Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) president and CEO, David Reeves, has told industry journal, MCV, that the PlayStation 3 will "overtake the installed base of Xbox 360 across all PAL territories in late summer".

Reeves doesn't stop there. In a forthright interview, he also claims that the PS3 has already outsold its rival in "certain territories such as France, Spain, Germany and Italy".

In terms of loose figures, December saw PS3, PSP and PS2 each selling a million respectively in the PAL region - which includes Australia and New Zealand.

“In December we sold just over a million PlayStation 3s during the month. That’s across all PAL territories and that’s a sell-through figure.

"About 20-22 per cent of that figure was sold in the UK alone. We’re very happy with the performance of PS3 in the UK."

The MCV story finishes with a flourish, as Reeves reveals, "our current cumulative installed base is now higher than Xbox 360."

"It has not yet reached that in the UK. But the team here expect to overtake the installed base of Xbox 360 across all PAL territories in late summer. It’s also worth mentioning that last week we outsold Xbox 360 in PAL territories by a ratio of three to one."

Bullish is not the word!