PS4 Launch: UK Fans Snap Up New PlayStation

Eager UK gamers got their hands on the new PlayStation 4 console after queueing for hours - some for days - ahead of its midnight launch.

The games device officially went on sale in Britain with Sony announcing that those who had not pre-ordered a console would still be in with a chance of buying one.

Launch day pre-orders for the console sold out in August.

The consoles available at the launch at the company's flagship lounge in Covent Garden, central London, were served on a first come, first served basis and tipped to be the last opportunity to have one before Christmas without pre-ordering.

Gamers queuing for their consoles - some of whom had been sleeping outside since Monday - were treated to a performance by a rapper and were given pizza and drinks to keep their energy up during the long, cold wait.

Hassan Farooq, 21, said: "I've been here since Tuesday. Me and my brother always had a plan. We have always had Sony consoles."

His brother Umar added: "I might go home and sleep, but my plan is to play."

Faisal Rao was the first to purchase and emerge from the lounge with the new console and told Sky News: "It's awesome, to me it means a lot. I have always been a PS fan. You can tell the difference between the PS3 and the PS4."

Asked when his family might next hear from him, he replied: "Not for a while. I'm going to lock myself in, hopefully."

Andrew House, CEO of Sony, said the new games device was designed to "connect" people via play in a way that mimicked online social networking.

"The PlayStation 4 has got what consumers have come to expect from a new launch but more than anything else it's the social aspect of the games that we have really focused on.

"We are trying to create a much more social and connected feeling. The whole goal of PlayStation 4 is to connect people via play, in a way that they maybe have not had before."

The device is being marketed as 10 times faster than its predecessor, the PlayStation 3, which was released in 2006.

It features a Blu-Ray/DVD optical drive, digital video recording, 8GB DDR5 ram, an 8 core single-chip x86 AMD "Jaguar" CPU, AMD Radeon graphics core next engine GPU, 500GB removable hard drive and internal power supply.

It goes head-to-head with the recently released Microsoft Xbox One, which was offered at £80 above the PS4's £349 price tag.