Slashdot Mirror
PS3 Lines Already Forming In America
Wowzer writes "Nine days until Sony's PlayStation 3 launches in America, and lines are already forming. From the article: "Someone went to Best Buy this morning and saw about 7 people waiting outside. He went inside and one of the workers told him that they had been there since Monday. It must be a tough job being such big PS3 fans and being the butt of many passer-by jokes like 'Where is the line for PS4? Is it on the other side?'"
The editor has been smoking a bit too much of the 'bud'.
It must be a tough job being such big PS3 fans and being the bud of many passer-by jokes like 'Where is the line for PS4? Is it on the other side?'
I'm not a fan of the PS3, and I'd find it tough to listen to a 'joke' like that.
http://twitter.com/onion2k
... How the hell can you afford to stand in a line for over a week?? Are you taking vacation time from work? Are you unemployed? Unemployable? And why the hell would you stand in a line for a week even if you had the time? Stupid kids and their rock music.
Why can't Sony just sell the first 200,000 straight from the factory doors. They'll be plenty of demand and it'll save on overheads.
Says the Slashdot editor...
Donate free food here
Actually it looks like the started monday. (11.06.06) I believe this thread was the first: http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php ?t=114295
Quote from the post:
"I went to Best Buy this morning for a job interview (got the job, but it's seasonal) and I saw about 7 people waiting outside. I went inside and one of the workers told me that they had been there since Monday. Do these people have no lives?
The awesome thing was, as I was waiting outside, I saw a bunch of people coming to Best Buy and picking up Gears of War. A few people made some funny remarks. One guy is like, "I hope you guys brought enough food!" Another one said, "Where is the line for PS4? Is it on the other side?""
Oookay... So they spend 7 days. And hygiene stayed at home. And it got to be very unhealty. But, I suppose, if you like something, 7 days are not so much.
// You may rejoice.
I went to eat with a bunch of friends at a mall food court and noticed an optimization problem. All the seats were full. Some people who were carrying food were forced to walk around looking for tables while others were 'holding' tables waiting for other members of their party to buy and bring back food.
By essentially creating a semaphore on the tables, the 'holders' were forcing a backlog of 'eaters'. By taking the resource and not using it, they blocked other users who would be ready to use the table immediately. With more 'eaters' coming out of line, the more crowded and backed up the general flow of customers got.
By sitting in line for a PS3, you're perhaps creating a slight advantage for yourself, but you are unoptimizing the situation for everyone else. You don't smell nice either, and you look like vagrants standing around in front of Best Buy.
I'm pretty sure this is astroturf. Just like for movies, publishers pay people to form queues and get on the TV news.
Anyone who really wants a PS3 that badly would have pre-ordered.
I'm getting a Wii on Euro launch day, and I fully expect to queue for no more than 5 minutes, wave my preorder receipt at the attendant, and walk out with a Wii.
Will be pre ording via mail order then e-baying mine for twice what I payed, I'm still on my old (second hand PS2). Sure the new console is going to have pretty HDTV graphics but I'm from the game-play is more important old school, also I have a life (well as much as a slashdotter can have).
* Welcome our new PS3 overlords <ducks>
In the not too distant future, next Sunday A.D.
So, Sony sells CDs full of malware, sues grandmothers and kids, sends checks to various US Congressmen stapled to drafts of anti-consumer laws to be introduced by them, and I'm supposed to line up at 4 AM to give them money.
...?
Cool stuff you can do for $600:
- Buy a bike
- Rent a decent sports car for a couple of days
- Take a plane trip to just about anywhere
- All-day shopping spree at a huge bookstore
- Adopt a starving Brungarian refugee
- Join a health club
- Take professional-development classes
- Many things involving girls
Dumbass stuff you can do with $600:
- Donate to the Cowboy Neal Retirement Fund
- Give it to Sony
-
How many of those 7 people were being paid by Sony to make demand look greater than it is?
I think it's safe to say these guys have no lives.
apt-get install life
Well, this certainly gets a !life tag from me. I can understand waiting a day before, but.. this? No.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
I think they're probably just hobos anyway. I mean, do they need to stand in line for days on end to get one? I think not.
