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PS3 Lines Already Forming In America 452

Posted by samzenpus from the get-a-life dept.
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?'"
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PS3 Lines Already Forming In America More

PS3 Lines Already Forming In America

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  • Jokes? (Score:5, Funny)

    by onion2k ( 203094 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @04:09AM (#16781945) Homepage
    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.

  • Damnit... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by TrippTDF ( 513419 ) <hiland.gmail@com> on Thursday November 09, 2006 @04:10AM (#16781949)
    ... 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.

  • Here's an idea (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jlebrech ( 810586 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @04:10AM (#16781951) Homepage
    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.

  • dept. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Halo1 ( 136547 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @04:10AM (#16781953)

    from the get-a-life dept.

    Says the Slashdot editor...

  • Actually... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SuperPunch ( 660987 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @04:13AM (#16781975)
    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 [cheapassgamer.com] 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?""

  • Mad (Score:3, Interesting)

    by herczy ( 1024845 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @04:14AM (#16781979) Homepage
    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.

  • Holding tables at the food court (Score:5, Interesting)

    by BadAnalogyGuy ( 945258 ) <BadAnalogyGuy@gmail.com> on Thursday November 09, 2006 @04:14AM (#16781981)
    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.

  • The hype machine (Score:5, Insightful)

    by slim ( 1652 ) <john AT hartnup DOT net> on Thursday November 09, 2006 @04:18AM (#16782007) Homepage
    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.

  • Well I for one* (Score:2, Informative)

    by Timberwolf0122 ( 872207 )
    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>

  • Battered spouse syndrome writ large (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 09, 2006 @04:18AM (#16782015)
    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
    - ...?

  • The question is (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    How many of those 7 people were being paid by Sony to make demand look greater than it is?
  • apt-get install life

  • Microsoft should buy all 200000, then trash them (Score:5, Funny)

    by cheekyboy ( 598084 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @04:27AM (#16782075) Homepage Journal
    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.

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by Barny ( 103770 )
    "Are you unemployed? Unemployable?"

    Not if they can afford to buy one! Ba-dum-ching!

    Thank you, thank you, your all too kind ^_^

    So, uh, have the smashmy...com guys got a spot in one of those lines? :)

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by Konster ( 252488 )
    This tag should read:

    Dude, you really, really, really need to get a life.

  • In your analogy, it would be Sony causing the backlog, not the people in line. You have a producers and consumers problem and the consumers are actual consumers. It seems fairly trivial to figure out who the producers would be.

    Are you arguing, then, that Sony should release the PS3 because people are waiting for it?

  • To me it kinda doesn't make sense, as you could preorder hardware. If I preorder a PS3 couldn't I just walk in when it's out and sales stuff would hand it over, no matter how many people are in the shop that didn't preorder? Maybe they are hired by some marketing company on behalf of Sony?

  • Stupidly obvious question.. but... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Chicane-UK ( 455253 ) <chicane-uk@ntlwor l d . c om> on Thursday November 09, 2006 @04:37AM (#16782127) Homepage
    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?!

  • Massive demand... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Weedlekin ( 836313 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @04:38AM (#16782131)
    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!

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by Konster ( 252488 )
    Employeds might take annual vacation time to stand in line...which might make sense if they had 1)2 weeks time saved up, 2)Make less than $500 a week, 3)Are able to sell them on Ebay for 1k over purchase price, 4)Are actually willing to sell them soon as they get them. ...still, breaking even or better than that still doesn't make up for spending 2 weeks outside of a building waiting for an electronics device.
  • You think you're being clever, but you fail at analyzing the PS3 queue correctly.

    The table queue has two different ways of queuing, where they stand around waiting for a table and one where the table is taken prior to getting food. The former is optimal, while the latter isn't. This is because the table has a period of time where it is not being used for its primary purpose, eating.

    Where in the PS3 queue does any inefficiency off PS3 distribution accrue? The PS3's will be distributed at the same pace no mat

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by jchenx ( 267053 )

    Anyone who really wants a PS3 that badly would have pre-ordered.

    Apparently you haven't heard. Even pre-orders were extremely limited, and there were lots of folks camping out for those. And unfortunately for even many of those folks, they ended up still not getting one.

    So, the alternative for these fanbois are to buy an overpriced one from eBay, or take off work and camp out for two weeks.

