Daily Mail

Games fans gear up for PlayStation Portable launch
08:46am 31st August 2005




Hoards of dedicated video games fans are today expected to queue up for Sony's new console ahead of its midnight launch.

Retailers are braced for the rush, with some stores expected to quickly sell out of the PlayStation Portable (PSP).

Some have already sold all of their pre-ordered allocations of the hand-held consoles.

Sony predicts its will be the biggest consumer electronics launch the UK has ever seen.

It expects to sell around a million of the machines in the run up to Christmas, with shops being regularly re-stocked to meet demand.

The official launch takes place at midnight tonight at HMV's flagship store on Oxford Street, where 500 of the consoles have been set aside for people who queue.

Games enthusiasts are expected to head straight to the store after work, HMV said.

Video games retailer GAME will open 250 of its stores at midnight tonight, with 1,500 staff on hand to cope with anticipated demand.

Dixons will also open 20 stores at midnight tonight. The electronics retailer stopped taking pre-orders last week due to the scale of demand.

It has set aside 4,000 consoles to be sell in-store.

The PSP will be on sale at around 133 Tesco outlets most of which are open round the clock, the retailer said.

The PlayStation Portable plays high quality video games and movies, and can store digital music, photos and video images.

It has a 4.3 inch pixel high-resolution colour screen and inbuilt speakers.

'Unprecedented demand'

Users can connect to the Internet and play online via a wireless network.

Sony UK publicity manager Jonathan Fargher said: "We expect demand for the PSP to be unprecedented. People will be starting to queue from early afternoon onwards I should imagine so they can guarantee themselves a machine."

HMV's head of press Gennaro Castaldo said the store had received a high number of pre-orders for the PSP.

He said: "We have managed to hold onto a few copies for each store so we should have enough on the first day or two to cater for demand.

"Going into the weekend stores may start to run out until the next delivery which is next week."

The PlayStation 2 console had already sold out due to the high volume of pre-orders when it launched in the UK in November 2000.

Sony's PlayStation Portable launches in the UK and Europe on September 1 priced at £179.99.


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I'm really looking forward to its release, shame I've had it since February. I got a Japanese Import, the whole Beginners Pack and a game for the same price.

Shows you what the British and European markets are charging for these nowadays.

However there is a problem with the system, Sony says the system is Multi-Regional when it comes to games. However due to European Tax Laws, Sony could be forced to make the European Games regional, therefore killing off half its potential.

PSP when it was launched here in the US stores ran out almost immediately in the first two weeks. However sales have slowed down after the inital release.

The PSP is popular, but not quite the same level as the ol' Walkman.

BTW: How much in $ is 180 pounds?

The PSP was just released down here last thursday and there were over 25,000 cosole pre-ordered, every store had a countdown and advertising was everywhere for it, the poor DS is not going to fair too well with this console, until it gets soem more bloody games out!

The first PSPs just reached NZ. It'll be interesting to see how microsoft deals with this. If they can...

The DS will do fine, it is still outselling the PSP about 2.5:1 in the US and Japan. In both the countries the PSP sold like crazy in the first month or so, but then sales dropped off sharply. Dawn of Sorrow is coming out on Oct. 4 here in the US, but I don't know the aussie release date.



Microsoft isn't going into the handheld market, and may even make some DS games to compete with Sony. Microsoft hopes that Sony and Nintendo will spend a lot of time and money on the handhelds, so that it can come out with the 360 and storm the console market.

^Its good to hear that teh DS is still doing so well in the US but down here Nintendo sales are right down the bottom, stores only have tiny sections devoted to Gamecube games, some just dont bother. They have been blown out of the market down here.
And even though the DS was released first out here its sales haven`t exactly been spectacular, there are just no games out yet, although late this month Nintendogs and Advance wars are being released.
A lot of people down here have just plain contempt for nintendo now, there is just no advertising and we always have to wait ages for their games to us. Nintendo really dont care much about the Aussie market which is understandabke since its so small, but a bit more effort could be put into it. There are still a few of us hardcore Nintendo fans down here who love the DS, GBA and Gamecube!