D.C. club will have 1,000 PS3s for $1,200 each on launch day

by James Ransom-Wiley { Nov 14th 2006 at 11:25PM }

FierceGameBiz reports that used-technology distributor NovaDataCom is hosting a PlayStation 3 release party at Washington, D.C. club Ultra Bar this Thursday night. Beginning at 12:01 am (Friday morning) 1,000 PS3 units will be available for purchase -- for $1,200 apiece!

P.T. Barnum said it best: "There's a [drunken] sucker born every minute..."

Tags: launch06, NovaDataCom, promotion, UltraBar

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Blink @ Nov 14th 2006 11:28PM

Odd that it's $1,200 and 1,000 rather than 1,000 and $1,000, or $1,200 and 1,200. Guess they just saw a chance for an extra $200 bucks.

And this is a business now?

Hana @ Nov 14th 2006 11:32PM

Jesus, that's highway robbery!! For the sake of people blowing their wad on those PS3s...I hope this first round of PS3s doesn't turn out like the PS2 I got at launch a few years back...the P.O.S. quit reading discs and as a result I had to buy a new one.

Exick @ Nov 14th 2006 11:33PM

I hope these assholes get stuck with 1100 PS3s.

Jecrell @ Nov 14th 2006 11:36PM

Ultra Bar must be in some deep shit to need a cool million and a fifth.

Jinkin @ Nov 14th 2006 11:40PM

You know the bar is the happenin'-est place to be if it's an ULTRA bar. How'd they get 1,000 PS3s anyway?

Negativecool @ Nov 14th 2006 11:40PM

Kinda sucks for Sony...this is no doubt going to hurt their image...with their product being heavily exploited for ridiculous profit by greedy opportunists.

Negativecool @ Nov 14th 2006 11:44PM

...hurt their image MORE anyway.

maniac @ Nov 14th 2006 11:45PM

Kinda sucks for Sony...this is no doubt going to hurt their image...with their product being heavily exploited for ridiculous profit by greedy opportunists.

TFA makes it look like this is Sony sponsered. So, if it hurts their image, they are the only ones to blame really. For $1200, I'd much rather get a Wii, every launch title, four controllers, and what the hell, a couple of hookers to play with my Wii.

lolersticks @ Nov 14th 2006 11:50PM

That's 1.2 million dollars! I hope all of the PS3's break, like the PS2's did

Final Boss @ Nov 14th 2006 11:59PM

That quote was wrongly attributed to P.T. Barnum.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._T._Barnum

todzillla @ Nov 15th 2006 12:10AM

ebay is one thing because after all it is an auction site so the prices on ebay are prices that bidders are willing to pay for a ps3. that is acceptable, but retailers like this and the numerous online retailers forcing people to buy outrageous bundles is bulls****. I've been an avid gamer since i first set my eyes on my brand spanking new colecovision and continue my hobby into the new age with my 360 and soon to be wii, but the antics being pulled this round are leaving a bad taste in my mouth. is this the beggining of the end for the industry we love?

Dallas @ Nov 15th 2006 12:11AM

Supply and Demand is a feisty bitch, huh?

Seems like Sony's the only one in the goddamn world not making money off the ps3.

Bob @ Nov 15th 2006 12:19AM

I didn't know that people still use Playstation. Do they? Why?

washingtonydc @ Nov 15th 2006 12:21AM

ultra bar sucks. dc needs a lot of things--1,000 PS3s in gallery place at midnight is not one of them. I hope those suckers with $1,200 are ready to avoid a good mugging.

twism10000 @ Nov 15th 2006 12:25AM

demand and supply. If people are willing to pay for it, let them. This is actually a deal compared to most of the Playstation 3 on eBay.

gphoenix51 @ Nov 15th 2006 12:28AM

Isn't this more or less the same thing that LikSang was accused of doing? I bet you that this thing will either get shut down by Sony, or more likely (and meaner/smarter) Sony will wait till they sell them all, then slap them with a lawsuit and they have to use all that money to pay it off.

Pince @ Nov 15th 2006 12:57AM

@16
As I understand it, LikSang was prosecuted for selling Sony products in Europe where the products had not yet been released officially by Sony. I don't see the similarities with this case, which just seems to be a tech retailer that found a way to hideously overprice a bunch of PS3s and sell them at a special event.

Maybe they found some legal loophole or maybe Sony will hit them with an entirely different lawsuit, but I don't think this is comparable to LikSang's predicament.

