UK PS3 stock shortage?

[Scott McFly]

Europe pretty much shat all over yet again. We're already waiting many extra months and paying well over the odds for this thing, but now there's only "limited" backwards compatibility. And yet people will still buy it and pay even more over the odds for it on ebay to get their hands on one.

[Momo]

Eh, this isn't really big news for me. As long as it plays my Final Fantasy Games and Metal Gear Solid, I'll be happy.

Although it looks as though I may have to keep the PS2 if it doesn't.

[Captain Kirk]

Is there not something that you will be able to download a firmware to play the PS2 games soon anyway?

[darkrayne]

Well now we see the meaning of "Limited Backwards Compatability"...

European PS3 Won't Carry Chip for PS2

Feb 28, 2:28 AM (ET)

By YURI KAGEYAMA

TOKYO (AP) - The PlayStation 3 going on sale in Europe next month will play only some of the games for its predecessor video game machine - a move designed to cut costs and speed up production.

Backward compatibility with PlayStation 2 has been billed as a major feature for the PlayStation 3 that went on sale late last year in the U.S. and Japan.

But packing the machine with two expensive computer chips to play both PS2 and upgrade PS3 games has been racking up costs for the money-losing PS3, a big reason behind Sony Corp. (SNE)'s flagging earnings lately.

The European PlayStation 3, set to go on sale March 23, won't carry the chip for PlayStation 2 and will instead use special software to play PS2 games, saving costs and making mass production easier by reducing parts, Sony Computer Entertainment spokesman Daisuke Nakata said Wednesday, while refusing to say how much the move will save.

"The method used for playing PS2 games is going to be different," he said. "We also want to concentrate on developing PS3 games."

It's still undecided whether PS3 machines for Japan, U.S. and elsewhere will also be sold without the PS2 chip, but the option is being considered, Nakata said.

The U.S. and Japanese version PS3 machines had also failed to deliver full compatibility with PS2 games.

Almost as soon as PS3 went on sale in Japan and the U.S., Sony acknowledged it wasn't properly playing thousands of PS2 games, with some scenes freezing, the music not playing, or the game not working at all.

Sony has been offering downloads to fix the problem, but not all the problems have been fixed, according to Sony Computer Entertainment.

Downloads for the European PS3 will also be available for playing more PS2 games, but the number of PS2 games the machine will be able to play is still undecided as work is still ongoing to make as many games as possible playable, said Nakata.

The decision to forego the PS2 chip for the European model, announced Friday in Europe, is yet another blow to the PS3, plagued by production delays. The European launch was postponed until March from the initially promised Christmas.

The PS3 has also suffered a bit of an image problem against the spectacular hit of rival Wii home console from Nintendo Co., maker of the GameBoy Advance and Nintendo DS handheld machines, as well as Pokemon and Super Mario games.

Skeptics have noted Wii is out of stock while PS3 can be found on shelves. One drawback to PS3 is that at $499 and $599, it costs about twice as much as the Wii.

Although backward compatibility with PS2 would seem a small issue for its cutting-edge successor, there still aren't that many PS3 games on sale. A great deal of time is required to develop PS3 games, and attractive games are being promised for later this year.

Still, what is being perceived as PS3 problems is hurting Sony at a time when it is trying to achieve a turnaround, shedding unprofitable divisions and selling assets.

Sony's October-December profit slipped 5 percent to 160 billion yen ($1.3 billion), largely because of PS3 startup costs. The company has fallen behind rivals in recent years in key gadgets such as flat-panel TVs and portable music players, but it has been gradually boosting profits in its electronics operations.

Sony has sold 1.8 million PS3, while Nintendo sold 3.2 million Wii machines worldwide by the end of last year.

Sony shares, which have been gradually recovering in the last three months, plunged 6 percent to 6,130 yen ($51.90) in Tokyo midday amid a broad market retreat.

Edited February 28, 2007 by darkrayne

[stokeriño]

So it'll save costs, but will the retail price be affected? Somehow, I think not.

