by Playfuls Staff |
17th November 2006
Playstation fans and wannabe profiteers literally attacked US stores around the country to get their hands on the Sony PS3 gaming console, as the 400,000 consoles available Friday were gone almost[more] instantly. It's enough to say that one buyer in Britain was ready to pay on for 15,100 dollars on eBay. Some stores opened at midnight to sell the consoles to buyers who had lined up for as long as four days.
Sony made the first U.S. sale at its Madison Avenue store in New York during an event hosted by hip-hop artist Ludacris. Customers started lining up the store as early as Nov. 13 to be among the first to own one of the consoles. Toys ‘R' Us stores pre-sold all their PlayStations and other stores also sold their units in a matter of minutes.
But for most, the PS3 is just a games machine, and the question is whether consumers will pay top dollar for a device that does not yet offer a quantum leap in functionality over previous technologies. However, many hardcore gamers seem willing to pay almost anything to get the best action possible, and Sony insists it will sell 6 million of the consoles by March 2007.
Among other incidents caused by the restless buyers, a shooting reportedly took place by armed muggers at a Wal-Mart store in Connecticut and there were also reports of a stampede in Wisconsin. Police said two armed men approached a queue of 15 to 20 people who were waiting for the PS3 outside the Wal-Mart in Putnam, Connecticut and demanded money from them. One of them confronted the robbers and was shot. The man, who was not identified, was in hospital in a serious but stable condition. The muggers fled on foot and were still at large.
Police had shut down a Super Wal-Mart in the southern California city of Palmdale after a restless crowd of nearly 100 people turned rowdy on Wednesday. Police were called to a Best Buy store in Boston to control a crowd of at least 250 people.
"I'm selling mine on eBay," Neal Chung-Yee, 27, a student at the Art Institute of California, declared proudly, as quoted by NYT. He and others in the line said the hype, coupled with what is expected to be a lack of enough consoles to meet holiday demand, had created a secondary market on the Internet. Mr. Chung-Yee, who had been camped out since Wednesday afternoon despite having a head cold, said that he had big plans for any profit he might make reselling the system: "I'm going to buy a brand-new TV."
The wait "was way worth it," said Chris Toribio as quoted by AFP, the first customer in line outside the San Francisco store, who paid for his machine with a fistful of 20-dollar bills. "I just can't wait to play it," he said, turning to give applauding watchers a thumbs-up after Sony Computer Entertainment America vice president Jack Trenton handed him his new console. "I'm so tired I'm sick, and I'm going to sleep," said Toribio, who had waited outside the store with four friends since before dawn on Wednesday. "I'm going home to dream about what game I'm going to get."
The gaming console is available in two configurations for consumers. One features a 20-GB hard disk drive (HDD) and carries a suggested retail price of $499, while the second features a 60-GB HDD and built in Wi-Fi adapter and multiple memory card slots for $599.
"With today's launch of PS3, we are officially ushering in a new era in true next-generation entertainment for homes all across North America," said Kaz Hirai, president and CEO of SCEA. "The innovative PS3 system features powerful technologies and capabilities that have never been brought together in one system, including the Cell Broadband Engine, BD drive, HDD and online connectivity as standard features of every system. The results are breathtaking new interactive worlds to explore, eye-popping multimedia functionality, and a fully integrated online experience – all in high- definition clarity. The value we are providing consumers with PS3 is beyond compare."
A question from the "Are You Hot?" Chatterbean.com fun personality quiz asked, "Which new console is going to be hotter?" The question pitted the Nintendo's Wii against the Sony's PlayStation 3, and the Sony video game console won with over three times more responses. Of the nearly 1,300 visitors who took the fun personality quiz (http://www.ruhotquiz.net), 60 percent of respondents to the quiz were between the ages of 18 and 24, and of that age group, the majority choose the PS3 as the hottest system coming to market. This certainly bodes well for Sony as the holiday season quickly approaches.
