Shoppers wait in cold for hot game console

To some they're video game fanatics standing out in the cold, but on eBay they're entrepreneurs.

Beginning as early as 8 a.m. Wednesday, shoppers braved the wind and rain outside electronics stores in Cape Girardeau and Jackson, waiting for a chance to buy one of the few PlayStation 3 video game systems made available by Sony this morning.

Only 400,000 PS3s are available nationwide.

On eBay, the systems are selling for $2,000 and above, almost four times the retail price.

Angela Alcorn, 32, of Jackson was second in line at Best Buy in Cape Girardeau. She describes herself as a "professional eBay-er." A majority of those waiting Thursday planned to "flip" the PS3 on eBay for a profit.

"We've been here since Wednesday morning. Basically we knew people were going to be out here, so we wanted to get here first," she said.

This isn't the first time for Alcorn. Two weeks ago she camped 34 hours outside Toys "R" Us to order the PS3s, Tickle Me Elmo dolls, and the Nintendo Wii video game system.

In total, she'll have spent 84 hours at the two stores and estimates she will make a $2,500 profit on the PlayStation systems alone.

"This time of the year it's a pretty good job. I wish I could make money like this all year round," she said.

Alcorn says during the rest of the year she buys and sells items like designer perfumes, dresses and cosmetics.

Sony is simultaneously releasing two versions of the system today. The cheaper of the two, a 20-gigabyte system, sells for a retail price of $500. The more expensive version is a 60-gigabyte system with wireless Internet capability selling for $600.

Initially, the more expensive system was attracting much higher bids on eBay, but those following the market say that's changing now.

"Bidding is high for both now," said Alcorn, who kept warm with hot packs and passed the time doing crossword puzzles.

"People are getting really desperate to get their hands on any of them."

At least 26 people, most of them Southeast Missouri State students, sat outside Best Buy on William Street Thursday afternoon.

Best Buy officials would not disclose how many systems they expected to arrive in-store, but several waiting outside reported they'd received assurances of at least 20.

The first systems go on sale at Best Buy at 8 a.m. today.

Twelve other hopefuls huddled in the outdoor Home and Garden section of Wal-Mart in Jackson.

Wal Mart had only four consoles to sell. It also sold eight vouchers that can be redeemed for PS3s when a new shipment arrives in three weeks. These prizes were scheduled to be handed out at 12:01 a.m. today.

The game systems are valuable because they are rare. Those waiting in line Thursday reported unanimously that they believe no more will be made available until well after Christmas.

Sony has publicly acknowledged that scarcity of a high-tech DVD processing component known as Blu-ray has made the systems difficult to produce en masse.

Not everyone Thursday was buying that explanation.

"It's just a good strategy for market penetration," said Bill Day, a senior at Southeast Missouri State University.

tgreaney@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245