[Lynk Former]

The PS3 has finally been released in Europe and Australia... With this, all three consoles have been released in all major regions around the world and the new generation has officially ended its introductory period.

So far the Xbox360 and Nintendo Wii have both enjoyed a great launch and lifespan... the PS3 on the other hand isn't doing as well as Sony has hoped it'll do. But even so it's still early days... though I still have to laugh at Sony over this...

Angry Gamer's roving reporters drank a heap of chocolate milk, grabbed a camera and checked out the alleged hotspots of PS3 midnight launch activity in Australia. Here's what we saw. The short version? The worst launch since the Challenger space craft. (Story Updated!)


070323_ps3_1
Ha, see what we did there. The security guard at JB Hi-Fi was nice to us. He didn't even mind that we brought a audio recorder in to interview people with the podcast about. No pictures though. Anyway, at the stroke of midnight there were a grand total of three people in the store, milling about aimlessly waiting to buy a PS3. None of them really looked too happy to be there. The store manager was trying to drum up some excitement by asking people if they wanted to play Formula One, but nobody took him up on it. We asked him how he felt about it and he said he's not surprised about the lack of turn out given the price of the machine. We offered him our commiserations and left quietly, stopping only to ask the girlfriend of a PS3 purchaser how she felt about it all. She asked us to go away.


070323_ps3_2


At EB Games in the middle of the city they set up this huge corridor for people to line up. EXCEPT NOBODY CAME TO FILL UP THE LINE. No less than four security guards were hired to keep the NONEXISTANT crowd in line. Two of them left shortly after midnight. They were nice enough guys, but they wouldn't let us take photos, so we snuck this one in.


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Oh, we got this photo too. Anyway, we had a chat to some of the staff in that EB and they said they shifted a handful of machines, but not as many as the Toombul store, which apparently sold a whopping 20. We had a ncie chat to someone who just bought one machine and he as excited about the technology of the machine. Not the games (because you can get them all on the 360), not the movies (because well?Casino Royale, eh?)?just the technology. Wow. Wish I had that kind of money to waste on things that only do things in the hypothetical.


070323_ps3_4



We went to another EB Games and saw this. a handful of random people who were just there to kill some time because most stores are shut at this time of night and they ran out of money to drink at the nearby pubs. I've been to funerals that were more exciting than this. It really is the worst hardware launch the country has ever seen. Not even a few months ago these places were packed - Japanese trains at lunch hour packed - with people clamoring to buy a Wii. And now look at this.

I really wish I was exaggerating for comedic effect. God knows we searched the city high and low for launches. It was just like this at every store we visited over the two hour launch period. The PS3 is as welcome in this territory as peace in the middle east. Everyone keeps telling us we should have it but we're not convinced.


070323_ps3_5



One of the biggest PS3 retailers, Harvey Norman, have been blitzing television and radio ads over the past week about their midnight PS3 launch. Well, it looks like it went over so badly that they closed up shop early. Oops!

We then hit one more EB to see how it all went. Once again, it was a ghost town, but the manager was very proud of the fact that 33 pre-ordered machines were picked up. He wasn't so proud that he still had 50 un-ordered ones in the back room.

So Sony apparently brought 20,000 machines into the country. So if Brisbane sold just over 50, let's say Sydney and Melbourne did 200 each to be generous. Throw in some extras for the other capital cities and we'll call it 500 machines on launch night. Oh all right, let's be really generous and call it a thousand.

1,000 out of 20,000.

ABSOLUTELY UNIMITIGATED DISASTER.

http://www.angry-gamer.net/ag/index.php?...0&Itemid=2


That's only one of the horror stories Sony faced, there are some even better ones coming from Europe.

[Damatee]

I shouldnt laugh at sonys misfortune but...
1. they have had it coming and
2. Its hard not to

[Rebel]

I mean, heck, I don't care much for Microsoft or Nintendo(mostly because Nintendo rarely has games I like), but Sony was asking for it when they rolled out a $600 console with competitors maxing out at $250 and $400-500.

