Sony are already applying liberal pre-emptive spin to the impending UK PlayStation 3 launch, saying that not selling out on pre-orders will mean they got it right.
Nevertheless, come Monday they’ll surely want some snappy factlet for journalists to hang their stories on. Obviously the best one would be record-breaking launch weekend sales, but if the PSP’s 185,000 is beaten then it will surely count as one of the signs of the apocalypse.
The Nintendo DS is second with 87,000. Microsoft were clever with the Xbox 360 launch, claiming a record for a home console, as they beat the GameCube’s 69,000. But a home console record looks unlikely too.
I think what we’ll see is Sony boasting of launch sales in excess of those of the PlayStation 2. That would be a shrewd move, as obviously about a billion PlayStation 2s have been sold now – and if the PlayStation 3 starts better than that did, then it must be doing well! But of course, the less stupid among us will remember that the PlayStation 2 launched with an absurd centralised pre-order scheme and about fourteen units of hardware available.
Or, given that the PlayStation 3 retails at about twice the price of any console worth buying, they might manage the highest total sales pounds over a launch weekend.
Then again, maybe before the launch Sony will admit that they got it all horrendously wrong by launching a console with no games worth buying at a price not worth paying after a delay not worth waiting for, and stop this madness.
So stay with Games Asylum for all the hottest PlayStation 3 launch build up! By which I mean none.