PlayStation 3 mania is gripping Maryland.
Despite heavy storms and the threat of tornadoes, gamers lined up outside retail outlets around the state in anticipation of this morning?s release of the latest game console offering from Sony.
“I don?t care unless the tents blow away,” said Kim Clark, an employee at retailer Best Buy in Towson who took a few days off to join the skirmish for one of the limited number of coveted console. “I will have a PlayStation 3 at 8 in the morning.”
Clark, who was third in line outside the Towson Best Buy on Thursday, was one of 39 people braving the elements.
Ibe Alnebar, a veteran in the race for first dibs on video gaming consoles, said his motivation for camping out in a parking lot is simple.
“The thrill of getting to play something the rest of America won?t get their hands on for another six months is plenty of payoff,”said Alnebar, who held a similar vigil last year for the release of Microsoft?s Xbox 360.
Best Buy opens at 8 a.m. today, but will begin handing out tickets to those in line at 7 a.m., though a ticket does not guarantee the right to buy a PlayStation 3.
Sony is offering two models of the gaming console, a 20-gigabyte unit that sells for $499.99 and a 60-gigabyte system that sells for $599.99.
Wal-Mart began selling its PlayStation inventory at 12:01 a.m. today at its SuperCenter locations in Aberdeen, Elkton, Hagerstown, Lavale and Salisbury.
“It?s a phenomena we see happening once or twice a year with different products,” Wal-Mart spokesman Kory Lundberg said.
Campers also were rooted outside Maryland Supercenter locations, which are open 24 hours.
Wal-Mart employees also handed out coupons to those waiting outside of the stores, but the number of coupons was limited to the number of Sony consoles in each store.
Sony said it has 400,000 PlayStation 3 consoles available nationwide for release today, with 6 million more expected to be available worldwide by the end of March.
The limited supply and high demand is driving a bidding war on the online auction site eBay, where anxious gamers were willing to pay up to $3,000 for the system.
