Nearly 90k PS3s sold in Japan

Sony sold 88,400 PlayStation 3 consoles over the weekend in Japan according to Japanese magazine company Enterbrain, which publishes Famitsu.

The number falls around halfway between the 100,000 launch-unit target Sony was aiming for and the 80,000 figure reported in the Nikkei Shimbun prior to launch.

The best selling games were Namco Bandai's Ridge Racer 7 and Gundam: Target in Sight, both of which sold around 30,000 units.

The near-instant total depletion of hardware stock has led to a huge number of Internet auctions for so-called "used" PS3 consoles spring up, some with asking prices more than twice that charged by retail.

It's a trend that's even being felt in Europe.

Some web-based importers have decided not to sell the console to clients in the European Union after Sony enjoyed success in its attempts to stifle Hong Kong-based Lik-Sang, which went out of business recently.

But one London-based importer is known to be offering the console, along with its five launch titles, for GBP 1500.