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?'"
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?
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.
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.
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.
... 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...
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?
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.
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 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.
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.
"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.
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.
Several people with enough money to buy a PS3 alone at night?
Just think of all the D&D you could play while waiting!
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.
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.