The PS3 may now be available, but it's still not cheap. This cash register in Paris shows just how pricey it is--substantially more than its next-generation rivals, the Xbox 360 from Microsoft and the Nintendo Wii. Where all three have been on sale, the PS3 is trailing both the Xbox and the Wii.

Although enthusiasm ran high among many prospective buyers, not everyone was ready to pull out a credit card. "I'm going to wait, simply because I can't afford a 600-euro price tag in April and the catalog is largely made up of games that have been out on the Xbox 360 for at least a year," Jolyon Leonard, a Madrid-based games developer, told the Reuters news agency. "Add to that I can't afford an HD (high-definition) screen."