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As gamers, we're all used with delays. And we also know how, when yet another delay announcement hits the news sites, plenty of gamers tend to roll their eyes, grab their money and go buy a product that actually takes less than an eternity to come out. And when a company such as Sony announces the delay of a product so anticipated as the Playstation 3, reactions are bound to appear.

And one of the first persons to lauch a reply to the delay was Sony Europe managing director Ray Maguire, who declared that while he was extremely dissapointed at the news (imagine how the fans must feel), Sony Europe will do its best to make the March launch the biggest in the company's history. However, there are plenty of people in the industry that were not taken by surprize by Sony's announcement. "I don't think it's unexpected but I must admit I'm disappointed," declared Konami UK's marekting manager Jon Murphy. "Microsoft managed a global launch and the same is expected with the Wii so it's a shame that Sony will not manage to do the same." And that statement reveals a most uncomforting situation for Sony. Its console will miss the holiday season in Europe, allowing both the Xbox360 and Nintendo's Wii to acquire a strong position on the old continent. And considering the fact that the delay also affects the other PAL system areas, such as Russia, the Middle East and Africa, Sony are definitely not doing themselves any favour in the console war.

Another fact that's worth mentioning is that Sony's problems with the blue laser diode manufacturing that caused the European launch delay are also accountable for a reduction of the number of consoles that will be available at launch from two million to a mere 500.000 units, which are to be split in 400.000 for the US and 100.000 for Japan.

The financial market was quick to punish Sony's console availability issues, as the electronic giant's stocks fell by 2.4 percent on Thursday.

After all the trouble Sony is going through, one can't help questioning their decision to include the Blu-Ray drive in their console. The unproven technology has brought nothing but trouble to its creators so far - a higher price for the PS3 and manufacturing issues.