AmTech analyst PJ McNealy guesstimates that Sony's opening weekend shipments for the Playstation 3 were lower than the already lower than expected numbers.

Their "research" concludes that the actual Playstation 3 launch numbers were in the range of 125,000 to 175,000 and that includes the 15,000 or so being used for kiosks. No wonder people were shooting each other for the console.

If correct, its about half what McNealy though the company would get into stores for the console's launch.

On the Wii side of things, McNealy thinks Nintendo managed to get 425,000 to 475,000 out the door for their launch and expects the company to ship 1.5 to 2 million of the consoles to North American stores by the end of the year.

So far neither Sony nor Nintendo have released hard numbers for their consoles, though I suspect at least one to talk numbers for the upcoming long weekend. Brian Crecente

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