PlayStation 3 enjoys record pre-orders

Advance orders for Sony's highly anticipated PlayStation 3 console have broken all records, with high street stalwart Woolworths revealing it has been taking one order every 20 seconds during the past week

Gerry Berkley, Woolworths' head of games, said, "It's the hottest gaming system since the PS2 launched in 2000 - demand will outstrip supply."

[Juevani]

I just cant wait, come nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooow

[MikeMichaels]

So come march there will already be 3 million+ PS3 worldwide!!??!!

...and then the games really start rolling.

Wow, good job Sony.

PS: Your welcome for the beta testing we did here in NA. *wink* Hope you enjoy one of the most solid lauch lineups i've even seen for a console.

[BrotherSic]

Now i am not saying this story is a lie but who actually buys games from woolworths?

Its usually more expensive and has has a limited amount games.

I feel this is more about publicity for a poor performing company than an actual a reflection of how well the PS3 will sell

[FirstknighT]

I thought they already went out of business.

[Marty8370]

Woolies ar'nt out of business.U just can't take the good news that there is alot of demand for PS3 in Europe & Uk,can you.

[Grown Folks Talk]

he assumed that like in america, woolworths was gone everywhere.

[Drew]

After all that Sony has put them through, Europeans are still lining up for this thing? Sheesh.

[techie]

and what exactly have they put us through? A delay for a games console so we can play games while mummy makes dinner??? Yuh they put us through a lot. I'm devestated. Bring it on I say.,

[tomfoolery]

WITH THE 3 ABOVE ME

[Boink]

I'm not a big fan of sony(obviously) but I do think MS needs more next gen competition as they still seem to just be gliding along and not intensely competing. If things were neck and neck between them, we'd see much better from both companies...

[techie]

Agreed. And its also good for the games, since they'll be making games more for ps3 and xbox360 now instead of xbox360 and previous generation (like Tomb Raider Legend) so the next gen is begining.

[power091999]

Lets just wait for the actual release. I am not siding with Sony on this, but hopefully they learned from November US launch.

.....sigh good luck Sony, everyone knows your in dire need of luck about now.

I personally am hoping it does well. I guess that remains to be seen.

[MikeGdaGod]

awwww, this has got to be a blow to fanboys worldwide. all that posting about how much ps3 sucks and it still doesn't change a thing. ps3 will continue to sell out everywhere its released. all the b!tchin and moanin in the world can't change that. i can't tell you how many times i've seen people bash a system only to say "i just wanna inform everyone about the system." i always believed that nerds and lames would never influence the market and it appears to be so.

as for Woolworths, i believe they aren't in the US anymore but still big in Europe

[Boink]

people make up their own mind, not listen to some anonymous person on the web. Gamers are making up their minds right now, and sony needs to get them some games to play, people are looking for a reason to justify the expense, and unless you have an HD TV for the movies, it's hard to do.

If sony can get some good titles out there, this will hopefully become the "war" it was touted to be.

[kornbeaner]

an array of decent launch titles and games that will appear to come sooner because of a delayed launch, is enough to cure sour grapes for the Sony powerhouse brand. Good luck!! come March 23rd the marathon begins.

[XboxDavey]

good for sony I'm tired of microsoft talking all big and mighty. Sony needs to sell out big, and give microsoft a game that has the wow factor, then we'll have a war on our hands..

[chitown]

WTF is woolworths????????????? doesnt sound to convincing to me.

[dantesparda]

Woolworth used to be likea Jordan Marsh or Filenes here back in the days, but i dont see them anymore here in the states, but i guess that they are still in Europe. You must be young if you dont know what they are, they where pretty famous in the 80's

[Dragonopolis]

It was a store similar to Sears and JcPenny of old (not the modern water down versions of the stores you see today) . It got snuff out by the Kmart/target/Wal-marts as well as the Americans changing their buying habits).

The rest of the world still tend to like the Old school style of shopping so WoolsWorth still survives outside the U.S. Still, if Sony can pull 2-3 mil in Europe they will already be over the 5 mil mark when 6 months rolls around. That's pretty good

Good luck Sony!

[MySwordIsHeavenly]

I'm no longer posting here. If I don't say anything positive about the 360...I lose a bubble. It's just how it goes. So, I'm no longer posting on this site. It's gotten to the point where the 360 fans can post anything they want and get away with it...even if it's blatently untrue. Bye everyone...

PN tag: Pitiful
Live tag: like i'd pay for a service not as good as xfire...

[Boink]

You say something silly like XBL is not as good as Xfire, I can understand why your bubbles go, and people disagree with you.

and I feel sorry for people who think 4$ a month is too much money to pay for a service.

[Drew]

Amen to that, boink. Glad to see you go, Leon. You won't be missed.

[DJ]

don't exactly achieve much. Hell, I was pushed down to two bubbles this weekend simply because a bunch of people don't like my viewpoint (or my facts apparently); had nothing to do with violating the rules of this site. The bubble system has nothing do with improper posts since each user has the power to punch in negative feedback without justification.

