PS3 pre-order madness begins

Tuesday 10 October 2006
North America's GameStop/Electronics Boutique chains will be opening their PS3 pre-orders today for a $100 (£53) deposit - but small stores will only have 8 machines up for grabs and larger ones 16.

Devoted Yankee gamers have already been camping out overnight in front of stores, so it's likely that they're going to be the only ones walking away with a (no launch-day delivery guarantee) pre-order - at least from the EB chain. We predict Dead Rising-style riots at WalMart, which may get a heftier slice of the 400,000 PS3s being shipped to cover the entire US.

It's almost enough to make you thankful that, by the time the European launch rolls around next March, Sony's PS3 manufacturing should have increased to the stage where we won't have to share one console around each city.