Sony to set up net retailer
Posted by @ 4:05 PM, EST
Straight from The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Wednesday morning edition:

"TOKYO --Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. announced Tuesday it will establish Feb. 1 PlayStation.com Japan Inc. to sell game consoles and software products via the Internet.
Although the new firm will take orders online, the products will be delivered off-line. However, the new company is expected to be the base for Sony Computer's plans to sell and distribute music, movies and game software from 2001 to PlayStation2 users via high-speed, large-capacity cable television lines.
Sony Computer will likely provide all of the firm's 480 million yen in capitalization. The online unit will start sales in mid-February, prior to the March 4 release of the PlayStation2 128-bit console.
The PlayStation and PlayStation2 consoles and related software and peripherals will be included among the goods for sale online. PlayStation2 software will be sold when the new console is released. In the near future, music CDs and DVDs will be sold at the virtual store."
The url to the new site is: http://www.jp.playstation.com/