As far as I can tell the basic gist is "the chip that was supposed to offer better compatibility doesn't work very well, so we're going to use this other method that's not supposed to work as well in the first place, thereby meaning it 'fails' less often".

[stokeriño]

It really was just a case of "pick a PS3 thread, any PS3 thread" to post this, but this one had 'UK' in the title as well, so it seemed mildly more appropriate.

Sony rewards patient gamers

By Darren Waters

Technology editor, BBC News website

Sony's PlayStation 3 console has gone on sale around Europe at a series of midnight shop openings. In the UK, the patient gamers who had waited up to 36 hours at one particular store in London got much more than they bargained for.

As Thursday crossed into Friday, 17-year-old Ritatsu Thomas and 100 other PlayStation fans crammed into the Virgin Megastore on Oxford Street were jubilant.

And not just because they were the first gamers in the UK to get their hands on Sony's long-awaited games console.

Nor was it due to the fact they had been fuelled on free coffee and Coke for the last 24 hours.

They had just been told they had been rewarded for their patience and loyalty with a free £2,500 high-definition TV on which to play their shiny new console.

At first the crowd did not respond to the giveaway. Their senses dulled by the long wait, and the fact most of them had been made to stand in a darkened corner of the shop for about two hours, meant it took a few seconds before they realised they were each walking away with a free television.

"It's unbelievable. It's like a dream come true," said 28-year-old Tim Taylor, from east London.

"How much is this costing Sony?" he asked.

The answer was about £250,000 and that did not include the free taxi ride home each and every person was receiving.

It was a great publicity stunt by Sony and exceedingly generous for a firm reported to be losing up to $300 on every PlayStation 3 sold.

Sony said they wanted to thank their customers and in many ways European PlayStation fans deserved that thanks.

All too often they have been left at the end of the queue when waiting for Sony products. But the PlayStation had finally arrived and, on cue, the fans were excited.

"I am going to have to shuffle my furniture. I might have to get rid of my sofa to fit the television in," said Mr Taylor.

An hour before the launch Ritatsu Thomas, standing at the head of the queue, had said he was looking forward to going home and sleeping.

But soon after learning he was going home with a PS3 and a television he had lost his tiredness.

"I can't wait to go home and start playing," he said.

He had only queued after missing out on a Nintendo Wii last year on launch day and looked shell-shocked at the level of attention.

Gamers hugged themselves and each other as the news filtered through to their sleep-deprived brains that they were getting a television. Soon many were on the phones to friends and family.

Miles Frost, from Chelsea, in west London, rang his brother, who had decided at the last minute not to queue.

"We are all getting a free HD TV," he said down the phone. "On mum's life, I swear it's true."

"I'm ecstatic. Sony we love you."

Before the announcement the launch had been in danger of being a little flat.

The queue of gamers seemed small compared to previous launches of consoles and there appeared to be more press, guests and staff than consumers.

Ray Maguire, head of PlayStation in the UK, said he was "delighted" with the response.

"We have got plenty of stock in shops, so people know they don't have to rush out to secure a console," he said.

Sony are also hoping that the plentiful supply of consoles on launch day and beyond will help stop people selling on their machines online at inflated prices.

Oxford Street has seen its fair share of console launches in the last five years and typically they follow a pre-ordained pattern - fans queue up in the cold, laser lights and spotlights criss-cross the sky, a highly-paid celebrity starts the sales and a few hundred gamers troop onto the shop floor.

But this time there was no celebrity-injected glamour or son et lumiere.

Sony said it wanted it this way. "It's all about the consumers," a spokesman told me.

After delays, stock shortages and reports of stabbings and shootings at the US launch of PS3, everyone seemed delighted that the console was finally on sale.

Sony still needs to convince the mass market that the PS3 is the console of choice.

And it cannot give away a free HDTV as an incentive to everyone who buys the console.

