PlayStation/Play the fool

Englewood, Ohio – Two armed men in ski masks and sunglasses rob a video store of five Sony PlayStation 3 consoles before the store begins selling them.

Putnam, Conn. – Two gunman try robbing people standing in line outside a store waiting for the new PlayStation 3 to go on sale. One shopper who resists is shot.

Lexington, Ky. – BB pellets are fired from a passing car at people waiting outside a Best Buy to buy PlayStation 3 sets.

Henrico, Va. – Police fire a paintball onto the ground to quell an unruly mob of shoppers waiting outside a Target for the chance to buy PlayStation 3.

Allentown, Pa. -- A teenager is robbed of his brand new PlayStation 3 by a man who obviously saw him buy it, followed him to his car and tapped on the window with a handgun.

McLean, Va. – Police use pepper pellets to restore order in a rowdy crowd waiting to buy PlayStation 3 sets at a Circuit City.

The above are just some of the Friday news briefs that rang in the first day of sales for the season’s hottest new toy.

Christmas is coming. Are you really ready to risk life and limb to pay $500 to $600 for a piece of electronic planned obsolesence? (There surely will come a PlayStation 4).

This is nuts folks. These things are games. Their scarcity is being artifically induced by Sony, which decided to ship only 400,000 to North America. Prices have been reported as high as $3,000 by those reselling unopened sets they just bought.

Buy your kids a board game instead.
Monopoly is a good choice. That way they can learn the law of supply and demand with play money.