Cheats-Area.com

   So much for conquering Europe, eh, Sony? Their enthusiastic launch of the PlayStation 3 on the old continent went down in the annals of gaming history as the fastest-selling home console in the United Kingdom. But that was only for the first week of availability after the March 23 launch, because after the second week things look pretty bad for Sony all of a sudden. Imagine a massive drop in sales of 82%, and then try imagining where the figures will be at after the first month...

   Of course, we have no way of knowing whether the current trend will continue in the following weeks, but we'd sure like to hear Sony's explanation for their retail fall (they should blame it on the Easter bunny, that always works!). GI.biz said today that Sony Europe declined to comment, after they ran this story and verified the figure with Chart Track, whose data is gathered from 7000 UK retail outlets (representing 90% of the software market): "Yes, sales of PS3 hardware have dropped by 82 per cent", one spokesperson confirmed.

   So what does this mean, precisely? Well, considering that the PlayStation 3 sold some 165,000 units in the first week, and slashing away 82% from that, we end up with less than 30,000 units sold in the second week. Not too impressive, indeed. And apparently the PS3 games also suffered a major drop in sales, by over 60% for the top two selling titles in the UK - Resistance: Fall of Man and MotorStorm. Again, GI.biz had the figures earlier today:
"Sales of Sony's best-selling title Resistance: Fall of Man dropped by 66 per cent, nudging it down to number two in the charts, while MotorStorm sales also fell by 62 per cent, as it reversed into the number three position."    In case you're wondering who pushed them down to second and third place, it was that Kane ba(l)die from Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. Oh yes, EA's strategic sequel rocks at retail!