Even an NBA Player Waited in Line for the PSP

If San Francisco has a noise ordinance, it was on hiatus Wednesday night outside the Metreon entertainment complex in honor of the PlayStation Portable launch event. The ear-splitting sound of heavy metal and rap blasting from a series of loudspeakers on poles was the first clue that anything usual was afoot as my husband and I exited the building after catching a worknight movie.

There, we saw scores of young and mostly male gaming enthusiasts camped on the sidewalk, waiting for the Sony store inside the building to open at midnight--the day of the PSP launch. The duo at the head of the line--Richard Roth, 23, of San Francisco and his buddy and PetSmart co-worker, Jossle Sison, 18, of Daly City--told me they'd been there since Tuesday morning.

?I?ve wanted this handheld since it was a thought on paper,? Roth declared. He told me that he'd already bought two games for the PSP (Twisted Metal: Head On and Wipeout Pure) from vendors who'd made them available even before the device to play them was on sale in North America.

Even the high and mighty waited in line. My co-worker, PC World photographer Rick Rizner, snapped NBA player Mickael Pietrus of the Golden State Warriors as he slapped his money down for his PSP last night (below).



For more of Rapid Rick's photos of those who waited in line, check out his photo essay, with text graciously provided by our sister magazine GamePro. And read PC World's review of the PSP here.