A few weeks ago, gamers across the country were shocked at the devotion of a Connecticut man who was shot and hospitalized during his wait for the PS3. Such a man must be extremely devoted to video games to risk his life for the latest next-gen system, right?Wrong. A follow-up article by the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reveals that 21-year-old Michael Penkala was waiting "not because he's a fan of the popular game system but because he saw a business opportunity." The unemployed Penkala, whose "only means of income at the moment is selling T-shirts, Beanie Babies and New England Patriots plush toys on his front lawn," was carrying $2,600 in cash to purchase four PS3s to resell on eBay (with the help of three friends waiting in line).
What's more, after being shot by the fleeing would-be robbers, Penkala's first instinct was to make sure his friends got the money to purchase the systems. "For some reason I wasn't thinking about my wound, I was all about those PlayStations," Penkala is quoted as saying.
The eBay proceeds from the four PS3s Penkala eventually picked up likely won't cover the hundreds of thousands of dollars in health care costs for the uninsured Penkala. Despite this, Penkala rejected the idea of pimping out his auctions as "the system he got shot for." Classy.
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(Page 1) Reader Comments
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GG, gunman.
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Ebay sellers are a scourge, but then they're no different than ticket scalpers, who are mugged, beaten or shot on a regular basis. I'm glad this guys okay, but part of me is glad he won't be making a profit overall (if he does it will at least be a smaller one).
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That said, ebayers aren't THAT bad. What's worse? Selling a PS3 for 3 grand, or being dumb enough to pay that much?
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Shooting unemployed losers who should have been standing in line to apply for a job FTW.
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I'm not too sore...the launch titles weren't that hot and there are kinks out of the gate. 360 seems to be where it's at...a much more mature platform with decent games, finally. Although I hate bowing down to the dark side(M$).
So, for now, I'll just site it out, keep playing on my PS2 and Nvidia7800. And watch as Microsoft and Sony have a billion dollar cock fight.
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So the US really is a third world country.
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Seriously though he didn't deserve a shooting, the only ones that deserve that are the idiot fanboys who KEEP the console to play games on.
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No, you're right. I think the lofty title of douchebags will suffice.
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In a line of people getting PS3s here in California.. 32 of them got their hands on it. Only 5 said they were actually going to play it, that means 27 other people openly admitted to selling it. My friend got his hands on 3 PS3s, I got one. And one person sold his spot in line for $600 to someone who was going to sell it on Ebay for $4000.
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No, they are the step above, but still below the rest of humanity and pretty much got what he deserved since guys like him caused most of these problems with the launch in the first place.
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I'M LURKING AT UR AUCTION
BIDDING MSRP
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BIDDING MSRP"
Umm, I think they actually want that. As soon as someone bids MSRP, they break even. You don't think nobody else will bid above MSRP, do you?
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He's from Massachusetts and just went to Connecticut to try to make some money.
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A week ago, I looked at the list. There were over 600 pages of ads for auctions. Over 15,000 PS3 were being auctioned off for various prices including 20,000,000!
I don't feel sorry for any of the folks in line to buy them. Odds were they were just looking for a quick buck the expense of a poor parent that wants to get one for his kids.
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Sony, MS, Nintendo, all create these scenarios by selling the units at below market value.
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- sj
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It makes even MORE sense that he resisted them. 2600 dollars in cash is probably the totallity of his liquid assets, being unemployed. If only the people around him had the courage not to take being held up at gunpoint.
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http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=14565
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Did he have $$ stashed in his shoe or was he taken for all of it?
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You want a PS3 launch, then you’ll be camping outside your local BB for a week OR you can pay 3X retail. There is no fairer system for distributing PS3 given the supply / demand imbalance.
Suck it commies
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America FTW!!
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You're proving Jack Thompson's point.
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