Short supplies caused lines to form early, as well as violent
confrontations, for the new Sony Playstation 3 gaming system that
went on sale early Friday – so scarce that one local store didn’t
even receive the full amount of the systems to sell that they were
promised.

The Foster Brook Wal-Mart Supercenter was selling six
60-gigabyte turbo version PS3 game systems, which includes a
built-in Blu-ray digital video player and built-in wireless, for
$599 and two of the 20-gigabyte version PS3s for $499.

“We advertised for 10, but Sony didn’t fulfill their
commitment,” a Foster Brook assistant manager said Friday. “We had
to give two people rain checks.”

The Olean, N.Y., Wal-Mart also sold six 60-gigabyte PS3s and
four 20-gigabyte PS3s, selling for the same price.

“We sold out in the first 15 minutes,” Olean store manager Ed
Schuh said. “We had customers that waited over a day. They orderly
formed a line. They camped out on the front sidewalk. There was a
high anticipation for customers, and we could have sold as many as
20 or 25. But, of course, there’s a restriction on the amount we
could get. Customers knew ahead of time (how many Playstations were
for sale). We didn’t have any problems.”

No one could comment on the situation at the St. Marys Wal-Mart
Supercenter, but the store was selling the gaming system.

The Foster Brook assistant manager also said those lined up were
of all ages. The person in front of the line was Teri Terwilliger,
who had been there since 5 p.m. Tuesday, staying the night in the
store along with others in line.

“There were college kids and parents,” the assistant manager
said. “But no grandmothers. I don’t think there were any
grandmothers. I don’t think they could have waited in line that
long.”

Schuh said there were mainly parents buying the gaming
systems.

“They make good anticipated Christmas gifts,” Schuh said.

The Foster Brook assistant manager said they had no problems or
incidents at the store.

“The customers were great, in here, waiting,” she said. “It went
very smooth. They lined up. They were in here for three days. After
the first 10 spots (in the line) were filled, we didn’t let anyone
else get in line because of that. We only had 10. We were honest
with them. There’s no sense in making them wait, too.”

To make sure nothing got out of hand, Foster Township Police
Officers Tim Nicastro and Kevin Shaffer were in the store to
“maintain order.”

Other places saw violence in the waiting lines.

The Associated Press reported the crowds at some stores
stampeded for the shelves, injuring a Wisconsin man and forcing
authorities to shut down a Wal-Mart store in California. In
Connecticut, two armed thugs tried to rob a line of people waiting
outside a Putnam Wal-Mart at 3 a.m. One person who refused to give
up the money was shot, state police said. In Lexington, Ky., four
people waiting outside a Best Buy were hit by BB pellets, though
none was seriously injured, according to WKYT, whose own reporter
was hit as she interviewed buyers.

Sony Corp. promised only 400,000 systems nationwide for Friday’s
launch and about 1 million by the end of the year. Jack Tretton,
executive vice president at Sony Computer Entertainment America,
said retailers will be receiving new PlayStations daily – expedited
by plane rather than ships, according to reports by the Associated
Press.

Schuh said he expects more of the gaming systems to be for sale
in the future.

“They’ll trickle in,” he said. “Right now, they’re just a short
supply.”

The Foster Brook assistant manager said she doesn’t know if the
store will receive any more of the gaming systems to sell, which
she said depends on Sony, the supplier.

The shortages were caused by production problems, including
laptop battery recalls and problems with the built-in,
state-of-the-art DVD player, causing the half-year late release of
the gaming system. In addition to the high price of the system, the
average game is priced at about $60.

Though some people were buying Playstations as gifts or for
themselves, many people were planning to resell the gaming systems
for a profit. The Associated Press reported PS3s were selling for
as much as $10,000 at the eBay Inc. auction site. That rose from
Wednesday’s auction prices topping $2,000, according to local
media.

The next big sale is for Nintendo Co.’s Wii, which the
Associated Press reported retails for $250.

The Foster Brook assistant manager said the new Nintendo Wii
system goes on sale at 12:01 a.m. Saturday night at the store and
there will also be a limited quantity for sale of 20 of that gaming
system. She said the line will work the same way as it did for the
PS3 line.

Schuh also said there’s a limited supply of Nintendo Wii going
on sale in the Olean store Saturday, and he expects long lines for
that gaming system as well.