SCE servers crash on rush of PS2 orders
Posted by @ 1:36 PM, EST
From The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Saturday morning edition:

"TOKYO --Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. started taking advance orders for its new PlayStation2 game console over the Internet on Friday, but was so flooded with requests that its servers crashed.
SCE began accepting orders at midnight. Within a minute, the company had received 600,000 hits, crashing the servers. The system was brought back online two hours later, but users were still having trouble connecting to it as of the following evening.
SCE President Ken Kutaragi issued an apology and informed eager buyers that the company is working with IBM Japan Ltd., which is operating the servers, to increase the site's capacity."
This is the URL http://www.jp.playstation.com/ if you want to check it out.