http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/17/playst ... index.html

Robbers prey on PlayStation 3 buyers
POSTED: 5:33 p.m. EST, November 17, 2006

HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) -- Two armed thugs tried to rob a line of people waiting for the new PlayStation 3 game system to go on sale early Friday and shot one man who refused to give up his money, authorities said.

It was about 3 a.m. when the two gunmen in Putnam, a town of about 9,000 residents in northeast Connecticut, confronted 15 to 20 people standing outside a Wal-Mart store and demanded money, said State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance.

"One of the patrons resisted. That patron was shot," Vance said.

Vance said the two gunmen fled after shooting Michael Penkala, 21, of Webster, Massachusetts, in the chest and shoulder. Penkala was in stable condition at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, with injuries not believed to be life threatening, Vance said.

Police were searching for the suspects, both believed to be in their teens, Vance said. He said one was wearing a ski mask and brandishing a handgun, and the other had what appeared to be a shotgun.

About 30 miles away, another shopper was beaten and robbed of his new PlayStation 3 just minutes after he bought it at a store in Manchester, police said.

The shopper told police five men surrounded and beat him as he left the Shoppes at Buckland Hills with the new PlayStation.

Police Sgt. Chris Davis said the attackers pushed one of their cohorts out of the car as they drove away. That man, a 17-year-old from Windsor, was charged with robbery, larceny, assault and breach of peace.

Nationwide, short supplies of the PS3 and strong demand led to long lines of buyers, some waiting for days outside stores. Once the doors opened Friday, they pushed and shoved their way to the shelves in several cities to get at the limited supply. Two people were arrested in Fresno, California, after a crowd trampled people in a parking lot. (Watch shoppers make a dash for PS3s -- 1:05)

In Sullivan, Indiana, a man was in critical condition after emergency surgery for a stab wound after he and a friend tried to rob two men of consoles they waited 36 hours in line to buy, police said.

Andrew Templeton, 20, and David Wiggins, 28, of Sullivan, Indiana, were assaulted by two teens after waiting for 36 hours at a Super Wal-Mart, police said.

They were unloading their PlayStation 3s from their car when two teens approached them carrying a chain and a tire iron and demanding their consoles, said Sullivan Police Chief David Story.

A fight broke out. Wiggins' nose was broken, and he stabbed one of the attackers, Dylan Moss, 19, police said. Moss was in critical condition after surgery, officials said.

Sullivan County Prosecutor Bob Springer said he plans to charge Moss and accomplice Dustin Fagg, 19, with felony robbery.

Elsewhere, two men wearing black ski masks and sunglasses made off with five consoles after holding two employees at gunpoint at an Englewood, Ohio, video game store Thursday night, police said.

A Pennsylvania teenager was also robbed of his new PlayStation by a man who tapped on his car window with a handgun in Allentown, police said.

In Lexington, Kentucky, someone fired BB pellets from a passing vehicle at people waiting outside a Best Buy store, according to WKYT, whose own reporter said she was among four people grazed while she interviewed buyers in line.

Police fired a talcum powder ball at the ground outside a Target store in Henrico, Virginia, to get the attention of an unruly crowd of about 350 people who were waiting to buy one of the shop's eight consoles, police said.

A Best Buy store in Boston, aware it had only 140 of the consoles, got smart about the big sale -- its employees gave out tickets to the first 140 people in line so everyone could go home until the store opened.

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Wow, is this crap normal when these things come out? People shooting people over something that's going to get them $750 if they're lucky? That just sickens me... Is our society really this obnoxious that you can't wait in line to buy a video game console without getting mugged? Pathetic.

you might be to young to remember cabbage patch kids. i watched ladies punch each other in the face

Or Tickle Me Elmo. Or even Super Mario 2.

Each successive mania moment in the world of escapism is a further expansion of my disappointment with human beings. I enjoy escapism, I admit, but I worry over the growing hold it maintains.

Dude, these things are selling for over 3 grand on ebay. Apparently one went earlier today for 15k.....15 FUCKING THOUSAND DOLLARS.

My buddy was going to wait in line for one to sell on ebay but there were too many people there already so he didn't think he'd get one.

From what I was reading, people were getting about $500 for their spots in line, but that was before it actually came out... $15k? Wow.

Now I wouldn't be a bit surprised if these were just muggings happening, but there was a shooting. That's just crazy.

I told my roomate things like we're going to happen and he said "Oh, it'll never get that bad." I just e-mailed him the article.

That's how you know PS3 is the best next gen console, no one is going to get shot over a Wii.

That will make a fantastic ad campaign.

Haha. War protesters: Pepper Spray. Video game geeks: Talcum Powder Ball

This thing is the like DC Pearl Jam poster of game consoles.

All your paychecks are belong to Sony.

/wants one, but hasnt owned a console since the first time I played Civilization.

You're a CivFanatic? We should talk. I've been playing since 1992. It's basically the only video game I play.

I'm not sure when I first got Civ, but it came with our first CD-ROM capable computer. Probably 93 or 94 I'd guess. I'd spend hours and hours on that game. I could beat the original on the hardest (or maybe it was the 2nd hardest?) difficulty level.

I have turned down every get-out-of-your-fucking-house invitation I've gotten over the past few weeks because I recently rediscovered CivIII and it has taken over my soul.

if yo ucan find me one that went for 15k ill be suprised.. look at all of the bidders.. just people running them up on purpose.. so they are not actually selling.. yeah one also went for 99,999,999 today


prices have dropped big time.. too many in the market.. you can get one for 1k now

I would play, but I know I'd never get my homework assignments done for the rest of the semester. Maybe I'll go on a Civ4 binge over the break.

I got 4 of them and sold all for for $2500.00 each in 1 day

Ban this motherfucker!!

sweet... probably more than you will make working a job

good luck

POTD