It's a nice round figure which doesn't include Spider Man 2, bundled with the player in some territories. However, after all the dramas of meeting demand when supplying the snazzy new handheld, it's gratifying for Sony to hit a basic milestone and see the royalties trickling in from anyone caring to licence the format for their films.

Having said that, if movies on UMD in America cost US$20-30, Sony would be wise to avoid simply swapping the dollar for a UK£ sign and expecting Britons to snap up the films like idiotic lemmings, if DVDs crash in price so much more quickly nowadays. By the time the handheld finally arrives in Europe in September, 25 films are expected, but of course Sony Europe will hopefully have its own ideas and not simply replicate the American title roster all the way up to Christmas 2005.

It will be interesting to see the first big-selling single film on the format, if it's dedicated to watching on the move - many will stick to games and/or music in the first instance where the battery life may serve them better. Whatever the future holds, it's a good start in a non-core market for Sony's little helper ahead of the full-sized Playstation3 launch.

>> Sony Computer Entertainment Europe - Official website of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe