Game fans clamor for PSP

SAN FRANCISCO--You had a couple of choices if you wanted to be the first on your block to have a PlayStation Portable.

You could have placed an advance order at a participating retailer, shown up the store at a civilized hour and returned home rested, refreshed and ready for game excitement. Or you could sit outside the Sony Metreon retail complex here for more than 36 hours--some of them during heavy rain--for the chance to buy a single unit of the magical gadget at 12:01 a.m. PT Thursday.

Richard Roth of San Francisco wasn't exactly clear on why he chose the latter, but after camping out overnight to buy a PlayStation 2 and several PS2 games, a sidewalk ordeal seemed preordained for the PSP.

"It's fun," he said, noting that he also received a fair amount of attention four years ago for being first in line to buy a PS2. "It's my 15 minutes of fame," he said. "You don't get on CNN for putting in a preorder at GameStop."

Roth and hundreds of other dedicated consumers camped outside the Metreon--one of a handful of locations to stay open past midnight Wednesday to begin selling PSPs the minute that Thursday's North American retail date arrived--were convinced it was worth whatever discomfort they had to endure to snag one of the gadgets.

Kaz Hirai, president of Sony Computer Entertainment America, said the company pulled all the strings it could to make sure there were 1 million PSPs ready for the North American launch. "It's a huge number of units for a product like this," he said. The PlayStation 2 living room console, by contrast, arrived in North America with just 500,000 units.

A big launch is important to Sony, Hirai said, but the company is also managing inventory to ensure a steady flow of PSPs to stores. "We don't want to go dry for two months," he said

Keisler Nunez of San Francisco said he's a dedicated partisan for the living room version of the PlayStation and knew he had to have a PSP as soon as he saw one in action.

"I've played with a few other handhelds, but this really takes the cake," Nunez said. "PlayStation has the games I like, and now I'm going to be able to take them with me wherever I go."

Even gamers with more ecumenical tastes were ready for the PSP to rock their world. Moragot Bodharamik of San Francisco killed time

[Bill Dautrive]

Lemmings

Shameful how so many people grab up anything that is hyped and act like they did something heroic.

15 min of fame by buying something? Pathetic and sad.

[201293546946733175101343322673]

Really?

For those gamers, maybe they think YOU ARE PATHETIC because you can't even get one :)

[bobby_brady]

what's so popular about a portable?

So what. Second, why the big deal about being able to carry around a game console?

Either these people waiting to buy it are morons, or CNET is confused.

[Christopher Hall]

You're half right

Yes, waiting in line to buy a game console is pretty idiotic. Especially with preorders available to everyone and anyone these days. But to each his own, right?

I'm afraid I don't understand your "why would you want to carry around a game system" point. Handheld gaming is a wonderful technology, and more than 120 million GameBoy sales over the past decade and a half bolster that point. The PSP is just another way to game on the go. When I'm out on business trips, I make sure I've always got at least one handheld system, especially if a protracted hotel stay is in order.

[201293546946733175101343322673]

I see

So SI is "confused" because there are people who always want to grab the Swim Suit Edition. and those Auto Magazines are "confused" too because you don't understand why there are people spending big $$ for luxury cars......

And speaking of morons, I believe lots of people around the world are morons in your opinion, because they all carry some sort of handheld games (Nintendo Gameboy, GB Advance, GameBoy SP, DS, SONY PSP, and so on :))

[Earl Benser]

Leave the Gamers alone....

They are lost in their own little worlds. The rest of us have to
make reality work.