DIEHARD gamers queued round the block at midnight in Bolton to be the first to get their hands on the latest PlayStation console.

Around 100 eager fans waited outside GAME, in Victoria Square, waiting for the first machines to go on sale at 12.01am.

All had pre-ordered their machines but were eager to get their hands on it, especially since the console had been due to go on sale last November across Europe, a launch that was put back until yesterday because of a shortage of consoles.

Gamestation, in Newport Street, Bolton, also pened at midnight for eager customers, while other stores opened from 7am to allow people to buy the £425 console before they went to work.

Computer game student Christopher Wallace, aged 23, said: "The queue stretched as far back as Ann Summers. There were adults with children and many had queued from 10pm."

People who queued at Virgin Megastore, in Oxford Street, London, received a free 46-inch flat panel TV worth £2,000 - and a taxi ride home Sony announced the surprise just before midnight and said it was a thank you to fans who had waited patiently for the European launch.