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Tesco secures 2,500 PS2 consoles

Undercover operation grabs secret stash of consoles for Britain
Written by Wendy McAuliffe, Contributor

An extra 2,500 Sony PlayStation 2 games consoles have been sneaked into the UK from a "secret location" in Northern Europe by grey market maverick, Tesco.

The consoles will go on sale Wednesday for £299.99 each at five stores in Watford, Peterborough, Cardiff, Newcastle and Inverness. Tesco will be the only British store able to provide consoles before Christmas.

The supermarket managed to secure the consignment of consoles after a covert five-month operation. It will be the first consignment to arrive in Britain after the console's launch in November when the British quota of 165,000 consoles were immediately snapped up by consumers who had pre-ordered them.

"We did put in a request for an official supply, but we were told that none would be available until the second quarter of next year," said a spokesman at Tesco.

Sony is refusing to make any comment on the situation at present. "We're still trying to clarify the situation... we're looking into it," said a spokesperson at Sony.

If the consoles have come from Northern Europe, there may be problems with power supply compatibility. Tesco has however confirmed that the consoles meet European specifications. "They've been tested, and we're changing all of the plugs at the moment," said the Tesco spokesman.

For complete gaming news, see GameSpot UK.

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