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The PlayStation 3 Launches In the U.S.
Sony's next-gen console has officially launched in the states, complete with an NYC launch party, and a giant line in San Francisco. While many gamers went home happy, the night was not without incident. There was also some ugliness, with individuals being hired to stand in line, as was done in Japan earlier this week. Overall, though, the news is positive for the hundreds of gamers who waited through the night for their new console. "As midnight approached, the first person in line, New York native Angel Paredes, was escorted into the SonyStyle Store where he was handed the first North American PS3 by Hirai and Stringer. The console's box also included a personal autographed message from Hirai. Paredes, his voice hoarse from interviews and arms tired from repeatedly hoisting the console, was a good sport, standing still for the multitude of photographers and offering a few words for anyone who asked. The first three gamers in line were comped their PS3s. Once the media buzz died down, the rest of the attendees were ushered in to get what they had been waiting for all week. Though the consoles' next destinations were unknown — many are expected to be posted on eBay for a quick profit — the next destinations of the new PS3 owners was clear — go home and get some rest. " Any readers spend the night in lines, and want to share about it? Did you eBay the thing, or are you just taking a break from Resistance? Let us know how things went, and what the system is like.
Seriously, those who have the console now will probably be away for a good week, because who needs friends when you have a PS3?
Clicked pie.
It looks like the going rate is anywhere from $3000-$5000...
Gan Family Homepage
I'm watching the news right now.
This is possibly the dumbest, saddest thing I've ever seen.
I'm sick and tired of getting everything six months to one year after the USA and Japan. And Sony has been known to delay its product launches for months in markets like India. This encourages a perverted black market, where you get the PS3 within for obscene amounts of money. What's the problem with a simultaneous worldwide launch policy? You prevent black marketeering that way.
It Is Just A Fucking Game, Damn It! I wish everyone would grow the fuck up.
It's clear that some people are just so into the giving spirit that they will do anything for the perfect gift.
My work here is dung.
But with the prices I'm hearing on Ebay, I'm beginning to wish I had. A night on a long line isn't too bad if you're pulling in four to eight grand profit.
It was a joke! When you give me that look it was a joke.
Why is that ugly? Seems like capitalism at its finest. If someone is willing to pay for a service and someone is willing to perform that service, whats ugly about that?
Lazy maybe, but hardly ugly
I don't really follow games, what are the most anticipated titles besides the generic football games?
So does this mean I need to bring a baseball bat with me to buy my Wii tommorow at Target?
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Yes, it does run Linux. From Engadget:
Yes, according to Sony you can install any PowerPC-capable Linux build. Yellow Dog Linux, however, is the most prominently supported distro announced to date.
3 S's, and the main reason why i didn't stand out in the farking cold. Kudos to those people who stand out in the cold like that. Whether you're reselling it for profit or playing in your pajamas, those people either have no lives or are dedicated to playing the newest first.
Otherwise, i still think the PS3 is a great buy if you're into the whole high def DVD thing: by the time you buy a 360 and the HD-DVD add on you're better off buying a PS3 if you want high def.
Personally, I'm waiting for 2 reasons:
1) First batch hardware from Sony is almost always shoddy.
2) Metal Gear Solid.
When the system actually has over 1 million units produced and the bugs are worked out, then the real battle starts. Not having as many exclusives (Assassins Creed, Grand Theft Auto) might bring the PS3 to a real head on fight with X360.
Of course I couldn't live without the PS3 and call myself a gamer, so I will own one exentually. It's just a matter of getting quality releases.
I've enjoyed this LOLer coaster of a ride: Hirai's and Kutaragi's comments, shortages, BD v. Hd disc battles, lack of rumble. *sniff* I'm so sad to see it go.
Alwell, it's on to the PS4, Xbox 720, and the Nintendo Ballz!
In Soviet Russia, dots slash you!
Now, I'm a lifer. I'll own a console for a single game or two if necessary (e.g. I'm buying a Wii for Zelda and Smash Bros. I bought a Gamecube for much the same reason).
