The Day I Walked Out On the PS3

A story of how this gamer decided buying a Wii was the only choice for him, even when four PS3 consoles were available.

Today I decided it was time to finally go out and buy a Nintendo Wii. I had already missed buying one at the launch because I thought I would be able to just walk in and pick one up, so this time I was ready to rough it a bit. Most people had said that finding one was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time and that supply of the Wii seemed to flow fairly regularly. The day before I tried to snatch one of the 51 that Best Buy received, but again I got to the store only an hour before and missed the little console by a mere four places in line. It was time for a new plan.

This time I went for broke and showed up at my local Toys R Us at around 7 A.M. for the 10:00 A.M. opening. We had received a tip (similar to our best buy tip) that this particular store would have at least 100 consoles waiting to be sold. With those figures, my brother and I thought it would be a sure thing if we arrived three hours early. So there we were, two old guys waiting in line for a Wii at our local Toys R Us. To make matters worse, one of the mothers in line asked, "You getting one for your kids?" Um no lady, we're dorks and dorks game at all ages.

At 10:03 A.M. the doors finally opened and we led the charge into the stores gaming section. I was the first to the display when I asked the manager if they had any Wii consoles in stock. "Nope, sure don't," he said. He also had no clue when they were getting anymore in and told me to come back tomorrow. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to sit in front of stores all day and wait for a game system. Sorry, but contrary to popular belief, I do have some sort of semblance of a life. I told him thanks but no thanks and headed to the door. Before I could take two steps, he stopped me. "Hey, we just opened our inventory and we have four PlayStation 3 consoles on the truck!" Wow. I was in shock. I mean, I came here in search of the, supposedly, plentiful Wii and here were four of the rarest consoles on the planet ready for purchase. I had dismissed the PS3 since the launch date for the simple fact that I didn't think I would even have a chance to see one, let alone buy it. My first reaction was, "Hell yes, I'll take two!" After he began to take them out of the shipping boxes I actually thought about it.

"Do I really want a PS3?" In all reality there are no launch titles that I need. At least nothing that I can't already play on my tried and true Xbox 360. In fact, the whole point of me purchasing the Wii was because it was at least offering me a different gaming experience then the 360. So what did I need it for? Maybe it was the Blu-Ray player! Then again, I realized that my 360 could play HD-DVD's if I wanted to buy the add-on and even that seemed like a waste of money. I had been happy with my regular DVDs for years and really had no reason for the upgrade. I know, I'll sell them on Ebay and make millions and millions of dollars, right? With that notion I called up my sister and told her to hop on the computer and check some numbers for me. Oddly enough, the PS3 has plummeted to a minimal profit margin and, since these console were sold in two game bundles with a forced warranty, the payoff seemed almost worthless. I really didn't think tying up my credit card with a $1,000 dollar purchase during the shopping season would be worth it for a couple hundred bucks. So with that, we decided to leave.

The cashier was in total shock. "You want be able to get these till March if you leave now!" That maybe true, but shouldn't I actually want something that I'm going to buy? I think the sad fact is, I almost did buy the console on hype alone. Even after we made it out of the store and past the dumb founded cashiers I had this empty feeling in my stomach. Was I really just going to leave the PS3 without even buying one? Even my own brother succumb to the power of the hype and decided we had to go back. At the very least we must have some friends that want one and that would be enough to make the purchase necessary. Plus, there is no way the consoles would still be there with a store full of mothers and sons looking for a new holiday game system. Right?

Wrong. Even after 30 minutes and a full store, only one of the bundles had sold. The cashier looked at me like a pusher looks at a junkie as if he knew I couldn't resit the Sony hype machine. "Realized you were crazy huh?," he said. With that I began to dial up my closest gamer buddies and inform that I would be able to deliver them an "at cost" PS3 console system for the holiday. Each person I called said "no thanks." Even the people that waited in line for the PS3 at launch had decided to move onto the Xbox 360 or wait for a Nintendo Wii. No one wanted it! How could this be? Only two weeks after $10,000 sale prices, riots, robberies, assaults, and now no one ever cares? With that, I realized the PS3 just wasn't worth the hype. My brother looked at me and said, "Quick, lets head over to Circuit City now. If we can get there fast enough, we may have a chance at the Wii."

- doodirock

P.S. For those wondering, the system was a 20gig and not the more profitable 60gig version. It was bundled with 2 games and a mandatory $70 warranty.