You know, for a minute there, just a fleeting moment, we thought
Best Buy was for serious about its attempt this year at making the procurement of a next-gen console a bit less of the painful, scarring memory that
the Xbox 360 launch was for many. Sure, Best Buy still might have a few tricks up its sleeve to appease the next-gen faithful, but to us this newfound love and acceptance of console crazies was best represented by the burgeoning line of
Burbank-campers. But no longer. After waiting 4 days for the campers to settle in, Best Buy kicked the whole group of its property on Friday afternoon. No word on whether the decision is from corporate, the local mall or the local Best Buy management, but we do know that it's 4 days of non-showering, job-quitting and engagement-postponing all for naught. A true modern tragedy.
[Thanks, TJ B.]
posted Nov 14th 2006 10:31AM
These losers have a better chance of getting laid than getting a PS3 on launch day. Which is really slim anyhow, so don't get your float points revved up just yet fanboys. Just walk in the store and buy a 360 and Gears of War and have fun instead of freezing. If I still had my HD projector I would drive down to the BB and project GOW onto the side of the building from my car to make all the losers second guess their wasted time. I still might do it with my LCD, but it wont look as cool sitting in my trunk as it would on the building.
waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
Shut up.
I think it's screwed up that they let them sit there for 4 days first (they should've sent them away as soon as they knew what was going on), but I can't say it's unexpected.
The business decides when to start the line, not you.
THE LINE TO THE NEXT GENERATION DOESN'T START UNTIL WE SAY IT DOES!
loser.
@ Wilson Li
Sounds like you were one of the unshowered guys who waited, got pwned, and came home to post ur sensitive comment... shut up and pump my gas biatch!
All that money and you couldn't buy yourself an education?
"Fucking piece of shit." - Fragment sentence (contains no verb).
"You couldn't even afford 5min of my time if only you know how much I made a year." - This is two sentence clauses and requires a semi-colon (;) between "time" and "if". Also you have no clue about proper verb tense (know should be knew).
But we should bow to your superior intellect, because you supposedly make an enormous amount of money. If you had given this topic any thought you would have come to the same conclusion the majority of us have: pre-order.
Ummm.. nice reference from 1999.
Oh. My. God.
I can think of nothing better to say than that I'm really sorry for these guys.
And, to quote Nelson Muntz from the Simpsons, "HaHa!"
Oh noes!
DOH!!!
Keyword: pre-order.
Seriously though, who is stupid enough to actually spend four days out in the wet and cold for a new toy?
Eh, though I only waited a fraction of the time for my 360 (about 16 hours), it is fun in a way. You hang out with people who are just as crazy as you, and there's a certain pride that comes with getting the system at the end of a long night outside of a store.
Or maybe I'm just crazy.
it's not that wet or cold in Burbank =P
Cold and wet? This is in Burbank, California.
Its like standing in line to see a midnight showing...only of much greater magnitude
omg...
seriously......0wn3d!
Good, now maybe someone will get around to pumping my gas and flipping my burgers
"Good, now maybe someone will get around to pumping my gas and flipping my burgers"
Best Engadget comment ever.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Okay, that's all I have to say about that.
Ha, ha! This is great! It's not like Best Buy's going to lose any business over this either. They'll sell out of every one they get for a long time, doesn't matter how they treat these nerds.
Oh come on! Someone had to shower these people into reality.
oh, and I'm not the Andy above, I'm the second Andy.
I meant I'm not the first Andy, hahaha I'm the second and third.
Funniest..... Thing..... Ever!
Yeah, can't say that I feel bad for them either. If I managed a Best Buy (thankfully I have a better job than THAT, but anyway...), I sure wouldn't want a bunch of unshowered knuckleheads camping out front of my store for days or weeks on end. It turns off the other customers in a big way. It's a legal liability. And there's just no reason for it. I mean, just HOW BAD do these guys need a PS3? The launch games aren't sounding all that great anyway.
Yes, the guys are lame for waiting that long. Yes Best Buy does have legitimate reasons for not wanting them there all week. Still, it's pretty cold for Best Buy to let these guys wait a full 4 days before they tell them to leave. This is a decision that should have been made as soon as the line started forming.
