Christmas came early for local electronic stores.
The new Sony PlayStation 4 (PS4) video game console was released at midnight Thursday in stores in Queens and around the country, and residents and gamers everywhere lined up to get it first.
“I have been waiting since the day I was born,” said Fresh Meadows resident Zack Abid, who was one of the first people to walk out of the Queens Place mall’s Best Buy store in Elmhurst with the new game system. “We’ve got new games, new consoles and we are about to enjoy them.”
The release of the new video game system was well received, despite the steep $400 price tag. Various electronic retailers had large crowds and long lines.
Many people reserved the video game online weeks ahead and came to pick it up at 12 a.m., while others who wanted to avoid pre-ordering fees, began lining up at the stores to buy any leftover game consoles.
The line at the Queens Place Best Buy had more than 90 people trying to buy the device without pre-ordering.
The GameStop in Flushing on Roosevelt Avenue had a line of more than 50 people on the sidewalk from about 6 p.m., collecting preorders for the new device. The store sold out within the hour.
“It’s one of the most anticipated days of the year [for sales],” said the GameStop store manager.
Various game critics in the industry have given the new console rave reviews. The system has advanced graphics and processing power over its predecessor, Play Station 3 (PS3), and the new DualShock 4 controller has a touchpad and a share button, which allows users to upload videos of their games to social media sites.
Although many are criticizing the new system because it can’t play PS3 games, many are excited to play newer games.
“I still have my PS3, I feel like it didn’t really sway me either way. It would have been nice though,” said College Point resident Andy Medina, who was buying his system from the Flushing GameStop. “I really enjoyed my PS3 so I figured this is the next best thing.”
Some were not so lucky to get the game though. Just around 12:30 a.m. the Queens Place Best Buy announced that they ran out of PS4s for customers that didn’t preorder and dozens of people were turned away.
However, the console craze isn’t over yet. This time next week electronic stores will host midnight launches again, as they prepare for the release of Microsoft’s Xbox One, the successor to the popular Xbox 360 game system, on November 22.
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