The Playstation 3 is being released tonight at midnight.
Earlier tonight I was at Wal-mart. While visiting with the clerk who was ringing my stuff up, she mentioned the long line of people at the back of the store.
“Long line?” I asked.
“Yeah. Did you not go back far enough to see them?”
“No. What’s the line for?”
“Some game,” she said. “Some of them have been in line for two days, just waiting. Waiting for some game.” Two days. Waiting. I can’t imagine spending two hours in a Wal-mart Supercenter, let alone two days. (Though you would have pretty much everything you need right there.)
“The new Playstation?” I continued.
“Yeah, that’s it. It’s, like, $500 or $600.”
“How much?”
“$600, I think.” (According to PS3land, it runs $499 for the 20GB hard drive and $599 for the 60GB. Those folks at Wal-mart know their stuff!)
“Wow.” I made a face like I was whistling but didn’t actually whistle. “That’s a lot.”
“Yep,” she said. “And two days.”
Two days.
It’s funny what we’ll sacrifice for, what we’ll wait for, what we’ll shell out our hard earned cash for. I find it fascinating that we often pay a great deal (both at the time of purchase and after) for things that bring no real value to our lives, things that produce nothing, teach nothing and encourage no relationship.
And the things that matter? They don’t tend to cost money, but time, and we have precious little of that. We’re too busy waiting in line at Wal-mart for some game.