1. these people are stupid for camping outside, this goes for the xbox360 campers
2. the campers can upset/disturb the other customers, so it was right to kick these campers away
3. however, best buy should have done this on the second day, not the fourth
4. what the F are you talking about, the launch titles are awesome, compare the xbox360s launch titles with the ps3, ps3s are much better
Haha :)
Well well well. Why not go and by a Xbox360 and a Wii instead...
Maybe the store gave them their ticket early, in which case they're the ones who should be laughing.
Well, I guess the "Line" doesn't start there after all...
That is awesome, but I'm kind of sad they didn't have to call the police, that would have made a great clip for youtube, pending any kind of struggled ensued.
what struggle, these guys only know how to deal with cops in grand theft auto - they can't fight
honestly, there are gaming fans and then there are these low-life losers that'll ditch everyone & anyone in their way for a circuit-board. the guy probably doesn't know how to spell "gaming"!! i mean really, did they really think they were making a statement? absolute morons. i've followed every single launch of every major tech hardware/software release, but never have I seen people that wouldn't even know how to use the console- call themselves gamers! please save it for the mirror
If it rained on them during the four days, does that count as a shower???
How much do you want to bet that 90% of these losers are over 25 and still live in the bedroom they grew up in.
Way to spend $600+
Although I don't agree with Best Buys decision, it is still pretty funny. Get a freakin life people! And I resent the Buttstreet Boys comment. I am laughing and I wouldn't wait in line for crap unless it has to do with money in some way.
That's what happens when you make up your own line in front of a store. Good luck getting your PS3!
really, they should have told them to scram minutes before the doors opened.....that'd be hilarious
pzzzzwwnorfied!!!! i hope someone got video of them being kicked off the property. i'm going to add this to the PS3 WiKi right NOW.
I'm not sorry for them. These guys are morons. #1 it is an insurance liability for them to be camped out in front of a store. The store or mall has every right to tell them to get out.
#2 and most importantly - no matter what some of you guys think, video games don't make the world go round. If you don't get a bloody PS3 on launch date, SO WHAT.
Have a heart people!
Now that their moms saw their mugs on TV, the basement is no longer available for free!
Nobody deserves this much pwnage LOL
I wonder how many of those people already had those PS3's for sale up on eBay as guaranteed in hand on release day. LOL
"No word on whether the decision is from corporate, the local mall or the local Best Buy management, but we do know that it's 4 days of non-showering, job-quitting and engagement-postponing all for naught."
It's from corporate -- why they made the decision, idk but theres a message in our employee toolkits saying that if anyone lines up prior to 24 hours in advance tell them to leave and recommend waiting 24 hours in advance. idk why but w/e
if you could only afford the shit i buy. dumb ass. you're the one who's pumping gas to save up for the ps3. modafucker
you know they were all just there to get a ps3 and then flip it on ebay so they could take a few weeks off work at .
The management at that place absolutely reeks! They are the reason I no longer shop at any Best Buy. I personally think it's a waste of time to wait out side a store like that, but I also don't think it was fair to out these guys after 4 days of waiting. I have been treated better at Fry's which is also notorious for customer server, or lack their of, but in any event if anyone really has to shop at Best Buy go to the one on Los Feliz by Costco. Good Luck!
BestBuy must have wanted the publicity. Otherwise, anyone with an iota of grey matter would have simply put a sign up days earlier stating that no "camping" would be allowed. Then they would have put a box/computer in their store and allow each person to sign up ONE time for the chance to buy a ps3 (multiple entries mean all are removed). Then just draw from the box upon closing of the day before release day. Call the winners and arrange for them to meet at the loading docks on the morning of release to pay for their ps3. All the fuss/lines/etc would have been avoided, AND they would have drawn tons more people into the store in order to sign up for the ps3 (I would have gone to BB to sign up eventhough I'd never wait in line, and I bet tons more people would do so too - and probably buy their weekly DVD or CD purchase there instead of buying it at wal-mart).
"BestBuy must have wanted the publicity. Otherwise, anyone with an iota of grey matter would have simply put a sign up days earlier stating that no "camping" would be allowed."
LOL sure. they didnt put up a sign bc camping IS allowed, they just dont want it that far in advance. and, they said they didnt want people to know that they HAD to line up 24 hrs in advance because they didnt want, and this is corporates words not mine, people all showing up 24 hr's in advance and causing customers to get too anxious or something lol.
I am going to stroll into any BestBuy, Circuit City, CompUSA, etc.. sometime in March and just pick one up off the shelves. By then the games wont suck, and there will be plenty of units to go around.
