We all knew the Japanese would go berserk when the little black box hit the shelves... and they did

Sony Computer Entertainment announced today that sales of PlayStation2 have already reached 980,000 - 10 times the number of units PlayStation sold during its first three days.

A total of 26,400 retailers have been selling the machines from March 4, since when scenes of mayhem have been witnessed in shopping streets across the country.

The only major problem on the horizon for Sony has been a shortage of 8Mb memory cards, but work is already underway to expand production.

Sales of PlayStation2 software hit 1.3 million units for the weekend. In addition, DVD software sales were four times higher than usual, according to retailers.