I even camped out with my friend to buy a PS2 so we could play Tekken. Another great game.
As far as I can tell the PS3's launch titles are pretty bad. There's a Madden with pretty graphics along with a handful of other anticlimactic sports titles... There's Call of Duty 3 (....)...
Gran Turismo HD will be out before New Year's, and Metal Gear Solid isn't even making a debut until 2007. With Sony pledging 800,000 more consoles before 2007.
Additionally, the entire night campers spent at the nearest Best Buy in Minnesota was below 32F. Somehow I'm not seeing the payoff fulfilling as compared to systems past.
My biggest problem with the PS3 isin't the $600 price tag. It isin't the forced Blu-ray player. It's the SixAxis. From what I've read, the SixAxis sounds like what happened when Sony looked at the DualShock and figured out you couldn't put any more buttons on it. It just acts like another analog stick (Resistance, Project8, Warhawk), or more buttons (Madden, Resistance). All it seems to do is just make games MORE complex. And no, I'm not a total Nintendo fanboy (playing outrun2 on xbox 1 right now, addicted)
"I think an etch-a-sketch with an ethernet port would beat IE7 in web standards compliance."
Canada ... usually .... well at least when the 360 was like that.. Ottawa had a surplus. IM going up there this afternoon for the weekend. if they have em my e-bay id is.. :)
Associated Press (CNN, Yahoo), is reporting that masked, armed thugs robbed people waiting in line at a Putnam, Connecticut Wal-Mart for PS3, and shot one person who wouldn't hand over their money.
Penny Arcade has pretty much nailed the idiocy of this launch, as usual.
My wife works in the Sony building, so I strolled past it last night.
One one side of the Sony building were the dedicated or avaricious would-be-purchasers waiting to buy at midnight, but on the other side of the building there were externally visible screens showing PS3 games being played by people in one of the Sony stores. A preview reel looked awesome, but was simply a video of lots of game clips. The only games I saw being played were : some kind of off-road racing game and Madden 2007. Neither would blow my mind if I saw them on my PS2. There was little to no sign of mindboggling performance, in fact the off-road racing game seemed a bit slow.
I'm a big fan of PS2, having completed several games, but I'm going to wait for my PS3 until a) I can buy one for normal retail price without hassle and b) I see the mind-blowing graphics we're all expecting
No, I can't get one any earlier because I know an employee. In fact they haven't heard whether there will be any available for staff at all. There might be a raffle for 3, something like that.
It seems to me that geeks would rather play on a PC, where you can hack the game if you don't like it. What is the allure of consoles? I don't get it. I bought an Xbox, but I never play games on the thing - I'd rather be on a PC.
The PS3 is neat. The Wii is neat. These people are insane.
1) It's a video game console, not a cure for cancer. You don't need to get worked up over it.
2) This isn't the only chance you'll have to get one. If it is, you really don't want one anyway.
3) If you seriously didn't think you could be in the "I waited days in line for this and got nothing" group you need several reality checks.
Frankly, I'm scared that I'm going to walk to my car with my brand new Wii and some nut with a gun is going to try and take it from me. These morons seem desperate enough that they'll actually shoot me for it.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
Wait, using money to pay people is wrong now?! Thank you Cindy Williams of Columbus, Ohio for setting us all straight! I know I'll never make that mistake again. By the way, Cindy, can you further explain what authority a dentist has? I mean, unless he commandeered the store, I'm not really sure what authority he abused.
People with a lot of money can almost always get what they want. It might be unfair, but that's capitalism; deal with it.
"wouldn't you want to have a handoff for something like this?"
...and "lose it"."
This already exists. It's called an escrow service.
