PlayStation2 mania heightened yesterday when Sony unveiled a new games console to the industry and thousands of customers jammed an Internet sales site with advance orders.
Sony officials apologised after Playstation.com was overwhelmed by demand from an estimated 100,000 clients, who brought the site to a halt with 600,000 "hits" just a minute after online orders began at midnight.
The strength of demand was "beyond our expectations", said Sony Computer Entertainment Inc (SCEI) president Mr Ken Kutaragi, speaking to journalists and software executives seeing the PlayStation2 (PS2) for the first time. The 128-bit console combines advanced graphics with a DVD player and will eventually have Internet access.
Mr Fumio Kisugi, an independent software writer, said the new console was ` visually stunning, and the mood and interaction are amazing."
SCEI was exhibiting its products wares in a cavernous exhibition hall outside the Japanese capital where the Tokyo Motor Show is annually held. The space will be needed to hold the thousands of members of the public who are expected to attend to examine the new machine today.
Sony expects to sell one million PS2s within the first two days of introduction Sony had started taking orders for PS2 through the newly-established Playstation.com. from the start of yesterday, offering a discount price of 38,800 yen ($350) against the recommended retail tag of 39,800 yen.
"We had 600,000 hits from 100,000 people in the one minute after we started receiving online orders at midnight, causing the server to shut down" for two hours, an SCEI spokeswoman said.
The electronics giant has been selling PlayStation software over the Internet, but this was the first time it had tried to sell the hardware online in Japan.
The PS2's release in Europe and North America is planned for the autumn.
