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After numerous delays and much anticipation, the PS3 has finally reached the American market, greeted by cheering crowds, overt displays of capitalist greed, and, of course, muggings.

Patrons of Sony's flagship epnoymous store in San Francisco were treated to a grand display of the console's arrival as a flashy SUV guarded by armed security pulled up to make a delivery. Of course, the actual product was already waiting inside the store, but that didn't stop the crowd from going wild.

In New York City, where hopeful fans had been waiting in line for days, line cutters and rainy weather tried the patience of many. Celebrities entertained the crowd, but the real fun came when the doors to the SonyStyle store opened: everyone admitted knew they were guarenteed to walk away with a PS3.

And, of course, if you missed your chance at one of only 400k consoles, you could always try eBay, where American entrepreneurship has led some of your fellow citizens to sell for well over $2000--more than three times the price of the $599 tricked-out version.

Unfortunately, some of your fellow Americans saw launch day as nothing more than an opportunity to line up exciting new crime. A Gamestop in Elk Grove, California, was robbed of several PS3 and XBox 360 consoles by a pair of armed men, and line-waiters in Connecticut and Oregon were mugged.

Source: various Gamespot

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Veni, vidi, dormivi.

i have one woo woo woo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
im going to go play it now.

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moetsuki
moetsuki
motoranai yakusoku no basho
jouzu ni habataku watashi wo mitsumete

Quote

And, of course, if you missed your chance at one of only 400k consoles, you could always try eBay, where American entrepreneurship has led some of your fellow citizens to sell for well over $2000--more than three times the price of the $599 tricked-out version.

A guy I know took this route. He sold it for $900 before he even bought it, before waiting in line for two days to get one of apperantly 4 PS3's at our local Target.

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Dead Winter. A nice comic.

Quote (karasuman @ 17th November 2006 18:04)

And, of course, if you missed your chance at one of only 400k consoles, you could always try eBay, where American entrepreneurship has led some of your fellow citizens to sell for well over $2000--more than three times the price of the $599 tricked-out version.

Yay capitalism. Not exclusive to the US, but it seems only in North America can someone truly get away with hugely inflating the price and still find some sucker willing to buy it. What's worse is that price will climb and climb.

Waiting on the actual sales figures will be the fun part. Bear in mind that Wii, being a bit communist, outnumbers the technologically superior NATO PS3 by about 2 and a half to one with a cheaper trained and equipped console, meaning when you gauge price it's actually a fair comparison to say if they both sell out shortly after launch, that both are going to succeed, but you have to judge by how many people walked away (Awii?) empty handed to guess who's winning.

On a lighter note, there's a chap in Canada with a muddled up buisiness model, who plans to buy a Wii and sell it on eBay reasoning that 7/10 kids will have one and the desire to fit in will make spoiled brats demand mummy and daddy file for bankruptcy to get him a Wii . It'll at least be more successful than his previous ventures to sell Tea to China, Kilts to Scotland, and Snow to Siberia.

This post has been edited by Del S on 17th November 2006 20:06

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"Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato."
-George Santayana

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..."
-Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony.

With regards to eBay, can we at least be reasonably sure that people are actually bidding on PS3s and not just photos like six years ago?

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

A guy in Minnesota got 20 PS3s by hiring people he knew to wait in line for $300 each. He plans on making $4000-$7000. Only in America...

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Status:
FF6 -- Finished! Yeah!
FF7 -- Finished (easily, and without KOtR)
FF8 -- End of Disc 3
Secret of Evermore--Leveling up for Salabog

"Go sit over there. Put your seatbelt on."--Squall

Some of my asian friends are hustling PS3's this weekend. $1500 a pop or so on ebay.

Hustling advanced technology. The most asian thing I've ever heard.

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I find your lack of faith disturbing...

Quote (Barrylocke @ 17th November 2006 13:03)

A guy I know took this route. He sold it for $900 before he even bought it, before waiting in line for two days to get one of apperantly 4 PS3's at our local Target.

He could have sold it for a lot more than $900. I heard that most of the pre-sale ebay units went for $3000 and after it came out it was up to $4,000. It makes me sick.

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Elena Indurain

Currently Playing: Suikoden II

Indeed Elena, I don't recall anything of the sort happening when the XBox 360 came out (unless my mind's a bit hazy). Is the same thing happening with the Wii?

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Dead Winter. A nice comic.

Q. : Is the same thing happening with the Wii?

A: If you mean it's being sold by up to four times the original price on eBay despite as of this post only being out for 9 hours or so... Yes. Very Yes. There's one going for THREE THOUSAND.

Oh, and A PSWii bundle for nearly five thousand.

Q: Did the same thing happen with XBox360?

A: Technically, yes. Most of the first consoles made were shipped to Japan, and only about 60,000 of those sold on the first few days leaving a lot of unused consoles. That meant Japan was full of excess consoles as the 500,000 odd units for North America ran out and made their way to eBay. 40,000 units, 10% of the supply, was resold on eBay according to Wikipedia.

It's worth noting that the Japanese XBox 360 launch was a complete disaster. By mid-january this year some shops refused to take back 360 consoles and hardware in Japan...


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"Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato."
-George Santayana

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..."
-Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony.

yeah its been crazy. here at school, some dude was on library walk the other day standing around with a ps3 in his arms. when i asked him what he was doing just chillin there, he said he was trying to sell it for 1500. pretty interesting if you ask me. someone bought it from that fool about 10 minz later. prolly wont get one anytime soon, but, eventually i'll give in

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"The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved."
- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

Did anyone besides chou even get one?

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Elena Indurain

Currently Playing: Suikoden II

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Did anyone besides chou at CoN even get one?

There, fixed that for ya.

No one I know around here got one. The local WalMart superstore had 8 on opening day, with over 70 waiting for it.

This post has been edited by Hamedo on 20th November 2006 15:06

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

How come its only americans who would do things like this and start riots and then go and sell them on the internet for really silly prices?

I wish the european release was faster

Quote (Hamedo @ 20th November 2006 15:00)

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Did anyone besides chou at CoN even get one?

There, fixed that for ya.

No one I know around here got one. The local WalMart superstore had 8 on opening day, with over 70 waiting for it.

oh im sorry are you jealous. i was even nice in the other thread and i checked to see that your final fantasy tactics game would work on the play station 3. you dont need to imply that everyone else is lying just because you didnt get one. besides as a matter of fact mine is a japanese import that my girlfriends family got for me.

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moetsuki
moetsuki
motoranai yakusoku no basho
jouzu ni habataku watashi wo mitsumete

I want a Play Station 3 a lot! It looks very Fun with new Final Fantasy Games and Metal Gear 4 and graphics which are very Beautiful! I want one very close! If chou does not have one it is OK because I do not think he is having a Play Station 3.

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who needs pornography when you can just read about it instead?

$600 dollars just to play a shooters game! I would rather have a Wii!

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A fox is cunning
a fox is sleek.
I long to have ones
muzzle on my cheek.

Id hug him and we'd kiss
our love would be true.
And he would wisper
"I love you too"
=^_^= A snippet from a lovely and inspiring poem By Due Swann =^_^=

Eh, I'm not really looking forward to anything on the PlayStation 3, besides Metal Gear Solid 4, but hopefully, Konami will be able to make ports on other consoles, possibly the Wii. Anyways, the new Final Fantasy XIII is looking a bit too Final Fantasy VII-esque and I'm happy with what I have right now anyways...

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"You underestimate the strength of a Jedi's mind, Brejik. A mistake you won't live to regret, " -Bastila Shan(Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)

Now for the big question:
When and what is the PS2 price drop?

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"I had to write four novels before they let me write comic books."
-Brad Meltzer

Quote (Dark Paladin @ 28th November 2006 04:01)

Now for the big question:
When and what is the PS2 price drop?

Sony style reply:

What's a price drop?

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"Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato."
-George Santayana

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..."
-Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony.

Yeah really. I get the feeling they'll destroy them before they sell them for less than a hundred bucks.

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"That Light has bestowed upon me the greatest black magic!"

Supposedly, Sony was also going to drop the price of the PSP in time for the holiday season, yet they're still $200... (still overpriced for what a overhyped console it is). I wouldn't even bother getting the PSP for $150... You can get the PS2 for $150 I believe now and it's probably a better system than the PSP and it's a pretty good deal. I'm not completely sure, though if it's still $150, some retailers may have dropped their prices, but since I have a PS2 already, I don't check their prices. It may be possible that the PS2 price will drop now that PS3 is out, but that may be unlikely.

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"You underestimate the strength of a Jedi's mind, Brejik. A mistake you won't live to regret, " -Bastila Shan(Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)

Quote (Aether Master @ 28th November 2006 22:56)

Supposedly, Sony was also going to drop the price of the PSP in time for the holiday season, yet they're still $200... (still overpriced for what a overhyped console it is). I wouldn't even bother getting the PSP for $150... You can get the PS2 for $150 I believe now and it's probably a better system than the PSP and it's a pretty good deal. I'm not completely sure, though if it's still $150, some retailers may have dropped their prices, but since I have a PS2 already, I don't check their prices. It may be possible that the PS2 price will drop now that PS3 is out, but that may be unlikely.

The PS2 dropped to $130 a few months ago, and Sony didn't really change the price of the PSP - they dropped the MSRP to $200 but also removed several accessories from the basic sales package, so instead of saving $50 it's more like saving $7.

So yeah, Sony hates gamers. They only care about gamers' monies, and gamers' parents' monies. Makes me wonder why I've been such a slave to their consoles for the past seven or eight years.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

Quote (laszlow @ 28th November 2006 23:18)

Makes me wonder why I've been such a slave to their consoles for the past seven or eight years.

Because it was the best console for those 7 or 8 years and had the most games you wanted play?

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"That Light has bestowed upon me the greatest black magic!"