Not too costly, and it would really dent the ps3 games market, but thats just plain really evil,
maybe all employees will buy 1 each and use them for blueray, and nothing else.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
I wonder how many of these folks are virgins? ...or just don't care.
people paid by sony to drum up some last minute hype. that or just a bunch of tards.
I think they're probably just hobos. I mean, do they need to stand in line for days on end to get one? I think not.
Paid to sit there for a photo-op?
If they're such diehard fans that they're willing to wait in line for over a week to buy a goddamn games console, why the hell didn't they just preorder it instead?!
"Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
Wow, a queue with seven people in it! That must have wound its way for at least two dozen feet from the front of the store, or even more if some of them were fat. If this sort of massive demand keeps up, people might have to wait in line for five or even ten minutes to get a PS/2, so buy yours before Christmas to avoid gigantic lines with ten or even a dozen people in them. You know it makes sense!
I'm not going to change your sheets again, Mr. Hastings.
Only people lining up are those that really want to for the "fun" of it or because they're gonna flip the thing on eBay. Sucks that most of the initial units are going straight to the secondary market. Hell with that - http://www.playstationfinder.com/ FTW.
If by not too costly you mean £110'000'000 (using UK site play.com as a guide). Besides, there's a chance that being so hard to get hold of and so sought after, it may only add to the hype of the machine.
I'd actually have more respect for these people if they said they'd be at home and masturbating continuously for the next 10 days.
...they're geeks who can't wait to install gentoo on it...a custom compiled system that's optimized and soooooooooo faaaaaaaaaast!
... I want to see the look on the faces of the last 3 when they find out the store only has 4 units.
"Someone went to Best Buy this morning and saw about 7 people waiting outside."
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
Don't worry, just suggest they go and cryogenically freeze themselves to pass the time, they'll probably be clever enough to believe you, problem solved.
It must be a tough job being such big PS3 fans and being the bud of many passer-by jokes like 'Where is the line for PS4? Is it on the other side?'"
Now is this a difference between the English and American languages, or can TFA not spell? On this side of the pond we'd talk about the butt of the joke.
(and then have a cup of tea).
Will someone honestly answer me this. Do they put 2 weeks of food in a cooler? Do they sit with their best pal and take turns waiting in line? Does Best Buy obligate me to respect their encampment and let them buy first? What if I just waltz in on the appropriate day and put my tent in front of theirs? Can they be arrested for sleeping on the sidewalk? Can Best Buy kick them out? How does this work?
... part easily.
so why wouldn't these idiots just go to a more desolate area that does not yet have people camping out like retards. I'm at Purdue in West Lafayette Indiana and there isn't a single person camping in front of any store. Might as well just come out here and save yourself at least 5 days or so.
Either that or just stop acting like such a pathetic lame ass.
When the xbox 360 came out well about a week before i realized that is was going to take more than just walking into a walmart day of the launch and picking one up with no prob. It soon dawned on me that i would have to take extream measures (not THAT extream) to get my 360 on launch day. Me and a friend ended up driving out of town about 60 miles and came across a fredmyers (northwest department store)and we where 3rd and 4th in line. We had to spend the night in almost freezing weather but it got done and i made twice my money back when i listed it on ebay the day after... To me that was worth it, financhaly...
But for me the logic doesnt work. I cant justify spending a week and a half out side of best buy for the "chance" to get a PS3. The only whay i would do it is if i was Garenteed to get one and ablr to sell it for more money than the lost days working. And at my salary good luck even at the vey bloated Pre PS3 sales happening on ebay right now. There going for at least $1500...
I fail to see why anyone sane would stand around outside for 10+ days waiting for a PS3 that they may or may not get unless that are hoping to make alot of money reselling it to someone else just as desprate to get one...
The society seems to have closen a circle when you can afford to line up for a product designed to waste time.
Oooooooooh. You're evil! For those that think Microsoft would be helping Sony profit: Sony actually sells the consoles at a loss. So it'd cost Sony quite a bit (as no-one would be buying any games, which are sold at pretty high profits to compensate for the console loss, for all those consoles).
By sleeping outside Best Buy for a week, instead of paying for Hotel rooms, these guys are saving enough money that their Play Stations are in effect free. They're not so dumb.