Good thing bubbles reset after a fixed period of time.

[dantesparda]

its not that its $4 a month or whatver, its the fact that you have to pay for it period that people dont like. See up to this point (before Live and MMO's) you never had to pay for it, and all was fine. And then along comes MS with this pay crap, for a bunch of pop-ups whenever little johny comes online, and all the fanboys think that its the greatest thing since sliced cheese. Its ridiculous, and i have Live, and quite honestly am not that impressed. And stop being such obnoxious a-holes, as you are just as bad as he ever was and worst! a better riddance would be of you's

[original seed]

keep your word this time

[Drew]

Guys, don't think I'm anti-PS3, because I'm not. I love my PS3. But you have to admit, that guy was an a-hole...

And dante, the four bucks a month buys you a stable (!) online service, with constant uptime, no matter the load on the server, a great network of friends that you can access across all of your games, and tons of content, like the dozens (literally) of demos on the service now. -Shrugs-. In my mind, it's worth it. But hey, don't ask me. Go ask the other four million subscribers.

[dantesparda]

Original Seeds you're not to bright, the other guy (Drew) seemed to get it. Im just calling the friends icon that pops up whenever somebody comes online a pop-up, i dont mean that it has actual pop-ups (yet), but it does have advertisements. And i was really comparing it more to the PC then the PS3 online, my roommate has the PS3 and i can hear him playing his PS3 everyday for hours, so it aint downtiming that much, cuz hes on it all the time. All the meanwhile i have been on Live since Nov 22nd of 05, and have seen much lag, and been dropped out of games many times. So its not the most stable system out there, and i have 6mbps down and 768kbps up. And while talking to friends at first was cool, now i could care less, i rather just go in, kick some @ss and get out, but no, i got everybody and their mother always hitting me up to go on their game, maybe i should make myself invisible, but whatever, i just ignore it when im not interested.

But i do like the demo's! love me some demo's. But the PS3 network got demo's too, although not nearly as much as 360, but is that the fault of the PS3 netwrok? or the content providers? (and we all know the PC has demo's)

[Boink]

If you think that's all that live is, you are missing out.

[power of Green]

I lost a bubble while i wasn't even online posting comments, oh well!.

DJ you lose your bubbles due to the mixing of facts(ratio 50/50 at times) with fictional opinions.

[original seed]

Xbox Live has "Pop ups" WTF are you talking about?

[FeralPhoenix]

I hope PS3 has a good launch in Europe....it looks like it just might be PS3's strongest market....but either way the more "heated" this "war" gets...the more both consoles will deliver games that push each other, which makes me excited for Halo3, Gears 2, the sequel to Mass Effect what ever it will be, God of War 3, etc.....sure these all will be great games on their own, but don't tell me each dev + M$/Sony won't be peeking over their shoulder trying to outdo the other guy. Its a great time to be a Gamer!

Leon, personally I don't agree with spam/reporting anybody...unless their post is just obscene and derrogatory towards someone (race, religion, etc.) NOT just because they say something bad about a console or game -no I just laugh at them....but thats my opinion. However I do believe that you make some really "crazy" posts, not because they say "negative" things about the 360, but because alot of times what you say is "viewed" as bashing....in other words sometimes its not WHAT you say, its HOW you say it...DJ says alot of negative 360 things but he's been around here forever and still has bubbles....so not saying something "positive" about the 360 can't be a prerequisite. To be fair...I honestly do believe that the bubble system is broken because people abuse the report button and I guess the mod's automatically make you lose bubbles if you recieve enough of them.....I think the mod's should pay closer attention to this feature if this is in fact the case. -Nothings worse than censorship because you are afraid of someone else's opinion.

[kingboy]

What were you thinking? And soon as konami & EA make their soccer announcements for ps3,be prepared for even more pre orders.The Playstation brand is very strong in Europe and Dj you`re right about this bubble system.

[T-Virus]

'The Playstation Brand is strong in Europe?'

What, I don't believe you said that. The cheapest is always the strongest in Europe. Just coz you and your couple friends like Playstation, doesn't mean anything... at all...

[techie]

I still have all my bubbles. I think its cause I'm not irrational and outspoken...I'm guessing you guys must have been.

So whether you've heard of Woolworths or not, they do seel a lot of good over here, and 1 every 20seconds is a lot (if that's accurate). SO that's 4320 a day...for one retailer. If that continues from say the 12th February until the 23rd March that would be 164,160 - they run out of stock way before then! Otherwise Woolworths would be selling SOny's whole stock!

[TheMART]

"high street stalwart Woolworths revealing it has been taking one order every 20 seconds during the past week."

That's only one shop, in probably a main street. I have heard many 'succes' stories of Sony in the past (shipped or sold 1 million PS3's in 2006?) that were shot down after time. I believe sales numbers when they're taken from a couple of hunderd shops. And ofcourse, diehard fanboys will pre-order. All the pre-orders will be taken, because 200k consoles will be matched by 200k die hards in UK.

