Tony Murray, managing director of Ireland's first Xbox Live gaming centre in Dublin, laughs at the title bestowed on him by one of his son's classmates.

In the gaming centre, things are slow enough on a sunny Wednesday lunchtime, but in less than a month Murray says the venue, which cost about 750,000 to kit out, has signed up 800 members, at ages from just seven up to 35. Each paying 5 an hour to play games while nestled in comfortable leather seats, Murray claims the centre, which is backed by investors including former Smurfit chief financial officer Tony Ritchie, who arrives that day for a visit, is managing to convert at least some consumers once loyal to Sony's omnipotent Playstation. Two wellheeled visitors recently came in, played on the Xbox 360 for a few hours, and each bought a console before they went home. The total cost: roughly 700.

As Microsoft and Sony ramp up their global games console battle, Bill Gates is hoping that the company's preemptive assault on the $30bn market will see it beat off its rival's latest offering, the PS3, which will hit markets this November after an eight month delay.

Last week at the E3 industry trade show in Los Angeles, Sony unveiled the PS3 with a price point at least $100 higher than the most expensive Xbox 360. Ranging between 499 and 599 in Europe, and $499 and $599 in the US, depending on the size of its hard drive, the PS3 will be a significant outlay for most punters, especially those not yet in the wage earning bracket, and even those who are.

"It's not something you can easily get your kids for Christmas, " so the PS3's popularity may not spread that much, said Naoki Fujiwara, a Japanbased fund manager with Shinkin Asset Management.

One gamer in the Dublin Xbox centre, 15-year-old Fergus McKeown, said he'll be buying the new Nintendo Wii when it comes out later this year. The company hasn't announced price details, but has said that it will retail at a cost lower than either the PS3 or the Xbox 360. The PS3 will be just too expensive, said McKeown, for him and many of his friends.

Still, the managing director of Sony Computer Entertainment in Ireland, Niall O'Hanrahan, thinks the company could sell as many as 1m PS3's to Irish consumers during the console's lifetime.

That's a tall order, but Sony has already sold over 650,000 PS2s and more than 115,000 PSP handheld units in Ireland. That represents retail sales of over 250m. Hardly surprising that Ireland has the second-highest per capita Playstation ownership in the world after Japan.

Naturally, O'Hanrahan doesn't think the PS3 price point will put buyers off.

"It is a challenge and there's no doubt that it is expensive, " said O'Hanrahan, speaking from Los Angeles. "But the market that we're going for is not just limited to gamers."

Sony hopes that the high definition Blu-Ray disc drive incorporated into the PS3 will also appeal to film fans, for instance.

O'Hanrahan is aware that the profile of buyers is changing too, as teenagers who grew up with the first Playstation, and consoles by other manufacturers such as Sega, drift into their 20s. Older gamers, people who might remember playing Asteroids or Defender in grotty arcades, are often still console buyers in their 30s.

"I think the profile of the PS3 buyer will be different than it has been for other consoles, " said O'Hanrahan, "It will be aimed at a much broader audience."

O'Hanrahan added that he hopes Sony Ireland will be allocated at least 50,000 units prior to the launch in November. But Microsoft will not be sitting back while the PS3 marketing push begins.

The Seattle-based company says it will have shipped 10m consoles worldwide by the time Sony's PS3 is on shelves.

According to Merrill Lynch, Sony held 63% of the global market for the previous generation of consoles.

Microsoft, which held 16% with Nintendo 13%, wants to smash that dominance.

"Microsoft is looking at a slightly better position because of the price differential, " said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at US-based Directions on Microsoft, which focuses solely on Microsoft's strategy and technology.

"Microsoft is more in the driving seat, " he said. "If nothing else, it's going to be much more of a fight this time around."

Last week, research group Research and Markets said that it expects Sony's share of the market to fall by 2010, with its PS3 commanding a 50% share of the market, Microsoft's Xbox 360 just under 29% and Nintendo Revolution holding over 21%.

Microsoft won't break down regional shipments for the Xbox 360, but Orla Sheridan, the company's home entertainment division manager for Ireland, said that the firm has been "trashing" its own sales targets and remains confident it will beat off competition from Sony.

One retailer estimated that about 18,000 Xbox 360 units have been sold in Ireland since its launch, perhaps underlining the effort Microsoft will have to exert to break Sony's hold.

But Sheridan stressed that Irish retailers such as Gamestop have been "very happy" with the response to the console.

Sheridan said that there is now sufficient supply to meet demand, and added that this year will see a "heavy" marketing campaign.

Let battle commence.