The scene. An unnamed but popular mall in Anytown USA

It’s countdown to the PS3 launch. The atmosphere is pretty festive. Grandparents in lounge chairs want to be the “greatest grandparents in the world” and camped out three days earlier just to have a good chance at one of the systems. Gamers take days off work, some with no pay, just to have a shot. GBAs, DVD players, radios and iPods are scattered among the gathering crowd. Even with Sony’s history of first-generation console glitchiness, and the top news story about the PS3s not being backwards compatible (temporarily), people are still optimistic, As the time gets closer, things start to change. And when the doors open, it’s a madhouse, People get honked off. Grandma gets trampled. Gamers get disappointed, and angry. And leave in ambulances.

Yes, this really happened. A friend of mine emailed me this morning:

“Over 300 people told to wait in their cars and then make a mad dash to the [store] line. It was the most disorganized event I’d ever witnessed. We were getting trampled and squeezed to death when we finally hit the wall where we were supposed to line up. The line became a mosh pit with people surfing on top. At times it was fun, but when Security wouldn’t fix the line to make it organized and when [store] Managers decided to pick random people to buy the PS3 instead of the people that camped out and waited, that’s when it just became unfair. The grandma and grandpa that had been there for 3 days were beaten out by a couple that came last-minute. It was sad sight to see. Two folks fainted and one person had seizure. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a riot after I left. Oh, and I didn’t get one either.”

It’s the day after now. If you’re lucky, you’ll spend $1100 on the system bundles. The couple that beat out Grandma and Grandpa put their system on eBay, one of the only places you’ll be able to find a PS3. The gamers who saved for months at a time are now breaking sibling’s piggy banks, pawning jewelry, cashing in stocks and bonds, and selling plasma to be able to afford the 300% markup.

It’s not like Sony didn’t know what the demand for the PS3 would be. It’s not that they couldn’t have predicted the number of units they’d need. No, Sony knew this stuff and still went ahead with the launch for whatever reason comes to mind: holiday market, keeping pace with the other consoles, the list goes on. And unfortunately, the consumers that got the PS3 are getting a not-quite-as-polished unit. The consumers that didn’t, are SOL.

There has got to be a better way.

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