PETALING JAYA, MALAYSIA: Three lucky videogame enthusiasts each won a RM1,000 cash voucher when they became the first customers to buy the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) game console that officially went on sale in Malaysia yesterday.

Scores of people camped at the entrance of the 1-Utama shopping complex's new wing as early as two days ago to be among the first to buy the PS3, which has taken two years to arrive here after its worldwide launch.

The lucky ones were Joey Lim Chee Yee, James Chong and Ean J. Chan, all eager gamers who can now use the vouchers for their next Sony product purchase.

Chong, 26, who had queued up from early Friday, said he wanted to buy a PS3 to support the local videogame market.

Speaking at the launch, Sony Malaysia Sdn Bhd managing director Naoi Sudo said the introduction of the PS3 coincided with Sony's vision of delivering full high-definition entertainment to the home.

"The PlayStation3 isn't just another videogame console, it is a complete entertainment system with Blu-Ray playback and integrated WiFi connectivity to surf the web from your living room," said Sudo.

Despite the PS3?s delayed arrival here, Sony Computer Entertainment Asia president Tetsuhiko Yasuda said Malaysia remained an important market for Sony as it had a young demographic.

He said the timing of the PS3 launch couldn?t have been better as the market for high-definition products and broadband infrastructure to support the media was growing rapidly.

"Through our efforts, we hope to see more customers buy original PS3 consoles and games.

"Even our local distributors were pushing us to launch the PS3, so we finally decided to do so."

The PS3 available here is the 80GB version, and is priced at RM1,599.

Sony also announced that it would launch a local version of Sony's online multi-player gaming and digital media distribution service, PlayStation Network, by the end of the year.

This will allow local gamers to set up their own accounts to buy games and media, as well as play games online.