HMV will be Sony's official launch partner, with a special midnight event set to take place at their Oxford Street store.
HMV are currently discussing a range of possible options. I can't say right now whether this will include an official launch event, as such, but it's certainly the case that more and more publishers and games companies are approaching HMV following the success of a number of major launches over the last few years."
Most recently, HMV hosted the launch event for World of Warcraft expansion pack The Burning Crusade, which took place on Monday night. According to Ellis, "The midnight launch attracted a staggering 1500 fans, making it by far the biggest event of its kind ever staged by our Oxford Circus store."
HMV was also Nintendo's official partner for the launch of the Wii in December, and was previously chosen by Sony as its partner for the PSP launch in September 2005.