Friday, November 17, 2006
Consumers are Eager to Nab Sony's PS3

By Susan Stiger
Journal Staff Writer

    An inflatable mattress, a down sleeping bag, a propane heater and a possible 400 percent turn-around on a $600 investment.
    Life is good if you're in the right place in line at Circuit City, Best Buy, Target or Wal-Mart.
    If you're not, log on to eBay, and prepare to fork over some serious moola for Sony's new PlayStation 3, which goes on sale today.
    With only 400,000 of the game consoles shipped to the United States, Albuquerque area stores expected small allotments. The San Mateo Circuit City, for example, had 12.
    So 12 people braved the cold, most of them since 9:30 Wednesday night. The dogged dozen— most of whom planned to sell the game for a hefty profit— waved away hopeful shoppers cruising by too late.
    First in line, brother and sister Kendra and Justin Arroyos, counted on their friend Kyla Janiel, deliverer of comforts like coffee, food and daughter, 17-month-old Caydynce, who provided smiles and giggles.
    The brother and sister bunked on their one-person inflatable mattress until "she kicked me to the ground," Justin said.
    "Why?" you ask. After all, Sony PlayStation 3 is just a game system.
    And the Cabbage Patch doll was just a sack with a face.
    A bleary-eyed Justin shifted under his blanket. "I'm still asking myself that," he said.
    From line to line, shopper to shopper, the eBay sale prices changed like a juicy rumor.
    "They're going for $2,500 on eBay," said one guy.
    "I heard $10,000," said a man at another store.
    A check Thursday afternoon showed a top asking price of $1,750. Not to worry, though. Like hot air balloons, asking prices kept rising, some to $10,000 per unit by Thursday night.
    Still, the key word is "asking" in asking price.
    At the West Side Best Buy, which confirmed a stock of 30 machines with perhaps more to come, a line had formed about noon Wednesday. They were chatty, blanketed and mathematically uncertain. Some said 27 people were in line, some said 29. A spot left?
    Evan Barela, undeniably No. 1, basked in his good fortune. He'd already been offered $2,000 for his place in line.
    No dice. Barela plans to keep his machine, but he and his buddy, Chris Saiz, 17, intend to sell one and split the profit.
    At the two Circuit Citys and the West Side Best Buy, a few Christmas shoppers were doing the visions-of-sugar-plums thing for their technology-weaned, uber-wired, fast-fingered kids. Wes Trudell, possibly No. 27 in the Best Buy line, was a rarity.
    "It's a present for my son. He's 7," he said.
    "It's a present for me," said possibly No. 26, Blake Knight. However, his nephews stand to inherit his PlayStation 2.
    B.J. Sparks was No. 7 at the West Side Circuit City, where apparently only six games waited inside. The late-comer arrived at 8 Thursday morning, looking to a history of luck to carry him through.
    "I was in line for the 360 Xbox, the PS1 and the PS2," he said. "I was always the last to get one."
    Meanwhile, Circuit City's Play Station 3s arrived in boxes marked Landis Plastics, known for making containers and lids. Best Buy's arrived in plain brown boxes.
    "This is like Prohibition, when they used to sell cigarettes and beer," said Joe Swinger, store director of the San Mateo store.
    For retired computer consultant Mike Gurule, the gathering was a scene out of the '60s.
    Except it wasn't peace and love but entrepreneurship that flourished on the shady sides of buildings, where cots, pillows, folded-up tents, burgers, books, lawn chairs, even a desk chair on wheels set the scene of fraternal disarray.
    In advance of their early opening times, stores planned to hand out vouchers this morning to their tired, their hungry and their well-bundled. At Best Buy, they'll let in three or four at a time.
    No crowding, please.
    Ultimately, there will be a lot more games. Sony is expected to ship 1 million to the United States by the end of the year. In the meantime, a patient shopper can buy a high-definition TV set, a must-have for the best game performance with a PS3.
    Or a shopper can head out Sunday for similar scenes around Albuquerque and the country for the unveiling of Nintendo's new Wii (as in whee!), less of a techno superpower at $250.
    Shorter lines, maybe.