As many of you are no doubt aware, Sony's intensely hyped and criticized Playstation 3 went on sale yesterday in Japan. I say went on sale, but in reality the PS3 sold out in Japan before stores even opened.

After initially promising 100,000 units at launch, Sony cut this to a frankly pitiful total of 80,000 launch units. Shops in Japan appeared to shun taking pre-orders as they were so unsure of the stock they would have. This meant crowds of hardcore fans gathered to queue for the console , in many cases a few days before launch. Shops gave out slips of paper to those at the front of queues confirming they would be getting one of the prized consoles.

All in all, the scenes of chaos and crowd hysteria were inevitable with the poor unit turn-out from Sony. Nevertheless, PS3 is now out and being played by 80,000 gamers, and reports are already coming back on how it plays, looks and works. It's interesting to see some news sites post scraps of information we knew months before release and tout it as exclusive new information about the PS3. As a gamer myself I'll give you the real scoop.

Graphically, so far the Xbox 360 and PS3 seem pretty similar. Will this change in time? Maybe. It's taken a year for Gears of War to set the graphical bar for the 360, and I've no doubt it will take some time before we see the true power of the PS3. For now at least, don't expect to be blown away all over again. GameTrailers has a nice little comparison video of Tony Hawks Project 8 for you to check out.

As far as the operating system goes, there's been reports of freezing, crashing and a few firmware upgrades required. But then anyone who's owned a 360 knows just how temperamental next-gen can be. There's also been news that many PS2 games don't work at the moment, but SCEJ has promised to fix this with a patch very soon.

All in all, does it seem a bit underwhelming? Yes. With a poor amount of actual units on sale and a launch line-up that isn't exactly breath-taking (all seems a bit Xbox 360 so far doesn't it), Sony clearly have some catching up to do with Microsoft. But at the same time, it's out. A new console has hit the streets, and as gamers we're all better off for it, whether we like it and buy it or not. The next-gen market finally has some competition - let's hope it drives prices down and encourages more creative game design.

Thanks EuroGamer.