Sony are the first to get major retail exposure for its upcoming machine with a PlayStation 3 page on the Japenese unit of Amazon. The online retail giant has posted a product page for the PlayStation 3 more than a year ahead of the console's expected debut.

The page has no photos or links for placing advance orders and appears to offer no significant new details on the console, expected to go on sale in late 2005 at the earliest. But that didn't stop several visitors from posting five-star reviews of the gadget.
Sony executives have set broad target dates for the console, saying they'll have more details at a Japanese trade event in March and demonstration units at the E3 trade show in May. The company has yet to set a release date or price, however, nor to confirm details such as expected multimedia capabilities.

Rival console makers Microsoft and Nintendo are also working on next-generation consoles and hope to beat Sony to market. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently said that the company is hard at work on the next version of the Xbox, which he said he expects will outsell the PlayStation 3. Nintendo executives have made similar promises for their next console, code-named "Revolution."

Retailers have been taking orders for new hardware and games well in advance of their release for many years now. By tapping into the hype retailers hope to sell more units and make bigger profits. The Amazon PS3 page, for anticipatory retail zeal, is rivaled only by eBay auctions offering supposedly exclusive details on how to get a pre-release version of the PS3.

Source: Amazon PS3 Page