"what's to say people at ups or fedex aren't scanning boxes with a x-ray machine to identify a box with a ps3 in it
The same thing that says people in other professions also should not steal: they'll lose their job and may wind up in jail if caught. That might not stop some FedEx/UPS/USPS employees but I imagine the lion's share of them aren't going to risk their job (all 3 of which have nice benefits and excellent retirement packages though not a flashy payscale) over a $600 game system. And whoever is paying out that insurance is going to be pretty motivated to find the culprit(s).
I'm sure fraud will happen but far more people will conduct perfectly legal transactions than not.
I understand why the things are limited, but I don't have to like it. What I want to know is, why release these damn things in the busiest season? The only reason I come up with is everyone wants their little Johnny to have that PS3 xmas or to sell them on eBay plus the fact that alot of people in this country lose their heads all in the name of the almighty money spending holiday called Christmas.
I want a Wii on Sunday, but I'll wait until March. By then, the hype is wore off and a few more games are out.
Gorkman
I'm actually reasonably disturbed by the Chaos that has been created by greed ...
In practically every interview I have seen the reporter is talking to someone who intends to sell the PS3 for massive profit; in one case a man was talking about how he was going to make $2000 in one days work. I could be wrong but it seems like the PS3 launch has brought out everyone who is desperate to make a little money regardless of the moral cost.
I don't know who will win, but I know a guy who lost! Well, he lost a PS3 chance, but is probably going to win a few 100 grand in a lawsuit. Seriously, this Wal-Mart manager who thought a 'race' to 10 seats was a good idea should be fired.
Cheers,
Fozzy
"The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth." ~1984 George Orwell
I was first in line at a local Target. It started around 330pm Wednesday and filled up by 6pm, and since I got to run the line the way I wanted I still got to go to work and others got to take miderms, go to class, etc. Even so, it was stressful to deal with the hordes of people so desperate that, if provoked, would forcefully take someone's place. The potential for profit drove most of the idiocy. Also, everyone in the line was there to make a profit except for possibly myself--I haven't decided yet.
The worst part of it was dealing with the corporate nature of Target. The employees were fine and enthusiastic, but the corporate policies were inane. For instance, no tents while they're open (8am to 10pm) with the lows being ~34F and soaking wet. Along with that, no official rules for the line from Target (read this as ass covering) so no waiting inside and no official list guaranteed even after the known slots had been filled--meaning you have to aggressively yet legally assert your place in line with an onslaught of douchebags trying to take your spot when you get up to take a piss.
Would I do it again? Probably not. Am I glad to have a PS3, HELL YES! After work today is going to be insane!
What moral cost? It's called supply and demand. It's not like this is a necessary purchase for survival.
I'm actually reasonably disturbed by the Chaos that has been created by greed ...
How is reselling a PS3 greed? To label this greed you need to know what financial situation these people are in.
Are they standing in line to afford a luxury item or is this a rare opportunity to make 2 months rent in a day?
Ticket/Event/Product Scalping ( reselling ) is not always illegal and many legitimate business do it. Tickmaster at least at one point aunctioned tickets to popular events.
Finally, who is being hurt by the PS3 resellers? The gamers who have to wait an extra week to get their hands on a PS3?
Based on upvotes, Ageism is the only "-ism" Slashdotters care about and think isn't SJW
That was supposed to be funny! How many of us remember being kids and your "friends" at school would invite you over just so you could watch them play Nintendo?
We gather here today to mourn the tragic death of Common Sense . . .
How is tilting a controller to fly "more complex"
I do that already anyway! Now I just won't have to use the thumb stick as well.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
(Hint: Most people have more Cents than Dollars. Usually 100X more.)
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Though most have high bidders with 0 feedback, and are probably being shilled to look like a real PS3 by price...
tm
Support TBI Research: http://www.raisinhope.org
Certainly you aren't advocating people taking it out of the box are you? That would hurt the eBay resale value!
I read the internet for the articles.
..the same people standing in line for a week to get a PS3 can't find the time to vote. If you did, good for you.
PS3 - plan on spending a lot less time masturbating!