Reduce, reuse, cycle
I'm getting a Wii on Euro launch day
Pffft. Big deal. I'm playing with my Wii right now...
How about "paid by Sony"? Look at the media coverage those 7 guys are getting. How much does it cost to hire 7 geeks for a week? 100 dollars a day each? that's 4900 dollars for the week, how much advertising air time can you buy for 4900 dollars these days? I am guessing a lot less than the "viral marketing" (yuk! expression) Sony are getting from the "7 guys in a queue FOR PS3, lets laugh at the geeks" funny news coverage.
(and hey they are Sony so I am sure it doesn't cost them much to chuck the 7 guys a PS3 each if there aren't actually any in that shop come the official day).
The funny thing is that I bet there are people waiting in line, who decided to take off from their hourly wage job so they could get a PS3 and "flip it" on eBay for a profit. But they're too dumb to realize that they could have made just as much money (if not more) staying at work the entire time. Even a minimum wage job, if you put in decent hours over a couple of days, nets a few hundred dollars. And that's about the most profit you can make on eBay reselling the console. (Plus, it's a risky proposition ... how do you know enough people are going to want to spend that much on the console?)
-- jchenx
I hope they get inside on the launch date only to find out the store's entire stock has been pre-ordered. On another note, what kind of lines have there been for past consoles? There's a tremendous amount of hype (good and bad) going on about the PS3, and I'm sure it's affected interest, but how much?
Was Eric cartman in the line, or is he still waiting for Wii?
... and then they built the supercollider.
In my town we only have four people... and we are still waitng for the PS1
Your thoughts form your reality.
I've spent some time with the new PS3 (via work) and I have to say they'll be really disappointed.. Vastly overpriced, really buggy software (OS is flaky, real flaky) and the games (i've played) aren't much better!!!, poor build quality (drive access fails, disc fails to spin, connectors loose at the rear), poor controller, etc.
They'll have the same games they bought before on their ps2, just much more expensive this time around.. Games WILL look great (as long as they have HDTVs) but, in all honesty I think it's going to crucify Sony... it's just such a pile of crap you wouldn't believe.. NO really, it just doesn't work the way you'd expect/want and when you factor in that SONY made it, not some junky two bit chinese company you've never heard of.. it's just shocking.
it's just so disappointing you won't believe it.
If the answers to the above are "no" and "yes, the mind boggles. I have visions of someone in adult diapers for 10 days, unable to go for a shower. When the store finally opens on the big day, he smells so awful that the store bars him entry.
I could understand going to a midnight opening to get a new console, hell even a new game but camping out for a week?!!!
These people should just be put out of their misery.
How sad.
Perhaps one of these people could post and explain why they would do this????
Now thats a game machine.
Actually this would definitly be a serious blow to Sony. Like MS, they lose on the console and make the money on the games. Now, if your competitor buys all the consoles and simply trashes them, the blow could be devastating.
It sure is cheaper than buying Sony, Sony can't simply up the price to keep them from buying (or nobody else would buy either), and their stock might start quivering. In our kinda whacky little commercial world, this might even work out financially for MS.
I wonder though if it would be legal. Would it be legal to hoover up all products of your competitor?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Commodore64_love: I don't comprehend people who're so frightened of death that they'll bankrupt themselves to stay alive
You can walk into shops in America and pick up semi-automatics without queueing a minute!
How many of those 7 people were being paid by Sony to make demand look greater than it is?
How much, in comparison, was Microsoft playing similar people when they launched the Xbox360?
These guys are exactly why I wear a lead codpiece when I sit at my computer.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Please someone do something about the "itsatrap" tag misuse.
Look, you have people with nothing better to do than stand in line for a week for something that they will probably use for days on end without doing anything else constructive. What else do they do for a sense of accomplishment in their life? It probably makes them feel great about themselves to have such dedication and determination.
In related news, Microsoft has announced that they will have BluRay players for the XBox360 available approximately 1 week after the launch of the PS3. Up to 200,000 may be available for sale.
Anyone who really wants a PS3 that badly would have pre-ordered.
