First there was P2P. Now there's PSP. Either way, it's PCP.
How else to explain the midnight opening of electronics stores across the nation so that jonesing hordes of gamers could score Sony Corp.'s latest attempt to accelerate the American empire's decline and fall?
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Video: The Washington Post's Jose Antonio Vargas reviews the new PlayStation Portable handheld video game device.
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My mistake. They don't care if America stands or falls. Standing is better, thanks, because capitalism requires fresh, warm, humans who can spend $250 on the new PlayStation Portable handheld game system -- or at least speak their native tongue well enough to persuade parents to fork over the cash. Then they can play games and watch movies while idling in human screensaver mode until Sony's next revolutionary product release.
The Chicago Tribune wrote about a 16-year-old from Oak Park, Ill., who is handing over his hard-earned cash to Sony for the privilege of acting as the company's local pitchman: "Eric Santiago isn't happy to part with $250, but getting his hands on a PSP is worth it. 'I'm gonna have it on me 24/7.'"
More from the Trib: "Santiago is one of more than 80 gamers who have paid a $50 deposit at Game Stop, a Humboldt Park store that's been accepting PSP pre-orders for six months. 'I'm on the go a lot, and I can't take a PlayStation 2 everywhere,' said Santiago, who spends about three hours a day playing video games. ... Santiago passed on Nintendo's DS hand-held game player when it was released last fall in favor of waiting for the PSP. 'The DS has beautiful graphics,' he said. 'But the games don't back it up. PSP is coming out with great titles. It's going to be way better.'"
See? The kid's on the go a lot. Sony has what it takes to appeal to the harried junior executive.
The PSP also caters to hardcore losers of the adult variety, as the San Jose Mercury News reported. "Richard Roth had his moment in the spotlight in the wee hours of Wednesday night. At midnight, he raised his arms in a victory sign as he became the first game fanatic to purchase Sony's PlayStation Portable. Jack Tretton, executive vice president of sales at Sony's U.S. games division, handed Roth the PSP at the checkout counter. Tretton said, 'One down' as Roth handed over more than $300 in cash."
Roth told the Merc and other press hounds that he had waited 42 hours so he could be the first in line to buy the PSP at the PlayStation store at Sony's Metreon mall in San Francisco. "I've had 20 minutes of sleep in the last day, but the experience was good. I knew when I first heard about this, I had to have it," he said. Why? The sharp, high-resolution screen, the MP3 music player, the 3-D games and the movies.
On West 33rd and Broadway, there was a similar scene as people lined up in the rain and sleet, the New York Daily News reported: "Luis Price, 25, a computer technician from Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, was first on the block-long line outside the store because he got there at 4:30p.m. -- without an umbrella. 'I'm soaking wet, but it's worth it,' he gushed. It's everything in one. I can't believe I got it."
Our paper also devoted a fair amount of ink to the PSP: "Chris Gillis's plan goes something like this: Be up at 7 a.m., throw on jeans and a T-shirt, make the five-minute drive to Target. Then wait in line. Target, at Westfield Shoppingtown in Wheaton, opens at 8. He must get the PSP. He will get the PSP."