    Personally, I choose none of the above. :) It's stupid to buy a console at launch. The reviews are already rolling in, a

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by kjart ( 941720 )

    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.

    It is not the people waiting in line that are causing/will cause a backlog, it is Sony - they are the ones that have created a semaphore on the PS3. The people waiting in line will simply be the first eaters to get a table, to borrow from your metaphor (i.e. all consumers

  • If you think about it, this makes a lot of sense. Go figure, the demographic that's willing to buy that overpriced game console is the demographic of unemployed kids who's parents give them enough money to have a thousand dollar vacation in front of a Best Buy.

    Fuck the fancy new toy. Go to Costa Rica or something.

  • Lines FTL (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 09, 2006 @04:46AM (#16782175)
    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/ [playstationfinder.com] FTW.
  • That analogy make no god damn sense at all BadAnalo...gy...guy. Ok. Nevermind. Just nevermind. Why the hell is this not modded "Funny" instead? What do I pay you modder for?

  • F'ing idiots... (Score:3, Funny)

    by tktk ( 540564 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @04:52AM (#16782209)
    I just can't believe they're going to wait in line for this long and sincerely hope that this is a hoax.

    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.

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by kjart ( 941720 )

    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.

    It is not the people waiting in line that are causing/will cause a backlog, it is Sony - they are the ones that have created a semaphore on the PS3. The people waiting in line will simply be the first eaters to get a table, to borrow from your metaphor (i.e. all consumers

  • Take a pic on launch day... (Score:5, Funny)

    by heli0 ( 659560 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @04:56AM (#16782231)
    ... 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."

  • bud of jokes (Score:4, Funny)

    by carou ( 88501 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @04:59AM (#16782253) Homepage Journal
    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).

  • How does this work (Score:5, Interesting)

    by optimusNauta ( 784677 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @05:01AM (#16782271) Homepage
    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?
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Easy. It's called being a contestant on The Apprentice :)

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by vidarh ( 309115 )
    Because it would piss off their distributors and resellers, who they depend on to keep the sales high.

  • Ok.... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    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.

  • All i can say is WTF... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by JoBlo69 ( 1023365 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @05:16AM (#16782345)
    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...
  • This is marketing...
    These guys are paid to be there.

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by baadger ( 764884 )
    Yeah, except a queue can be of an an infinite length is naturally dispatched on a first come first serve basis. It has an order of process that cannot be changed.

    I believe your table hogging analogy wrong. It is more along the lines of pre-allocating memory or fetching resources before you absolutely need them, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Put it this way, why buy the food if you can't get a table at which to eat it? And why queuue for hours and hours and hours and then *not* get a PS3 *if* you can

  • consuming waste (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jovius ( 974690 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @05:20AM (#16782371)
    The society seems to have closen a circle when you can afford to line up for a product designed to waste time.

  • Cool stuff you can do for $600 ... Many things involving girls

    Do they cost that much now?

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by joe 155 ( 937621 )
    "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."

    Hey, I'm moving up in the world; more respected than 7 people!
  • 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).

  • Cunning Plan (Score:4, Funny)

    by giafly ( 926567 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @05:35AM (#16782453)
    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.
  • Does Best Buy obligate me to respect their encampment and let them buy first?

    No, but reverence for the ancient and fundamental Anglo-Saxon concept of the 'queue' obligates you to so do. At least, in this country (that is, the Mother Country), were you to queue-jump, you run the risk of getting shot. Well, you would if we carried guns. I should have thought that was even more likely to be the case in the USA, where everyone is armed to the teeth, no?

    iqu :P
  • and i made twice my money back when i listed it on ebay the day after...

    I fucking hate you.
  • 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 P
  • If you're willing to wait in line for over a week to buy a game console, you're not smart enough to think of preordering.

    That, or you're being paid by Sony (to make it appear that the retard community is desparate for PS3s?)
  • 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 .

  • If only... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Zorque ( 894011 )
    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?

  • But mom, I want it now! Ok, poopykins. (Score:5, Funny)

    by dangitman ( 862676 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @05:47AM (#16782531)
    Was Eric cartman in the line, or is he still waiting for Wii?

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by jimicus ( 737525 )
    Because then they'll piss off their customers. And Sony's customers aren't you or me, they're WalMart, Best Buy et al.

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by BenjyD ( 316700 )
    Don't forget to add on the 7 days salary these guys could have earned instead of waiting in line.

