(The letters appear as received and have not been edited.)

Letter 1
Well after months of waiting for the launch of PS2 the day had finally come. I was planning on buying the system for my boyfriend for Christmas, but the closer the day came, I knew that I would never find one. Every where I went to pre order had a waiting list of over 100 people. So finally I called a couple store that were not doing pre orders or waiting list, it was a first come first serve basis.

So there I was with my boyfriend on Wednesday night. We decided to try a Wal-Mart close to home because they are open 24hrs. About 7pm we drove up and walked in...the line was so long just waiting to receive a voucher so that we could buy the system. About 8pm, the line had gotten so long, they had to give out the vouchers. So we inched up the line and about 8:05 we heard, "Sorry, we are out!" The awww of the crowd was incredible. The catch was that you had to be in the store at 12:05 and if you didn't pick up your PS2 by 12:30a then it would be up for the who ever got there first. So we went back the store about midnight and waited around. And at 12:25 there were 5 people who didn't show up yet. So the line formed again, much shorter this time. So we figured since we were like 4th in line we were sure to get one. Well at 12:29a the person showed up to get their system. It was upsetting.

Then this morning, Oct 26. I dropped off my boyfriend at work at 6a and went to a different Wal-Mart which opened at 7a. I waited in line, of probably about 70 or 80 people. The waiting was terrible. No one knew how many the store had gotten in. Plus the weather was cold. I was talking to a bunch of kids in front of me and they were telling me that they camped out in front of the store all night. Pillows and blankets in hand. The store opened up and people just piled in. Again, about 5 minutes later a voice rang out over the crowd saying they were sold out. And believe it or not, there was a scene made from people outside that waited in line all night. The security guards had to come and break it up. It was unreal.

I came to work this morning disappointed. So I got online. I search online for about 2 hours. Every website I hit either was not taking any more pre-orders or you had to wait until Feb 2001. Then I got on E-bay. I found a seller who said he knew of a website that was still taking pre-orders and guaranteed it to you by Dec 15. So I checked it out.

I hit the jackpot!!! I ordered the system for the regular price it was selling for and it is guaranteed to me by Dec 15! I could not believe the ebay sight when I got to it. Everyone was on their selling the PS2 System for $600-$1000. That is incredible. I guess if you really wanted it, you would pay that much for one!!

The whole experience of this was incredible. I cannot believe that so many people want this system and would do anything for it.
Rhonda M Jenkins

Letter 2
Hey,
Just by chance I happened across your site and read your story. Don't worry, your not a geek. I'm not big on console games, but I went out with some friends who camped out in from of Circuit City (they only had 10), and we had a blast. I didn't stay the whole night, I never had any intention of getting one, simply because I didn't want to be taking one away from some little kid who really wanted it. It was cold, but we had alcohol, and pizza, so we were fine. We also met people there and talked to them most of the night. I have a 3 year old son, and I think I would defiantly do something like that for him when he gets older, simply because I had such a blast. I hope you like your new system. Try to step away for a few minutes, for air, food, nicotine, whatever. I'm a mom, so I can say "don't sit to close to the T.V.! You'll go Blind." :) I'm 20, so I remember hearing that from my mom, very vividly. Take care. P.S. Did I mention, that there were fights breaking out left and right at the Wal-mart? It was a mad house.
Richelle

Letter 3
okay here's the story
i pre ordered the playstation 2 on MARCH YES THAT''S RIGHT MARCH because i want to get it in the first day. I payed $10 in advamced at that time because they said that they didn't know the actual price yet therefore they can only take the $10.
I went to EB this morning at 10 0 clock sharp, and guess what they told me? IF YOU'RE NOT PAYING IT IN FULL YOU CAN'T GET YOURS TODAY. WTF i think, and i said to them that i've never been told about that, and they said that everybody that's coming in to the store have been told about it.
WHAT THE HELL i get my pre order first, i came to EB picked up Diablo II, Sega GT, and all other games, THEY NEVER TOLD ME ABOUT ANYTHING.
it's not that this is my first time pre ordering something with them too, i've been doing it with them for 2 years now. and the worst thing is that they didn't even call me.
I don't what to do but wait, i'm just one very dissatisfied customer.

Letter 4
Ok on the night before the PS2 was to launch (Oct. 25) I was eargly waiting for the clock to strike 7:00 A.M. But as i waited I decided to go to Blockbuster and see if they would rent me some PS2 games early. But alas! I was denied. They had a mountain of PS2 games just sitting right there in front of on the counter. They had at least 3-5 copies of every launch game. But since I couldn't get them tonight I said well I jus' get em tomorrow. But damnit I was denied yet again! They said they wouldn't rent the games until they got all of their systems in (about 3-5 days after launch). So I went home empty handed and eargly waiting for next morning. As I tossed and turned through the night I finally fell asleep after about an hour of turning. Then I woke up, I was all excited, but I looked at my clock and it said 3:34: A.M. so I went back to sleep again, woke up at 6:30 A.M. and headed off to the mall.

The night before i called Electronics Boutique and confirmed that i was getting my PS2 and that they opened at 7:00 a.m. so i walk into the store at 7:13 and to my surprise there was only one guy in there and as soon as i walked in he was walking out with his brand new PS2. so i stepped up, the dude that worked there knew i could only be here this early for 1 reason and said, "Here for the PS2?", "yes!" i said and he asked me for my name, went in the back room and came out with MY system. My eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. I then went to look for a DVD movie for my brand new, and 1st ever DVD player. But they didn't have a movie I wanted so I decided not to get one. I then asked for Ridge Racer V, I had previously pre-ordered madden 2001 and picked it up about 2 weeks ago. I was denied and just informed that the very guy that was in front of me JUST bought the VERY LAST copy of it. So I stood there and thought a minute and then requested Armored Core 2. I got that. Then smiled and left. When I went into my room I looked through the bag. I was very surprised what EB had given me. Here is what kinda goodies I got: a poster from EB that had pics fused together of pretty much all of the launch games. 1 year FREE subscription to EGM (electronics gaming monthly) and it came with my first issue. Special offer from PSM for 2 free issues and a preview disc that sowed clips from the PS2 launch games.

First game I popped in was M2001, I played that for about 30 mins then put in ac2, played that for about 15 mins IMMEDIATELY took that game out, back in its case and along with its receipt. I was headed back to the mall for AC2 was way too hard. I went to comp USA first, looked for RRV, and found it on the ground I asked the guy to hold it for me while I went and got my money back from AC2. As I was waiting for the guy in front of me to finish talking with him, I over heard them talking about the PS2 launch. It turns out that Comp USA got 15 systems, and he said that there were over 150 people lined out side the door at 7 this morning. Comp USA is in my shopping center where the mall is and i never saw all those people. but anyway, back to the story. i went to the mall asked to get my money back for it. the dude asked me what was wrong with it, i said it was too hard. he asked me if i wanted to exchange it for another game i said only if you have RRV, he looked under the cabinet and got one for me. It was reserved for someone else but he said that it had been there for a while and he hasn't picked it up so I got RRV. I feel sorry for that person. Well that was all good, until i played rrv. i put it in and i don't know if mine is defective or what, but every time you pop it in it takes at least 1 min and a half for it to just load the intro, then when the intro is over takes another 40 secs to load the menu, then when u select your car, and your track and ready to race, takes about 2 mins just to load the track and stuff so you can race. im gonna ask the EB clerk about that tomorrow.

Letter 5
Aaron,
My tale is a little different than yours in that I pre-ordered from EBWorld.com in early may, (purely on a whim). When I rec'd a confirmation from EB earlier this month that my order was guaranteed I began watching their online tracking like a hawk. When Friday the 20th came about, and my order went from reserved to processing, my excitement level went through the roof.

I continued to check the same online static tracking screen through the week, until yesterday the 25th. When lunch time came about and the now ingrained word "PROCESSING" had not changed I began to get a bit apprehensive. When I returned from lunch to work I called the EB help line and was promptly told my coveted black box had been shipped early that morning. I pressed the rep for a tracking # and promptly hung up and headed to UPS tracking. No sooner had I got there I discovered UPS had released the package at my front door. Immediately a cold sweat broke across my forehead and I could hear Tom Cruise screaming, "The NOC list is in the open"!!! I immediately came down w\a mysterious virus and headed to the house as fast as my little Camry would carry me. There it sat, tucked inside the recessed doorway of my front door, an inconspicuous brown box, in a quiet suburban North Dallas neighborhood; no one passing by the wiser, to the power that was there for the taking. I quickly snatched up the hidden black monolith and, well, you know the rest. I haven't seen daylight since.
Thanks for the ear,
Brian Hamilton