They were kicked out by the property manager of the shopping center and not by Best Buy. It was unsanitary to have people not shower and sit in frong without bathrooms or anything is what I heard.
Fitting ending for those retards.
I waited in line 20 hours for my XBOX 360 at that Best Buy. From experience my guess is a fight started. It almost happened right towards the end of our line. A couple of guys tried to cut, all 100 people behind him (Most of whom weren't getting 360's anyway) almost rioted. The guy next to me in line was a Best Buy employee, he kept telling me that he hoped nothing happened because the manager would disband the line instantly if it looked like something would. They hated us being there for as long as we were. Didn't even leave the lights on in the parking lot.
This was not a corporate decision. This would have to be mall management. I work at a BBY and we were told to expect campers in front of our store as early as a week ago. I mock them when I go in to work.
What I find funny is all the people on Engadget calling all the people who waited in line losers and low-lifes. Maybe it's just me, but you can't necessarily call yourself a better person because you have internet anonymity. And to say they have no life is even worse. They may not have the "life" that you want, but it doesn't mean they aren't happy with the life they have. It's all relative to your position on/in life itself. Some people criticize me because I haven't gotten married yet and I'm going on 29. Why is that a bad thing? I'm perfectly happy being single, meeting new people all the time and not being tied down to one woman the rest of my life. Just because I don't follow the normal life cycle your brainwashed to follow? Maybe I haven't found the right person, or maybe my standards are too high. It's my choice though, and for you to criticize it only shows that you have no respect for anyone outside your "groove".
Damn, I need a hankie...
Wow. Your comment is more about your life than it is about the people in the lines.
I'll choose to not comment on your life, but I have to say this. They may be "happy" waiting in line for a week and quitting their jobs and cancelling their engagements (as one guy did) and spending 500-600$ on a PS3, but that happiness won't last forever. No matter how much of a fanboy you are, you WILL eventually realize how stupid it was to quit your job for it, especially when the good games come out and mommy and daddy aren't paying. Heck, now you won't even have a girlfriend to shell out the cash!
On second thought, regarding your own life, I agree with you. Your decision to be single is your own. But my personal opinion is that this is not the place for you to be venting your feelings. Vent them towards the people who make you feel that way. Best of luck!
Didn't I see video of these guys saying that they only wanted to buy teh ps3 to re-sell on eBay?
LOL. Good for Best Buy. These idiots need to get a life.
I bet more than half of these guys don't want PS3 for themselve. It's for ebay. Camp out 4 days and make $500+ profit, that's good/easy money right there.
I'd love to go to one of these stores, and setup my own "Playstation 3 Line Starts Here" line on other other side of the entrance. It's just as official as their line ... why not start my own?
Wilson Li @
I think you don't fully understand the situation. These people are fanatics. In any discipline when you become fanatical you lose site of the real. I'm a veteran gamer. You name it chances are I've played it. One year I played 60 games, but I never let it interfere with my life or loved ones. Today I'm older and just play about 25 games a year. I don't have the time these days. But my point is this. I saw a interview of one of these so called gamers and they asked him about the Wii and he didn't know jack about it. I enjoy games whatever the console (screw fanboys)and I'm lucky enough to afford them all if I choose. But to follow blindly without being informed and making and educated choice... these guys are just tools like so many fanatics in are society.
Hahaha when I read that I pictured some guy in CS sitting in a hiding place with an AWP and people yelling at him for camping.
Anyways I wonder if anyone had the foresight to ask a manager if it was ok to set up a line, and make sure you have an agreement with him that that IS the line, preferably a legally binding agreement, but that's just me. They are still nuts for going that early.
"They were kicked out by the property manager of the shopping center and not by Best Buy."
negative, it was best buy corporates decision. it is weird the police showed up because my manager called my local police and they said that they wouldnt remove anyone if they lined up early.
If BestBuy put up a sign that said no one was allowed to wait on line until 24 hours prior to launch, it would only displace these people by a few feet. Don't kid yourselves. They would not go home. Instead, there would be a group of campers at the edge of the parking, waiting on their own line in order to be the first on the real line no later than 8:59am on 11/16.
In fact, if someone told me that wasn't precisely what's going on now, I would be in so much shock that I may not even believe you.