Nobuyuki @ Nov 15th 2006 1:08AM

There's a huge difference between someone doing this and the normal bundles. With bundles, even though you don't have a choice of what you get, you ARE paying the MSRP or (ever so) slightly below. With this, you're just paying double the MSRP with no bonuses. With the reports of the console being in such slight supply it is really annoying to think this awful shop managed to be allocated 1000 units. I would assume that Sony is in fairly direct control over unit allocation, so it makes it all the stranger of how they're having 1000 launch units. Unless Sony plans an event at that location (in which case the double MSRP price couldn't be good for image).

Grant @ Nov 15th 2006 1:38AM

it's only 600K profit, cause the PS3's would have cost them the other 600K, and i'm assuming a bar would be paying retail price, not wholesale.

apoc06 @ Nov 15th 2006 1:31AM

This reads like a robbery waiting to happen.

There's no parking downtown anywhere near Ultra bar/ Home nightclub! That's a LONG walk to your car carrying a $600... well, $1200 console that's in short demand in this case. And all this is at midnight no less.

apoc06 @ Nov 15th 2006 1:39AM

"I talked to a sales rep for NovaDataCom, who said he was looking at all 1,000 of them stacked on pallets. Only 100 will be physically there at the club..."

so where are the other 900 going to be? he "said" that he was looking at 1000 of them? right, im looking at a million of them next to my desk too.

"...didn’t know for sure whether they would be accepting credit cards or not—and they’re certainly not taking personal checks. So, cashiers check or cold hard cash"

so they expect 1000 people to stand outside home nightclub/ ultra bar with $1200 cash a piece in their pockets?

QS @ Nov 15th 2006 1:51AM

do you get a silver PS3? why is it silver in the picture?

Z @ Nov 15th 2006 2:00AM

1000 PS3 + GALLERY PLACE + CASH MONEY = TROUBLE

if you manage to make it to ultra alive...go luck making it out, wasted AND back to your place with a $1200 goody bag

Its all going to end in a shoot out i just konwo it

I call bullshit they even have 1000 ps3's thats as much as 10 circuit cities

Matthew Ryan @ Nov 15th 2006 2:43AM

I agree with the other 2, $1,200,000 out in gallery place at midnight, then turning into PS3s after midnight, ill be looking for the bootleggers on campus and the Foggy Bottom Metro to be selling the PS3s that they jacked on friday. . . that is if ultrabar even has the 1,000 PS3s. . . perhaps thats why GameStop cant fill all pre-orders?

...just guessing here

Ben @ Nov 15th 2006 2:45AM

I assume those PS3s fell off the truck.

goosedude @ Nov 15th 2006 4:09AM

As i goto ULTRABAR from time to time......its a nice redesign of the club fka HOME....and they've been getting the Top DJs.

let me be honest.....their clientelle will have NO problem affording these IN CASH. The funny thing was I was out near there last Thursday at IndeBleu...and once the words GEARS OF WAR were mentioned.....the conversations flew between guys as most if not all had been playing the game before they went out. Not even kidding.

As funny as it sounds.....they've done videogame events (even a HALO Tournaments) at lounges and clubs all over the city (K St. Lounge, Panache, etc.)

As for any would be thieving....their security is pretty robust...so this is interesting if this is for real.

Heck...I may even pop in and get one for my sister who is dying for one but didn't pre-order.

Pulse @ Nov 15th 2006 6:14AM

Heck, and you know some ppl will still buy :) ...There sure are some ppl, I think for that price, the PS3 should at least be proper pure gold and diamond encrusted.

madato @ Nov 15th 2006 8:34AM

I hope one of them gets stolen.

cat power @ Nov 15th 2006 8:46AM

you guys sound really jealous :)

AllenBrooks @ Nov 15th 2006 9:40AM

I just called NovaDataTel, and they said...

Wait for it...

You have to pay in...

Cash.

Bartender Sam @ Nov 15th 2006 10:21AM

Ultra Bar is in an area of DC where I would not want to walk outside with a new $1200 PS3 after a few drinks around midnight on a Thursday night... Good luck, have your limo/taxi/armored car waiting for you as you leave. In other news, Thursdays are college night there and can be fun.

Ryan @ Nov 15th 2006 10:43AM

Gimme a break, guys... Gallery Place is not bad, and hasn't been for years, ever since they opened MCI Center. You guys saying it's a bad neighborhood probably all live in Virginia or Maryland and maybe drive your parents' car into the city on weekends. And the guys going to that particular club probably have that much cash on their hands on any given weekend night anyway. Not that I'll be going or picking one up, but anyone who thinks Gallery Place/Chinatown is a "bad neighborhood" is a freaking moron... they've got an Urban Outfitter's and a Bed Bath and Beyond there, for Christ's sake.