You have to wonder though if Xbox 360 or Wii shipped those kind of numbers on their launch. I'm just saying thats all. PS3 owner here.

More importantly, Wii is still selling out across the globe within minutes of new shipments arriving in stores, after 6 million Wii's being sold, where as PS3 isn't able to sell out at launch. In other words, had Nintendo launched with more units... well, we'll never know.

It's all how you look at it boys.

My jaw just hit the floor. Now I've picked it back up... That's pretty impressive, especially considering nobody really turned up to their respective launches. Sony can breathe a sigh of relief for ten minutes.

What's really going to test them now is the after-launch period. Microsoft isn't going to give them an easy ride with Halo 3 round the corner. Nintendo'll have to do some pretty impressive factory-pumping to meet their demand too... so we'll see how the success of PS3 is sustained after its launch.

After all, we probably shouldn't hold our breath just yet. The PSP, after all, had a record-breaking launch, and look at it now (if I really wanted to turn on 'sour grapes SEGA fanboy mode' on, I could mention the number of eBay scalpers as an attribute to sales - the number of which has far outweighed any I saw for Wii or 360 during their launches - but I won't. :D).

Mind you, this news should give at least a ray of hope for the Sony faithful. Home and LittleBigPlanet are just round the corner, they look pretty cool.

Well, according to one of our local retailer sources, they finally provided the last of their Wii pre-orders on the 22nd of March this year. They had 100 pre-orders before launch, had a launch allocation of 30-odd and it took them 3.5 months to supply their customers. Yes, they had a few more people pre-order during that 3.5 month period, but most people who enquired elected to wait for shelf stock.

Nintendo are definitely being hampered by not being able to meet demand, maybe they are working flat out, maybe they are not. Sony have, in the past, been accused of limiting supply to keep demand high, maybe Nintendo have tried a similar tactic. We just don't know for sure.

What I do know is that Sony have launched with enough consoles to ensure launch demand and still have ample stock on the shelves for walk-in customers. They have also had 165,000 of their consoles sell through at UK retail despite having a high price and missing a Christmas launch. Our friendly retailer above had 40-odd pre-orders for PS3 and sold more than that on launch weekend.

What if the Wii or 360 had ample stock to launch with?
What if the PS3 had a Christmas launch?

What ifs are fun questions to ask, but the facts are, Wii and 360 didn't have the stock and PS3 didn't have a Christmas launch, but PS3 sold more at launch than either of the others. Almost as many as them combined.

The next few weeks are going to be very interesting. Will the PS3 continue to sell? Will the Wii "suddenly" have ample supply? Will the 360 Elite launch and steal some Sony thunder?

I dunno about you lot, but I'm quite happy that we have a three-horse race once more.

i fnd this news interesting. I work in a city in the UK with very competitive deals on the PS3

We had 11 pre-ordered consoles, and then another 8 to sell to walk-ins.(Only had a waiting list for pre-orders to commence 10-long)

We have yet to sell a single walk-in console, and one of the pre-orderers wanted a refund, so in total, we have sold -1.

We have sold 2 games and 1 accessory. Hardly the same as the Wii, where we had 16 pre-ordered 0 to sell to walk ins but by christmas we had a waiting list of 160 and as soon as we get delivery (about 10-20 a time) theyre gone within hlf an hour, we get enquiries roughly every half hour or so, and the list is still growing. A Usual week for Wii games is 25 games, and 0 accessories, as weve only had 2 deliveries since launch of remotes!