Internet geek to Gamer geek:
'You're a NERD!!!'
Muntz indeed.
omg laughing so hard from the pwned graphic.....so cruel, so meaningless, so right, thanks for the smile engadget!
What they're doing doesn't make much sense anyway. No matter how long they wait in line it still won't guarantee anything. If the line isn't set up by the store it means nothing. I could start my own line 30 seconds before the doors open and it means just as much as theirs. Or I could just promise minimum wage Mikey at BB 20 bucks to set one aside for me.
Plus if the store doesn't chase them away and someone dies in line they could be held liable. Plus dead idiots in front of your store is bad for business.
I feel bad for the guys, but I have to hand it to Best Buy. Who wants a bunch of creepy, smelly guys loitering infront of the store? They probably drove away more business than selling the 10 PS3s they were allocated.
HAHAHAHAHAHA -- I saw this happening in person, I rolled by the Best Buy around 8ish to see a Best Buy manager surrounded by these guys, and it was obvious what was happening.
There were reportedly 1100 people waiting in kine at best buy for roughly 50 PS3. Who is stupid enough to be the 75-1100th person waiting for something that they wont get. Best buy had every right to get rid of them, my only wish it that they would haved used pepper spray and tazer guns to get rid of them.
I just drove my local best buy in Aventura, Florida and there is a group of 7 waiting outside for the release on friday. They had a PS2 and a 27in TV hooked up and were playing some fighting game
Kids are lined up outside of the Best Buy here on 23rd and 6th Ave waiting for PS3. It's only tuesday!
Look, they are tards for camping out for that system. 4 days? For a freaking play station? Sorry, but thats just asinine. I'm glad all their hopes and dreams about owning a ps3 have been shattered. I'm glad they have wasted 4 days for absolutely nothing but a story of getting shoed off the sidewalk by best buy. Now they can go back to their parents house, take a shower and spank off to dubbed classic anime before they beg for their jobs back at Cold Stone, Blockbuster Video and Starbucks.
Perfect place for a drive by!
Perfect place for a drive by!
Yeah SAN ANDREAS style! (XBOX version though)
Question, at which gas station do employees ACTUALLY get off their ass and pump gas anymore?? I want to go there and remember when blue collar jobs, were actually jobs. And the gas station employees could actually help, because they were guys with auto skillz.
They still pump your gas for you in Oregon. It's state law, and the gas is still cheaper up there then down here in California.
@ Wilson Lee
Sure douche, but you can't buy a PS3 cause they just kicked your noob ass off the line MORON!
Get a life you schoolboy, you can only afford what your mommy gives you for allowance. Now wash my windshield.
uhh....they are entrepreneurs. PS3's are selling for over 2k on eBay so while you guys are putting people down...they are actually making money.
This is pretty sh!tty on Best Buy's part. It waited four days to tell them this?
Yeah, they're pretty dumb for sitting around that long. (I felt pretty silly waiting nearly 4 HOURS for my Wii pre-order.) But the fact that there's actually a sign out there (presumably posted by the store) saying where the PS3 line starts there implies to the would-be camper that the store is expecting and accepting a line to begin forming.
If I were an ambulance-chasing, lawsuit-weilding type, I would say there's a small claims case to be made here... again, assuming that the "PS3 Line" sign was placed out there by Best Buy. It would be a stupid case, but in California, it just might fly.
@ Wilma Lee
Please enlighten us all Wilma, how much DO you pull in a year?
Just the fact that you said "COLD CASH" tells me you as poor as dirt. What, you own one 20" LCD and think you rich BIATCH? Come on dude, lighten up cause you can't prove how much you make so keep your LOTTO fantasies to yourself. Besides, I know you're the fat one leaning on the wall so theres no way you have a dime to your name. Take a shower and go play your PS2 to calm you down. Then ask your mommy for a snack to calm your anger streak.
Now check the oil and fill up the wiper fluid, just don't expect a tip.
I truly cannot imagine waiting on any line, anywhere, for 4 days and yes, like many of you, I wonder about people who do such things.
However, Best Buy is my least favorite company in the USA (just do a search for Best Buy Sucks, if you'd like to learn a little about the way they do business. I know from firsthand experience how little they care about customer service. I have friends, family and associates who have also had very poor experiences with Best Buy and who, like me, refuse to do business with them, ever again.
