Sony's PlayStation 4 was launched in
the UK at midnight and is already
"starting to sell out".
Fans camped overnight for a chance
to get their hands on one of the
consoles.
The first-come first-served launch
was considered one of the only ways
for people to get hold of a console
before Christmas.
Amazon said customers who had not
pre-ordered before 13 November
would not receive a console in time
for Christmas.
The UK launch comes two weeks
after the PS4 was launched in the US
and a week after Microsoft's Xbox
One was launched worldwide. Both
consoles sold over a million in the
first 24 hours.
In a statement to the BBC a Sony
spokesman said: "We are starting to
sell out - very rapidly but [we] will
continue to work with all parts of the
supply chain including our partners
at retail to get more, as and when
we can."
The company said it was facing
"unprecedented" demand and it
would be setting up a stock-tracker
website to help customers find
"those elusive units".
The launches are seen as a fight for
dominance in the key Christmas
season says the BBC's technology
correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones.
Imran Choudhary was the first in the
queue outside the venue in Covent
Garden, London.
"It was always my goal to try and be
one of the first people in the country
to get hold of a PS4," he said.
Online scams
The chief executive of Sony's
computer entertainment division,
Andrew House, said: "We are trying
to create a much more social and
connected feeling. The whole goal of
PlayStation 4 is to connect people
via play, in a way that they maybe
have not had before."
Customers who had placed online
pre-orders with Amazon before 6
August were given the option of
receiving their console on release
day.
Anyone ordering after 14 November
will have to wait until after
Christmas for delivery, the company
said.
The console was sold out on Game's
website and only people who had
paid a deposit when pre-ordering
were guaranteed to receive a
console before Christmas.
Customers have been warned to be
careful of online scams involving
consoles. NetNames, a company
which advises brands on protecting
their online reputation, said it had
seen an increase in marketplace
websites offering cheap consoles,
sometimes in countries where they
have not yet been launched.
"To avoid falling victim to the latest
online scams, consumers need to
remember that if the price seems
too good to be true, it probably is,"
said NetNames product director of
brand protection, Haydn Simpson.
Both the Xbox One and the
PlayStation 4 have suffered
problems after their launches in the
US and worldwide.
Users of the Xbox One reported that
the console's disc drive made a loud
noise when they tried to insert a disc
and in some cases couldn't read discs
at all. Microsoft responded by
offering a replacement console and a
free game download to anyone
affected by the problem.
Sony published a troubleshooting
guide after some users complained
that a blue light continuously
flashed on the front of the PS4
console affecting its operation