PS2 sales triple as new slimline model launches

Sales of Sony's PlayStation 2 console edged ever closer to the seven million unit mark in the UK last week, as the launch of the slimline redesigned PS2 console - dubbed PStwo by the media - drove a threefold increase in weekly hardware sales.

Almost 50,000 units of the redesigned console are believed to have been snapped off shelves all over the UK when it launched last Friday, pushing the PS2 way out ahead of Microsoft's rival Xbox.

PlayStation 2 enjoyed well over double the sales of Xbox last week despite a gain for the Xbox which saw its sales picking up by seven per cent. The GameCube barely registers on the scale, though, being outsold by a factor of 17 to one by the PS2.

Nintendo is rather more successful in the UK handheld market, with the GBA SP experiencing a 31 per cent sales rise and coming in ahead of the Xbox on the chart, if both handhelds and home consoles are considered together.

While the launch of the new model of PS2 is obviously a key factor in driving sales of the console, the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas factor has to be considered as well -with Rockstar North's PS2-exclusive game driving more money through tills in the UK last weekend than any film has ever clocked up at the box office on its opening weekend here.