14 DAY TRIAL // A rumor about 11.000 PS3 units hitting Australian retailer shops have reached us as well and of course, we were quite surprised at this, as anyone would be. The first question that comes to anyone's mind at hearing this is: why so few? Well, given that demand for the PS3 is poor everywhere, Australia isn't exactly the place it will make record sales, if you know what I mean. And if you don't know what I mean, try and think for yourself, 'cause I'm not telling you. All right, if you insist...
The thing is that Sony's console is currently priced at about $700 US, which means that in Australian currency, it costs somewhere around 1000. Now, if, by any chance anyone is going to Australia any time soon, be so kind and point out for us the 11.000 people willing to pay AUD1000 for a gaming system. That's right, there aren't that many who can afford a system like this any day of the week, and the same goes for anywhere on the planet for that matter.
Sony's approach on this is very well calculated, making sure that PS3 consoles won't be sitting on shelves gathering dust anymore. My guess is that all 11.000 PS3 units will sell eventually but surely not as fast as the Wii did on its launch, or the 360. Although surveys have shown that Australians are total gamers and many of them even own up to 4 gaming systems (including PC), those at Sony aren't taking any chances, they really need to stick to selling the machine and retailer selection is the first good step in doing that.
Oh, and in case you were wondering why the PS3 hasn't been yet launched in Australia, that's because they are PAL territory, the same as Europe and Africa, where the platform is scheduled to launch on 23 March.