PS3 Madness

It sure has been interesting reading about the hysteria brought on by the launch of the PS3. People are acting like zombies or drug addicts or something. Waiting in line for days to give away your money (and plenty of it) simply to go home and sit down on a couch and stare at a TV for hours and hours (or days) seems to be something that I'm not sure I would look back on in my old age and be proud of that great accomplishment in life. I love video games too but this is just getting ridiculous don't you think? I've read reports of violence in lines and reports of people paying thousands of dollars for a PS3 and all sorts of other insane stories involving the PS3 insanity.

Is playing games in higher resolution worth all of this? What do people get out of it? Fun? This is your life people, does it not seem a little strange that hours and days of it are slipping you by spent in such a mindless state? I know that at times it can be a group thing but more often than not gaming as it is is something you do alone and no, I don't believe that playing people online constitutes being social with real people.
(which is a topic I could write a whole post on because the internet is like that too, gives the illusion of being social which is really interesting to me) Again, I will admit to being a gamer myself but there is a line being crossed here and I'm wondering how much further it will go.

I wonder how the Nintendo Wii will stack up on launch day. They seem to have a lot more units to go around thats for sure and I would much prefer one of them than a PS3 any day. It's not a 'fanboy' thing I just think that the new control ideas brought to the table create something much more engaging than your average lazy couch games. I can't wait to have a few controllers and a Wii with some multiplayer games, seems like it's something that everyone can enjoy which I like in games these days because it brings people together rather than secludes them in their bedrooms or couches. So at any rate, I think I've gone on long enough here for you guys to get my point, so all that said...

What do you think?

UPDATE: Wow, digg.com is littered with stories of PS3 related robberies, muggings and the like, engadget has a nice roundup of stories going... insane... link