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by jimicus ( 737525 )
    A games console and its accessories are only as good as the games that are released for it. Cf. DreamCast, Mega CD, Super Nintendoscope, Sega Menacer.
  • What if I just waltz in on the appropriate day and put my tent in front of theirs?

    Well, in theory they would shiv you for cutting in line. That's how normal society works. But these are weak nerds who have been weakened even more by waiting in the cold. So, they might cry and collapse in despair.

  • I wasn't planning on buying a ps3, but I could use a little more respect, just in case.

    I accept your challnge, sur!

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by aarku ( 151823 )
    The funniest jokes are the ones that people react the most negative to. Troll 101, come on!

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by Fred_A ( 10934 )
    What is it with the US people and waiting in lines for weeks anyway ? This doesn't happen anywhere else.

    Is it some kind of homage to the days past when there was a rumour that there would be some toilet paper in a USSR store or what ? Are there some "line generating" particles that are now floating free since the fall of the eastern bloc and that somehow fixated in the US ?

  • You insensitive clods (Score:3, Funny)

    by NeoManyon ( 953080 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @06:09AM (#16782659) Homepage
    In my town we only have four people... and we are still waitng for the PS1

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by Fred_A ( 10934 )
    I can understand waiting a day before, but.. this?
    A day before ?? Wow, if I really wanted something I might be prepared to stay in a queue for possibly a couple hours. Although it had better be worth it.

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by 1u3hr ( 530656 )
    Now is this a difference between the English and American languages, or can TFA not spell?

    "Bud" isn't in TFA. It's TFS who made the Malapropism.

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by Fred_A ( 10934 )
    And if they don't eat they can throw in a couple games too ! This is brilliant !

  • they'll be soooo disappointed (Score:3, Interesting)

    by netean ( 549800 ) <email&iainalexander,com> on Thursday November 09, 2006 @06:19AM (#16782709) Homepage
    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.
  • Is it OK for you and a friend to take turns keeping a position in the line? If not, would you lose your place simply by going for a pee?

    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.

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by FyRE666 ( 263011 )
    Maybe they're not so stupid - these are the same people who'll be on Ebay making 500% profit on these things when xmas shoppers/early adopters can't buy them in the stores...
  • The editor has been smoking a bit too much of the 'bud'.

    Ok, now it makes sense, you have to smoke it! I always knew that the stuff was not meant to be guzzled. Though I find it highly uncomfortable to offer it in rather highly hydrated form, after all it would require a lenghty drying process. But maybe that's how they preserve the flavor.
  • They could be sitting at home, playing with their PS2. You think that would make any difference, in terms of health or hygiene, in people willing to waste away a week of their life for a console?
  • 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

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by ayjay29 ( 144994 )
    >>from the get-a-life dept.

    >>Says the Slashdot editor...

    You know you have a problem in life when a Slashdot Editor tells you to get a life.

    It's like Pete Doherty telling you that you do too much drugs.

    I think we finally have something to go under "People who write erotic versions of Star Trek where all the characters are furries. Like Kirk is an ocelot or something, and put a furry version of themselves as the star of the story." in the Geek Hierarchy [brunching.com] chart.
  • These guys are exactly why I wear a lead codpiece when I sit at my computer.
  • If these places are anything like my town, you can just call the cops, say there's a large group of people loitering, and get them all moved on and lose their position in line. A few times of doing that, they're not staying ;-)
  • Look at the bright side: When they're standing in that line, they're off your lawn.
  • Mod parent up. It's really annoying. Not everything is a trap.

  • Sense of Accomplishment (Score:3, Insightful)

    by GayBliss ( 544986 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @07:00AM (#16782985) Homepage
    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.
  • I can't agree more. I once baby-sat one of my nephews (9yo at that time) during a midnight Harry Potter launch (and bought one too), and all the evening was very pleasant, kids were playing together, parents and adult fans discussing. The moods was good because people were there that night because it was the fan/kid equivalent of a great party, not not because only the 6 first ones will have a chance of buying an overpriced thing and the be beaten to death by the other rabbid zombies.
    If this news isn't a ho
  • You win the daily /. spelling prize.
  • Re: 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.

