The Sony Playstation 3 was finally launched in the UK last Friday. I'd hardly have noticed...
News reports I noticed:
Freebies were given away at launch, in one shop in London (the huge Virgin Megastore on Oxford St) - that was a gift of a Sony 46" HD television to the first 100 customers. the cost of which totals £250000. Talk about selling consoles at a loss! It's silly. Now, if they'd put that money towards, say, lowering the price of the machine around the country, I'd be much more satisfied with that. But that's not going to happen; SCEE are all about price-fixing; that's why us Europeans are banned from importing our PS3s and PSPs from most online retailers around the world!
Microsoft also had a publicity stunt at the same event at the London opening; handing out chairs with a website address on it. The website goes to a bit of flash that says "Xbox welcomes PS3 to the next generation. Sony... you're late! Let the games begin". And that's it. A tad juvenile, and I'm sure it'll polarise the Sony fanboys against Microsoft a little more.
It's all silly, really.
PS3s were selling on ebay 3 days after launch at £100 *less* than in shops. The whole reselling-for-profit thing that happened in Japan and the US *sooooo* hasn't happened here!
Other links:
PS2/PS1 backwards compatibility list. There's a lot less compatibility in the European PS3 than in the Japanese/American versions of the console. Something to do with the PS2-emulation chips being in short supply, and relying on emulation instead. I'd like to see someone (unofficially?) take a PS3 and fully use its power as a proper PS2 emulator (and other consoles of that generation). It's a very powerful machine; it would be good to see it used for something useful...
