Microsoft CEO and formidably wealthy man Steve Ballmer has quipped in a recent meeting that even he can't get hold of an for his kids in North America, suggesting that he too will have to join the queues and hand over his cash like all the other gamers eager to get a taste of the next-generation. "The Ballmer children do not have their 360 yet. I'm in the same boat as many of you," Reuters reported Ballmer laughing. "Thanks to the wonders of Sarbanes-Oxley, management does not get a free Xbox 360," he added. 'Sarbanes-Oxley' is a reference to the anti-corporate crime legislation which prevents employees taking products as perks... they instead have to be counted as pay. The law was introduced in the wake of the Enron scandal, which shook the very heart of corporate America, as we can see by Ballmer's lament. Sort of.

Let's hope Mr Ballmer's kids are giving him hell at home then, so he can hurry those secondary shipments along and we can all get another chance to queue in the freezing cold and land one of the hotly sought next-gen systems. The Xbox 360 launches in tomorrow, marking the last destination of the 'global' roll-out. Quite whether the new console will do as well out east is anyone's guess, but the same shortages are not expected certainly, with concern mounting that local interest still remains largely indifferent. We'll keep you posted on the Japanese launch as we learn how the console's doing... we'll even pop along to our local Best Denki to check out how supplies are going. More soon, then.

By Luke Guttridge