Insightful, huh? How is this insightful? Perhaps, just maybe, that the number of people who "really wants a ps3 that badly" far outweighs the puny number of pre-orders there have been to date? Figures that this would be posted by a Nintendo fanboy.
These guys obviously have friends and are taking shifts with each other when nature calls.
Perhaps they were going camping anyways, and decided they might as well try it on concrete and make some money.
I would feel sorry for all the people waiting outside on the day of release when they find out that people who just walked in are queueing inside.
It's the butt of the joke in US English as well. (And it's not actually in TFA, it's from the /. submitter...)
All these people saying "Heh, I hope they find out that only 4 are available." Best Buy doesn't PRE-ORDER! They didn't for the 360 (don't own one) and they have not for the Wii or the PS3. I will walk in Sunday morning without waiting in a long ass line and get my Wii with no hassle. Read the article about common sense and camping out. oi.
If I wrote something witty, you would say I stole it from somewhere.
"He went inside and one of the workers told him that they had been there since Monday."
A lot of republican voters are in PS3 lines, which would explain the recent results in american politic...
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
This is my thought on the subject. I would bet that all of the people in the queue are gamers [i.e. not grandma buying it for lil'johnny].
And as we all know "hardcore" gamers are all driven by the compulsive 'desire for collection' i.e. the constant drive to increase scores, collect all special blue powerups, cover yourself head to toe in Valor armour, have as many @folding points as possible.
It is this psychology, i.e. the compulsion to collect and improve scores, that is driving them in that queue.
They have read and read and read about the consoles for months [years?] and the seed has been planted. So it really is little surprise that they would queue for a week, when they would happily spend 48hours awake trying to beat their OWN high scores.
As many of us have experienced; it takes a big leap to realise that stepping back and saying "i don;t CARE if i don;t get my PS3 for antother week or so...I'll just shave the dog instead" is actually NOT a big problem.
Seriously guys! you will get your PS3! and if you DO decide to wait for it...it will probably be much better by the end of it.
>>>Scanning for I.D.I.O.T.S. >>>
>>>I.D.I.O.T.S. FOUND! >>>
Ok, so thats completely baseless, given that I'm in London, but hey, this is just a light hearted idea. I was in NYC when the PSP was released, and the Sony store mentioned sell-outs, the queue was very long then but I still got mine, and so did everyone else.
What's the weather like there??, because in 2005 it was bloody cold!!!!!
Perhaps you can measure the desparation of a company by how soon it deploys its Viral Fanbois.
I mean just having a queue makes 'Organic' News Coverage that much more.
[% slash_sig_val.text %]
How many of you Microsoft fanboys posting on forums are being paid by Microsoft to bash Sony?
It would seem more plausible that Microsoft pay bloggers and "news" sites to bash Sony than Sony paying people to stand in line at a BestBuy.
These days, retailiers oversell the pre-orders, and then give the console to those that bought the most accessories. And they may not be die hard fans, but savvy ebayers. You might just make $1000 dollars profit for a week in line if you score a ps3 in an area where there aren't many of them.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Make a few buys, and start publicly voiding warranties(and other nasty things) of the rest that they can find of any that are north of MSRP + $30-50. If records don't match up with the original buyer in the first 2 years, no warranty service for you either.
This is where regulation brings back sanity. Besides, if you're stuck with it for 2 years (by which time there will be more than plenty) and cant flip it (Sony voids the warranty, 3rd party warranties get voided, or you get slapped with a ticket scalping statute), I bet the lines will be a LOT shorter and with perhaps more stock.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
So, if you get a PS3 on day 1, you can turn it around on ebay for 1500-2000. (Which sickens me). So, that's a 900-1400 profit. Let's assume $1400. So, that's $200/day for standing in line they're making - which is probably a lot more than these kids make in their normal days jobs (if they have one). Not a bad deal, I guess.
Now, I really want a PS3, but we already have a next-gen console out there which is finally getting some quality titles. I'll have no problems playing Gears of War for a month or two while it's hard to get my hands on a PS3. There really isn't anything that excites me about the PS3, well, until the next Gran Turismo comes out.
Say hello to Ed Bernays again, Sigmund Freud's very own Nephew and Der Grandmaster of Der Propaganda
and what he later called "Public Relations" to escape the "bad vibes" of the original term.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays.
One of the more notable Bernays's domestic US projects was getting women to smoke, a request he
was approached by the American tobacco industry. Bernays staged "militant feminist action" during
major public events where large numbers of women took out cigarettes in unison and lit up provocatively.
Paying a handful of people a couple of thousand dollars is worth the attention the (downgraded) PS3 is getting in return...
Now I wish Nintendo had gone ahead and made the Wii release date be a few days before the PS3 release. Then we could walk in and right out of the store, waving our newly purchased Wiis at them.
Why wait? Wii!
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
... you're not hard-core enough. Standing in line doesn't have anything to do with the PS3, its all about *them* and how *they* are such big fans that they *stood in line for a week to play the PS3*. Its a mark of social status and something you can bet they will brag about for years. Now, personally, I'd rather brag "I went into the store and pre-ordered a Wii. Took about 45 seconds. Thats about what its going to take me on December 2nd, too". I guess I just did.
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
Several people with enough money to buy a PS3 alone at night?
I can only speak for the Dreamcast because it was the only system that I got on the day it came out. I pre-ordered mine, paid the full cost in advance, and waited about 30 minutes to an hour. I was also able to purchase Soul Calibur once I got into the store. I remember the store being opened at midnight on the day the Dreamcast came out, and only folks with pre-orders could get the system. I don't remember people waiting in line who hadn't pre-ordered. I wouldn't imagine the mall that the store was in would take kindly to people camping out.
Don't get me wrong, I won't queue more than two minutes for a coffee in Starbucks, let alone seven days for a games console. Likewise buying a console for $600 and selling it on eBay for $1500 would not be worth anywhere near a week's worth of my time.
But if someone is prepared to pay 2.5 times the price for it on eBay, then what's the problem? They're just taking advantage of the fact that there are some people with more money than sense for whom it worth paying more than twice the price to be "first on the block" to get a PS3.
Good luck to them - if anything, the guys selling them on eBay probably have more sense than those who are queuing a week beforehand to get one for themselves...
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
from the preface of Parliament of Whores...
P.J. O'Rourke >> How come whenever something upsets the Left you see immediate marches and parades and rallies with signs already printed and rhyming slogans already composed, whereas whenever something upsets the Right you see two members of the Young Americans for Freedom waving a six-inch American flag?
Andrew Ferguson >> We have jobs.
Same concept here.
"Bother" said Pooh as he reloaded his Uzi...
They sure as hell won't be forming in Europe anytime soon... ;)
Don't forget about the guy who observed it and the slashdot editor who posted it.
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World"
1 John 4:14
Pardon me for asking, but how does a clinical hypnotherapist from Wales have extended contact through unreleased consoles and software through his job?
And is Sony gonna crucify your ass for breaking an NDA when they see this?
That would actually be a serious financial blow to Sony, considering how much they are losing on every console. If someone bought all the consoles, but didn't buy any games, it could very well ruin Sony.
Ninjas use italics.
So if you come, say, next Monday morning, you'll have to wait until all ten of them shop?
Tough.
"Blah blah blah." - [citation needed]
...if they weren't queuing outside, they'd be indoors for 7 days playing on their consoles. At least they're getting some sun and fresh air for a few days!
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
..than queue for 7 days to buy a games console (or anything non vital for that matter)they *really* need to consider getting a life.
That's funny, my next boy is due November 17th! Hope there's going to be a PS3 in there too! ;)
printf($randomline(sigs.txt) \n "-- "$randomline(authors.txt));
-- myself
Learned of the preorder date set. Drove down to the local game store an hour before it opened. Nobody there, so I went next door to eat breakfast. Came back thirty minutes later to find one person in line (a secretary sent there by her boss). Stayed to chat until the store opened. Got a preorder (second in line). Decided I could wait until after they find and fix the bugs and lower the price for the first time. Will be making some extra money before Christmas by selling it on eBay. If I happen upon an Elmo TMX, I'll be buying and selling that, too.
If you are standing out there and unemployed. Where do you get the money to buy that thing?
