PlayStation 3 US Pre-Orders Begin
A major US retailer has thrown caution to the wind and is taking very limited pre-orders on the new console.
As hard as it is to wait until next March for the recently delayed PlayStation 3 to arrive in Europe, at least we don't have to deal with the bugaboos that come courtesy of the meagre launch allocation in the US. Until this week, no major retailer there had spoken of pre-orders for the console. Now GameStop is stepping up, but the news isn't all good.
GameStop will start taking pre-orders this week, according to a report at Next Generation, but each branch of the nation-spanning US game store chain will get just eight PlayStation 3s - and two of those will be made available to store staff. Those who pre-order will also need to put down a deposit of $100.
Sony said it would have 400,000 PlayStation 3s ready for the US launch on 17 November. Considering that GameStop has 4,400 branches in the US, according to Next Generation, the chain will be pre-allocating around a 10th of the opening shipment.
Expectations are high for the PlayStation 3 launch, though disappointment is guaranteed for many. Sony had originally promised it would have 2 million units available for release in the US, Japan and Europe starting in November, but a shortage of the blue laser diode that drives the Blu-ray drive meant that the company was forced to change its plans.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo
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