Console-ation

So, after several days of agonizing with my PS3 vs. XBox 3609 dilemma, I pulled the trigger and got a Playstation 3. (The larger model with some PS2 compatibility, for the curious.)

Ultimately, there were two main factors that tipped the balance. One, the XBox doesn't come standard with Wi-fi; that's an "optional" attachment. Let me tell you, where I'd have to run wires in my place to plug the thing in? Not optional at all. And by the time you factor in the cost of getting that Wi-fi attachment, the 360 wasn't that much less expensive than the PS3.

Secondly, it's Microsoft. If I can reasonably avoid using their products, I'm going to do it.

So I'm in the store on Monday night, getting ready to make the purchase, and I get into a conversation with one of the clerks about their stock on Rock Band. Not high enough for comfort, as it turned out... 60 copies for XBox, and 12 (only twelve!) for PS3. In other words, not a snowball's chance in hell of still being there if I waited until after getting off work to pick up my copy.

Time for a phone call to the family. As I was wrangling someone to go at store opening and pick up a copy of the game for me, my sister comes through with the scoop: some Best Buys are supposed to actually be open at midnight selling the game. Well... clearly not the one I just bought my PS3 at, or the guy would have said something. I do some research. One store, in all of Colorado. About 25 minutes from my place.

Now, I've never done the midnight wait to buy something before. Like for the Harry Potter book? Never considered it. There was no possibility that that book would have sold out, so the way I saw it, the only reason to do the midnight wait then was if you were going to stay up and start reading the thing right then and there. (If you did, hey... more power to you! But I have an awfully hard time reading when I'm sleepy.) Here, this was shaping up to me to feel a lot like: "be there at midnight or don't get one."

So I went. And though the line I found wasn't preposterous, it wasn't small either. The PS3 stock was especially limited too. A store employee was pointing to my range of the line, saying, "I'm afraid we might be running out right around in here, from the quick count I've taken of PS3 users in the line." Was this some sort of sign that I'd made the wrong choice?

Well, a few minutes later, the same employee comes back, and now he's actually handing out tickets to the people who want the PS3 version. And he reaches me...

And hands me the last ticket.

Perhaps some sort of sign that I'd made the right choice.

I got my copy of the game, having a second chance at that thrill of getting "the last one" when the sales clerk actually puts it in my hands. I loaded it in the car, drove home, got there at about a quarter to one...

And went to bed. I had to work the next day, and I'm not young enough for all-nighters anymore. But I've got the system and the game, and after what seemed like a particularly long day at the office, I got to try it out tonight.

Which I think will be a topic for another night, because this story has gone on a while already, and it's late, and I didn't get to bed on time last night. (grin)