Meanwhile, Nintendo is confident that its Wii console will be a huge success - our man Ryan thinks otherwise though.
Officials at Sony said that it would be a few days before they'd know whether all retailers sold out of PS3's, but judging from the queues, we'd say that the retailers managed to shift every console they could get.
Were you lucky enough to get one of the first PS3's in Japan, or are you hoping to get one in America when it launches later this week? Let us know in the forums.
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Comments (36)Stats: 0.095 seconds
And I've been forced to agree with Ryan, I looked at some Wii in game screenshots and they look like 1st year work at our uni.
Sam
Nah, Sonys arse is too tight for that. Musta come from somewhere else.
People from the UK actually flew over to Japan to buy one of those things, thats just insane.
Video of the launch can be seen here on Digital World Tokyo Hear the pig squeal as there is fight to get in the shop lol.
Edit: Well it was at £1550 before it ended, guy canceled his max mid of £600k lol but it still sold for £1220.00 Thats crazy. I expected it but not that high a price.
I just love this:
Ebay, a friendly extortion agency.
Check out the picture of the receipt. Since when was the PS3, 60GHZ?
Considering that Sony are Smug arrogant barstards who say that humans are lucky to be allowed such an awesome slice of their arrogance, then they give their home territory the smallest launch shipment. I'd say that they are lucky to only be bashed a bit.
You are joking right? Sony promised more than 100k PS3's for the japanese market. Its been cutback after cutback, 100k is pathetic and to be honest im suprised they even made that. In its first week the PS2 sold 900,000 in japan alone!
Bias? Hardly, in every review i've EVER seen on bit-tech they've always backed up there opinions with hard facts, no more and no less. And as for being pissed off? If the articles are bad its only because sony have ballsed it up good and proper!
And seriously, we're hardly pissed. In recent years consoles have tried there best to be a PC, online gaming, HDD's, etc and we've got a crap load of great titles that have even been ported to consoles. Infact there is more variety and options for PC games than any other system. Not to mention we have the ability to emulate most systems out there. PC gamers have it sweet, so as for "getting screwed by the Videogame industry" your talking BS! Sony deserve nothing less than a total bashing for the poorly orchestrated mess they've dubbed the PS3!
And it is in part Sony Rep's fault for a lot of the bad press because they say things that come off as smug and conceited, but there's a lot more to the PS3 than some 'tard representative. I don't want to sound like I'm coming here telling the editors what stories to put on their website, but it's just come to a point where it seems like they have some kind of vendetta against all things Sony.
I wanted to get 1 because it's ridiculously cheaper than building a gaming system (when considering Blu-gay)
How long have you have to wait on a waiting list for the latest ferrari until they built it for you. Years.
Come one you have to admit, Bit is very biased between Sony and Nintendo and they make it obvious.
Well we will see how it all turns when the Wii is out and people are disapointed with it due to the hype. When the PS3 is available in UK im sure the comments will more in favour of the PS3.
End of the day all reps b******t, so I dont get why everyone believes any rep and take there word as concrete. I take no notice or them.
But thats the point, we didnt have to wait more for the ps2. The parts they needed to build the thing arrived on time and they met demand for the console, all in all a pretty successful launch. Now in comparison this hasnt happened. Like you say there have been shortages for the blu-ray diodes but so what? That being the case sony, shouldnt have made crazy figures saying they were gonna deliver a damn sight more units then they did and instead of acting smug and whatknot they should have been busy making more parts.
Now yeah bit have made it clear they like the wii, but out of the 3 next-gen consoles Nintendo are the only ones to take a new approach and they're trying to be innovative and if it wasnt for people trying out new things what would be the state of gaming? Where in comparison its just more of the same from Sony, and theyve still managed to balls it up!
Neogumbercules:
Yeah, your right in saying that the media are focusing on the bad parts of the ps3 but you know how it is "bad news sells". Now I do truly believe bit-tech is one of the few impartial sites out there that will tell it like it is. And your also right that there's good stuff about the ps3 but to be honest it seems to me like theres tons+tons of bad. That being the case you cant expect bit-tech to post nice things when theres alot more bad (esp when the bad is really bad e.g. extortionate price tag)
A good article about this was emailed to kotaku.
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/top/foreigners-and-fights-ps3-jpn-launchs-dark-side-214130.php
This is a ridiculous launch and only brought about exploitation of the poor in Japan over a silly piece of hardware Sony has hyped up to be better than sliced bread.
Thats Hong Kong DOllers
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/top/foreigners-and-fights-ps3-jpn-launchs-dark-side-214130.php
didn't i tell you this would happen? :D
edit: cant wait until sony sues these guys....
The PS3 has been rushed to market, a firmware update has to be downloaded as soon as you power on to enable it's online functionality! And they think it will be better than Xbox Live?
Microsoft took an awful amount of criticism with the original Xbox, and it seems the tables have turned, but because it's Sony no-one can say anything negative towards them? Double standards.
That's because the PS3 online experience is 99% the same as gaming on a PC.
Is it? Can I rent a 64 player server for X game?
MS hit the nail on the head when it came to online, Xbox Live on the Xbox was fantastic, the 360's live is even better.
People keep saying about how everyone has nothing but bad press about sony, but is there actually anything good to say about them?
That hosting technique is almost exactly the same for every PC game. Its just the the "server" in that case does not have a player, however every machine could be used as a server AND a game at the same time.