If you ARE unemployed, where are you getting $600 to buy a PS3? I am not sure I want to know...
7 people, 7 days. They switch each day. So you wait one day, and in the end you get a PS3 faster than your pretend-friends.
I would do the same, not for the PS3 though.
*pre-orders Wii*
Just think of all the D&D you could play while waiting!
Ticket scalping laws themselves are wrong.
If a limited commodity is sold at a vastly undercut price it is the duty of the free market to bring the price of the commodity up to what its true value is. That is what ticket scalping is all about.
I can understand the government stepping in if we were talking about transportation/health/food/shelter, but you're talking about baseball game tickets and PS3s. These are things anyone can do without. When the government steps in to regulate prices for ENTERTAINMENT, good Lord, I am amazed people don't get more pissed off.
The truth is that most scalpers will go away when ticket prices are high enough at the box office that scalpers have no margin. There will still be the one or two hardcore scalpers that hope they will find a sucker, but those people exist EVERYWHERE. Yes, you can complain that the cost of tickets is too high, but unless you put your money where your mouth is, the people selling the tickets (or PS3s) get the last laugh. And good for them--they deserve it; as a fool and his money are soon parted.
How can you afford to just take a week off work to plunk down $600 for a console? The only type of people who could afford to do this are little suckling pigs who get all their spending money from mommy and daddy or some sugar daddy/mommy who should be getting therapy from Dr. Phil.
-Kinsey
Someone should call the cops... there has to be some sort of anti-vagrancy law that these people can be kicked out for. But not until a night or two before release. Even if they're just Sony shills, that would be hilarious.
With due respect to Bill Engvall, my reaction to these people waiting on line would be "Here's your sign!"
Stupid sexy Flanders.
Semi-serious question: Would that be considered anti-competitive behavior?
If these people have been in line since Monday, they skipped voting to get a PS3. Somehow, I think choosing our country's leadership is just a little more important than an overpriced game console. Shame on these guys for not getting their priorities straight.
(Although they are lining up for DS Lites!)
If I profit off some dope $400 bucks and his PS3 craps out a month later, I wouldn't mind sending it in for him/her. Long as he/she pays for it.
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
Triumph & a camera crew should get out to the lines. He could heckle them good, just like he did at the lines of the Star Wars premiere.
Pictures and infos about Wii preorders in Japan:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1280
Homer: Heh heh, I did it! Second in line, and all I had to do was
miss eight days of work.
Man: With the money you would have made working, you could have bought
tickets from a scalper.
Homer: In theory, yes. Jerk.
I made 3 replies in this story, and they show up on my comments list.. but the original comments that I replied to are gone.
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
Ok, so here is what MS should do:
1. Trot out game stations to where the lines are forming.
2. Let the SONY freaks play for free any game they like on the xbox360 while the people wait in line.
3. Have xbox units for sale on site, and either offer a 50$ rebate, or choice of ANY free game with the console.
4. Laugh at how fast the lines disappear for the PS3.
Need your new game system and don't want to stand outside the store for weeks to get it? Do we have the answer for you! Rent a Fanboy has quality fanboys who will stand in your place and are equipped with the latest in outdoor survival gear to prevent death from exposure! ... not responsable from injuries caused while retrieving your game system from the Fanboy.
So this guy boasts about getting a job at Best Buy in one breath and passes judgment on its customers in the next.
These fools waiting in line this far in advance or people on ./ whining about it?
Great, you've broken
No cookie for you!
What a sweet job, I wish Sony would hire me to do that.
The phrase "more better" is acceptable English. suck it grammar Nazis
Reminds me of South Park +Wii Episode ... doh
It's all well and good to wait in line for a week,but the Best Buy employees are gtting those PS3's. We all know that this is the one time working at Best Buy will bring those employees any type of status or respect from their fellow man. The best buy Stock Monkeys may even get laid. I'm sure most of the units that initially ship will go out the back door to the manager's girl friend and the employees gaming buddies. If you can't get yourself an early release system as a perk, you may as well work at McDonalds.
Et In Arcadia Ego
wait! there's a ps3?!?
I've got a feeling that even with a release date 2 days after, we'll still be able to walk out with Wiis while the PS3 kids are still sitting out on the sidewalk, waiting for that 2nd shipment...
