Sony introduced its PlayStation 3 gaming console in Japan this weekend—the North American roll-out is November 17, in case you hadn’t heard—and video game publisher Enterbrain said today that Sony sold 88,400 PS3 systems in its first two days of availability, leaving most retailers without any stock of Sony’s latest gaming console.
Thousands of gaming fans waited in line for hours at Tokyo electronics stores to be among the first to play and buy the system. According to Enterbrain, Namco Bandai’s Ridge Racer 7 and Mobile Suit Gundam: Target in Sight were the top-selling games for the PS3, totalling roughly 30,000 units each. Following a reduction in its introductory price in Japan, the basic PlayStation 3 unit sells for ¥49,980, while the deluxe version with a 60 GB hard disk sells for ¥60,000. In the U.S., basic PlayStation 3 consoles will sell for $499, with the 60 GB editions selling for $599.
Sony had scaled back its Japanese launch of the PlayStation 3 to a scant 100,000 units, due to production shortfalls caused by shortages of the blue lazer diode used in the console’s integrated Blu-ray DVD drive.
In the meantime, PlayStation 3 systems are already hitting online auctions as well as grey market Japanese retailers, at prices up to four times higher than the systems’ retail prices. As soon as PlayStation 3 systems went on sale, media reports began to circulate about homeless people being hired to wait in line on behalf of others. Brian Ashcraft, an editor for the Kotaku gaming site Kotaku, told the BBC: "I witnessed homeless people waiting in line as well as a high number of Chinese customers." Similar reports from elsewhere on Tokyo and Osaka were common.
