PS3? Psh...
We have reached the eve of Black Friday, the kickoff to the holiday shopping season, which is a sure sign... that the holiday shopping season actually started a month ago.
Don't get me started again on how ridiculously early we get bombarded with Christmas. I said all I needed to on that in a column about 5-6 years ago. So what's the big news this year for Christmas? Well, it's new video game consoles. Sony started the madness last weekend by releasing its PlayStation 3. Due to the enormous demand for such a system, Sony shipped out its initial rollout of the PS3 to stores in a large quantity... of about 2 per store. And thus, the good people at Sony decided to create a little sociological experiment, the same one we've seen in the past when a hot new item like the Cabbage Patch Kids or Tickle Me Elmo comes out. It goes like this:
1) Whip up a huge frenzy for the new item comes out by telling you all the great things it does and how your life will be made so much better by owning one.
2) Announce the release date for your item so you get people camping outside the stores waiting for them to open on release day.
3) Ship enough units to cover only about 10 percent of the demand for this item.
4) Sit back and watch mass chaos.
Well brother, we had all of that and more with the PS3. The day before its release, we were treated to tons of news stories of no-lifers camped outside their local Best Buy or Wal-Mart so they could have a place in line when the store opened last Friday. I'm sorry, I have never camped out in line for ANYTHING. Not even concert tickets. Certainly not for a video game system. I used to play video games when I was younger, but now I simply have no time for such things, so spending $600 for one of these things (you heard me right, it costs $600) is just not an option.
So the stores opened on Friday, and the mayhem began. A teenager in Allentown was robbed of his PS3 at gunpoint. There's a report from Connecticut of someone waiting in line for a PS3 being shot by armed robbers who wanted his spot in line. And what did most of these lucky people do when they actually got their PS3 and managed to get home in one piece?
They put them up for sale on eBay.
Welcome to the new form of scalping... but now instead of tickets for sporting events or concerts, it's hot Christmas toys. One person reportedly paid $15,000 for a PS3 on eBay and he was willing to bid $25,000. Well when there's that kind of money to be made off of losers like that, go nuts! All I can say is thank goodness Sony actually had the good sense not to roll these out on Black Friday, because the no-lifers would have been stampeded at 5am by all the white trash moms trying to get to all the other big ticket items.
Meanwhile, Nintendo has released its new system called the Wii (pronounced WEE), and they actually had the sense to ship MANY MORE UNITS! So people can plop their hundreds of dollars for their hot new video game consoles, maybe actually play them instead of selling them for thousands, and have a merry Christmas. I guess anything that keeps the economy going is a good thing. As for me, I will continue to be happy in my PS3 or Wii-free existence and continue to finish up my Christmas shopping in a nonviolent manner.
Only 34 shopping (or bidding) days left...
Don't get me started again on how ridiculously early we get bombarded with Christmas. I said all I needed to on that in a column about 5-6 years ago. So what's the big news this year for Christmas? Well, it's new video game consoles. Sony started the madness last weekend by releasing its PlayStation 3. Due to the enormous demand for such a system, Sony shipped out its initial rollout of the PS3 to stores in a large quantity... of about 2 per store. And thus, the good people at Sony decided to create a little sociological experiment, the same one we've seen in the past when a hot new item like the Cabbage Patch Kids or Tickle Me Elmo comes out. It goes like this:
1) Whip up a huge frenzy for the new item comes out by telling you all the great things it does and how your life will be made so much better by owning one.
2) Announce the release date for your item so you get people camping outside the stores waiting for them to open on release day.
3) Ship enough units to cover only about 10 percent of the demand for this item.
4) Sit back and watch mass chaos.
Well brother, we had all of that and more with the PS3. The day before its release, we were treated to tons of news stories of no-lifers camped outside their local Best Buy or Wal-Mart so they could have a place in line when the store opened last Friday. I'm sorry, I have never camped out in line for ANYTHING. Not even concert tickets. Certainly not for a video game system. I used to play video games when I was younger, but now I simply have no time for such things, so spending $600 for one of these things (you heard me right, it costs $600) is just not an option.
So the stores opened on Friday, and the mayhem began. A teenager in Allentown was robbed of his PS3 at gunpoint. There's a report from Connecticut of someone waiting in line for a PS3 being shot by armed robbers who wanted his spot in line. And what did most of these lucky people do when they actually got their PS3 and managed to get home in one piece?
They put them up for sale on eBay.
Welcome to the new form of scalping... but now instead of tickets for sporting events or concerts, it's hot Christmas toys. One person reportedly paid $15,000 for a PS3 on eBay and he was willing to bid $25,000. Well when there's that kind of money to be made off of losers like that, go nuts! All I can say is thank goodness Sony actually had the good sense not to roll these out on Black Friday, because the no-lifers would have been stampeded at 5am by all the white trash moms trying to get to all the other big ticket items.
Meanwhile, Nintendo has released its new system called the Wii (pronounced WEE), and they actually had the sense to ship MANY MORE UNITS! So people can plop their hundreds of dollars for their hot new video game consoles, maybe actually play them instead of selling them for thousands, and have a merry Christmas. I guess anything that keeps the economy going is a good thing. As for me, I will continue to be happy in my PS3 or Wii-free existence and continue to finish up my Christmas shopping in a nonviolent manner.
Only 34 shopping (or bidding) days left...
Labels: Christmas, PlayStation 3
posted by Dave | 8:05 PM
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