Sony’s troubled PlayStation3 games console has hit yet another – slight – delay after the Metropolitan Police asked retailers to rethink a planned midnight launch of the machine on fears eager buyers would be targeted by muggers.

GAME Stores, the electronics retailer, today said it had pulled plans for a launch event at its Oxford Street store on Thursday at midnight, after consulting the police.

A spokesman for the chain said that, “on reflection”, it had been thought unwise to invite gamers to pick up the £425 consoles at a highly publicised event, and then make their way home from the centre of London. Instead, the first 150 customers to have pre-ordered the machines will be invited to a breakfast launch the following morning.

The PS3 has already been subject to a string of expensive delays, many linked to the next generation Blu-ray DVD player that will be built in to the games console. Last year Sony was forced to postpone the European launch until this month, alienating gamers on the continent who had already seen their US and Japanese peers pick up their machines.

The police confirmed that it had been aware of the midnight launch plans, but denied it had requested that the launch event be cancelled. It said it had advised that young buyers be accompanied by an adult and for gamers to organise a means of getting home before setting out.

Sony has made 220,000 PS3s available for the UK launch on Friday. The Japanese group is expected to sell up to 1.5 million of its PlayStation 3 consoles in Britain this year, putting it on track to outstrip Nintendo's cheaper Wii within 12 to 18 months of its launch.

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