International arbitrage has really had an effect on the launch of the Sony PlayStation3, and not for the stunning leading edge technology. Unfortunately it is not the Cell processor or the graphics that has people lining up to buy, but the opportunity to sell the consoles on quick for large amounts of money.
From reports on the Kotaku gamers site, the vast majority of people queuing up for the first consoles yesterday were poor Chinese who were just buying the consoles for the boss who are today selling them on ebay for $1000 to $2000! The key was that the majority of people buying were not buying games (and didn't speak Japanese!)
All very sad, but a classic result of demand and supply when Japan had just 80,000 units to sell, and these can be re-sold across the wolrd to enthusiasts. No doubt that will get itself sorted out when more supplies come in, but there is likely to be a repeat for both the US launch in a few weeks and European launch in March.
For a breakdown of the PS3, have a look at the Japanese PC Watch site.
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