    The whole point for these people is that they create a slight advantage for themselves. It's similar to people cutting around a traffic jam. They're a few cars ahead, which is all that matters to them. That everyone behind is now one car back doesn't concern them.
  • Masturbation is more fun than waiting in line for days to get a piece of hardware.
    Thanks for the idea! I know what I'll do for the rest of the year!

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by dlZ ( 798734 )
    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.

    Exactly! I have a buddy who buys pretty much every system at release. He pre-orders everything, and has never really had a problem waiting just a few moments t
  • highly likely they're Sony employees being paid to queue and pretend to be customers...

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by anothy ( 83176 )
    well, i assume the tea thing means your on the european, but not quite continental, end of the connection (by which standard i suppose i'm supposed to like coffee, which is gross). if so, than nope: it's "butt" over here, as well.

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by Fozzyuw ( 950608 )
    1) They're probably not fans, but eBayers (if they were fans, it would have been easy enough to get a pre-order) 2) They where probably lying about waiting for PS3's
  • Who is having their situation 'unoptimized' by some dumbass sitting against a wall for a week?

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by zootm ( 850416 )

    I want to see the look on the faces of the other 4 when the people who preordered the available units stroll right past them...

  • You should read about game theory. You need to consider there are two answers to a competative situation. One in which the overall benefit is maximied and the one in which the individual benefit is maximized. We as a society aim for the individual. You are right though that if more people were not trying to maximize their personal benefit then everyone together would have a better situation.

    Read about the Prisoner's dilemma [wikipedia.org].
  • It's like "could care less" and "for all intensive purposes" Ever played that game 'telephone'? Where you sit in a circle with like 25 people, someone whispers something to the person sitting next to them, and the whispered phrase goes around the circle, and when it comes back to the person who started it, they say what they heard and what they said.
  • Another reason PCs are better than consoles.
    PCs have spell checkers. *hint*

  • I understand now... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Kartoch ( 38254 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @07:43AM (#16783267) Homepage
    "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...
  • I can't figure out how you got Score: 5 Interesting
    What the hell does your food court story have to do with people waiting in line for the PS3? The people in line aren't preventing anyone else from getting in line for anything (except for the PS3, which is the entire point of lining up). It's not like these people waiting in line are preventing other people from getting their PS3's in the mean time.

    The only way your story could be applicable would be if...when the doors open in a few weeks and these people
  • Some kids who were waiting in line since last week (or earlier) had tents set up, but they were in the way of the actual customers, so Best Buy asked them to move off of their property. They set the tents up in the parking lot.

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by Dravik ( 699631 )
    Since theres only 7 of them they probably cooperate for things like food and hygiene. Best Buy will probably go along with their line and let them buy first. It would be real bad publicity and customer service to not give them first shot at the equipment. If you waltz to the front of the line after they have been waiting a week I would expect a fight with you heavily outnumbered and everyone going to jail. The sidewalk at most Best Buys is private property and not a city owned side walk thus they can be

  • Re: (Score:2)

    by Slithe ( 894946 )
    In the US, we also use 'the butt of the joke'. TFA can not spell.
  • It wasn't even funny. Why would dedicated fans be waiting in line for a PS3 when the PS4 is out, according to the joke?

    I heard that there are two stores giving away PS3's for free. One is giving away like 6 and the other is giving away 100. So except some PS3 murders in the news on the 17th.
  • The guys in the line are paid Sony Promotional people. Astroturf in action.

    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 mea

  • Seems pretty simple... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dimer0 ( 461593 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @08:18AM (#16783547)
    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.

  • Begging to get mugged? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 09, 2006 @08:30AM (#16783689)
    Several people with enough money to buy a PS3 alone at night?

  • D&D in Line (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Phaxn ( 946939 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @09:06AM (#16784189)
    Just think of all the D&D you could play while waiting!

  • Paging Triumph the insult comic (Score:3, Insightful)

    by British ( 51765 ) <british1500@gmail.com> on Thursday November 09, 2006 @09:53AM (#16785023) Homepage Journal
    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.

  • Re: they'll be soooo disappointed (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Ender Ryan ( 79406 ) on Thursday November 09, 2006 @11:35AM (#16786745) Journal
    netean, I don't believe you.

    My disdain for your silly profession aside, why the fuck would you get your hands on a PS3, through work, as a hypnotherapist?

    That... and I've already read a lot of hands on accounts of the PS3, from a multitude of sources, and none of them mention any of the supposed problems you speak of.

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