This not to say that all their employees are arrogant and uncaring - just some of the ones who work in the stores and. I suspect, most of the very arrogant and uncaring Best Buy employees are in the upper echelons of management (hence, the customer unfriendly policies and procedures). I have worked with a few Best Buy employees and according to them, the company cares as little about employees as they do about customers.
Fuck best buy. They weren't hurting anyone or anything by waiting there. That was just a mean move by best buy.
My local Best Buy told me that they weren't allowing anyone to line up more than 24 hours in advance. My guess is that this is corporate policy, this time around anyway.
"You couldn't even afford 5min of my time if only you know how much I made a year." - This is two sentence clauses and requires a semi-colon (;) between "time" and "if". Also you have no clue about proper verb tense (know should be knew).
Ya' know... I tend to agree that "Wilson Li" sounds like a total ass... But shouldn't your response read "These are two sentence clauses..?" :)
So it took Best Buy 4 days to figure out the 5 units per store they are getting aint gonna be enough to feed the dozens of fans waiting outside... or maybe they realized it all along and they are just cruel... All I know is since everybody sues everybody in the US, I can see some of these unfortunate souls suing Best Buy for mental anguish, loss of income and or gainful employment & wife/girlfriend witholding sex and or breaking up/divorce. Imagine you leave your wife at home with some kids to fend for herself and then you come back 4 days later empty handed and smelling like ass...
About f*cking time, camping a WEEK in advance is insane, no matter what the console. However, given that the PS3 sucks, that just makes the whole deal that much sweeter. (not to mention, there are other stores besides Best Buy... camp at BB a day in advance unless you see the line is more than 20 people, then head somewhere else)
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA Ok I'm done now, no wait HA HA HA HA ok ok I'm sorry but this is the funniest thing that I have hear in a long time. There is no way I would stand in line for even an hour for anything much less 4 days. This is why I make reservations at restaurants and pre-order my game systems. That way I can just go to the restaurant and get my table while others are waiting to eat. Same goes with the PS3 and Wii I will get mine about 9 or 10 o'clock on launch day, as I can't be bothered to wake up too early. I wasn't really interested in getting either one of them yet but my uncle and parents got me them for an early christmas present so what ya gonna do? Anyway I guess these losers will have to go back to their parents basement or flipping burgers. Because how can anyone put their life on hold for days or weeks at a time and still be a productive member of society?
The Best Buy policy on this is that its entirely up to the individual store manager.
The store manager can allow it, prohibit it, or pull the plug whenever he wants.
Since he initially allowed it, there almost certainly was a precipitating event which isnt mentioned int he article.
A fight, firearm, drugs, loud music, or maybe they were bothering customers.
Hell Burbank it could have been all of the above.
HAHAA i live in BURBANK!
LOLOLOLOL
That guy with the hair that looks electrified has been posted across the web, many sites showing waiting in line...and now only to be shoed away! LOLOLOLOL
Now go home and take a shower stinky! lol
i know this topic of people getting kicked out of line for the PS3 is funny i was laughing aswell, but truth is there is nothing wrong with them waiting for something that they love so very much maybe even more than there own families. I know I do at times. p.s. ill be right out there with time on saturday for the Wii lol
Wow,
I feel kinda bad for them but another part of me wants to say, "lolcampers"...
Wow,I feel kinda bad for them but another part of me
wants to say,
"lolcampers"...
Technically it should read, "This is a two-sentence clause...", as it is a single unit when the semi-colon is used. But you are correct in the way I originally wrote the post it should be how you mentioned.
lol i got mad when i read this cause i thought i sent this article in a couple days ago and didnt get credit for it. but now i realize that i sent it to joystiq not engadget. my bad lol
At least they can sell the box!
But how about those camping out at the wrong stores? My friend works at a Sears and expects someone waiting for a PS3, but those machines won't be available in most Sears stores - so best of luck to some people, more power to 'ya.
Pre-order information about Playstation 3:
http://www.daddyodeals.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=5098
I think it would have been hysterical if best buy waited until the day of the launch to set up the rope line on the opposite side of the entrance they were waiting on. That would be so much fun watching those fools run for their overpriced piece of Sony garbage.
I don't know who is worst, these guys or the people paying in upwards of $3000 for a ps3 on ebay. LOL
I make 63k a year, but it's a good business decision to wait in line...48hours in line will net me about $700 profit on E-Bay...