There's a line of people in tents outside my local Best Buy as well... I feel bad for them, it may snow tonight. :/
LOL Stigglesworth! Luckily, these gamers just want a PS3 or Wii; they're not lording over the quad damage or anything. :)

Gamers should be used to being told "no camping"..

Why would your friend buy an extra one for you to sell instead of selling it himself? Is he retarded?

The store's logic behind this is to display a pleasant looking store without "gaijins" hanging around doing who knows what. It's all about the store image. But what Best Buy doesn't understand is that this is actually very good for business because A: all these people lined up have chosen Best Buy as their retailer of choice for an important (and not to mention very pricey) video game/entertainment purchase. Deterring these mongrels waiting in line might cause them to go shop someplace else. B: It doesn't turn people away like the retail giant thinks, in this day and age nobody really cares about a cue of cold dorks lining up outside the building. Most of the time they aren't in anybody's way. Do they really think it'll turn into a riot? Then again, considering the debauchery of the PS2 launch among Sony fans... C. It adds consumer interest to those coming into the store. Everyone else on regular shopping trips will wonder what the line is all about. And let's not deny it... much of the whole idea behind the electronics business is to covet thy neighbors goods.

azu: What I've read is the complete opposite. The graphics in Resistance are better than in Gears of War, but the design and play of Gears of War is on another level. Resistance is being called Timesplitters with next gen graphics.

Where it becomes scalping is when you buy the system for the sole purpose of reselling it immediately. If you buy the system, play it for a bit and then resell it because you don't like it but want your money back, then that's fine.

"Yeah, there's NO way that Resistance game might actually be fun, right?"

Yeah, but you have to admit it's kinda overshadowed by Gears of War. All the reviews are pretty much saying if you have to play one, go with Gears of War. It's also a much cheaper and feasible to buy a 360 w/ Gears of War right now...

looks like junk to me.

hopefully my friend at best buy can snag me a wii so i dont have to wait out all night, the weather report says 28 degrees. My local best buy said they have 26 ps3s and 80 wiis in the back

dreminemike: The problem with people camping to buy systems to resell, besides it being thoroughly retarded, is the fact it's technically scalping. With tickets to events, this is illegal. The government hasn't intervened with this form of price gouging yet. Hopefully they will. There's a difference between capitalism and scalping...

Everyone just wants a PS3 right now for the bragging rights. It's not like it's going to have any good launch games. I see no reason to buy something that expensive until Sony gets the bugs worked out.

Same goes for the Wii, though it actually offers more to the consumer at launch-- vastly different gameplay, games like Twilight Princess, and the virtual console. However, Nintendo can supply more of them, which is better for everyone in the end.

I don't know why people care so much when it comes to why people are camping out. If people are willing to sacrifice their time for the console, then let them do it. It only hurts those that aren't willing to go to such lengths for such console. Think about it though; if you end up selling the console on eBay, you end up making a lot of money off the console. I bet that half of the people in line are going to sell their console just to reap some monetary benefit out of the PS3 and their arduous wait in line.

If they're willing to wait days/weeks, more power to them.

This BestBuy thing is only going to cause chaos/pandemonium on the day the system is released. I've waited a day in line for the PS2 when it launched, and even there people were fighting because of the slight lack of systems the stores had (I believe our store had about 120 consoles, compared to the paltry 12 or so that same local BestBuy of mine is guaranteeing). Imagine the severity of the situation now that so little systems are going to be shipped and so many people want it.

It really doesn't hurt BestBuy to allow people to pacifically/peacefully camp outside of the store (as long as their camping doesn't hurt the customers who are going in and out of the store). Nor should it really trouble those who don't agree and dislike the folks who do this. It boils down to the fact that they CAN do it. If you can and are willing to sacrifice your time in that fashion, like I previously stated, more power to you.

Things ARE fair for all customers, bidingtime. Everyone has the option of camping out days/weeks prior to launch. If you can't, it means you have other obligations at hand than wanting to buy a gaming console.

proppat: "the show up at this time, get your lottery ticket, good luck" scheme might work for things that are of abundance (like movie tickets), but for something so scarce like the PS3, it's only going to create a huge amount of foreseen, unnecessary problems.

-Mike.

P.S. There's always Target/Circuit City/Wal-Mart.

I guess the bosses over at Best Buy must have read my previous post on the article about people lining up at their store because this is exactly what I said they should do.

off topic:

drizzt do you like working at best buy because I have an interview there this week.

lmk?

Sorry, meant 9am Sunday for the Wii. Curse these no edit comments. :)

yaztimbenzo - Why yes, it's called "bermuda grass".

Frankly, I'm glad this happened. And here I thought I didn't have a life! Although, if these people did take vacation time for this, I would have appreciated Best Buy issuing this statement MUCH earlier.

Out of curiosity, how do the people lining up from midnight to 8 AM go to the bathroom? Considering how crazy some people get about these systems, I can't imagine people would allow you to re-enter the line after you left to find a bathroom.

well, if you can't wait outside best buy, there's always wal-mart. and they're open 24 hours a day.

Huh, my Best Buy is acctualy suggesting people start lining up on Thursday morning.

"PENGUINS ONLY"

Not only does it seem like a bad idea, but what are they gonna do? Kick the people off the property? Ok, do that BestBuy. Good luck. For every person you kick off, 3 more are gonna fall in behind em, especially when it gets closer to launch. There is no way to stop the line. The lines will now form whenever BestBuy employees get tired of shooing people away. And, people will be pissed that they are shooed away, blame BestBuy for their lack of a system on launch, etc, much like valshier said.

This seems like a bad idea. A bunch of people are going to rush in all at once at midnight and then there is going to likely be argument over who got there first...

Good questions, visual.

I'd love to have that amount of free time and, apparently, extra money.