Britain PS3 launch a success and the Australia launch is mild?

[HDTV1080P]

Here is a link to an Australia article that mentions that the launch of the PS3 is mild compared to the US. Looks like in Britain the PS3 might be more in demand since the author mentions two major stores in London cancelled their launch events because police feared people would be mugged.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/games/playtime-for-midnights-children/2007/03/23/1174153291466.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

[baccusboy]

The writer doesn't use someone getting shot as a way to gauge demand.

I think this pretty much sums it up (first paragraph):

"The launch of Sony's PlayStation 3 games console got off to a feeble start last night with officials, media and security outnumbering customers for most of the evening..."

And a few more low-lights:

"... But most stores were virtually deserted, despite the 20,000 pre-orders Sony said it had received.

...At midnight, about 40 PS3 buyers had arrived to collect their consoles, causing distress for the army of camera crews who turned up expecting to capture launch mayhem....

Desperate producers unashamedly asked the crowd to fake excitement when the cameras were rolling, while a team from 2Day FM let out bogus cheers to convince their radio listeners that a launch extravaganza was underway."


Am still waiting for normal prices on them here in Korea (non-Japan model).

[HDTV1080P]

Here are some other links regarding the Europe launch. It is nice of Sony to make sure people arrived home safely by giving people who were waiting in line a free taxi ride home and a free 46 inch HDTV.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6474045.stm

PS3 launch games put to the test
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6476161.stm

Sony rewards patient gamers

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6482789.stm


Microsoft crashes Sony PS3 launch

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6485483.stm

[Blue]

Well I was there! It's a shame that news paper wasn't! The Age is a Victorian Newspaper, but they were reporting on a New South Wales event only about a 10 hour drive away in a different state. I was talking to people that were actually in that line at Sydney Myer and they said they gave up counting after 250 people and estimated about twice that. Where I was there were 3 of us purchasing - I went for a smaller more out of the road place that was also fairly close to home. I was talking to the manager and commented on the "Large turnout" he said it's no different to the Wii or XBOX 360. He hastened to add that he wanted much more stock than he was given and he expected to be taking back-orders before the normal closing time Friday. I went to a few places looking for a steering wheel Friday night, some had sold out. They all said Sony was determined not to make the same mistake as the others and hoped to have more stock than the other companies. In a press statement from Sony they said they had over $20,000,000 worth of pre orders (you could only pre order the console) before the launch, that is over 20,000 units, not bad for a population of 20 million. The Blu-ray stands (with all 16 or so titles) were being systematically stripped.

[HDTV1080P]

Thanks for the info BLUE,

This is just one article on the Australia launch. Perhaps we will see more positive news regarding the Australia launch.

[WriteSimply]

20K units for launch for a 20M population (yes, Oz is big but not the population). So that's 1% for the first week. Good thing, I think.

EDIT: It's not 1%. It is 0.1%. My bad!

The problem is with most media around the world is that mayhem and chaos make the news. Orderly purchase and people getting home safely do not. Strange that good news most often comes from abies or animals.

I for one am glad that nobody got shot or killed due to a PS3 launch elsewhere in the world.


fuad

[HD-Greek]

Originally Posted by Blue

Well I was there! It's a shame that news paper wasn't! The Age is a Victorian Newspaper, but they were reporting on a New South Wales event only about a 10 hour drive away in a different state. I was talking to people that were actually in that line at Sydney Myer and they said they gave up counting after 250 people and estimated about twice that. Where I was there were 3 of us purchasing - I went for a smaller more out of the road place that was also fairly close to home. I was talking to the manager and commented on the "Large turnout" he said it's no different to the Wii or XBOX 360. He hastened to add that he wanted much more stock than he was given and he expected to be taking back-orders before the normal closing time Friday. I went to a few places looking for a steering wheel Friday night, some had sold out. They all said Sony was determined not to make the same mistake as the others and hoped to have more stock than the other companies. In a press statement from Sony they said they had over $20,000,000 worth of pre orders (you could only pre order the console) before the launch, that is over 20,000 units, not bad for a population of 20 million. The Blu-ray stands (with all 16 or so titles) were being systematically stripped.

In Greece we are 11.500.000 and we had only 3.000-5.000 units.........(all are gone of course)

[baccusboy]

The problem with Australia was the hiked price.

[HD-Greek]

Originally Posted by baccusboy

The problem with Australia was the hiked price.

What do you mean by hiked price?..........1000Aus dollars is 605E.......In Greece PS3 costs 659E,in UK 425 pounds=637.5E,in Ireland 629E............the price is normal..............

[WriteSimply]

The cheapest modified PS2 price in Oz is AU$330, according to one website. That's about RM917. I can get a PS2 at RM700. The price difference is about US$57.

I can get a PS3 for about RM1800. AU$1000 is about RM2800. The price difference is about US$289.

Basically it's all very relative. It is unfortunate that the PS3 price for the PAL region is different from the rest so far.


fuad

[MrBogey]

On the Folding@Home it's nice to see all the dots in Europe now.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by MrBogey

On the Folding@Home it's nice to see all the dots in Europe now.

That is one impressive background screen on that app.

The sole dots sitting in isolation are particularly intriguing. Raise your hand if you're one of them.

Halifax, Nova Scotia, and St. John's, Newfoundland are rather solitary. But there are a few across Asia that are incredibly isolated.

For density:

- Britain is an Xmas tree.

- I see San Diego, LA, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver up the west coast of NA. Chicago, Detroit, Toronto and a near solid mass of dots from Boston down to Washington DC for the rest.

- Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka are very dense in Japan.

Gary

[MrBogey]

I see dots in Israel and even one in what appers to be Zimbabwe. I guess even Robert Mugabe likes the PS3!

Someone in the Maldives apparently has a PS3 also.

[Damon Payne]

We should have a BluRay forum folding team.

[BIGSAPOTEER]

Originally Posted by MrBogey

I see dots in Israel and even one in what appers to be Zimbabwe. I guess even Robert Mugabe likes the PS3!

Someone in the Maldives apparently has a PS3 also.

Did you see the dot in the north pole? I guess Santa Clause has a PS3.

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by BIGSAPOTEER

Did you see the dot in the north pole? I guess Santa Clause has a PS3.

If NASA one day finds life on another planet do you think Sony will be able to sale PS3 machines to other worlds? Would make a great episode of Stargate. The Stargate team could sale Sony PS3 machines to other plants using the Stargate and get a head start over Mircosoft and Nintendo.

[shido]

I just don't understand how people can say that the launch wasn't a success just because there weren't huge crowds lined up on launch day. People preorder their systems precisely because they don't want to have to deal with that kind of mayhem. So that they can pick up their system at their own leisure. It was pandemonium here in the states because there was a limited amount of preorders given out - so if you really wanted one, you had no choice but to camp out.

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by Damon Payne

We should have a BluRay forum folding team.

There already is. The team number is 56895


fuad

[whippersnapper]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

There already is. The team number is 56895


fuad

I just joined 56895. I had 4 work units at the time I joined (previously had not joined a unit) and those apparently didn't transfer (at least not immediately). Do you think we should have a thread about this and bump it up periodically to inform new members and/or lurkers?