Playstation 3 is probably the most hyped new game console, promising next generation graphics, internet and wireless capabilities, Blue Ray technology, blah blah. Since the Playstation 2 sold over 200 million units worldwide, you can imagine the demand all the hype has generated. But Sony has had a really rough year, and all the production and technical problems all lead to an EXTREMELY limited supply of available PS3 systems. Sony promised 400,000 units in the US by today for the launch, and 1 million units by year end, but most analyst are estimating only 200,000 units are available today. The Sony flagship store in New York had only 500 units available at midnight as they opened to thousands of nerds who have been camping outside for as long as since Sunday!! Imagine thousands of un-bathed nerds stinking up Madison Avenue huddling under make-shift canopies to stay out of the rain and playing Dungeons and Dragons card games to pass the time for the last 5 days! Oh my!

Around the country and around the world it’s even worse. In Conneticut armed robber shot a man waiting outside a store in line to get a PS3 when he refused to hand over the money. In California police shut down a store after a man ran into a pole knocking himself out while racing against 50 other guys to be the first to get in the store. In Japan most of the early purchasers turned out to be poor homeless Chinese men hired by Japanese businessmen to wait in line and purchase the unit so they can resale them online later for a profit. In Europe the PS3 never even hit the shelves, the entire launch was pulled and delayed until at least March 2007!

As wonderful as the PS3 system may be (I would not know for sure since Sony apparently forgot to send me a preview unit - Listen Sony, take some ques from Nintendo in that department lol), at a hefty $500 price tag for the basic version and as much as $600 for the premium version, it is just a hard sell against Xbox 360’s slashed down $300 price, and Nintend Wii’s $250 price tag with 2-3 million launch units availble and anticipated to be sold out when it hits store shelves tomorrow. As much as I love the Playstation platform and probably will get one soon anyway, the launch was a disaster, and totally NOT HOT!