A week after it first appeared in Japan, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s PlayStation 3 console went on sale in the U.S.
and three other countries on Friday.
The console is likely to have immediately sold-out. Many stores stopped taking reservations weeks ago and the device is already
selling for more than $2,000 on the eBay Inc. online auction site. That's about three times its U.S. retail price of $599.
Demand for the console is high because Sony is short of the blue-laser diode that sits at the heart of the console's Blu-ray
Disc drive. Without the diode, the console can't be completed and problems starting up production of that part pushed Sony
to scale back the launch. There were supposed to be about 2 million PlayStation 3 consoles ready for the worldwide launch,
but that was cut to about 500,000 units.
It's not clear if Sony managed to even ship that many. The company said 100,000 of the consoles would be in Japanese stores
for last weekend's launch but data from a recognized local gaming magazine said the PlayStation 3 sold-out on launch day with
88,400 units.
There were reports of sporadic violence across the U.S. and Canada, where it also launched, as people waited in line to snap
up one of the consoles. The most serious reported incident happened in Putnam, Connecticut, where a man was shot while waiting
for the console to go on sale. The man apparently confronted two armed men who were trying to rob those in line, according
to news reports.
Dozens of police were called to Boston's Copley Place Mall after security guards lost control of a crowd of about 400 people
on Friday, The Boston Globe reported in its online edition, and a 19-year-old man was injured after running into a pole while
racing others to get a place in a queue outside a Wal-Mart store in Wisconsin, said the Associated Press. In Ottawa, Canada,
one man was arrested for being intoxicated after a fight broke out at 2 a.m. Friday among people waiting for a game store
to open, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
The console also went on sale in Hong Kong and Taiwan on Friday. It will hit Europe and Australia in March 2007, according
to Sony's current plans.
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