PlayStation 3 sells out at launch @ BBc News

Large queues meant some shoppers were turned away even before stores opened at 0700 local time (2100 GMT).
The console officially went on sale on 11 November but Sony only made 100,000 machines available on launch day.
Instead of opening at midnight, stores organised lotteries to decide who in the queue would get a long-awaited PS3.

Line dance

Outside Bic Camera's flagship Tokyo store more than 1,000 people queued for their chance to buy a PlayStation 3.

Shop attendants with microphones warned impatient customers that sales would end if there were any injuries.

"Standing in line today is the only way to make sure I got one," said Takayuki Sato, 30.

Tomoaki Nakamura, 41, said: "I've been waiting for this day to come for so long. I'll play it all through the weekend. No time for meals."

The head of Sony's game unit head, Ken Kutaragi, known as "the father of the PlayStation", expressed his gratitude to those who had waited.

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Sony firm on U.S. pricing for PlayStation 3 @ Msn

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Sony Corp. has no plans to cut the price of its upcoming PlayStation 3 video game console in the United States, despite a recent cut announced for Japan, the chief of the company's U.S. electronic entertainment division said Wednesday.

Kaz Hirai, president and chief executive of Sony ComputerEntertainment America, told Reuters the company would stick with its planned price tags of $499 and $599 when the new PlayStation 3 consoles hit retailers' shelves in the United States on Nov. 17.

"We are very comfortable with the pricing we have announced and have gotten tremendous support from retailers for that price point," Hirai said on the sidelines of the Dow Jones VentureWire Consumer Technology Conference. "So it is full steam ahead with the pricing of $499 and $599."