PLAYING THE WAITING GAME PORTABLE SONY HAS FANS LINING UP TO GET HANDS ON ONE.

Byline: Candice Choi Staff Writer

A flood of crazed techies stormed through the Valley for the new PlayStation Portable, nearly wiping out stores' supplies within a day of the gadget's launch.

Long lines greeted employees opening some stores and at least one eager buyer camped out overnight.

By Friday morning, a day after its introduction, just one PSP remained at the Best Buy in Woodland Hills. And it's not for sale - yet.

``I'm not sure where it came from - I think it's the display unit,'' said Mike Kugel, store manager.

Eye-popping graphics are just one attractive element of the new toy's phenomenon.

The device is the Swiss Army knife of entertainment, playing everything from music and movies to games and storing digital photos.

The cost? $249.

``It just looks sexy,'' said Thomas Jun, a Woodland Hills resident who lucked out and got his hands on one. When Jun arrived at the store at 9 a.m. Thursday, someone had just purchased the last one. As he was walking out, another customer decided against the purchase and Jun snatched it up. He even bought another one in Torrance that he's going to sell on eBay.

The Best Buy in Canoga Park, which normally opens at 10 a.m., flung its doors open at 8 a.m. for the line of about 150 antsy fans gathered outside.

``One guy was very proud that he showed up at 9:30 to camp out the night before,'' Kugel said.

To avoid a madhouse scenario, Kugel said, staffers delivered strict instructions to keep everyone calm.

A trail was even set up to the display of games in the back of the store, so sleep-deprived shoppers would pace themselves as they trekked back to the front to pay.

Groups of about 15 shoppers were dispatched one at a time.

The store's 340 units were wiped out by 6 p.m. Shoppers who arrived later in the evening were upset upon learning there were none left.

Sony released 1 million units for the North American launch. The company plans to produce an additional 1 million units a month to keep up with demand worldwide.

``It's going to be hard to get your hands on one in the next month or two,'' said David Cole, president of DFC Intelligence, a San Diego market-research firm.

The overall video-game industry worldwide is valued at about $25 billion, a figure that has leveled off in recent years, according to DFC.

In contrast, the portable-gaming industry is expected to double from $4.5 billion in 2004 to $9 billion this year.

Until recently, the industry targeted a demographic of teenage and younger boys with the Gameboy. Now companies are setting their sights higher, on men ages 18 to 34 with recent devices such as the Nintendo DS and Gameboy Advance, Cole said.

``This machine takes the whole idea of portable entertainment to the next step,'' said Jim Babb, spokesman for Circuit City, based in Richmond, Va. The company wasn't taking pre-orders for the highly anticipated launch of the PSP.

``We didn't want the store to already be sold out when the doors opened. We figured first come, first served would be more fair,'' Babb said.

At Wal-Mart, shoppers are being limited to one per purchase.

It could be several weeks before depleted stores are refortified.

The last product to create such buzz was PlayStation 2's introduction four years ago, Babb said.

The multifunction PSP could eventually impact sales of iPods and other sole-function gadgets, Cole said. The most comparable devices on the market - the Nintendo DS and Gameboy Advance - do not play movies.

``It's too early to say how consumers are going to use this machine. But we're selling it primarily as a gaming device,'' Babb said.

The devices can play MP3 music files and Universal Media Disc movies, a relatively new format that is smaller than a traditional DVD. Sony and Disney plan to release titles in the UMD format.

Candice Choi, [phone]

candice.choi(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color) The hot new PlayStation Portable plays games, music and movies, and can store digital photographs.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer