ps3

Stop the madness!

If you thought the PS3 frenzy ended at midnight, you were terribly mistaken. It was just warming up.

After finding very few fans planning to keep their purchased PS3 for themselves at yesterday's launch, it was to be expected that more drama would ensue today. This morning the world awoke to next-gen consoles auctioning for obscenely high prices and very few places to buy or even place an order for one.

Costco's Web site was down this morning, though now shows just an empty crate and a "sold out" banner. CircuitCity.com reports it is "… Read more

PlayStation 3 generation has begun

SAN FRANCISCO--Sony is fond of saying that each new generation of video game consoles doesn't really begin until it launches its entry.

If that's so--and Microsoft would certainly have some quibbles with the notion--then the next-generation console era is most definitely on.

At just before midnight Jack Tretton, Sony Computer Entertainment of America vice president and co-COO, handed over the first PlayStation 3 bought on the West Coast. The lucky recipient? Chris Toribio of San Francisco, who, along with a group of friends, had been waiting in line since 8 a.m. Wednesday.

It was a scene straight … Read more

$500 for place in PS3 line?

SAN FRANCISCO--There are about 1,000 people waiting in line at the Metreon here, all of whom have their eyes on the prize: Being one of the very first people to be able to buy a PlayStation 3.

Sony tells me that everyone in line will get that chance, but only some people have been given wristbands guaranteeing that right.

So it seems as though there may be a perception, among those at the end of the line, that they won't be able to get one.

And that may explain why, at around 7:30 p.m., a gentleman … Read more

Where have all the PS3s gone?

SAN FRANCISCO--When the doors to the truck opened and it was possible to see all the boxes inside, each containing the ultimate prize, PlayStation 3s, it looked like there were many, many hundreds.

And that was good, since there have to be around 1,000 people waiting in line here at the Metreon for the official West Coast PS3 launch.

Sony told me that everyone in line would get the opportunity to buy a PS3, so that means that they expected to have at least 1,000 available.

But when the Sony folks finished the hoopla of pulling out the first box, … Read more

The first PlayStation 3s arrive

SAN FRANCISCO--If there were ever four more important yet banal words spoken in the PlayStation universe than the ones spoken by Sony Computer Entertainment of America executive Jack Tretton at just after 8 p.m. Thursday here, it's hard to imagine what they could have been.

"Here they are, guys," a triumphant-sounding Tretton shouted as he held the first PlayStation 3 from the first box off the first truck over his head. And the crowd--hundreds of PlayStation fans lined up on the sidewalk here--cheered, even as dozens of photographers and television camerapeople circled Tretton.

Minutes … Read more

PS3 fans line up to make a buck

SAN FRANCISCO--All those people queued up for a chance to lay down $500 to $600 bucks for a shiny new PlayStation 3 aren't just gaming fanatics--many of them are entrepreneurs as well.

Mingling with the bundled-up fans under dark gray San Francisco skies, I was hard-pressed to find anyone planning to keep one for themselves. (Note to New York Craver Caroline McCarthy: We have long lines for the bathroom on the West Coast too.)

Several people balked when I asked if they wanted a PS3 to keep. As they cited the thousands of potential dollars to be made by … Read more

eBay rules no match for PS3 and Wii sellers

Many bloggers and posters are agog at the restrictions eBay has placed on the listings for presale Playstation 3 and Wii consoles. The rules, however, have not made a dent in the number of game machines up for sale.

As of Thursday afternoon, there were 3,144 listings for "PS3" and related items, and eBay had listed the Playstation 3 as the "It" item of the day. Listings for the Wii, due out November 19, numbered 2,189 and bids went as high as $2,000 for one console that came with 6 games and "… Read more

The PS3 tour of Manhattan

Are the gods smiling upon New York City's gamers today? Sure, it's a little windy, but last night's rainy mist is a distant memory and the thermometers are hitting the 70-degree Fahrenheit mark. The hordes of eager fans who've lined up for a chance at obtaining the PlayStation 3 console at midnight on opening day couldn't really have asked for a nicer November morning.

Last night's 24-hours-to-go photos from the SonyStyle store in midtown are now on News.com. This morning I made a downtown excursion, hitting up the Circuit City in Union Square … Read more

Burning the midnight oil in line for the PS3

WHASSUP, CRAVERS? Here in NYC it's the lovely hour of 1:30 AM, and yours truly just returned from an expedition to the SonyStyle store on Madison Avenue in midtown, also known (for the time being) as PlayStation 3 Central. We'll be covering the mayhem in full tomorrow morning here on Crave as well as at News.com, but I'm going to leave you all with a little teaser.

Twenty-four hours to go until the PS3 launches, and what did I see? A line--the one in the picture. Yeah, this line of a dozen or so people. … Read more

In Manhattan, pining for the PS3

There are just a few short days left until the PlayStation 3 launches in the U.S., but a handful of New Yorkers decided they just couldn't wait any longer.

Lining up 80 hours in advance--in the rain, to boot--was a hard-core batch of PS3 fanatics who wanted to make sure absolutely no one beat them to the punch. Problem is, the powers that be at the Circuit City in Manhattan's Union Square put a collective foot down and insisted that no one line up until 24 hours prior to the launch--the tent-and couch-filled line, they said, was … Read more