Tuesday, March 27, 2007

PLAYSTATION BREAKS RECORD RELEASE SALES IN THE UK

As the third and last of the new consoles is released in Europe, there was a lot of internet chatter claiming that the Playstation 3 was not received well in Europe. Microsoft played pranks outside PS3 launch sites, while xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii fans insisted that nobody was interested. But the figures are in. According to official figures released from Chart Track, off the 1 Million systems shipped to the EU, 600,000 units have been sold.

Keeping the comparisons within the UK, the Xbox 360 sold 71,000 upon release, while the Wii sold 105,000. Both companies had limited availability of the console upon release, and every shipment thereafter were snapped up instantly. By contrast, Sonys approach is that they didn't want to have the shortage issue as with the US release. Because of these two facts, it's difficult to draw any real conclusions as to the overall pace of how the PS3 will stack up against the other two systems. It is also far too early to look at figures other than the ones provided at release. But because of it's availabile stock, the PS3 has smashed the UK records for a consoles release.

Time will tell how things turn out. If PS3's keep flying off the shelves at this rate it will push the Blu Ray format even further into the numero uno spot and in the long run may end up pushing HD-DVD out. The Nintendo Wii is dominating in sales at the moment, but whether this is due to the cute/novelty/fad factor, remains to be seen. It's scarce availability even months after it's release indicate that it may not be going the route of the Gamecube, which quickly ended up in the bargain bin for $99 after the excitement of a new Mario and Zelda game had worn off.

Xbox 360 has some very exciting titles coming out and has built up full momentum for 2007. With Halo 3 looming, both Nintendo and Sony may be faced with a huge spike in 360 sales towards the end of this year. But just so that readers don't go jumping on these figures to claim victory, as they've been doing, lets remain objective. Hopefully, the Wii's lack of high defintion and novely factor don't wear off and they are able to keep their audience involved with innovative gameplay. Sony, on the other hand, have their work cut out for them to make up for the delays. The cost of game development is pushing exclusitivity out the window so it's slowly forcing the 3 companies to really "bring it". But based on the latest press releases such as "Home," "Folding @ Home" and now the UK sales figures, it seems that they are on the ball.

No doubt this article will spike a xbox vs PS3 vs Wii debate amongst the kids, as the trend is to read between the lines to make any sentence mean what they want it too. But here, we don't really care who wins. We just want to enjoy ALL the consoles and PC games, and other aspects they each have to offer. More importantly, we want to enjoy the journey and developments are they are revealed, and are only really concerned with the final outcome from an investment standpoint.

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