Assorted Afflatuses

With all of the hubbub surrounding the release of Sony's new PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii, I decided to pop online to see what managed to arouse the passions of so many dedicated people. After reading about the unfortunate death of one queuer in Connecticut and the unfortunate trampling of another - also in the Constitution State - I stumbled upon an eBay auction listing a brand-new PlayStation 3, with games, for $5000.

Bobakabobit, the eBay red-star power-seller who listed the console, is making a killing. The retail value of dear Bobakabobit's top-end PlayStation 3 package (complete with receipts, two games and one rather unimpressive Blu-Ray movie) falls somewhere between the comparatively small sums of $700 and $800. Thus, Bobakabobit - just one of the many people selling the console on eBay, amazon.com, and other popular Internet shopping sites - stands to profit nearly $4200.

I would have gladly spent several hours in an over-caffinated hoard of video game fanatics for $4200. I must almost pause to wonder why I didn't slog out to Best Buy at 4am on Thursday.

Bobakabobit's auction also makes me question why anyone who managed to snatch a PlayStation 3 at list price would open the box. Gwendolyn Gamer or Pete Playstation could redeem his or her respective pre-order voucher, sell the console on eBay, and, by waiting for a few weeks or months, buy a PlayStation 3 console and fifty games! Yes, the game-fanatic in question would have to spend another three months without Deadly Death Duel 12 or Crazy Car Capers 8, but that warm, fuzzy TV time cannot possibly be worth $4200.

Nintendo's Wii console made less of a splash. Nobody was maimed or killed, though the Toys R Us outlet in New York's Times Square committed the almost-as-agregious act of putting, "A New Style of Gaming is Unleased," instead of the slightly more logical, "A New Style of Gaming is Unleashed," onto its Jumbotron facing 42nd Street. But then, the store is called Toys R Us.

From what I have read, supply shortages will probably not impact Nintendo's Wii as much as Sony's PlayStation 3: Nintendo expects to sell 2 million Wii consoles in Q1, whereas Sony has forecasted PlayStation 3 sales in the hundreds of thousands. As such, the Wii has appeared with only slightly inflated prices online. eBay seller Good-Guyz has a Wii with game listed for $710, meaning that he stands to make a paltry $450 on his transaction - only 11% of Bobakabobit's.

The law of supply, demand and Christmas shopping habits at work.