Or, more accurately, this video game system is causing a riot. Or three. The Sony PlayStation 3 made its long-awaited debut in sores, only to cause more than one scene of chaos as people tried to get their hands on one of the scarce systems. There was also one person shot in Connecticut, but that was a robbery attempt on people waiting in line for a chance to buy one of the game systems. But have no fear, American entrepreneurship is alive and flourishing. Some people who actually got their hands on one are re-selling them at an enormous profit.
In Putnam, Conn., two gunmen tried to rob people lined up for the console, and shot one who refused to surrender his money. Michael Penkala, 21, of Webster, Mass., was wounded in the chest and shoulder. He was in stable condition Friday with injuries not believed to be life threatening, according to Connecticut State Police.
In Fresno, Calif., police arrested two people and threatened to use Tasers to break up a crowd that rushed a store and trampled people in the parking lot.
To get the attention of an unruly crowd of about 350 people, police fired a paint ball at the ground outside a Target store in Henrico, Va.
Sergio Deynes, 26, who had camped out at a Best Buy in New York since Monday to get his PS3, said the people with him at the front of the line were "beautiful."
"It was the people in the back who were desperate who messed things up for a lot of us," Deynes said.
The market for second-hand PS3s flourished: Deynes' cousin, who camped with him, immediately sold his PS3 for $2,500.
On eBay, the two PS3 models, which cost $500 and $600 in the stores, were selling for between $1,000 and $3,000.
"Hearing all these numbers definitely made me very conflicted," Deynes said, but "thinking of all that I went through, I'm not getting rid of this thing … Last night the rain messed up our tents and we got soaked and we had to sleep in the freezing cold."
In Los Altos, Calif., Justin Kwong was looking at an unopened PlayStation 3 box and finding that the money outweighed the pleasure of being one of the first with a PS3. He bought it Friday morning after three nights in a sleeping bag outside the Mountain View Best Buy.
"I've seen what they're going for … so I'm thinking probably of selling, because it's such a large profit margin," he said.
Of course, some people use all their political clout and get a flunky volunteer to handle it all for them, even if that means trading with the "vile and beastly" retailer he has been railing about. But there's that "two Americas" thing. There are rich elitist politicians and everybody else.
Funny thing is … within a few weeks everyone that wants one that bad will have one. I just don’t understand all the push to get one FIRST. It isn’t like the ones in the stores today are the only ones that are going to be made.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity!
They may not be the only ones made, but they are the only ones that will be made before Christmas this year. I can wait a year-an-a-half for the price to drop a bit, but there seem be, and I don’t think I’m exagerating, millions who cannot.