PLAYSTATION2 FEVER SIZZLING LIMITED NUMBER OF GAMES AVAILABLE STARTING TODAY.Byline: Robert Monroe Staff Writer The biggest toy, possibly the biggest retail item, of the year will hit shelves today - but not for very long. Around the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. and the country, store managers braced for queues outside their doors well before they open. Pre-orders for Sony's PlayStation2 video game console A specialized desktop computer used to play video games. The three most popular game consoles are Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3), Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's Xbox. Game software is available on CDs or DVDs, although earlier game machines used cartridges containing read only memory will be filled at such places as Toys 'R' Us and Kay Bee Toys. But consumers who want to get it at Target, Kmart and Best Buy can wait in line and take their chances. ``We predict there are going to be a large number of people so we are excited about that,'' said Jess Settem, manager at the Best Buy store in Woodland Hills. ``We don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. how many we'll have.'' The number of consoles each retailer will get is a figure most major chains closely guarded Wednesday. Though most retailers distribute them among stores based on volume and other factors, the mathematics suggest most stores will get no more than a few dozen each. For starters, Sony last month cut in half its estimate of how many units it could ship in time for today's sales, saying that 500,000 would be ready nationwide, scarcely enough for every household just in the Valley. Kmart was the only major retailer to divulge its allotment. Spokeswoman Nicole Dowswell said the chain will have 25,000 PlayStation2 units to divvy div·vy Slang tr.v. div·vied, div·vy·ing, div·vies To divide. Often used with up: divvied up the loot. n. pl. div·vies A share or portion. among 2,100 stores - an average of 12 each. ``We're expecting these products to fly off store shelves in the first day, maybe even the first hour,'' said Dowswell. Best Buy and Target stores will issue tickets if lines form. Kmart will leave the race to the quick. The game is the state-of-the-art successor to PlayStation, the most popular video game console ever. The new version retails for $299, plays DVDs and original PlayStation games List of Playstation games can refer to:
The scarcity of PlayStation2 is upsetting to some locals like Peggy Alpaugh, a Van Nuys resident who's inquired at about 10 retailers looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. the game. She feels like Sony is playing games with consumers and retailers. ``If I have a nervous breakdown nervous breakdown n. A severe or incapacitating emotional disorder, especially when occurring suddenly and marked by depression. nervous breakdown , I'll blame Sony,'' said Alpaugh, a 61- year-old who wants it for her son. Sony has said that it plans to ship 1.3 million units to the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. by Christmas, the delay having been caused by a shortage of components. Woodland Hills Target Manager Bob Davis
``Of course, there's Target stores out of town,'' said Davis, a 14-year Target veteran who remembers similar frenzy surrounding the Nintendo 64 video game some years back. His oddest query to date: `` `If we camp out and it's raining, are you going to let us in?'T'' he said. Alpaugh's already decided she'll wait rather than break out the sleeping bag. ``It's frustrating because I can't stand on line at 4 in the morning,'' she said. ``My luck, with that cash, I'd get mugged.'' OTHER ITEM: GRAPHIC: TOP VIDEO GAME PLAYERS Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. CAPTION(S): 2 photos, chart Photo: (1 -- color) A customer at the Woodland Hills Best Buy store checks out an accessory test drive kit for the new Sony PlayStation2 on Wednesday. The long-awaited new video game console will be available for sale this morning. (2 -- color) Video game fans camped Wednesday at the Woodland Hills Best Buy store for today's rel of PlayStation2. Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer Chart: TOP VIDEO GAME PLAYERS Associated Press |
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