[Lynk Former]

Down here it's $999AUD. Speaking of games on consoles... now that Devil May Cry is also coming to the 360, all that needs to happen now is for Metal Gear Solid 4 to go multi-platform over to the 360 and it'll give me the final reason to actually buy one lol.

Plus this is more than just price, Microsoft and Nintendo beat Sony to the punch and now they're suffering for it. The two mentioned companies have satisfied the masses and Sony was too arrogant and thought brand alone could create hype for its product.

[PJ-Animation]

I feel somewhat bad for Sony after hearing this, but it is their own fault. They have no one to blame but themselves.

[Damatee]

what Sony fails to realise is that few people are prepared to pay for something that costs over £400 (actual price here in England is £424.99 for a base unit with no games and 1 controller, you want a single game and an extra controller and its £475.00... and thats with a deal pack)

[Hawkeye]

Errr.... In the Virgin Megastore release... The Jamy bastards who went to midnight release and brought the playstation 3 and got a Free 42 Inch Sony Flatscreen TV with it.... DAMN IT!

PS3 + Page 3 girls = PSphwoar!

By JONATHAN WEINBERG
March 24, 2007

SUN stunners Becky, Mel and Peta brought some PSphwoar to the launch of Sony's PS3 yesterday.

The Page 3 babes provided the beauty as dozens of gaming geeks queued up from 7am to pick up the must-have £425 console.

The tasty trio were a smash hit with those in the line as they unveiled PlayStation 3 game Virtua Tennis by baring their bums, just like in the classic Athena poster shot.
See the winners and the stunners ....

The launch at London's HMV store in Oxford Street came just hours after nearby Virgin Megastores had played host to the official PS3 debut.

By midnight when the store was due to open, it was in danger of becoming a bit of a let-down with small crowds compared to the razzmatazz when rivals' Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii went on sale.

But the Japanese electronics giant stunned fans who had been queuing for up to 43 hours – by giving 125 of them a free £2,000 high-definition telly.

Riatsu Thomas, 17, of Mitcham, Surrey, was first in the queue and said: "I can’t believe I’ve finally got one. And it’s amazing to get a TV too."

Earlier on Thursday evening, police had lined up outside the Virgin store to ensure there was no repeat of scenes in America when people were mugged for their hot purchase.

Dozens were ferried home courtesy of Sony in a fleet of taxis while Riatsu was driven home in a stretch Hummer.

Yesterday stores around the UK reported a steady stream of buyers for the games console, which also plays music, surfs the internet and hooks up to Sony's handheld PSP machine.

David Wilson, of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, said: "This is a great launch for those who matter - the gamers.

"We have plenty of stock on the shelves for those who couldn't queue up on the first night."

Many high street chains expect to have enough PS3 machines to last out the weekend, although many experts claim this shows demand is down because of the high price.

Despite that, some canny gamers were still trying to flog their new PS3 on eBay for a profit with dozens of the consoles on sale on the internet auction site.

But most of those priced at more than the high street price had by yesterday afternoon, failed to attract any bids.

Gennaro Castaldo, of HMV, said: "We had a really good response to the PS3 launch and sales have certainly been in line with our expectations, if not even exceeded them a little given the way interest has escalated over the last couple of days.

"Our midnight store openings around the UK attracted the best part of 3,000 PlayStation enthusiasts in total.

"We still have some consoles in stock, as we were able to order plenty, but we expect these to sell pretty quickly over the next few days.

"It's actually nice to have units to sell off the shelf as and when people come in off the street to purchase one - it makes a pleasant change to have to constantly apologise for being out of stock."

He added: "This launch may not have generated quite the same level of hype and excitement as Wii and Xbox 360 did, but it's been pretty impactful given that we're post Christmas and the price is a little higher than the other consoles. We expect sales to keep building over time."

Jorden Jones, product manager for the Gamestation chain, said: "Last night was a massive success and all our customers went away really happy.

"We also still have a healthy stock of the Playstation3 for anyone who still wants one."

[Black Howling]

Down here it's $999AUD. Speaking of games on consoles... now that Devil May Cry is also coming to the 360, all that needs to happen now is for Metal Gear Solid 4 to go multi-platform over to the 360 and it'll give me the final reason to actually buy one lol.

Plus this is more than just price, Microsoft and Nintendo beat Sony to the punch and now they're suffering for it. The two mentioned companies have satisfied the masses and Sony was too arrogant and thought brand alone could create hype for its product.

However lynk i have both read interviews in our european games magazines, that devil may cry 4 and metal gear wont be leaving ps3, even xbox 360 magazines have had to burst there consoles bubble by telling there readers the games wont see a 360 release o.O

[Lynk Former]

Really? Was the announcement that was made during the last few days taken back for DMC4? Or are you talking about the time when Wii was still called the Revolution? I remember back then there were rumours of DMC4 coming to 360 which was proven wrong at the time. But what I'm hearing lately is that fortunes have changed and DMC4 IS heading over to 360. After all, Capcom announced it themselves.

What you're probably thinking of: http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/06/devil-...tad-early/

What I'm talking about: http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/19/devil-...exclusive/

You probably should stop reading outdated gaming magazines and look to the net for up-to-date information

And as for MGS4, I never said it WOULD head over, the chances of it are almost non-existant, I just said that theoretically if it did, that would be the ultimate reason for me to buy an Xbox360 cause you all know, I'd NEVER get a PS3 lol.



@ Hawkeye: Yeah I heard about that, Sony had to bribe people to get them to purchase a PS3?.... *shakes head* You would think that a console could stand on its own feet without that kind of thing. Similar things happened when the Xbox360 launched in Japan. Overall The PS3 is doing better in Europe and Australia than the 360 is doing in Japan though XD lol

[Geass]

Holy Cheerios!

Man, I thought the PS3 state side was bonkers vile, sounds like the rest of the world is all lukewarm to zilch in teh receeption.

(at my local best buy, the one PS3 on demo is frozen, the poor Wii is looked away with no Wii-motes to play and running on demo, the Xbox is no where and the 360 is showing off with guitar hero.)

[Chimasterwang]

As expected XD
If this continues on enough maybe more games will go over to Wii and 360 =P

[Lynk Former]

Adding salt to the wounds...
http://kotaku.com/gaming/ps3-launch/aust...246437.php

[Mr. Weasel]

the PS3 isn´t selling well in germany too.
there were only 150 customers in the gigantic sony store in berlin at the eve of the launch.
the most interesting aspect of the whole evening was a pr-action from "Saturn" (a huge electronics-discounter); the first 50 customers who managed to climb up a wall that was placed in the shop and who after that dropped their old X-Box 360 from that wall got a PS3 for free
somehow i have the feeling that those 50 PS3´s were the only one´s that changed their owner at that evening

[Lynk Former]

Jeebus, there were like 240+ people who bought a Wii at the midnight launch at a small EB Games store that I went to.

The irony with your story is that those people are smart... they trade in their 360s for a PS3, sell their PS3s online and buy another 360 + a tonne of games and accessories...

Push button, get bacon.

[Damatee]

But the Japanese electronics giant stunned fans who had been queuing for up to 43 hours – by giving 125 of them a free £2,000 high-definition telly

I would buy a PS3 purly for that, take the TV and sell the PS3 for £20-30 under the standard price, sure I would loose a bit but in the end you would get a New HDTV for next to nothing

[Mr. Weasel]

might be true, the PS3 is priced at 600 euros in germany while you can get a new X-Box 360 for 299 euros.
even when they get just 500 instead of the 600 euros @ebay because of the small demand it´s still a good deal for them.
at least some people who are happy with the PS3-launch

[Ray]

Hehe, that's humour right there. XD

[Moelman]

Fail.

[Lord Enigma]

Bah... I saw it coming.

[Eva]

Sony people are trying to put a positive spin on the game. People that just plain hate the Wii think the PS3 great, even though I hear nothing about them praising the PS3. The only game getting credit for the PS3 Resistance, other than that, they got nothing going.

Not shocked by the popular release of the PS3.

[Lynk Former]

Bah... I saw it coming.

We all saw it coming, but no one can be sure until it actually happens.

@ Eva: Yeah, and the only heavy hitter Sony has left in its back pocket is Metal Gear Solid 4 and possibly a few Final Fantasies... though FF is also making the move over to Xbox360.

Another thing that isn't certain for the PS3 are RPGs, of course Square Enix will always be there but one wonders what the smaller developers are going to do since RPGs don't necessarily need the power that the PS3 can provide them, not to mention the high costs and difficulty in making a game for the PS3 in the first place...

If things go the way I think they'll be going, I'm seeing quite a few RPGs coming to Wii over the next few years. Though even I'm not THAT confident with that prediction...

[Black Howling]

We all saw it coming, but no one can be sure until it actually happens.

@ Eva: Yeah, and the only heavy hitter Sony has left in its back pocket is Metal Gear Solid 4 and possibly a few Final Fantasies... though FF is also making the move over to Xbox360.

Another thing that isn't certain for the PS3 are RPGs, of course Square Enix will always be there but one wonders what the smaller developers are going to do since RPGs don't necessarily need the power that the PS3 can provide them, not to mention the high costs and difficulty in making a game for the PS3 in the first place...

If things go the way I think they'll be going, I'm seeing quite a few RPGs coming to Wii over the next few years. Though even I'm not THAT confident with that prediction...

yeah i am just annoyed about DMC 4, i am not getting a ps3 no more X, bring more rpgs to the wii i would love that ^^

[Chimasterwang]

RPGs come back to Nintendo maybe that would be nice XD

[Eva]

@ Eva: Yeah, and the only heavy hitter Sony has left in its back pocket is Metal Gear Solid 4 and possibly a few Final Fantasies... though FF is also making the move over to Xbox360.

Currently FFXI all the X-box 360 getting, but there's rumors about FFXIII appearing on X-box 360 in some form. MGS should go multi-platform, just like FF.

Another thing that isn't certain for the PS3 are RPGs, of course Square Enix will always be there but one wonders what the smaller developers are going to do since RPGs don't necessarily need the power that the PS3 can provide them, not to mention the high costs and difficulty in making a game for the PS3 in the first place...

If things go the way I think they'll be going, I'm seeing quite a few RPGs coming to Wii over the next few years. Though even I'm not THAT confident with that prediction...

Nintendo got their own FE game out in Japan already. Not to mention that sweet looking DQ game coming out for the Wii. There's a couple more RPG's coming to Wii, but I'm too lazy to look them up. Those would be the two I majorly pumped for. I don't mind a balance of RPG. I would love NIS tactical RPG to be on a Nintendo system or Microsoft system. Still, not sold on Microsoft since I'm not feeling it from that Blue Dragon game. I want more RPG's to be released for Microsoft. Wii got FE and DQ. That's plenty for me.

[Flynt]

what Sony fails to realise is that few people are prepared to pay for something that costs over £400 (actual price here in England is £424.99 for a base unit with no games and 1 controller, you want a single game and an extra controller and its £475.00... and thats with a deal pack)

Pretty bad for the PS3 eh. I haven't even considered getting one, have my sights on the xbox 360 instead, just think its a better unit.

The pricing for the PS3 is ridiculous, £424.99 - £475.00 is too much. The was a show on TV about the PS3 in Japan the other night and the cost there is the equivalent of £260.00 here. £424.99 is one hell of a rude mark-up.

A lot of games are multi platform anyways, I think though games for sony consoles are going to start to decline.

[Lynk Former]

yeah i am just annoyed about DMC 4, i am not getting a ps3 no more X, bring more rpgs to the wii i would love that ^^

XD Yeah, there were some true fanboys out there who were so pissed off by DMC4 heading over to 360 that they said they'd all boycott the game for both systems lol.


EDIT: Apparantly Sony didn't do as badly as it seems: http://www.mcvuk.com/news/26261/Record-b...-UK-launch
They broke Wii's record of 105,000 Wii's by selling 165,000 PS3s. I'm actually very amazed by this since hteir are reports of large amounts of PS3 still on the shelves, but it makes sense, Sony did put out a lot of stock for Europe while both Microsoft and Nintendo could only put in limited shipments.

Though this does seem like a victory for Sony... it should still be worrying for them though... now that all those who REALLY wanted it have bought it, how are they going to go now? So far they still have plenty of PS3s on the shelves and Wii's seem to be selling out with every shipment made. Or maybe people are just trying to save up to buy a PS3 in the first place....

