Despite a lacklustre showing at E3, Sony's Kaz Hirai remains optimistic about the future, stating that he'd like to see the PS3 emulate the success of the all-conquering PS2 and ultimately go on to outsell its predecessor.

Over the past nine years, since the launch of the Playstation 2, figures reveal that Sony has sold over 140 million units, making it the best selling console to date. Hirai has now set the company a tough target of 150 million sales during the PS3's life cycle.

"I want to try to see if we can exceed the PS2 numbers after nine years, otherwise why are we in this business?" he told the Financial Times.

Despite its slow start, sales in the Playstation 3 have been picking up over more recent months thanks in no small part to the PS3-exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4, with June's US figures showing that sales of the console doubled from the previous month.

"PS3 unit sales were the highest of any month outside of that recorded during previous November/December holiday timeframes," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter believes that Sony can achieve its high target, but not until there's a significant drop in the price of the hardware.

“It’s highly likely that when the PS3 gets below $200, it will sell as well as the PS2.”