Shortly before 5:00 this morning, the lines at both Best Buy and Target still had, combined, probably about 30 people in them - maybe a few more that at 2:30 yesterday.
This morning most of the gamers appeared to be buried deep inside sleeping bags. How much sleeping they were doing is anybody's guess, but at least maybe they werre staying warm.
Best Buy planned to begin selling Playstation 3 at 8:00 this morning.
In addition to those sleeping bags, those lined up for Sony Corp.'s latest video game console also used sock caps, gloves and blankets - and tents - to try to keep warm. It was the same in many other parts of the country as well.
In Columbus, meanwhile, a west Georgia man was so determined to buy 15 pieces of the latest video game hardware as Christmas gifts that he hired people to stand in line for him. But the plan fell apart when other customers got wind of it and complained.
Murray Newlin, a Columbus dentist, was seeking 15 PlayStation 3 consoles as Christmas gifts for grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
He was prepared to buy available units from Wal-Mart stores in Columbus and several Alabama cities, using a crew of 60 workers he cycled through in eight-hour shifts, according to one of the temps he hired.
He abandoned his plan yesterday after other potential PlayStation customers got wind of it and began complaining to him, to the store managers and to the employment agency he used.
Newlin said he checked with store managers to make sure he wasn't violating their policy before sending his work force to the stores. But he said, ``It's not worth the brouhaha it's causing.''
Major retailers refused to widely announce exactly how many units would be distributed to individual locations.
To curb overly high hopes and potential frustrations, many retailers were trying to make it clear that supplies would be limited.
Best Buy noted on the front page of its nationwide circular ads on Sunday that it would have a minimum of 20 60-gigabyte PS3 models and six 20-gigabyte models per store on Friday. How much each store would have in stock above that allotment was up for speculation.
At some stores around the country, people began lining up as early as Tuesday.
Sony promised 400,000 PS3 machines for the U.S. market for riday's launch and a U.S. total of about 1 million units by year's end - down sharply from its original projections of 4 million.
Sony declined to detail its distribution strategy, but spokesman Dave Karraker said the company is roughly following a normal path but scaling it down proportionately to a retailers' typical share of Sony gaming products.
Sony plans to replenish inventories weekly, using air transport instead of ocean freighters, he said.
The days leading up to the launch haven't been completely glitch-free.
Best Buy inadvertently posted on its Web site last weekend that it was taking pre-orders for the PS3. It was removed within a few hours but not before an undisclosed number of customers swarmed after the erroneous offer.
To Sony's credit, however, it is effectively avoiding a repeat of the public outcry from the shortages of the rival Microsoft (MSFT) Xbox 360 launch last year, said Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter.
"Sony is managing this well. They are telling us the numbers are very small," Pachter said. "Nobody is thinking they're getting a PS3 for Christmas and those that do get it will be pleasantly surprised."
(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)
http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/11/100162