[Scar da Kookee]

on a side note i read yesterday that the 360 is getting fallout 3.
damn. i hope they still release it on pc.

[Black Howling]

on a side note i read yesterday that the 360 is getting fallout 3.
damn. i hope they still release it on pc.

They will scar, from what i seen most xbox360 games to go pc after a while and vice versa, pc owners will get it soon enough.

@Lynk: yeah had loads of fanboys yelling at me about it, its as if i am to blame to Dante jumping console fecking fanboys i hate em XD

[Mr. Weasel]

PlayStation breaks sales records
PS3
PlayStation 3 went on sale in the UK last week
The PlayStation 3 console has broken UK sales records with more than 165,000 machines sold in the first two days of release, say analysts Chart Track.

More than a million consoles were shipped across Europe on launch day last week with 600,000 sold.

Hm..it seems as if Sony isn´t doing that bad. 600.000 sold units, thats more than the X-Box 360 or the Wii achieved in the same time but you have to keep in mind that especially the Wii was delivered in small numbers during the first 2 weeks or so.

[Moelman]

Wow, a surprise indeed. Its odd that it sold so many and yet there was so little interest at the launch events.

[Geass]

I think the Wii just sold its target selling units at least 6 million consoles already. I think they really hit a sweet spot by advertising the Weeeeeee! on Wii.

[Lynk Former]

Yeah, down here Sony didn't come close to beating the sales record down here but 8 out of the top 10 games since the release of the PS3 have been PS3 games.

Also note for Europe that the 360 had severe shortages. Plus Wii has been suffering shortages ever since it was released, right now it's impossible to find Wii's anywhere in Europe from what I hear... some people are saying that Nintendo are intentional, dunno if that's true or not but from the way things are selling around the world, I don't think it is.

[Geass]

Funny, I thought 360s died down in teh mad rush, but I have to remmember the US is nto the only one getting the units.
Most likely demand and manufacture is for the shortages, unlike the PS3 for lack of manufacturing output and difficulty.

Speaking of which of games though, I think so far teh PS3 games are a prettyluke warm selection. The only reason that they might be the top what ever is becasue its the only ones availabel to review.

And even though they said "Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire" reeks, I still want to play it myself... yes, I am a gundam otaku, I like 08th MS Team the best

[Lynk Former]

The 360 sales have slowed, but they're still steady. Actually what's funny about the launch of the PS3 and the way things have been going is that the 2nd best selling console for Europe was the PSP.

[GabeXorn]

Adding salt to the wounds...
http://kotaku.com/gaming/ps3-launch/aust...246437.php

Ouch. Whose head will roll?

[Eva]

MGS4 made exclusive for PS3 from what I read at another site.

[Geass]

To bring a small tidbit on what link said, the PSP actually was dropped in price recently, and I think the PSP is a pretty versatile little handheld, it certainly has many games being released for it exclusively, but its sad how it became the beta-max of our generation especially how holywood has abandoned the format of the UMD.

[Lynk Former]

MGS4 made exclusive for PS3 from what I read at another site.

So was GTA4 for a time... and Virtual Fighter 5... and Devil May Cry 4...

[Damatee]

MGS4 made exclusive for PS3 from what I read at another site.

The question is how long for? already we have DMC4 and the New Final Fantasy (both series traditionally being PS titles)going over to 360, how long until Metal Gear Solid 4 goes over?... who knows.
but if it does it will be a nail in the coffin for the PS3

The thing about the PS3 sales compared to the others is that like Lynk said Wii had and still have shortages of units in Europe. and 360 is not far behind.
Sony however flooded the market with PS3s so naturally all those who wanted one at launch got one.

[Eva]

I honestly don't mind either way. It's just funny people that like Sony are glad about it becoming exclusive. How exactly it effect them by it going multi-console beyond me. I only got pissed once when Symphonia got ported to PS2 mainly because they added a bunch of junk, like Hi-Ougi, which I can never use on the original copy.

Were those titles you mention, Lynk, confirmed to be exclusive for PS3 before?