The shipment figures for the launch of the PS3 in the UK will be slightly less than was initially predicted by analysts. Three Speech predicted that around 300,000 of the European PS3 consoles available would be making their way to Britain, but Sony have now revealed that an allocation of 220,000 will be available on launch day.

The figure was revealed following on from comments made by Sony spokesperson, Dave Karraker who thought it wise to begin his Playstation 3 sales pitch by having a dig at Nintendo's Wii console. "Wii could be considered an impulse buy more than anything else, but we believe the PS3 will be the console to attract hardcore, committed gamers, while Wii will do little beyond satisfying new and causal players.”

Karraker may have a point, but every time either Sony or Microsoft talk about their consoles, they just can't help trying to bring down the opposition with childish remarks.

Nevertheless, Sony and a number of finanical analysts are still confident that the PS3 will win the next-gen war."As consumers begin to purchase a second console, we think that market shares will normalize, with Sony capturing around 45% of the total market, Microsoft capturing 35%, and Nintendo capturing 20%," said Michael Pachter and Edward Woo,a US firm who have recently produced a 188 page report on the subject.

The PS3 goes on sale in the UK on March 23rd.