Oops, no PS3 for Euro gamers

Sony announced today that Europe will not get its PS3's this year. "Look for them on the shelves in March of 2007" they said with a smile. Ehm... If I were a console gamer, I'd be off to the shops buying an Xbox 360 right now.

Before I continue, it should be clear that I will probably never own a PS3. I'm a PC gamer, I own a Nintendo DS because it offers a stylus with which I finally feel in control of my handheld games, and I may at some point consider a Wii. It's not that consoles don't appeal to me, but I have little enough time as it is. :)

With that said: Oh - my - God Sony you are so lame! For years you promise a worldwide release and now you're telling us the world consists of North America and Japan?

I must admit I saw this coming from miles away. I used to work in the gaming retail business and even then, Europe was always the last in line when it came to roll-outs of major hardware.

Late last month you announced that only 700.000 PS3's would be available per major territory. You'd need 4x as much for a proper launch, so... what were you thinking!?

But the writings on the wall appeared earlier, much earlier. The rumors about the problems with your design were too plentiful to just ignore. The fact that your third party developers got their materials too late, the fact that developers said it was too difficult to develop for the machine, the list goes on and on.

So, let's face it. You have been wearing the console crown for years but you were unable to follow in your own footsteps. With everything this tight, this problematic, I hope you're setting up a good customer services department because there is no way on Earth that you will be able to produce 500.000 units in a hurry without making some major mistakes.

You're still banking on that BlueRay drive?