Digital Bling

November always disappointments me. While there is never a long line to vote, there is always a long line -- one that forms days before release -- for the hot holiday gift. So far this year, that appears to be the PS3.

I took a trip to Circuit City Wednesday night to buy my husband a birthday present (the Tivo 80-hour Series 2 DVR DT) and found the store front mobbed with customers intent on buying a PS3 when the gaming console hits shelves Friday. The line was a good 30 people deep, full of tents and portable heaters, the occasional guitar and more McDonald’s wrappers scattered on the ground than on the side of the Jersey Turnpike.

But here’s the rub. The ones I spoke to, students mostly, bundled up for the rainy November weather here in New York, weren’t there to buy a PS3 for their frat houses. They were looking to make some cash. The plan was to get their hands on a PS3 at midnight tonight and have it up on eBay for Black Friday.

Obviously, these college kids had been paying attention in Economics class. Simple supply and demand. Word online is that Sony’s launch of its PS3 tonight will come up short with less than 200,000 units for sale across North America.

Sony had announced 400,000 units would be sold in North America, so less than half of the projected systems could be available. Besides the possible supply slash, gamers are hungry for this system. Delayed from its planned spring launch to November, the PS3 is more than six months overdue. 

PS3 joins the Xbox 360, which is already on the market, and will be joined by the Nintendo Wii, set to hit the market on Nov. 19. Strategy Analytics is already predicting the PS3 will be the runaway winner in the next-generation gaming realm, and this week’s lines seem to point to that.

PS-If anyone plans on picking up the Tivo 80-hour Series 2 DVR DT in the near future, do so online at http://www.tivo.com/2.0.boxes.step.1.asp and avoid the rebate process.