Ok, so here is what MS should do:
1. Trot out game stations to where the lines are forming.
2. Let the SONY freaks play for free any game they like on the xbox360 while the people wait in line.
3. Have xbox units for sale on site, and either offer a 50$ rebate, or choice of ANY free game with the console.
4. Laugh at how fast the lines disappear for the PS3.
Wow thats gonna be crappy news for the people who have been freezing themselves for the last 2 weeks...
Indeed. My intent was to raise the cost of circumvention so high that it effectively eats time and money out of all involved, beyond which can be turned into a valid business expense.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
It will really suck for those 7 people when (if) the store takes the "lottery" approach and hands out numbers at like 5am to everyone present including the morons who sat there for a week that won't get their PS3 :-)
Should make for some interesting photos/TV, though, like those stampedes for the cheap laptops last year...
Does it seem to anyone else like the moderators favor comments purporting that the PS3 or anything involved with it is ridiculous? It just seems like theres been a great deal of smear going on both in posts and articles. Not that I expect totally unbiased info on /. but hey it seems to be getting out of hand. Maybe I'm just plain wrong?
...that many consoles gamers are morons. But no less idiotic than movies fans who stood in line for a film that premiered simultaneously in 4000 theatres.
Fiat Homos et Pereat Theos
What if sony paid these people to be in line 9 days in advance. The publicity they are generating from this event would cost them millions to reproduce through other venues.
go a block away to another store?
NAAAHH...
also, WHY THE PS3?
I'm not a PS3 hater (at all), but on release? WHO cares that much for resistance: fall of man and RIIIiIIdge RAACERRR? (sure, resistance's by an amazing developer, one of my favorites, insomniac, but... really?)
what part of wii/ZELDA are they missing?
I mean for christ's it's ZELDA
Well, the taste is comparable...
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
somewhere where snow is in the forcast. Now that would show dedication.
I think buying a console on the first day is more for novelty than anything else. Chances are people who get the PS3 on the release day will be playing Gears of War a lot until the PS3 gets some good games out. I waited a while in line and bought my xbox 360 the day of its release. To be honest, in retrospect I wouldn't do it again. After I got it, I hardly played it because there weren't any real titles I liked. Now I'm stuck with an early revision of the 360 which sounds like a hair-dryer. Generally, launch titles suck because developers are pushed by the console manufacturer to release and they're not familiar with new hardware and may not be able to make full use of its abilities. I have to admit, the Wii looks interesting though. The only reason I would buy it is because of the new Zelda game.
...if they went into a state of suspended animation by freezing themselves ... like in the space movies ....
"We shall party like the Greeks of old! You know the ones I mean." - HedonismBot
Wouldn't that suck if launch date came around, and it turns out they forgot there money?
Sounds pretty stupid to me. I expect to just walk into a store and buy a Wii if I feel like it. Though my local Best Buy told me they only expect 3 or 4 PS3s shipped to them and they won't be opening at midnight or anything special. First come first serve.
How the hell can you afford to stand in a line for over a week?? Are you taking vacation time from work? Are you unemployed? Unemployable? And why the hell would you stand in a line for a week even if you had the time? Stupid kids and their rock music.
I agree, it's that very slim mutually inclusive combination of people who have enough money to pay for the PS3 but who don't have a job to earn that money.
Regular Meta Moderators are not more likely to get mod points.
The same guys who are making fun of them for waiting while they themselves are walking in to get 360 games are the ones who camped out for two weeks to get a 360 first.
Perhaps the PS3 isn't doomed for failure like so many people have suggested, and that common people that don't listen to the doom and gloom coming from blogs are actually interested in buying the PS3 because they think it holds good value?
You guys really don't understand the whole phenomena. The people forming these lines are the same that formed lines for days for the Star Wars or Lord of Ring movies. They have the same likes and can talk in the same 'language'. When they form those lines, being there is part of the fun. If you're a season ticket holder for any sports team it's a similar feeling of going to the opening day and seeing the other ticket holders that you know from years before. Also, you're not talking about one person here. Those forming lines are actually teams of people working on shifts. Luckily I don't have that fanatism. I'll buy my PS3 probably in February or March, I still have plenty of PS2 games to play.
