PS3 Camping Plans!

[illegalprelude]

Alright, we are about 3 days away from the NA laucnh of the PS3 and its time to get ready for the epic battle.

BB wont let people technicly stand till a day before in line so tonight, at 12:01, were gonna be lining it up. There is gonna be prolly about 5-7 of us.

List of equipment:
Tent
Sleeping Bag
PS3 Shirt and Keychain
Chair
PSP + Movies + Games + Headset (just did the most recent update for PS3 store)
Lantern
Camera
4GB memory stick (filling it up with music and photo's and vids)
PSP Logic3 Dock with Speakers and sub. We will need entertainment
Got me an extra battery and such for the PISP (psp)

Now, were hoping to run a extention cord from BBY and so we can bring a TV and a PS2 for some Guitar Hero 2 battle hahaha

Will post more updates soon
On the home front, entire setup is done, everything is just waiiting for the PS3 but more of that will be posted under the home theater setup part of the forum

[mischa316]

I just went to my best buy to exchange king kong hd and there were people sitting out there from 8am this morning. It was something else.
Mischa.

[Tejstar]

Nice one illegalprelude - let us know how you get on, hope you snag one!

[JamesS]

I stopped by a local Wal Mart this morning for a couple of things and it looked like a refugee camp outside.

This same Wal Mart still had every 360 they received at 9am (it opens at 7am) the day it released. This has become a new social gathering like waiting for concert tickets when I was young.

[MovieMinded]

I think the PS3 is getting more campers because Sony made a big statement saying they were not able to make alot of system, so people know if they don't get one tomorrow they will most likely not get one until Spring. Microsoft kept the Xbox 360 shipment numbers hidden until after the launch.

[Tejstar]

Just make sure you carry a baseball bat to avoid the theives! Click here.

[MentokTheMindTaker]

Video of someone showing the line and saying "shanty" a lot.

News story on the Rockville Circuit City launch.

Footage of Rockville's first customer in the store and the crowd outside the DC101 booth in the 2nd half of video.

Nice footage of the front of the line.

Some footage from Rockville, not much.

Rockville launch slideshow.

My camping story.

I called Circuit City in Rockville at 10AM on Tuesday and they told me that there was 10 people in line already so I decided that I needed to get there that night instead of the next morning.

So I got home from work right at 5PM, packed up the remainder of my gear and shoved everything into my car.

I arrived at Circuit City at 7PM and I was told that I was about 110th. Some people left that were in front of me before midnight on Tuesday so I was feeling good.

I invited the two guys behind me (Grant and Garret) to sleep in my tent because they both only had a chair and a sleeping bag. They thanked me but I guess they decided not to take me up on the offer that night.

Grant


Garret Thursday in front or our rain fortress.


The next day there were several line counts and Grant made a list of everyone in line on his PDA. The first 41 people on the list (professional campers) refused to give him their names but he put them down as members of "tent 1", "tent 2" ect. They rest of the line gave him their names. On that list I was 99, Grant was 100 and Garret was 101.

During the day we were told to pull our tents as close to the building as we could because there were many delivery trucks that needed get by during th day. We gladly complied. Later in the evening about 6PM or 7PM we were all today that he had to break the line off at the corner and that everyone past the corner would have to line up on the sidewalk in front of Circuit City on the other side (left) of the door because the landlord would not let us be on the road. We were also told that tomorrow we would have to have out tents down before 8AM and that we could stand on the 3 foot wide strip of grass that is between the building and the road where our tents were right now.

That totally sucked.

Everyone scrambled to get their shit and move it to the front of the store. After we had everyone moved we all agreed that when we lined up in the morning we would put ourselves in the order that we appeared on Grant's list.

So I sent my tent up and because it was supposed to rain on Thursday night Grant and Garret decided they would sleep in my tent. Before we went to sleep we worked out an evacuation plan. I moved all non-essential items to my car and we decided that when we got up we would stash my tent in Garret's car (it was closer) and then make our way to the grass patch where we would spend the rest of our wait. The rain fly of the tent and two poles were going to act as our rain shelter while we waited all Thursday.

At 6AM (2 hours early which decreased my sleepy time from 7 hours to 5 hours ) everyone decided to get up and move to side of the store and the grassy area. It had not rained during the night, but we knew it was going to so we found our place using the list and set up our shelter. Our design worked very well. It was bitchn'. The wind was strong and the rain varied from torrential to a trickle, but our shelter kept us dry and comfortable.

Our rain shelter. We overlapped our neighbors rain fly onto ours.


Grant's seat is in the middle, Garret's on the right.


My nest and to the right my MP3 player and speakers.


The corner to our shelter.


The line behind us.


Me in my unkempt glory on Wednesday.


At 5:30PM the management told us that we would have to get rid of all our tents, chairs and shelters before 8PM or else. Son of a bitch. A few minutes later we were told to do that now instead of 8PM. It was not raining or anything but WHAT THE FUCK? What happened to 8PM? Maybe they thought that we had not suffered enough. Here is what I think Circuit City management was thinking:

"Hey instead of 4 hours standing outside or sitting on the damp curb, lets make them do it for 6 hours! Then lets kill some babies with napalm grenades."

So yeah we did want they forced us to do.

At about 9PM DC101 showed up at the front of the store to blast loud music that most of the people in line could not hear because we were not in front of the store. A really large crowd showed up because DC101 was going to raffle of 5 free PS3s and they for the most part congregated around the radio booth.

Later, over 200 people showed up in line behind the 120 or so people who actually camped out. We don't know what they were thinking.

