Sony launches PlayStation 3 in US amid frenzy

NEW YORK: Gamers lined up by the thousands early on Friday, aiming to be one of the first in the US buy Sony’ PlayStation 3, the multimedia and video game machine that is key to the future of the beleaguered electronics and media conglomerate.

Several of the weary shoppers had queued for more than two days outside Sony’s midtown Manhattan store and had improvised creature comforts from street junk. They turned discarded bags of shredded office paper into billowy chairs and a lamp shade sheltered one man from the rain.

The celebratory tone overshadowed what has so far been a tough year for Japan’s Sony, which has suffered through a recall of nearly 10m of its computer batteries, delays in the PS3 and a growing price war in the flat screen TV market.

Shrugging off his company’s woes, Sony CEO Howard Stringer made light of himself before the crowd of gamers, most of hom were dressed in sweatshirts, jeans and T-shirts. “I know I’m standing here in a stupid suit, but I’m actually happy,” he told the crowd.

Sony is sure to rake in millions of dollars in revenue on Friday alone, with some 400,000 units expected to be available one week after an initial launch in Japan. Depending on the size of its hard drive, each PlayStation will sell for $500 or $600. But Sony is expected to lose money initially on each sale of the PS3, which in addition to playing games, can surf the Web, download video and music and play movies with its Blu-ray high-definition disc drive.

The Blu-ray player and other components have run up production costs, dragging Sony’s game unit into a loss for the year to March.

Experts suggest each PS3 could last 10 years and could go a long way toward helping Sony meet its goal of keeping atop the $30bn gaming market, as well as make Blu-ray the standard for next-generation DVD. “Gaming is our primary focus, but the PS3 does so much that it can become the centre piece of a home entertainment system,” Kaz Hirai, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, said in an interview before the event.

Analysts say the PS3’s high price could deter non-gaming consumers and loosen Sony’s grip on the console market, in which it faces tough competition from Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo’s Wii — a view Sony executives say is wrong. Despite the dramatic launch, actual PS3s may prove to be a rare sight compared with rival machines.

Microsoft expects to have shipped 10m of its one-year-old Xbox 360s globally by December 31, while Nintendo is targeting 4m Wiis — that’s double the number of PS3s expected. US sales of the Wii start this weekend. Sony said that it hoped to sell 1m units of the PS3 in the US by the end of March.

Only about 500 PS3s were available for sale at the official event, officials said, leaving hundreds out in the rain, holding on to promises that more boxes would be made available when the store reopened at dawn. Long lines formed in front of electronics retailers in other cities in the US and Canada as well.

Mark MacDonald, who runs video game site gamevideos.com, suggested that that dearth of supply would encourage many of the first PS3 buyers to sell their units, perhaps on auction sites operated by eBay. “You can make a lot of money off of it,” he said.

Angel Paredes, who waited four days through several rain storms, was the first to buy a PS3 in the US and said he would not sell his, even though many there speculated they could earn up to $2,000. Kamau Romero, 24, an educator who was third in line, was not so certain. “It would take a lot to get it out of my hands, but it is possible.”