Letter 6
I also have a great story to share, this mourning at 6:30 I was one of the lucky kids WHO DIDNT GET ONE, and quite frankly it blows! I woke up this mouring at 6:15 feeling very lucky (with it being my birthday and all) so I slipped on my sandles and drove on over to Wal-Mart. I get in the store and walk to where the line should have been only to find one very obease woman standing there telling me that they were all sold out. So I says to her but these things wernt supposed to go on sale until 7:00 and she says it wouldent have mattered the line was already set last night at 7:00 so that means between 30 and 40 people stayed the night at Wal-Mart now what kind of loser camps out over night at a store to buy a game counsel
I was considering myself a pretty big loser for waking up at 6:15 to buy one. So as I'm walking out of the store (very pissed to say the least) I see one of those losers emerging with two playstations and a huge grin on his face. I was very tempted to beat him up and take one. I mean what the hell do you need two for in case one breaks down and he didnt want to get off his lazy ass to refund it. And anthor thing why the hell didnt Sony start making these part way in advance or at least hire more people to make the parts so they would have enough here for launch day. So now I have to go order one from KBToys for 500$ that might not get here until christmas. So I am going to stay pissed and I will keep playing my old playstation with my old games and hope that all of you that got the new playstation are real happy. Oh yeah I cant end this page without giving my shoutouts. Thanks Wal-Mart for letting people camp out at your store, and thanks to Sony who didnt make enough parts for launch day, and a big special thanks the all the @SSHOLES who bought two or three that kept kids like me wanting instead of having. Thanks alot

Letter 7
Hello,
Buying my Playstation 2 did not go as well as yours. Wal-Mart is the place where I usually buy all my systems since I live in Fond du Lac, WI. That is where I wanted to buy mine. I had gone almost everyday before the launch to make sure that Wal-Mart was not taking reservations and it would be a cash and carry type of scenario. I had no problem with the decisions that had made because it would have been a first come first serve basis. Upon getting to Wal-Mart there was a line of course and Wal-Mart workers had informed us that the store only had 30 units to sell. I was the 31st person in line and I stayed in the hopes that someone would end up steeping out of the line and I would become the 30th person.

Much to amazement everyone was staying and while waiting in line a worker comes to the line and starts handing out some ticket stubs to the first 30 people in line. As soon as you get a ticket you can step in and out of line all you want because as soon as you have a ticket you are guaranteed one. This happened at 9:30 p.m. Then to make things worse 9 or 10 people that had a ticket put the Playstation 2 on layaway. Needless to say that I was unable to get mine at Wal-Mart. I got mine by sitting in the parking of Shopko at 6:15 a.m. They only had 10 units to sell and I was the 7th person in line there. I am just happy that I was able to get mine when it got released. I'm glad that some people that had a good experience getting their long awaited Playstation 2 2. Thank you for taking your time to read this.
Cristina Echeverria

Letter 8
I had preordered one....last week...knowing that I would not get it. I then canceled my order last Thursday, since the hype was up and I was depressed. On the morning of the 26th around 8 o'clock I called my local Wal-Mart to see if they had any, guess what...they didn't...no suprise there. So I called Target and asked for electronics...the lady said "Is this for the Playstation" I said "yep" she said "Sorry sold out...they were waiting in line last night at 11:00 pm...well this really killed my spirits, since the store opened up at 8:00 am. Around 12:00 that day a guy that I used to work with came by work to talk to me...we started to talk about the PS2 wondering where I could get one...well to no avail he knew the loading dock manager at Sears...said he would give him a call and see if he had any...guess what, he said that their truck had just came in...and he was unloading six of them at that very moment. So I guess you know where I headed!! Four of us went to Sears...and four of us came out with PS2's...my prayers have been answered....the good thing for us was that only two other people were in line before us...so we got there in the knick of time...so for all you peep's that don't have one there is still hope for ya...I know...cause I scored without preordering or waiting in line. Good luck and may your PS2 dreams become a reality.
Jamey C.