The geeks are out in force tonight in Pasadena, California waiting for the release of the Sony Playstation 3. While I’d naively hoped to come home with one tonight, it appears the PS3 Profiteers and those without a job holed-up in this middle-class tent city will be the only ones lucky enough to win that prize.
After stopping by all the big box retailers in the area, including Target, Circuit City, Best Buy and Walmart, it appears that very few of the diehard fans will end up with a box tomorrow moring. Most people were reporting that between 10-20 PS3s would be available at each store…and I’m sure a lot of those are the less desirable 20GB model.
The most lively location was the Pasadena Best Buy, where bleary-eyed gamers and entrepreneurs were mingling in the final hours before Best Buy finally supplied them with the Holy Grail of gaming this year.
One cluster of folks were gathered around a 17″ LCD monitor playing FIFA 2007 on a Playstation 2, powered by a long extension cord stretched across the parking lot from someone’s car. Another guy, armed with a laptop, kept tabs on the latest PS3 prices on eBay via Best Buy’s WiFi network. Most were slumped in their collapsible chairs or passed out in their tents waiting for tomorrow morning.
The luckiest guy in the group has to be Alberto, who had waited here since Monday morning to be the first one with a PS3. He proudly displayed the provenance for his future PS3, a front-page article in the Pasadena Star-News showing him occupying the first chair in line. “Tom Cruise will definitely pay an extra $300 with this,” he beamed, pointing to the article.
Needless to say, no spare PS3s were to be found tonight, especially with Sony lowering their launch allocations for most stores. Most of us will probably need to wait until Spring 2007 to get one.