Launch Weekend Insanity

There are many people in lines out there already, waiting for their chance tomorrow at Sony's PlayStation 3. Probably the biggest line is at the Metreon, where almost 1,000 people are lined up outside of the official Sony store. Destructoid is carrying stats from eBay's pre-sales numbers. (The average sales price of a PS3 was $1,532.76. 2,165 Wiis have been sold since October 20th.) 1up's intrepid reporters have thoughtfully outlined the dangers of Wiimote use. Somewhat relatedly, Miyamoto reveals in a BusinessWeek article that he wanted the Wii to be even cheaper. From that article: "Originally, I wanted a machine that would cost $100. My idea was to spend nothing on the console technology so all the money could be spent on improving the interface and software. If we hadn't used NAND flash memory [to store data such as games and photos] and other pricey parts, we might have succeeded."

Bundling ahoy!

[Channard]

I don't know if this kind of thing happens in the US, but in the UK most manufacturers were only selling the 360, come launch day, on the condition that you bought three games with it. And because the units were so scarce, people were happy to do this. Bear in mind this was when the selection of 360 games was pretty mediocre. You can bet this will be happening again when it finally hits the UK.

Target. Fredericksburg Virginia.

[AsnFkr]

Ok, so this is hilarious. There is a PS3 line outside the local target that formed yesterday morning. Today we had a HUUUGE storm. Look at the water [adventure-today.com] flowing off the roof of my building after the storm had passed. To make matters worse for the people in line at Target [adventure-today.com], last night Target's management had all their cars towed while they stood and watched, everyone afraid to lose their spot in line. My question is....if they are too afraid/stupid to stop their car from being towed...where are they going to the bathroom for 3 days?

Re:Bundling ahoy!

[MWoody]

That's actually a result of a bizarre market strategy that's been in place for game consoles for years: the stores themselves sell the base hardware at cost. $599 for a PS3 is what Sony charges the store, not just an MSRP. The idea, from a stores' standpoint, is that a) it's better for their game sales overall for more consoles to be sold, so it's generally in their best interest to assist this dissemination, and b) if they sell a console to a customer, they can hope that customer will either buy games and accessories at the same time or remember the store and come back for them at a later date. Online retail has made this a bit less effective, as customers these days are less likely to rely on the same local game store for all their gaming needs; as a result, you see more "bundles" being sold, so that the store can insure it makes a profit.

Re:Reviews

[HappySqurriel]

Exitetruck is awsome as a time killer. It didn't feel like a full "I must play through all of this" tpe game (then again racing games never feel like that to me), it DID feel like somethign that you could easily enjoy when you have 10 mins to kill (or as a party game). I will probably be picking up a copy of it.

A lot of the more negative reviews I have read for Excitetruck (and other games) seem to focus on the lack of a few features and then justify destroying the game in its score; basically they can be summarised as "Excite truck is an amazingly fun game when playing by yourself or with a friend, but being that it doesn't have online multiplayer or 4 player splitscreen 6/10." Now I understand why people want to point that out but it seems like it isn't being scored for the game it is, it is being reviewed for the game it isn't. I think I can explain this better ...

Since about 1999, when I was playing Zelda:MM and Unreal Tournament at the same time, I have thought that you could make an amazing Online Multiplayer (Deathmatch or CTF) game using Zelda as a base; you could make several classes of characters which had different items and health levels or what not. Personally, I think that this is an obvious extention to The Legend of Zelda and I'm disapointed that no one has made a Zelda Clone that has included this. What I was saying about reviewing a game for what it isn't is, would it make sense for someone to give The Legend of Zelda:TP a 6/10 because it didn't include Online Multiplayer?

Re:Reviews

[MeanderingMind]

Review games yourself.

I've personally found reviews to be rather unhelpful these days. It is extremely difficult to find a review that isn't vague about both what is good and what is bad. Attempting to find anything specific is as timeconsuming as WoW.

Ultimately the best thing you can do is try the games yourself. Does netflix rent games yet?

Horrible PS3 line management

[Sparr0]

Let me preface this by saying that I have stood in lines before. I have slept in lines before. I have camped in lines before. I have had tailgate parties in lines before. So I know how normal lines work. I have seen bad lines, good lines, friendly people, other people, clueful managers and store employees, and not. But the PS3 debacle as I am calling it was by far the worst in most categories that I have seen.

My camp started pretty simply. I called all the local Wal Mart stores and asked for their timing and policies, etc. Almost universally they said they would have a line in the (soon to be closed) Layaway department. So I pick out the store closest to a friend's house, so he can come hold my spot while I go shower/etc at his place, and we hope to perhaps do a little word of mouth about our local gaming group.

Wednesday morning I walk through the store, see where the bathrooms, food, magazines, chairs, etc are. No one is in line, and I am not desperate to be first, so I head out for a little while to get some things done. I come back around 12:30 PM and there is a console-gamer-looking teenager sitting in the one non-bench chair in layaway. I take this as a sign that the line has started, but I left all my stuff (books and a deck of cards) in my car so I go back out and get them. When I get back inside the guy has disappeared, so I take the chair and start to wait.

Over the next 20 minutes or so a number of employees either ask what I am doing, or comment on it since they already know. The layaway attendant finally gets done with her customers and makes a call to her manager, and I hear "You'll have to come tell him that yourself", which soooo does not bode well. I then see a pallet jack full of chairs come out of the back of the store, and am enthusiastic about them putting together a real line. Sadly the chairs continue past me and out of sight, another bad sign.

Shorthly thereafter an assistant manager comes out and tells me the line will have to be outside, AND that they are getting less than the 10 promised units. I don't mind either bit of news so much. An indoor line is why I picked Wal Mart, but I figured outside wouldn't be too bad, they have covered and even heated outdoor areas. I head outside and am greeted by cloudy skies. I figure worst case, I step inside and buy a tent like most outdoor line campers do. The line gets set up as 10 shoulder-to-shoulder chairs in front of one side of the building, directly in the water runoff path of a large slanted roof with no gutter. Bad sign number 3 I think?

I sit down, and am shortly joined by two more guys who thought they would be the first ones there. No worries, the employee rumor mill has hinted at 6 units and 4 rain checks at this point, so top 3 is a fine place to be. At this point the store manager comes outside to talk to us. He vetos the idea of having tents (wtf mate?) which is really scary for that kind of line location and weather, and also tells us we can't have extension cords to the distant power outlets, and can't have cars any closer than the parking spots 30 feet away across the 'street'. So much for almost any sort of group entertainment, and any prayer of keeping dry.

The line fills up to the 10 chairs pretty quickly, and comments are made about selling seats. I jokingly offer the #1 spot for $400, which would have been a hell of a sale that early in the camp. No takers though. We hang out, a few people tag team friends into their spots, generally nothing happens for a few hours. It's a friendly line, we are letting people make food and bathroom trips into the store without losing their spots. All seems well, except for the previously noted poor location and rules. The evening manager comes on duty, and parrots the store manager's answers to all the questions, still no tents.

And then the rain starts. The rain is pretty light, but theres a difference in getting hit by 2 square feet worth of light rain (drizzle) and getting hit by 100 square feet worth of light rain