Here's my contribution, a bit old, but I hope it shows a picture of my country. 500000 PS2 sold here (at that moment), for those who don't want to read it.
http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2006/12/04/playstation-2-is-xbox-360s-biggest-challenger-in-south-america
Playstation 2 is Xbox 360's biggest challenger in South America
AT THE AEShow 2006 exhibition held in Buenos Aires city last month, we witnessed an interesting scenario: people were flocking to Sony's booth which showcased a handful of Playstation 2 consoles.
With the Playstation 3 not yet available locally, and with Microsoft showcasing its Xbox 360, Sony decided to fight the Vole's latest greatest at the show with a proven weapon: the ubiquitous and immensely popular PS2. And guess what? people were gathering around Sony's PS2 booth with arguably the same interest -if not more- than Microsoft's. Judging by the cheering of the crowd, the folks playing with the PS2 seemed to be having more fun, and not to care about the Microsoft booth a few metres away. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Microsoft might not sell a lot of Xbox 360 consoles... perhaps it will. But one thing is certain, down here it's Sony which appears to 'own' the gaming console mind set with its ubiquitous Playstation 2 and its associated product brand awareness, especially among the younger gaming crowd. Another important issue is the price. The challenge for Microsoft will be selling the Xbox 360 to users for whom the Playstation 2 is technologically "good enough" and costs much less. The price difference is something not to be taken lightly, as few people down here would be willing to put their monthly pay cheque - for some even two month's worth - into a game console. All game consoles are considerably more expensive, and I'm not sure that import duties and taxes are only to blame, as the price difference is not nearly as high on other IT hardware products. Sony's PS2 can be found locally for a price between $265 and $320 while the Vole's Xbox 360 is astonishingly selling for around $700 to $800. An editorial published on Saturday by the L.A. Times entitled "Price isn't a game" touts the Wii's low price as one of the reasons for its success, and ends up with: "for this Christmas at least, more affordable means more successful." Of course, that means Sony will have a hard time selling its PS3 down here too, but that is not something that appeared to bother Sony's local branch, at least not right now. According to a radio interview quoted last month on the web, the PS3 won't hit the local shelves until mid-2007. We're not sure why it'd take so long to come up with PAL/N-M version for the Southern Cone region with region 4 DVD playback. In any case, I personally think that the PS2 gamers will be more likely to wait and upgrade to a PS3 - IF they feel the need to, and I'm not sure that's the case yet - rather than switch to a Xbox 360, as the Playstation brand name is down here a synonym for "game console". As of today, the only PS3 I was able to spot from a local seller is going for an astonishing $1790 price tag. Yes, that's greenbacks!. Some numbers from the local Sony branch According to an article over here, over 2,000 PS 2 software titles have been released in Europe and another batch of 50 games will hit the shelves this Christmas." Will Sony help customers get legit games with "localised" prices? Sony Argentina says it is aware of the problem and wants to tackle it by offering lower-cost editions of the games more according to the income levels of the local marketplace. Augspach said, "due to the exchange rate with the dollar and local income levels, the majority of the population cannot reach the cost of imported games, then they buy pirate games. But we are working to bring games to the country at better prices, and educating the marketplace." If you look at the PS2 console auctions on the local eBay affiliate site MercadoLibre, you'll see an awful lot are described as "con chip" - that means with a modchip installed by the third-party vendors. Conclusions Don't count the PS2 out just yet. I'm sure thousands of these consoles will land on kids', teens', and grown-ups' rooms this coming Yuletide. It's affordable and everywhere, while the Xbox 360 is a bit on the expensive side for the local wallet. That Sony's local branch decided to give the XBox 360 a challenge with the proven PS2 - instead of bringing a PS3 pre-release version - is an indication of this. I repeat: I am referring exclusively to the situation in the local market, and what I saw at AEShow. But I dare to wonder aloud what was behind Sony's decision to release the Silver Playstation 2 at such a low -$129- sale price. Even in Europe, lots of new game titles are coming out for the unfortunate child who will have to keep gaming on their PS2, so it's quite possible that the PS2 will continue to breathe some oxygen into Sony's battered lungs for some time to come, at least until the PS3 gets on its feet. Speaking of low-cost, some say Nintendo's Wii will be the ultimate winner in the U.S. and Europe on this year's Yuletide shopping craze, and as things look right now, it's also possible that the Xbox 360 will win the high-end wars in the developed world - as it's apparently exceeding Microsoft's expectations. But one thing is for certain: the biggest competitor this Yuletide season down here, based on price, will still be the PS2. Nintendo's was nowhere to be seen at the show floor.
People at Microsoft's booth at AEShow 2006 last month 
November 2006: What is this crowd? Sony's booth? What are they showcasing? 
Must be something good and new and exciting... 
Oops! Sony preferred to show off its Playstation 2...
In a radio interview, Federico Augspach, product manager for the Playstation line at Sony Argentina said there are around half a million Playstation consoles in the country, and only around 20% of its users are women. Augspach added that the most popular game on the PS2 in the land of Maradona is "Winning Eleven", a soccer game -known as "Pro Evolution Soccer" in Euroland. "PS2 users are mostly male," he said, adding, "the U.S. is obviously the country with the most consoles, and they prefer the FIFA version".
Sony Argentina said there are around half a million Playstation consoles in the country
We don't approve of piracy, but it's a reality of the local market that nobody can overlook: a lot of people down here buy the PS2 because they can go and buy inexpensive games for it on street markets and the like.
