Sony's recent PlayStation 3 announcement was a welcome and indeed much needed boost to capture headlines and build momentum for the Japanese giant, but once the dust had settled and the cold hard light of day intervened, most industry watchers suspected that with a global November launch planned, Europe might be once again on the short end of the stick in the PS3 global allocation game.
But not according to Sony Europe boss David Reeves, who told respected trade mag MCV that "The US, Japan and Europe will be equally served, It's my job to make sure Europe gets equal billing. I can't specify the numbers but we'll work hard to ensure that it's equal." Good news for PS3 lovers then? Well maybe, especially when Reeves added, "Europe is on track and I think the third party publishers should recognize that. But for us, we'll have four to six [first party] titles at launch."
However while Europe will get an equal share for a change, it looks like we could still be searching for that elusive PS3 when we open Santa's sack on Christmas morning. SCEE UK boss Ray Maguire almost confirmed as much when he said that the November launch is almost guaranteed to lead to hardware shortages.
"Of course the launch is important but we are looking at a long term business plan. It is impractical to believe you can fulfil every single order. But we are going to do the best job we can to deliver what we hope will be a world beating console."
Looks like Sony will run into exactly the same problems as Microsoft did last Christmas, but at least all major territories will be equally disappointed - if that's any consolation.
i hope those people who sell on ebay have got unlimited funds cause to buy a couple of ps3 is gonna cost a couple of body parts, and its if they can get them aswell.
Flamin' 'eck. I explained this to idiots during the xbox 360 shortages and now I'm explaining it again.
Sony are trying to get their machine out before the lucrative christmas market so that they can sell the games and accessories along with it. Bear in mind Sony will be making a loss on each machine so it's made up through these extra purchases. To make more machines available at launch, it will need to be postponed until next year and even then there will still be shortages. And exactly how many machines do you expect to be produced per month? Only so many can be made at a time so a shortage isn't intended.
What I don't get is why everyone wants a new console at launch? What are you gonna play on it? Updated sequels and rushed ports is the answer. You're better waiting for a number of better games to arrive and more machines to be available.
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I'm so sick minded.
