THE FEW, THE PROUD SONY LURES COMMANDO CONSUMERS.

Byline: Robert Monroe Staff Writer

WOODLAND HILLS - Exultation and desperation clashed Thursday as PlayStation 2 units emerged from under lock and key into the waiting hands of a lucky few.

Among the players Thursday morning at a Woodland Hills Target were the friends who got in line at 8 p.m. Wednesday and got the first two video game consoles, the 56th person in line waiting to buy one of the 55 available units and the mysterious guy offering $500 to each recipient for a quick resale.

At Best Buy stores, lines had started forming Wednesday afternoon. At Wal-Mart, dozens of people lined up in rainy weather for a chance to buy a handful of units.

Back in the parking lot at Target, PS2 recipient No. 2 Amir Kakhsaz, a 15-year-old Woodland Hills resident, packed his console and sleeping bag into a trunk and said at the end of his 12-hour wait, ``I might open it up, take a look at it, kiss it and go to bed.''

The burning question for the less fortunate is, When are more PS2s coming?

Sony said it plans to ship 100,000 units a week to the United States every week until Christmas. Company officials could not be reached to give distribution details.

Several retail chains on Thursday filled only preorders made months ago, but Best Buy, Target, Kmart and Wal-Mart were among those who let their allotments simply go first-come, first-served. Scattered across the country were reports of fisticuffs erupting outside of stores and units offered up on auction Web sites for as much as $800, a 166 percent increase over the suggested retail price of $299.

The hottest toy of the year, a sophisticated, broadband-enabled video game player that can handle DVDs, was made even hotter by its scarcity. After Sony originally promised America that 1 million of its citizens would be able to buy the game Thursday, the electronics giant reduced the number to 500,000, a cutback caused by a lack of components and a production slowdown. Sony now promises to ship a total of 1.3 million units by the holidays.

Not everybody believes that. Many in line at Target said they'd heard something about more coming in March. Maybe that meant none being shipped between now and then, said Ken Owens, first in the alternate line formed in case one of the first 55 couldn't buy a PS2.

``Rather than a month or two, it may be six months,'' Owens said.

The March reference on the minds of many was likely related to Sony's announcement that it will ship 10 million units worldwide, and 3 million to North America, by that month.

Twenty-six PS2 video games, including Summoner made by Calabasas firm THQ, had been launched by Thursday. Sony competitor Sega, hoping to boost sales of its $150 Dreamcast game console, sniffed in a recent media blitz that only a handful of them are ``quality'' games.

A man who did not want to be identified subtly offered a tidy profit to PS2 purchasers as they passed him by on the main aisle of Target. As the first 40 or so units sold, he appeared to have found no takers.

``Everyone will sell it for a premium,'' said the man, who said he owns a toy store of his own but could not get any PS2s because the store was too small.

Chatsworth residents Gregory Van Blair and son Andrew tried several stores before hitting pay dirt at Target. The adventure that began at 4 a.m. was a father-son bonding moment for Gregory, 38, and Andrew, 14.

``I did it for him,'' said Gregory Van Blair, whose son saved for a year to buy the game system.

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2 photos

Photo:

(1-- color) A Target clerk in Woodland Hills wraps up a Sony PlayStation 2 for one lucky customer who had the privilege of plunking down more than $300 cash for the game console Thursday.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer

(2 -- color) An overflow crowd waits outside the Target store in Woodland Hills, just in case one of the 55 people ahead of them can't complete their purchase of a Sony PlayStation 2.

Kathy Willens/Associated Press