Dozens of eager Dundee gamers queued up outside Game in the city’s Murraygate last night to be among the first in the UK to get their hands on the new PlayStation 4 console.
The device is officially launched in the UK on Friday, but those who had not already pre-ordered a console were able to buy one at a midnight launch event being held at the store.
Launch day pre-orders for the console sold out in August and the consoles available at the shop were sold on a first-come, first-served basis.
Sony UK & Ireland managing director Fergal Gara said the event was a ray of hope for gamers who did not pre-order.
“We really wanted to offer some way for people to buy on launch day and this is a fantastic opportunity for anyone that hasn’t already pre-ordered to get their hands on a PS4 on day one,” he said.
Game chief executive Martyn Gibbs said the excitement for the PS4 launch was “absolutely massive”.
“We’re stepping into the next generation of gaming and this really is a fundamental shift for the industry,” he said.
“The PS4 launch is going to surpass anything Playstation has done before our pre-order numbers are around four times higher than the PS3 and we’re seeing those numbers grow every day.”
The PS4 is being marketed as 10 times faster than its predecessor, the PlayStation 3, which was released in 2006.
It features a Blu-Ray/DVD optical drive, digital video recording, 8GB DDR5 Ram, an eight core single-chip x86 AMD “Jaguar” CPU, AMD Radeon graphics core next engine GPU, 500GB removable hard drive and internal power supply.
The new console is priced at £349, with more than 400 stores hosting special midnight openings.
Chris van der Kuyl, chairman of 4J, the studio that created Minecraft on XBox 360 with Mojang and Microsoft, said the new PS4 will create even bigger and better experiences for Minecraft lovers.
He said: “With the increased power of the PS4, Sony and Playstation are giving the extra boost for gamers that will make their experiences even more amazing.”