Sony To Customer: You're Screwed

Sony finally announced the number of Playstation 3 units that are going to be ready for sale on the much anticipated release date of November 17th. And, the final numbers are...

• 400,000 units for America
  

• 100,000 units for Japan
  

• 0 units for Europe

...WUHHHH?! Did someone forget to tack on an extra '0' to each of those figures (well, then again, I don't think Europe would be any happier with "00" units shipping)? To put this in perspective, when Playstation 2 was released five years ago, America received 500,000 units and Japan received 1,000,000 units! OUCH for Japan (and, of course, double-OUCH for Europe).

To make matters worse, on the night of October 9th Sony announced to the public that EB Games and Gamestop would be taking pre-orders for the Playstation 3...on the morning of October 10th! When I arrived at my local EB around noon on the 10th, it was already too late. The cashier told me how they had finished taking pre-orders in a matter of minutes. "Wow", I thought, "they must have worked really fast to take hundreds of pre-orders in only minutes!" Well, turns out it wasn't hundreds of units, it was ones of units...as in a total of 8 units. Yep, each store is getting about eight PS3 units.

It is now my mission to find some way to get my hands on a release-date Playstation 3 unit. Is it because I just can't wait to experience the gaming excellence of the PS3? Is it because I am desperate to the marvel at the technological advancements of the Blu-ray DVD player? Is it because I've anticipated the PS3 release for months, even years!? NO, of course not! It's because they'll be selling on eBay for THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS, and I want a piece of the action!

Ahhh, nothing like a little greed and market exploitation to make you feel like an American.