PS3 pre-sales begin with $8 auctions

The launch of Playstation 3 is about eight months away, but some early marketing campaigns for Sony’s new game console already have begun. UniqueAuction is first to jump into what is expected to become a marketing frenzy soon : The company will run a series of "pre-sale auctions" beginning on 27 March.

Each auction will run for a week and will have a maximum price. According to UniqueAuction, not the highest bid will win, but the most "unique" - a number that no other bidder has selected - instead. Every bidder can place up to five bids within the price range of the auction. The first PS3 "pre-sale" will have a ceiling price of $8, which allows bidders to place bids between $0.01 and $8.00.

Other third-party promotions of the PS3 are largely limited to the sale of PS3-related domain names and email-addresses on Ebay. Domain names are currently listed for prices between $500 and $60,000 ; a Gmail email account goes for about $200.

Sony has not released the retail price of the PS3. Current industry rumors put the likely price tag of the game console at about $500.