About this time we took another look at how many people were in front of us. First I was reported as 97 and then 100 or 101. I was interviewed by channel 5 because I was possibly number 100. Video of that interview should be in my possession soon. Garret's wife recorded it on their DVR.

Then the managers finally answered our question about how many PS3s could be sold to a household. Their answer was that the first 100 people would get a system as long they could pay for them, no matter what. Boooooooo!

During this time Sony, Verizon and DC101 reps were throwing various schwag at the crowd. When the t-shirts went flying people from behind me and posse want running up into our area of the line. Some of them had to be convinced to get back to where they belonged, with words of course. However we were thinking that some people had infiltrated the area in front of the store. When the vouchers had been handed out after 10PM our suspicions were confirmed. They handed out 100 vouchers, then told the next 6 people that the should stay in line because they would get a system in the morning at 8PM. Circuit City could only sell 100 PS3s that night legally, but then could sell the other 6 they had in the morning.

So to summarize, the first 106 people were getting PS3s and I was number...111. God damn it!

But wait! There was hope for me yet. The managers said that the next 20 people could stay just in case someone could not pay for their PS3. I was the fourth person of those 20 so I was hopeful. Then one person was removed from the line wayy up front because he did not belong there. His voucher was given to first person who did not have a voucher person 101, who was person 100. I was now 110 and four denied credit cards away from getting a PS3 on Friday morning!

At midnight the 100 people with vouchers went inside the store and then the cops counted off 10 of us and everyone behind me was forced to leave the premises. Sweet!

So we waited while the people came out with their units. And we waited, and waited. 1:30AM and no one was unable to pay for their unit.

So I was empty handed and made my way home. It was an hour long drive and had been awake for 20 hours after sleeping only 5 hours. But I did make it home without falling asleep and I went to bed as fast as I could. It was 3AM when I hopped in the sack. I set my alarm for 9:30AM so that I could pick up my pre-ordered PS3 from GameStop.

I can tell you that it is very tempting for me to plug in this Playstation 3. But it would be far smarter for me to sell it. I will have to wait until I can get another one before I can play my copy of Resistance Fall of Man. But I can take pictures of it and my schwag for you all!

PS3, Play Beyond bumper sticker, Loco Roco key chain charms and a Monster Cable shirt.

[Blurry]

Cool story, thanks for sharing. I'm sorry it didn't pay off for you.

[MovieMinded]

Based on the reviews from GameSpot.Com for many of the launch titles and my own experience with the PS3 so far you're probably better off selling it for a huge profit and then getting your own later when they have better games out.

I can only imagine some of the people's dissapointment over the quality of the launch games after waiting several days to get a system. At least Xbox 360 had several launch titles that made the wait worth it. Resistance is about the only game getting good reviews and even that pales in comparison to Gears Of War. Even Call Of Duty 3 got a better review for the Xbox 360 because the PS3 was having framerate issues.

I'm sorry you waited and put up with all that crap from Circuit City. Last year I waited on line 14 hours outside Best Buy in below 30 degree weather in a bad rain storm when my Xbox 360 shipment got allocated smaller than it should have been. After just making the list to get a system I find out the following day that the rest of my shipment would be in the following day. Needless to say the irony was not lost on me. From that point on I no longer allow for Pre-Orders of systems until they have arrived at my warehouse, which is what alot of other companies did this year too. Game companies can never get their shipments right on launch. The only launch that went flawless was the Dreamcast, and that might have been because everyone had already had it with Sega.

[MentokTheMindTaker]

Cool story, thanks for sharing. I'm sorry it didn't pay off for you.

HA HA!

I just got the 20GB PS3 from Gamestop.com a few seconds ago. The bundle cost $1088.59 and came with some stuff I don't need, but I can just sell most of it to someone else on Ebay.

I am freakin' freaking out!

The system is going to ship on December 1st and that will give me the time I need to buy the cables I want and maybe my HDTV as well.

I am over-fucking-flowing with joy!

[Blurry]

The system is going to ship on December 1st and that will give me the time I need to buy the cables I want and maybe my HDTV as well.

I am over-fucking-flowing with joy!

Hey, great news ! I am glad you managed to get your system.

One question this opens up for me, though. Why would people be paying upwards to $7000 on Ebay for a system, if you can get it from Gamestop for $1088.59, even if you have to wait a couple of weeks ?

I guess some people are simply insane...

[MentokTheMindTaker]

Hey, great news ! I am glad you managed to get your system.

One question this opens up for me, though. Why would people be paying upwards to $7000 on Ebay for a system, if you can get it from Gamestop for $1088.59, even if you have to wait a couple of weeks ?

I guess some people are simply insane...

There was very few available and they are all gone. I was refreshing the page more than once a minute from 4PM to 7:23PM Eastern and when I was done and my order was confirmed www.gamestop.com was down and not responsive at all.

[Blurry]

Well, I guess you were lucky, let us know how you like it.

[MentokTheMindTaker]

Video of someone showing the line and saying "shanty" a lot.

News story on the Rockville Circuit City launch.

Footage of Rockville's first customer in the store and the crowd outside the DC101 booth in the 2nd half of video.

Nice footage of the front of the line.

Some footage from Rockville, not much.

Rockville launch slideshow.

I just added these videos to my story post.

[MovieMinded]

I can't believe the amount of money GameStop.Com is making off of the PS3. They are making sure they get rid of six or more games they would have trouble getting rid of otherwise. They should really be ashamed of themselves, and eBay should be most ashamed since they will be making the most money off of all those people that slept days to get those PS3's that are now taking in thousands. I can't believe that Costco, Best Buy, Sam's Club, Wal-Mart, Target, Circuit City, and my company were the only store to not to force people into buying an insanely priced bundle.