I am really curious what the PS3 will do after launch. Seen the USA and Japan, it won't be any different to that if you are realistic. The best thing is to see the sales after the first months. But my prediction is: sales will cool down, just as in USA and Japan after a very, very short period of time

[MaximusPrime]

im one of the preorderers. i preordered from GAME. They too are quickly taking preorders.
Europe loves Sony no matter what.

If PS3 eventually outsells Wii and Xbox360, time for game developers to reconsider making games for PS3.

[Lex Luthor]

Just like in america, wait until the fanboys get theirs, then you will see them gathering dust

[MaximusPrime]

i managed to gather heap of dust on my xbox 360. almost breaking my previous record of dusty bedroom.

[TheMART]

You probably don't own a 360 otherwise you would know better.

Plus: tell us, why would Europe do different on PS3 sales then USA or Japan? It's just logic. PS3 sales will decline a few weeks after launch

[TheMART]

You probably don't own a 360 otherwise you would know better.

Plus: tell us, why would Europe do different on PS3 sales then USA or Japan? It's just logic. PS3 sales will decline a few weeks after launch

[Shadow Flare]

"Plus: tell us, why would Europe do different on PS3 sales then USA or Japan? It's just logic. PS3 sales will decline a few weeks after launch"

The logic is that Europe is sony's most loyal territory. That's the reason Sony chose Europe as the territory to delay, because they knew we'd buy it anyway. Whereas americans are more leant towards Xbox 360 because they mostly prefer shooters and online play and Japanese have a leaning towards Nintendo because they love crazy crap, Europeans love a range of all types of games. Thats where the playstation consoles have always fitted in. I think that your right in that sales will take a dip after the first few weeks because it will be the early adopters who get it first and then they leave the rest of the consoles to the general public. But did you read the article? So go figure. That article states that pre-orders sold out in record time, faster then the 360 and even the wii, which is incredible when you look at the price difference. Put things into perspective, PS3 has sold more units at launch in Japan and USA then 360 at launch. And the European preorders have sold faster then the other consoles too. That means PS3 has far more early adopters in Europe which naturally entails far more fans. Thats why Europe is sony's most loyal territory and why they will sell incredibly well here

[Mishmash19]

I know it has been said before but Europe is getting a lot more games to play at their launch. A week or so before the European launch here in the US we are getting F.E.A.R., Oblivion, Motorstorm, etc. (I think Rainbow Six is delayed yet again.) But they have a few more "good" games to choose from other than just Resistance:Fall of Man. I am psyched about those games because even though most are on the 360, I don't have A 360 because I saved up for a PS3. You never know though, those games may make sales pick up after the initial launch, or it could like in the US create a craze for a week or 2 and thats it. We will find out in a month. But I am just throwing in the fact that they will have more quality games to choose from than the US launch and it may drive more sales. For all we know those games coming out could push for an increase in sales in the US. A lot of people are psyched for Motorstorm.

[MaximusPrime]

i have xbox 360 and it was crap right from the beginning. It is a typical american console with full of american shoot em up games. i cant stand shoot em up. I can stand the colour. its white! even that there are rumor that there will be Black xbox, still it will look ugly.

Even worst, the console crashes half a dozen of time in first week alone. It overheats after just 10 mins of playing and noisy too. No HDDVD drive? you need to buy one? no way am i watching a film with noisy console.

After 3 months of being a prisoner of xbox 360 it is time for me to move on.

I've played PS3 at a london show few weeks before Jap and US release date, and i was impressed. I did a little of investigation on the console.

The heat is un-noticable after being switched on for at least 5 hours.
What surprised me is that it was very quiet.
I love the console beautiful look and design. great Spiderman font on top.

I owned PS1 and Ps2 hence i knew the control and the games. Im please with sony keeping the controller design the same and am looking forward to many fantasic games in near future. I mostly looking forward to Bluray movie. So many films coming out! especially Casino Royale.

[Anerythristic26]

Every 20 seconds 8 hours a day ? So Woolwoths is taking 10,000 PS3 preorders a week ?!?! What allocation of the launch shipment is this company getting ?

Also this is not news. WOW I am shocked and awed that the PS3 launch syatems are going to sell out amazing ! :) I think that was to be an obvious outcome. What will be interesting is after the Sony hardcore / scalpers snap up the launch allocation will demand die down as it did in the U.S. and Japan ?

Did anybody actually think PS3's would sit on the shelf in Europe from day 1 ?

[Bullseye]

Yeah,Woolworths is still going in U.K. I have no reason to doubt this article, my own experiences here, in England tells me there are many people wanting a PS3. Sony is a brand name that the average consumer associates with video games, not so, Microsoft.I've had all kinds of people ask me about PS3 details,while very few have asked about 360. Microsoft 360 users seem to be limited to hardcore more knowledgeable fans, than your average parents shopping for little Jimmy.Gotta say though, many have balked at the price of PS3, whether they buy or not remains to be seen.