Crowds camp out for Friday release of new PlayStation 3
About 27 people camped out in front of Best Buy this week with their sleeping bags, cots, blankets and canopies to secure PlayStation 3s, the newest and highest demand game system on the market.
Two high school students, Steve Cheal and Brock Moosman, started the line-up around 7 p.m. Tuesday night to wait for the system that would be given out Friday morning. Prepared to sleep and live in the cold, they set up a TV to play video games and watch DVDs. Friends stopped by with food every once in a while and their parents excused them from school.
“We’re most excited about the Blu-ray DVD player,” said Cheal, who said he was planning to buy the premium PS3 that will sell for $599 and includes a 60-gigabyte hard drive. A 20 gigabyte PS3 will be sold for $499.
Tim Ryan, assistant manager at Best Buy, said employees expected the line up since they got one last year for the Xbox 360. Most people in line plan to buy and sell them, Ryan said, since they will be in high demand this Christmas season.
Only about three of the campers plan to keep the game systems; the rest plan to sell them online for extra cash.
“I’m a cold-hearted capitalist,” said Brian Gosh, who will sell his PS3 as fast and for as much as he can. “I figured it was a good way to make money on the side. I’ll be able to make money really fast. You can’t do something like this on the stock market.”
Gosh’s wife and two children stopped by throughout the week to keep him company and bring him food. He wore a thick coat and slept in a sleeping bag with extra blankets and still said the nights were really cold.
Several USU students lined up for the PS3s, a few of them missing work and class. One student skipped three tests on Wednesday and wished to remain anonymous in case one of his professors read the newspaper. Others called in sick for work.
Dustin Hawkes scheduled time off from his job and had been planning to camp at Best Buy for about four months. He hopes to make between $3,000 to $4,000 buy selling his PS3 on eBay. Cheal and Mosman will keep their PS3s as their Christmas presents
Best Buy received the most PS3s in Cache Valley, Ryan said, and guaranteed 26 to customers – 20 of the premiums, and six of the 20 gigabyte version. Employees made a point to check on the camped-out customers throughout the week and even tempted them with extra PS3 accessories such as wireless controllers.
Although many people are excited for the new gaming system, there has been criticism of the PS3s because there is a sudden shortage of them throughout the nation. Gosh believes it’s all a business tactic.
“Sony knows what they are doing. I just don’t think they are a corporation that makes mistakes,” Gosh said. “You can’t buy the type of advertising they are getting now. People are lining up for them and others want them even more.”
Ryan said the group that camped out managed themselves really well and set up their own rules concerning the line. They set up a roll call that was signed by everyone with their place number in line. They shared canopies so they didn’t all freeze and even allowed each other breaks when people could leave the line and not lose their spot.
The PS3s have very high-tech computer processors, Ryan said, and allow for very interactive and realistic gaming. The graphics are the best in the market and are comparable to the Xbox 360. They also come with built-in Blu-ray DVD players which normally sell for $1,000.