PS3: Holiday ‘must-haves’ now target adult market

news via bdtonline

High-tech toys for grown-ups are proving to be all the rage this holiday season.

However, finding these new high-tech toys could be a little difficult for holiday shoppers, particularly those in the market for a next-generation video game console. In a frenzy not seen since perhaps the Cabbage Patch doll craze of the 1980s, many folks desperately searching for a Playstation 3 are going to the extreme across the country.

Rowdy crowds across the nation captured headlines last week, and in many instances required police control, when the initial 400,000 shipments of PS3’s were sold within a matter of hours. There were even reports of people being shot and mugged over the $600 next-generation console. I don’t think that’s every happened before over a video game system.

The frantic search doesn’t stop with just the PS3. The new Nintendo Wii also is apparently flying off of store shelves across the country. The launch of the cheaper $250 motion-controlled controller system apparently went a bit smoother than the PS3 launch, with no reports of rowdy or out-of-control crowds causing trouble while in search of the Nintendo-based machine.

Following the mad midnight race for a PS3, I had several people ask me if I was among those waiting in line. After all, I had the week off — utilizing my last week of vacation for the year. The answer was a resounding, “No.”

No, I wouldn’t pay $600 for a video game system. And no, I wouldn’t wait in line all day and night for one.

However, I did recently purchase an Xbox 360, and I must admit it is a pretty nice next-generation system.

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 launched during the 2005 Christmas season, and caused a similar frenzy among holiday shoppers due to an initial shortage of systems last Christmas.

I’ve owned a lot of different video game systems throughout the years, including the original Atari 2600 as a child. However, I can safely predict that I will not be among those desperately searching for a PS3 or a Wii this holiday season.

Nevertheless, it’s amazing to see that folks are already selling these things for as much as $2,000 or higher on eBay auction sites. As of Tuesday afternoon, a keyword search for Playstation 3 had netted thousands of matching entries on eBay, including some auctions going for as high as $2,500.

Maybe I should have waited in line, bought one, and then sold it for triple its price on eBay. While it might have been a good financial move on my part, it wouldn’t have been worth waiting anywhere from 24 to 48 hours in line for one of the only 400,000 initial consoles released last week.

The race is officially underway for those hard and seemingly impossible to find high-tech gadgets of the 2006 holiday season. This year, it’s not so much the children as it is the young adults and grown-ups who are eager to get their hands on a new next-generation video game console.

It seems video games aren’t just for kids anymore, and that’s probably a good thing given the violent content and adult themes prevalent in so many of today’s games that are seemingly geared toward an older market — and not children.

Clearly, a video game that equips the virtual player with a multitude of firearms ranging from shotguns to flame throwers, and allows the virtual player to carjack vehicles or open fire upon a crowd of unsuspecting pedestrians, isn’t something children probably should be playing. What happened to the simpler and more kid friendly days of Pac Man?

As crowds descend upon shopping centers across the region Friday for one of the biggest shopping days of the year, their search for those hard-to-find toys and high-tech gadgets won’t become any easier.

However, it’s a trend we see repeated almost every holiday season. There is always that one big in-demand toy or gadget that is so difficult to find — whether it is the Cabbage Patch doll, a Tickle Me Elmo or the Playstation 1, 2, 3, 360 or Wii.

Although that one hard-to-find and in-demand toy or gadget may not be easy to acquire, more traditional gifts are once again bountiful this holiday season, including clothes, furniture, appliances, and jewelry. While a PS3 may be tough to find, plenty of other high-tech toys and gadgets for adults abound — flat screen televisions, DVD recorders, camcorders and more.

In the end, everyone will probably find something they are looking for this holiday season.