ThatGuyOverThere writes to tell us his story of PS3 pre-ordering adventures. It's a sordid tale of betrayal, endurance and unrequited love. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll clench your teeth in fury, but in the end the guy gets the console and alls well that ends well. Hit the jump for the full bit of Playstation Prose. Brian Crecente

After hearing chatter about PS3 pre-orders at GameStop in #ps2 on efnet, I checked your site in order to see if it was true. I figured since it was my night off, I might as well waste it camping out for a few hours.

I packed on some cold weather gear, boots, hat, gloves, winter coat, and at 6:30, left my house to brave the mildly cold weather. Once I got to my nearest Gamestop, I saw there was only one guy camping, and his girlfriend was waiting in the car, not pre-ordering one for herself (or ebay) due to financial issues.

He had gotten there at 5 a.m. So I pulled out my DS and passed time. Some mother showed up at about 7:30 ready to pick one up for her kids' Christmas present. At about 8:15 two other guys showed up to wait. 9:30 rolled around and another guy showed up. Two more came at 9:45, and one final one came at 9:59.

The doors opened, and the 9 of us filed in. It was announced that the store would only be able to take SIX pre-orders, and as it worked out, two thirds of us were okay with that information. Customers number 7 and 8 left in order to try to find one somewhere else, while number 9, out of sheer desperation, decided to stick around and wait.

The first guy got his reserved, and was kind enough to say he would hold off on doing his trade-ins until the rest of us were finished reserving our systems. I started giving the clerk my information to get mine reserved, when I heard an angry sound from beside me.

Sadly, a few kids will have a very unhappy Christmas, because this poor lady, who had called in to work in order to wait in line, found out that her checkbook was empty, and she had no cash or credit cards with her. She left the store in fury, and drove away in a way that made me question if she would make it home alive.

Suddenly and without warning, number 9 became number 6. He let out a yelp of happiness while the rest of us were torn between feeling pity for the woman and her kids, and happiness for number 9.

After talking to number 9 I found out some interesting news. He had been at the other GameStop (Store #989 in Pontiac, MI) a few blocks away only to find out that the manager had sold all his pre-orders to friends and family, and regular customers would have to be happy with getting the shaft. Number 9 was supposed to be on the list, but was left out at the last minute and was furious about it.

Me, I couldn't care less, because if he was involved in the scam in any way, or had even tried, screw him and the lying, cheating manager. Long story short, I've got my ticket reserved for the expensive kit, I feel bad for the lady, and I expect I'll make a few hundred dollars on ebay come mid-December.

And none of this would have been possible without YOU, Kotaku. Thanks!

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