1 shot in Conn. Playstation waiting line

[oberliner]

HARTFORD, Conn. - Two armed thugs tried to rob a line of people waiting for the new Playstation 3 game system to go on sale early Friday and shot a man who refused to give up his money, authorities said.

In other states, customers pushed and shoved their way to the shelves to get at the limited supply, and in Kentucky, four people were grazed by BBs fired from a passing vehicle as they waited for a Best Buy store to open.

The two gunman in the northeast Connecticut town of Putnam confronted 15 to 20 people standing outside a Wal-Mart store shortly after 3 a.m. and demanded money, said State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance.

"One of the patrons resisted. That patron was shot," Vance said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061117/ap_on_re_us/playstation_shooting

[smirkymonkey]

1. What a sick society we live in.

*sigh*

[Auggie]

2. Madness!!!

[rainy]

3. Ok, our society is getting sicker and sicker. Can we now see how

corrupt governments and poverty lead to this kind of anti-social behavior? I think if we would put an end to poverty we could solve these kinds of problems. The people who behaved badly would be dealt with more harshly within their own community if their communities were healthy thriving happy contributers to the success of the whole.

[Zhade]

13. Thank you for blaming the real cause...

...and not jumping on the "video games cause violence!" bullshit bandwagon that comes around only too often.

[NOLADEM]

4. The victim will soon be much wealthier.

The store has an obligation to provide safe premises. Wal-mart and Sony knew these people were going to camp out because they designed the shortage to create a fake shortage and buzz around the holidays. They knew people would be outside for 3 or 4 days, many with $600 in their pockets, tired and vulnerable.

The stores EASILY could have handed out tickets or taken down names for the number of Playstations they had to the first X number of people who came. This shooting was forseeable.

Sad society. But anywhere there is a line of two hundred 17 year old nerds sleeping outside with $600 on each of em, it is a target no matter why the line was formed. Stupid situation for these retailers to allow to occur.

[Hardrada]

5. I KNEW this would be at a Wal-Mart when I read that.

The movie revealing how evil they are also shows they provide no security whatsoever in their parking lots and have cameras out there only to monitor any pro-union activity.

[carlydenise]

6. I probably will have to stand in line on sunday for a wii

I sure hope they will have more in stock so I don't have to deal with the frenzy, I am crabby in the middle of the night.

[Zhade]

14. Nintendo is shipping 4 million units by the end of the year.

Sony? 400,000.

[carlydenise]

16. Thank goodness! very good news

that makes me feel a bit better, if my kid doesn't get one Sunday, he will get one later on, it's not impairitive that he be one of the first ones to get it. I checked Ebay....2,000-5,000 each for the PS3....when I asked my son was interested in PS3, he said no, he would wait for the wii, he's not impressed with what he has seen so far in the PS3. This is real insanity, people dying, being shot, tramped to death over this, what is wrong with people? I remember my daughter wanting a Furby, and I went to Walmart at 5 am so I could have a chance of getting one, simply because I figured there would be no other way she would get one for Xmas. Grown people, pushing, shoving, literally fighting, some old lady ran over my heels with a shopping cart...I didn't get a furby that morning, but it was interesting to witness how ill mannered people get in a frenzy.
Carly

[AngryOldDem]

7. This is totally disgusting

We have war and poverty all around us, and apparently all that some care about is getting the latest and greatest electronic toy.

Sadder still, I'm not one bit surprised at this.

[OhioChick]

8. I agree with you

it is disgusting, but how many people are buying this to make a little money in the end? (Possibly much-needed money)

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?cgiurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2Fws%2F&fkr=1&from=R8&satitle=playstation3&category0=

I agree with the above poster, hand out tickets of some sort, so these type of things don't happen.

[AngryOldDem]

11. One store in my area (Dayton) is handing out tickets

What's more disgusting was, this was the LEAD story on the local early morning news on Thursday.

People have set up camp at the local Best Buy, and I'm not talking about pup tents, either. I'm talking big, geodesic-like tents that you use for extended campouts; one person even had a CAMPER TRAILER set up, right outside the store. My first thought was, what about fire code, but hey, free advertising and profit trump common sense and safety. Later on in the day the store was going to hand out tickets. My next thought was, what if you've been camped out for a couple of days, and you miss your chance at a PlayStation by one lousy ticket? That could be enough to send some right over the edge right there.

One person the news interviewed was an older woman who said she was buying one for her grandson...who says money can't buy you love?

Sony is playing these fools for the idiots that they are. Driving up demand by limiting quantity, when we all know that in six months (or less) the boxes will probably go down in cost considerably. Also, factor in planned obsolescence, and it makes the whole scenario even more maddening. But, I suppose, if some of these people then turn around and sell the PlayStations for a lot more than what they paid, it's Sony who's getting played... Economics 101.

[OhioChick]

15. At least in your area

they're handing out tickets and being a little smarter. Our local news is the same......leading story......Sony Playstation 3. I find it to be pathetic that this is the "most important" news in the US today. Amazing.

It seems as though every year, it's some "most wanted" toy that people will go through great lengths to get.

[slackmaster]

9. Must have been Lieberman supporters

:hide:

[mitchleary]

10. WTF is our society coming to? nt

nt

[Union Thug]

12. Reminds me of the days where people trampled eachother...

over Cabbage Patch Kids dolls. Consumer society is not only pathetic, it's pathological.

[AngryOldDem]

17. You pretty much still see the same thing on Black Friday n/t