But for the London gamers, at least, PlayStation 3 was the only console they would be playing for quite some time.

See now, a free HDTV is more than worth the price of a PS3 (even if you just threw away the console!). Lucky gits.

[Scott McFly]

PR stunt ahoy!

What good does that do? I'm sure people would rather Sony lowered the price of the damn console instead of giving out free £2,500 TVs to people who live in London so are clearly already rich enough.

[stokeriño]

people who live in London so are clearly already rich enough.

Clearly there is a significant section of the London population of which you are not aware.

[Buford Ripley]

It's anti-PS3 propaganda but I thought it was funny.

People buying PS3s and trying to flog them on ebay.

people who live in London so are clearly already rich enough.

Clearly there is a significant section of the London population of which you are not aware.

Edited March 23, 2007 by Is It Kulex?

[King Ellis]

Take your last look at TheCrippler folks, soon the baliffs will be coming to take his PC and whatever other nicities he has to pay off his PS3 pre-order debt!

[Kobra]

I walked into Currys, no pre order at 1pm this afternoon and was first to walk out the shop with a shiny new PS3

[Buford Ripley]

I walked into Currys, no pre order at 1pm this afternoon and was first to walk out the shop with a shiny new PS3

[destroyed]

Picked up my PS3 today I got mine with Resistance and Motorstorm. Still trying to get used to the sixaxis motion thing on Motorstorm. I am actually really suprised at how advance the ps3 is, and you can do so much on it. I downloaded Gran Turismo HD for free on PS Store! Though it's a pretty average game, and no races just time trials. Ferrari's though!

[Kaney]

I walked into Currys, no pre order at 1pm this afternoon and was first to walk out the shop with a shiny new PS3

I was planning on doing the same, but I couldn't be bothered walking all the way to Braehead before work.

Resistance is pretty much a must-have, right? I mean, I think it's the only really next-gen game thats out yet, no?

[NobBe Nobbs]

I wonder if Sony are actually going to learn anything from this (vis-a-vis jerking European gamers around leads to a nice lack of demand for their product). I'd guess no, but I could be wrong.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

We opened Northfield Gamestation today and sold...FOUR Playstation 3s. However Argos and Woolworths (who have been in Northfield far longer and had pre-orders etc) sold out, so we'll be getting their dregs from tomorrow. It's a beautiful bit of kit, really slick and nice.

We sold about 20 Wii, although 6 to one guy and 5 to these three scumbags who were buying them to sell on but the MD of Gamestation (who was in store for the opening) realised too late but went and slagged them off which was amusing. He then bought us two crates of Stella and will be putting £500 behind the bar for the seven of us for a night out in the next couple of weeks. Class act.

People were spasming because they'd been on lists for Wii for like 6 months or something stupid and the availability has been shockingly bad. We're starting to get preowned consoles back now. I'm waiting for 2 PS3s to come back so I can buy one for second hand price with 30% preowned staff discount on top of that!

Saturday tomorrow though so I'm guessing we'll sell out of Wiis (about 15 more) and get rid of another 10 PS3s.

If anyone's around we're flogging off preowned PS2s with a game for £44.99 or something and have three more core 360s with Prey for £139.99.

[Kaney]

You could buy a couple for us on the cheap, yeah Hamster?

[Iain76er]

I walked into Currys, no pre order at 1pm this afternoon and was first to walk out the shop with a shiny new PS3

I was planning on doing the same, but I couldn't be bothered walking all the way to Braehead before work.

Resistance is pretty much a must-have, right? I mean, I think it's the only really next-gen game thats out yet, no?

Edited March 23, 2007 by Iain76er

[Kaney]

Eh, beat-em ups always have a really limited lifespan for me. Same for driving games. I wasn't personally interested in Resistance much, but buying a PS3 and only playing Oblivion or whatever just seems really silly >_>

[Buford Ripley]

For those getting Virtua Fighter 5; prepare to sit back for a while and admire just how goddamn beautiful the game is.