A predicted shortage of PlayStation 2 consoles has been averted with Australia being one of the few countries to be promised its full allocation.
Sony Computer Entertainment Australia (SCEA) expects to receive 60,000 units by Christmas - twice as many as it had originally been told to expect.
Retailers had been warned to prepare for a shortage, but a SCEA spokesperson said there should now be plenty for everyone.
The situation is in stark contrast to the United States where the allocation was slashed from 1 million to 500,000 and the United Kingdom where it was dropped from 200,000 to 165,000.
The spokesperson said it was made possible by the fact Sony had to do regional production runs to meet the regional zoning requirements and different power connection specifications of various countries.
Meanwhile, SCEA has already shipped 51,000 units of PlayStation one - a revamped version of the original videogames console - to retailers. PlayStation one is about a third the size of the original and a power adaptor and portable LCD screen will be available for it next year.
PlayStation 2 goes on sale on November 30 with a price tag of AU$749 for the console and AU$100 for PS2 games.
Despite that, the company says it expects to sell up to 750,000 PlayStation 2 consoles over the next 13 months without reducing the price.
That is up to 25 times the sales achieved by the original PlayStation videogames console when it was released in Australia in 1995.
SCEA chief executive Michael Ephraim says the company has based its predictions on Japanese sales and the fact that PlayStation 2 is now a home entertainment unit capable of playing DVD movies as well as games and in the future will be able to access the Internet via cable or ADSL connection.
PlayStation already has a huge loyalty base in Australia with 1.5 million in Australian homes. However, sales of the original console did not pick up until the price dropped from its launch price of AU$699 to AU$299.
"Based on what we think the demand is, from November 30 to the end of 2001, we feel we have the potential to sell around 600,000 to 750,000 units," said Ephraim.
The xbox is coming soon!