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Playstation 3, despite, shall we say, a technical fault that we should probably stand by on in the US and Europe, launched this weekend in Japan with a few scenes that may have shocked some. Reports of all 100,000 available consoles being sold on the first day have been made, though Reuters have stated a more reasonable figure of around 88,000 consoles sold, and reports of massive queues show that despite the price woes, the low availability, and the slim choice of games at the start, Sony still hasn't succeeded in losing all 100 million of its customers who bought the PS1 and PS2 despite it's best apparent efforts to do so.

The sales on the first two days have almost beaten XBox360's Japanese campaign from December 2005 to April 2006 when they sold 105,000 units in the period from December 10th to April 2nd, and around 60,000 of those in the first two days, placing Sony marginally ahead comparatively. Assuming that Sony manages to shift approximately another 50,000 units in Japan by March, they will at least be on a par with the rival that many people expect them to have to duke it out with as Wii seems set to capture the marketplace, and XBox360's year head start is almost null and void in Japan.

However, amid a launch that was better than some people seemed to anticipate, there were further setbacks, but this time, in the form of con artists (Of the swindling variety, not the sort who post fanart in Site Submissions). Reports that businessmen were paying homeless persons and poor Chinese immigrants to stand in line and purchase a console for resale at a vastly inflated price on internet auction sites have appeared in more than one major media source and a quick scan of even ebay.com will find PS3's going at no less than $1000 US and even up to $1500.

Despite the many problems, Sony can perhaps take heart from the fact there is still huge interest in upcoming games such as Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and of course, Final Fantasy XIII, as well as the fact that as current market leader it appears nothing short of exploding consoles would cause them a devastating loss, and with such huge prices seemingly being paid for by those with perhaps larger reserves of funds than common sense, even the hefty price tags on the console are not discouraging some people with disposable income. On the other hand, the apathy in the west seems to be growing as more and more people are discouraged by the flaws and price, and perhaps a few maybe even concerned by the organised chaos of the Japanese debut, though it remains to be seen what will occur this Friday in the United States. Even the latest setback should really be discounted as for all that is known the situation may not be as bad in the US... Or may possibly be worse to remain realistic.

The traditional Playstation strong point of backwards compatibility seems to have hit a significant snag, but it remains to be seen what effect this will have long term should the problems be repaired. It should be noted even PS2 had a small selection of games unplayable, and XBox360's backwards compatibility was reliant on emulation in many cases, a scenario apparently to be repeated with PS3 albeit on a smaller comparative scale.

All eyes now rest on the US as PS3 launches with 400,000 consoles said to be available in the States this Friday, presumably to further lines and near-riots, only to be followed on the Sunday by Wii launching, unusually in it's global debut outside it's homeland . It's clear that Nintendo, with a reported $200 million advertising war chest and the charismatic/hyperactive press conferences of Nintendo of America President and Chief Operating Officer Reggie Fils-Aime spearheading the attempt to win the hearts and minds of gamers young and old, have all but sewn up at least the propaganda war in the US. This weekend will be when the first blood will truly be drawn in this latest console war, and despite all we have seen so far, nothing can be predicted with any degree of accuracy, and anything could happen.

Wii will apparently gain a European foothold far in advance of PS3, launching on December the 8th in the EU (including the UK and RoI) compared to the delay to March of Europe's PS3 launch. With a rushed launch on the whole by Playstation, perhaps this is a good thing long term for European gamers as teething troubles will be rectified... and perhaps even the library of games will be greatly expanded.

Sources: BBC Launch Article, a Look at the console itself, still looking at the console, and then a look at the teething troubles, and finally the reports of foul play at the launch.

CNN: On the Launch, on the the technical troubles and the reduced sales figures.

Sony Press Release on US launch.

This post has been edited by Del S on 14th November 2006 20:23

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"Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato."
-George Santayana

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..."
-Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony.

Nice summary of the events. I think there are a couple things to look at still:

The PS3, while sold out of it's initial offering of around 100k units, has performed terribly in comparison to its predecessor. CNN reported that 900k PS2's were sold through conventional means in the Japanese launch (and additional 500k available through the 2000 fiscal year). This was heavily boosted by the region-free DVD 'flaw' in the first generation, but highlights the difference in industrial capacity. We're talking a drop of 89% in volume... a disaster of an iteration.

Conversely though, the North American launch of the PS3 in raw numbers is pretty close to the PS2's, 400k to 500k respectively. The list of 13 games available on launch date is rather unmotivating though. Publishers have been delaying their games and taking the additional time to add polish since Sony's ability to deliver is in question.

The launch list is as follows:

• Call of Duty 3
  
• Genji 2: Days of the Blade
• Madden NFL 2007
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance
• Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire
• NBA '07
• NBA 2k7
• NHL 2k7
• Resistance: Fall of Man
• Ridge Racer 7
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
• Tony Hawk's Project 8
• Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom

There's a notable abscene of truly major titles, though it seems EA is certainly in fine form and the sports franchises available with their stats updates. I don't think it's much of a leap to state: what a let-down here. But it's far too soon for things to be concluded... and even Sega managed to suffer through 2 major hardware gaffs before finally collapsing with its third.

References:
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computin....idg/index.html
http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2006/11/1...ancellation.htm

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Visions of Peace - Four Generals, One Empire, and the Returners caught in the middle.

Don't forget that both generations of Xbox have always had a rather weak foothold in Japan, largely due to its Western origins.

As I understand it, the PS3 uses software emulation entirely to provide backward-compatibility, much like the Xbox360, whereas the PS2 could easily emulate the PS1 in hardware due to having the same CPU that powered the entire PS1 unit onboard as an input processor. The main difference seems to be that Sony commendably set a goal of making all PS2 and PS1 games work on the new system, whereas Microsoft, for whatever reason, decided otherwise. So on the one hand, Microsoft delivered what it said it would, whereas Sony have fallen short of their promise (and announced it regrettably late in the day); on the other hand, they were aiming for a loftier goal in the first place.