Sony sells one million PlayStation 4 consoles on first day

I am a big fan of the TV show Who Wants to be a Millionaire. My Tivo records it every day and I watch it in the evening. While I have been watching the show for years, I have never seen anyone actually win the show and leave with the full $1 million. That ultimate prize has proven elusive.

While Sony did not win a game show, the company announces something that was surprisingly not elusive -- one million PlayStation 4s sold in 24 hours. While the console was expected to be popular by many, nobody could have predicted such a remarkable feat on the first day.

Of course, pre-sales for the console started in June, so a large portion of day-one sales were already earmarked. While I was one of the people who preordered, I still went to my local Best Buy, Gamestop and Target to monitor the situation as a journalist. From my observations and inquisitions, all of these stores were sold-out of the PlayStation 4 and an enormity of desperate consumers were turned away sans gaming-console.

While Sony is undoubtedly happy with this sales revelation, the celebration may be short lived. You see, the release of Microsoft's competing console, the Xbox One is only days away. The first-day sale numbers of both consoles will be fodder for analysts and fan-boys alike. Fasten your seat-belts, this is going to be a thrilling next-gen console ride.