I dont have to wait in any lines =D
If they do this for a PS3 what would they do for a Klondike Bar?
I really have no tolerance whatsoever for people who wait in line or dramatically over pay to get their hands on a damn console.
There are PS3 pre-orders on Ebay going for over $1500. How pathetic does a person have to be that they can't wait a damn month or two to buy the system at retail price.
People criticize the government for investing in programs like space exploration which ultimately are beneficial to humanity. But then these people will have no problem paying an obscene amount of money for something which serves no useful purpose whatsoever.
Some people really have no sense of priority.
financhaly?
Do you by chance have a lisp?
I learned this by calling around last year for the XBOX 360, which I ebayed for a profit of $40/hour invested. Head out to a rural town just big enough to have a walmart that DOES NOT have a college of any sort nearby, and arrive a few hours (2-3 is plenty) before the ticket handout. You won't have a problem. You might drive a little farther to do this, but it's a lit more comfortable to drive a few hours out of town, then to sit in a lawnchair for 3 days. This may, of course, vary by state, or if Walmart's are exceedingly rare in your area.
"Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey?"- Peter Gabriel
They are college students. Or paid-Sony-employees masquerading as college students.
It's simple. The kind of person who can do this is the same kind of person that can jump in a car and go on a road trip for spring break on 10 minutes notice. I've been there. For me it was more like "Hey, it's like midnight, want to drive a few hours and crash on someone's floor and attend Gasparilla parade in Tampa?", answer: "Sure, lets get some illegal substances first."
It has to do with the whole drinking thing. If you can polish off a large bottle of rum in a night, make an ass of yourself and sleep it off on the floor, only to wake up and do it again the next night, a week with friends in front of a store is nothing.
My question is: if they are college students, where the HELL are they getting $600 from? I bet they are drug dealers.
-- Having a Creationist Museum is like having an Atheist place of worship
Check out here
It is going for >$1900
I guess I am very lucky having a wife who's a graveyard-shift stocker at Superstore (where they dont do preorders) and her best friend is a stocker in the Electronics section. Guess who's going to wake up to a PS3 at the foot of the bed in the morning? Even though the Canadian price is going to be a bit higher, I should have no trouble flipping the unit on Ebay for enough to buy a loaded-out Wii (which will launch with actual fun games) or even build a killer PC for the games that matter. Thank you, Sony, for creating a culture of obsessive fools with a 'gotta have it NOW' mentality! The same kind of mentality that allows gold-farmers in WoW to thrive and power a whole segment of China's economy. To paraphrase The Joker, "This world needs an enema."
Devil bunnies! I snort the nose! Lucifer! Banana! Banana!
Now, this may be really mean and/or really stupid... but what is there to prevent someone from just rolling in on the morning of the launch, waiting outside a few minutes before the doors open (not in the line), and rushing in once that moment arrives?
Sure, everyone who waited in line will be pissed off, and you might risk a few teeth and broken bones, but that would be assault, right? Legally, if you've got the balls you don't need to stand in line, you just need to swoop in like a vulture at the last minute. To me, that sounds infinitely more fun than "camping" outside a store for a week!
they'd probably buy a PS3 (or a couple) and sell them on ebay for a premium. Kinda smart of if you ask me for a quick buck, but I wouldn't camp out for a week, a day, or an hour.
I have heard that one store, can't remember which, had a fish bowl filled with wrist bands. The first 40 customers drew a random wrist band, and that determined the order of purchasing. I wonder if best buy will do this? I think it was an attempt get rid of the lines outside. however, I would hate to wait 7 days outside a best buy just to draw number 40 and walk away with the small HD version of the PS3. Oh well, guess i'll be sitting home playing my Xbox360 wait for my Wii to ship. I'll grab a PS3 next Xmas.
I'll laugh if these clowns camping out to sell ps3s on ebay for 25% markup can't get rid of them :D
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
I have quite a few friends in verious postions at GameStop and they have all said Sony is only giving out 3 units including pre-orders. So what's the point of Lining up?
Insert Pithy Quote here.