1) PC gaming is expensive. As expensive as $600 sounds for a console, consider that once you've spent it, that's it for hardware. You never need to buy any upgrades save for things like more controllers and such. However with a computer, it's a continuous thing. Graphics cards move at a frantic pace. I bought a $300 graphics card about a year ago, and I'm looking at doing the same thing again now that the DirectX 10 cards are rolling out.
2) It's more effort. A console game just works. It has to, there's only one platform for it to run on. Put in disc, game runs. Not so for PC games. It's usually like that, but not always. Sometimes it's more like install game, game doesn't run, apply patch, game runs with problems, update graphics drivers, now game runs.
3) Consoles are better designed for multiplayer in one room. PCs count on there being a single operator so most games are designed with that in mind. Their multiplayer is done such that you connect to other PCs and each gamer has their own system. Consoles are designed for multiple controllers to be played around a TV, so many multiplayer games have provisions for multiple operators to use a single unit. Nice if you have a few friends over and you all want to play.
4) Exclusive games. In part due to the greater sales and in part due to pressure from the console makers, game companies will sign exclusive deals. Means if you want to play that game, you are doing so on that console. No ports to other consoles or to the PC.
Personally, I'm a PC gamer. I'd own a high end PC anyways and I find that more of the games that I like are PC only, but I can see why one would own a console.
where thinking about the longer-term consequences of your actions isn't just overlooked, it's actively ignored. If you mention "opportunity cost" to the average credit card user out there, you're going to get a look of ignorance that's almost bovine in its nescience.
:-)
Funny thing is, I used to be in pretty much that same frame of mind until I got married. I just never thought more than a couple of months ahead... probably mostly because I got in the habit of living paycheck-to-paycheck when I was in the Army (talk about low pay!) and while I was a college student, I was just living month-to-month on my GI Bill money. My wife (who is brilliant and a 4.0 math major) started pointing out all the things that we were doing that involved long-term tradeoffs and I was totally amazed at the amount of money we were spending on "unnecessaries." Working together, we were able to get ahead of the curve and eventually, we bought both our cars for cash and our house with a nice down payment. We haven't paid interest on a credit card in about five years, and the last time I was out of work, we had enough cash to tide us over. We still spend money on "fun" stuff, but we're always careful to think about the tradeoffs so that we're making informed decisions.
The moral of my story: if you're not a financial genius, marry someone who is
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I know a guy who will walk onto a lot carrying a bank check in the amount he believes a car is worth (after conducting research), walk up to a car sitting on the lot, point to it, and waves the check in front of the salesman. He tries to time this for end of year sales, so he'll pick up the current model just as the lot is transitioning to next years model.
By doing this he saves interest on the car loan; he avoids buying extra junk to be installed, and drives the exact car he pointed to off the lot right then and there. Then he'll drive that car into the ground over the next decade or so until it's worthless. During that time he saves for the next car - just like he was paying for a car loan - except without the interest.
He's not rich, he doesn't make a pile of money - he just plans ahead. And it saves him a bundle of money.
Retailers should be held responsible for their disorganization and ineptitude. Any store that required a police presence should be forced to pay for those services and should be fined for causing a public disturbance. That's essentially what they've done.
They should have either forced these people to go home or they should have kept things organized. When you've got a crowd of people with such misplaced priorities waiting so long it's inevitable there will be problems. If the store manager didn't have enough sense to prepare the responsibility for whatever problems ensue falls squarely on his shoulders. The tax payers certainly shouldn't be forced to pay to restore order at these stores.
come with Duke Nuke'em Forever?
The purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning, and inhibit clarity....Calvin
A PS3 costs around $600 for the good one, way more on eBay apparently. So why not just buy a full-on PC? Correct me if I'm wrong, but are there any highly-desired games exclusive to the PS3, that wouldn't be available as PC games? You can get similar controllers, etc. Power-wise, you can certainly have a system that rivals a PS3 for that money, plus it will do real email with a full-size keyboard, and all the other stuff a PC does.
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