PS3 fans battle lines in waiting game

By Paul Szaniawski

“PlayStation 3 line?” asked A.J., a Wal-Mart employee, after he walked out of the store two days before Sony’s launch of the PlayStation 3.

“Yeah, PlayStation,” said Dan, a Rutgers student who declined to reveal his last name because he called out of work to camp out in front of Wal-Mart in West Windsor starting at 11 a.m., on Wednesday. “They’re already camping out at Best Buy,” he said.

“There’s a line at Best Buy also?” asked A.J.

“Yup, 30 people,” said Dan.

“30 people? We’re only getting two [units].”

“That’s what I heard. Is it at most two or…”

“All the stores,” interrupted A.J. “Two.”

“They were saying seven before.”

“Right, but the memo just came in today.”

“There’s no way you guys are getting anymore than two?”

“When the next come, we don’t know.”

Sony’s PlayStation 3, which has caused unparalleled hype and overnight lines at five stores near Rider, is sure to be this holiday season’s Furby if enough can be delivered. Sony slashed its initial U.S. shipment in half, and distributors are expected to have limited quantities, said Gamespot.com. However, the diminished chance to get the system, priced in stores at $599 for the higher-end model and almost $2,000 on eBay, does not discourage gamers.

“Oh, they’ll buy it. It’s not an unreasonable price for gamers,” said Dr. Drew Procaccino, of Computer Information Systems. “When it comes to that crowd and getting the latest and greatest, it’s not unusual at all.”

Dr. Procaccino said PlayStation 3’s new format for games and higher capacity DVDs makes it very appealing.

“It’s the first gaming system to run off of the new Blu-ray DVDs, because you need all those gigabytes to store this high-resolution material. It’s definitely a step — I shouldn’t say a step, a broad jump — into some major-league gaming. Gamers are hardcore people.”

A coalition of some of these “hardcore” gamers stationed outside Target would not allow their dreams to be crushed like Dan’s. As they sat in a circle and exchanged horror stories of quests of years past, including someone getting stabbed last year outside a Best Buy for Xbox 360, they would cling to hope.

According to one man, who declined to identify himself, Target had “12 or 23 [units], we don’t exactly know how many yet.”

This was not verified by Target and may have been wishful thinking. Even wishful thinking at its best would not guarantee each game-thirsty sidewalk warrior the prize of his or her hunt.With 13 people already outside Target at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, the odds looked bleaker than the words “game over.”

An eager mob of more than 30 on Thursday already lined up under the brick awning at Best Buy, some other campers decided to take the path, or the store sidewalk, least traveled.

“There’s 20 people at Best Buy that won’t even get it,” said Chris Esperiti of Perth Amboy, one of the few campers in front of CompUSA in West Windsor. “We had plans to go to other places and we got there a bit late.”

Not getting to his post until around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Esperiti and his friends decided to settle at the less popular CompUSA. He actually tried to take part in the Internet preorder of the system, but once again tardiness would be the King Bowser to his Princess Toadstool.
Procaccino feels the interconnectivity of the PlayStation 3 is what makes it groundbreaking.

“Game systems being standalone things that people play for fun seems to be over, as these things morph into computing centers that can play movies, do games and connect you to other users,” he said.

This makes PlayStation 3 worth a few days of camping. Luckily for Esperiti and the few others at CompUSA, the manager would inform them about the availability.

“He said like three [units] when we first got here,” said Esperiti. “He said he is trying to find out. If he sends us home, that would be good. It would suck if we waited until Friday and we find out Friday morning they didn’t have it.”

At least Dan and his friends, who were still seen in front of Wal-Mart Thursday afternoon looking prepared to spend another night, definitely won’t be going home completely empty handed.

“That’s our tent but I think they might make us take it down,” he said. “My friends will be back in a minute. They went to go buy a chair.”