If you were hopin gto buy a PS3 in Europe this year, tough: Sony has decided to ship your machine to the US instead. "Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has told GamesIndustry.biz that he believes the European PS3 delay proves Sony is out to win North American consumers over first and foremost," says the paper.
"The allocation to the US - 80 per cent of initial shipments - is shocking, and it is clear that they intend to ship as many PS3s here till they crush Toshiba," Pachter said.
"I really think it's unfortunate for European consumers, but the delay makes clear that Sony intends to fight the Blu-Ray - HD-DVD battle on US soil."
Comment: It's no secret that Microsoft's biggest success has been in the US market, and its most abysmal failure in Japan. If Michael Pachter's numbers are correct, it looks as though Sony has decided it can't afford to give Microsoft another walkover in the Christmas market in the US. By contrast, the Japanese have bought so few Xboxes that Sony doesn't have to care. (Anyway, the delay will give Japanese buyers more time to have to have their homes enlarged: the Xbox 360 was too big for Japanese homes, they said, and the PlayStation 3 is substantially bigger.)
Also, the Blu-ray launch in the US turned into a debacle, with Sony being too late with hardware to make its own launch, and reviewers finding that HD-DVD movies were better than Blu-ray versions. Sony needs PS3 sales in the US to create a potential market for copies of The Fifth Element at $28.95 and The Benchwarmers at $38.95 (or $12 new and sealed, from Amazon Marketplace).
